Talks & Presentations

We the People: The Story of the US Constitution

The Constitution and the Supreme Court help to guarantee the rights that we hold dear. But how did the Constitution come to be? Tracing back to the American Revolution, this is the incredible story of the fight for civil rights—and the effort to build the United States--from the Founding to the present day.

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Ground Below: How the Earth Shaped Humanity

Ever wonder why diamonds are so expensive? Why the Middle East dominates the world’s oil market? Why Ancient Greece had so many marble statues and buildings? Or why Europe and China developed guns and steel, not Native Americans? A sneak preview of my forthcoming book on this subject, the talk will take audiences through a remarkable story of shifting continents, clever people, and hidden riches below the surface that shaped our species. We will explore the ways that the Earth’s naturally occurring geology influenced the early evolution of human culture, and the creative ways that people have overcome the challenges of the natural world. The Earth once shaped us—but now we shape it, but in spite of our innovations we depend on the natural world more than we possibly imagine.

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To the Last Breath: The Race to Save the World’s Endangered Languages

Around the globe, half of the 6000 languages spoken today are projected to go extinct within the next 30 years. Unsung linguists and volunteers are working tirelessly to ensure that these languages don’t disappear and erase thousands of years of human knowledge. Discover this amazing story and what the stories these vanishing tongues can tell about the places we call home in America, or our cradles of civilization. Find out the secret relics of vanished languages that shape the way we speak. The talk draws on the latest research, assembled in conjunction with Endangered Language Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving endangered languages.

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Through the Decades

Rediscover the decades that defined modern America. Encompassing a century from the 1920s to the 2020s, this series of talks can be tailored for any audience, themed around multiple decades—or just one—looking at news, pop culture, innovation, and the way we lived.

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Cold War II: Navigating the Global Confrontation with Russia and China

Russia invades Ukraine. China threatens to go to war over Taiwan. Can America rise to the challenge? What can we learn from the original Cold War to prevent this one from getting “hot”? A look inside the global maneuvering of superpowers and the roots of the current confrontation—and where we go from here.

 

SCIENCE TALKS

The Four Billion Year Story

Drawing on my training as a geologist and the newest science, I take a tailored look at your community's origins from the formation of the planet to the present day. Most of us wonder from time to time about the ground beneath our feet. Why is that hill there? Are there fossils or gold? Where do oil and natural gas come from? And why are some areas so prone to serious earthquakes? We'll plunge in and discover why.

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LAW & PUBLIC POLICY TALKS

Politics As (Un)Usual: A History of Massachusetts Government

A colorful, amusing look at the zany characters who created the government and law of the Bay State from colonial times to the present day.

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Laboratories of Democracy: A Citizens’ Guide to State and Local Government—and How to Get Involved

Based on my experiences as a twice elected city councilor and a JD-candidate, this is a fun and engaging guide to how state and local government works and how citizens can run for office, launch a petition, navigate the legal system, resolve issues—and leave their imprint on the community.

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From Hammurabi to the Hill: How Law Came to Be

This talk starts off with the ancient origins of law in the Code of Hammurabi, the Bible, Chinese, Indian, and Roman texts and takes audiences on a journey to the present day world of Congressional votes, European Union deliberations, and United Nations debates.

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Never Again: A Reflection on the History of the Holocaust and the Struggle to End Genocide

The Holocaust claimed the lives of six million Jews. Eighty years since this horrifying genocide, how can we ensure that the memory of the Holocaust is never extinguished—and that we learn its lessons to prevent modern genocides and human rights abuses.

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The de Tocqueville Project: Discovering our common America in an age of division

French writer Alexis de Tocqueville wrote Democracy in America nearly 200 years ago. Today, how can we rediscover the country we call home—and the diverse, amazing people that make it what it is. Over the past decade, I’ve traveled extensively throughout the US, visiting 45 states, rural towns, massive cities, Indian reservations, college campuses, and communities of all sorts to find ways that we can bridge the divides in our society and build a stronger national community together by better understanding America.

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BOOK TALKS

Wachusett: How Boston's 19th Century Quest for Water Changed Four Towns and a Way of Life, 2010

From 1895 to 1908, one of the largest civil engineering projects in New England history transformed four Massachusetts towns (Clinton, Sterling, Boylston, and West Boylston) creating Boston's first truly modern water supply system -- the Wachusett Reservoir and aqueduct. This book, for the first time, tells the story of this engineering marvel as well the human dramas of the project: strikes, murders, and the deaths of more than 30 workers.

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Franklin: From Puritan Precinct to 21st Century Edge City, 2012

The amazing story of a New England town from prehistory to the 21st century.

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Twisted Sisters: How Four Superstorms Forever Changed the Northeast in 1954 & 1955, 2014

Devastating winds, pounding waves, record tidal surges and floods of nearly Biblical proportions. This was the "Twisted Sisters"--the four named storms, Carol, Edna, Connie, and Diane--that hammered New England and the Northeast, all in a period of just 12 months!

Nearly forgotten amidst the calamities of the Cold War era, the Twisted Sisters finally get their due, here, in a single comprehensive story that encompasses all four storms and captures the voices of victims, rescuers, scientists and politicians--as they came to grip with nature's unprecedented fury. One survivor wondered, "how could this happen? Nothing like this ever happened before." Today, despite the massive seawalls and flood control projects built in the wake of the Twisted Sisters, the question is--will it happen again?

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Cold War New England, 2016

Missiles in Vermont? Communists in New Hampshire? The largest air base in the world in Maine? Spy ships in Long Island Sound? It might seem absurd, more than 30 years after the end of the Cold War--with a new Cold War with Russia and China in full swing--it’s time to take a look at New England when our region was last on the front lines of a global conflict. So recent and yet so distant, this last great conflict brought about an already very alien world of mega-bases, nuclear arsenals, missile silos, and high-tech development that helped the US to fight...and ultimately triumph while keeping the Cold War from getting hot.

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East Wind: War in the Pacific, 2016

On a hot summer evening, a few weeks ahead of typhoon season, the prosperous island nation of Taiwan suddenly goes dark and silent. No military chatter, no stock trades, no late night over the phone breakups. The night is lit only by the fires kindled by Chinese bombs.

A massive surprise attack in East Asia leaves America—sole superpower for over 30 years—reeling and trying to adjust. In this new battle of cyberweapons, covert ops, hired guns, and false flag attacks, veteran officers and fresh recruits are the only ones who will decide whether the US fades or fights. With an east wind blowing, war in the Pacific is only a matter of time…