Every Sunday at 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT)
Upcoming Book Breaks
March
March 24 - Donald L. Miller and Kirk Saduski on Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War against Nazi Germany
Fans of Apple TV+’s Masters of the Air, and anyone fascinated by World War II, will want to tune in to learn more about the book behind the show, and how it was developed into a critically acclaimed and popular series. Focused on the American Eighth Air Force, Masters of the Air investigates the personalities and camaraderie that emboldened men whose lives were routinely on the line. The American Eighth Air Force’s bombing campaign over Nazi Germany was one of the longest and most dangerous of the war.
Donald L. Miller is the John Henry MacCracken Professor of History emeritus at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania. He is the author of seven books, including Vicksburg: Grant’s Campaign That Broke the Confederacy and Supreme City: How Jazz Age Manhattan Gave Birth to Modern America.
Kirk Saduski is co-producer of Masters of the Air for Apple TV+. He is also the executive-in-charge of the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, co-producer of the HBO miniseries John Adams and The Pacific, and co-producer of the HBO documentary David McCullough: Painting with Words.
March 31 - Harold Holzer on Brought Forth on This Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration
April 7 -Frank J. Cirillo on The Abolitionist Civil War: Immediatists and the Struggle to Transform the Union
History Scholar of the Week
Middle and high school students (age 13 and up), submit your questions for one of the historians being featured on Book Breaks! If your question is chosen, you will be named History Scholar of the Week, and it will be announced live on the program! In addition, both you and your teacher will win a $50 gift certificate to the Gilder Lehrman Gift Shop. Your question can be about the book or the topic in general. Please submit only one question per program.
Submit your question here.
The deadline to submit a question for the upcoming Book Breaks is Thursday.
Book Breaks Archive
The Book Breaks archive contains more than three years of past programs featuring historians such as David Blight, Eric Foner, Annette Gordon-Reed, H. W. Brands, Peniel Joseph, Jon Meacham, Elizabeth Varon, Ken Burns, and more. Still deciding whether to subscribe? You can watch Ada Ferrer’s talk on Cuba: An American History (winner of the Pulitzer Prize) below to help you make up your mind.
View the full archive of past sessions
The Institute thanks Citizen Travelers, the nonpartisan civic engagement initiative of The Travelers Companies, Inc., for its support of Book Breaks.