The Chappell Great Lives Lecture Series will celebrate its 10th season in 2013 with what promises to be its most interesting lineup ever. Experts will speak on historical and cultural icons from Cleopatra to Marilyn Monroe and Julius Caesar to Winston Churchill.
Great Lives will again feature lectures by authors on biographies they have recently published. Among them are:
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• Cronkite by Douglas Brinkley, who accessed diaries and letters and interviewed hundreds of Walter Cronkite’s friends and colleagues to craft a personal portrait of the newsman.
• Rasputin: The Untold Story by Joseph Fuhrmann, whose fluent Russian allowed him to interpret previously sealed documents in Moscow and Siberia.
• Hemingway’s Boat by Paul Hendrickson, who drew on primary resources and family interviews to explore the last decades of the life of Ernest Hemingway.
The final 2013 lecture will explore the link between great achievement and mental aberration through the lives of a number of major figures. That speaker, Nassir Ghaemi, author of A First- Rate Madness, is professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at Tufts Medical Center.
The popular Chappell Great Lives Lecture Series began as and remains an academic course taught by William B. Crawley, professor emeritus of history and director of the series. Early on, Great Lives received a significant donation from John Chappell of Philadelphia, who provided an endowment in memory of Carmen Culpeper Chappell ’59. According to Crawley, Chappell’s initial gift and the continuing generosity of the Chappell family make it possible to attract prominent experts. The result is an unprecedented educational opportunity for students and area residents at no cost to them.
Community support has been extraordinary, with audiences in recent years averaging about 500 and, at times, approaching twice that. Organizations including the Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center, George Washington Foundation, Community Foundation of the Rappahannock River Region, and Central Rappahannock Heritage Center have sponsored lectures. In addition, individuals have given generously.
As in the past, 2013 lectures will include a presentation by the speaker and a period for questions from the audience. The programs conclude with book signings. Books will be available for purchase.