Machiavelli. Darwin. Paine. These men changed lives with their writing, affecting how millions thought about themselves and their place in the world.  Dan Chambliss, the Eugene M. Tobin Distinguished Professor of Sociology, and Al Kelly, the Edgar B. Graves Professor of History, have a similar effect on the Hamilton students they teach in their Great Books seminar—albeit on a slightly smaller scale.

Publius Virgilius Rogers Professor of American History Maurice Isserman recently published a review of John Nichols’ book Uprising: How Wisconsin Renewed the Politics of Protest, From Madison to Wall Street. “Bread and Roses - or Dust and Ashes?” appeared in the fall issue of Democratic Left magazine.

Visiting Assistant Professor of History John Ragosta pondered the question of whether President Thomas Jefferson would have opposed the official Thanksgiving holiday in an invited column on the University of Virginia Thoughts from the Lawn blog that appeared on Nov. 5. Ragosta is the author of the forthcoming book Religious Freedom: Jefferson’s Legacy, America’s Creed.

Columbia University historian, professor and author Eric Foner visited Hamilton on Nov. 15  to discuss Abraham Lincoln's atttitudes toward slavery as detailed in his 2010 book The Fiery Trial.

Columbia University Professor Eric Foner, preeminent historian of the Civil War era, will discuss his latest book, The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, on Thursday, Nov. 15, at 7 p.m., in the Bradford Auditorium, K.J.  Foner is the DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University and specializes in the Civil War and Reconstruction, slavery and 19th century America.  The lecture is free and open to the public.

The Nov. 13 lecture by author and explorer Wade Davis has been postponed due to circumstances beyond his control.  Davis is an explorer-in-residence for the National Geographic Society, which has named him as one of the Explorers of the Millennium. The possibility of rescheduling the event is yet to be determined.

Brian Levin-Stankevich ’72  was inaugurated the 17th president of Westminster College (Salt Lake City, Utah) on Oct. 20.  The Buffalo, N.Y., native served as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire from 2006 to 2012, before becoming president of Westminster.  He has also held positions at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), Florida Atlantic University and Eastern Washington University.

On the Hill: A Bicentennial History of Hamilton College, written by Publius Virgilius Rogers Professor of American History Maurice Isserman, received the 2012 Arline Custer Memorial Award for books from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC). The award was presented on Oct. 27 in Richmond, Va.

Publius Virgilius Rogers Professor of American History Maurice Isserman was a speaker at “Moses Finley and Politics,” a conference to mark the centenary of M. I. Finley’s birth, on Sept. 29 at Columbia University.

Associate Professor of History Lisa Trivedi was invited to present a paper, 'Seeing Women at Work: the Jyoti Sangh and Pranlal Patel in Ahmedabad, 1937," as part of the Madhusudan and Kiran C. Dhar Indian Studies Program at Indiana University on Sept. 20.