The 26th annual R. Dan Boulware Convocation on Critical Issues speaker is presidential historian and Pultizer-Prize winning author Jon Meacham. His topic, “The Soul of America: Moving Beyond Division and Hostility,” will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 26, in the Looney Complex Arena. Meacham will also be the featured guest at the annual Convocation Luncheon at noon Sept. 26 in the Fulkerson Center. Cost is $40. For more information, go to missouriwestern.edu/convocation.
A contributor to TIME and The New York Times Book Review, Meacham is a highly sought-after commentator, regularly appearing on CNN and MSNBC. Known as a skilled orator with a depth of knowledge about politics, religion, and current affairs, Meacham brings historical context to the issues and events impacting our daily lives.
His latest No. 1 New York Times bestseller, 鈥淭he Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels,鈥� examines the present moment in American politics and life by looking back at critical times in U.S. history when hope overcame division and fear. Meacham is also a co-author of the recently released book, 鈥淚mpeachment: An American History,鈥� which reveals the complicated motives behind the three presidential impeachments in U.S. history. Meacham鈥檚 presidential biography, 鈥淒estiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush,鈥� debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times bestsellers list. Meacham delivered eulogies for both President George H.W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush.
Other bestsellers include 鈥淭homas Jefferson: The Art of Power,鈥� 鈥淔ranklin and Winston,鈥� 鈥淎merican Gospel鈥� and 鈥淎merican Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House,鈥� which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2009.