David S. Brown: Hell of a Storm Coming of the Civil War

David S. Brown discusses his new book, "Hell of a Storm: The Battle for Kansas, the End of Compromise, and the Coming of the Civil War." With chapters on Emerson, Stowe, Thoreau, and Fitzhugh, alongside with a cast of presidents, abolitionists, and black emigrationists, Professor Brown shows how political, cultural, and literary history foreshadow the coming of the Civil War. David S. Brown, is a Horace E. Raffensperger professor of history at Elizabethtown College.

Leslie Schwalm: Civil War and Racial Medicine

Leslie Schwalm discusses her book, "Medicine, Science, and Making Race in Civil War America." Drawing on archives of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, recollections of Civil War doctors and medical, and testimonies from Black Americans, Professor Schwalm exposes the racist ideas the lent authority and prestige to Northern doctor's and other elites.  Leslie Schwalm is a Professor Emeritus of history and gender, women’s, and sexuality studies at the University of Iowa.