LITERATURE + LECTURES

The Houston Museum of Natural Science presents an HMNS Distinguished Lecture Series.  Fascinating Speakers, Cutting Edge Science.  Hear about the latest scientific discoveries - from the world's foremost experts. Throughout the year, HMNS hosts a variety of distinguished lecturers to enhance your understanding of a current exhibition or provide new perspectives on captivating topics.

Monday, November 7, at 6:30pm
The Raid That Sparked the Civil War: John Brown and Harpers Ferry
Tony Horwitz, (pictured) Pulitzer-Prize Journalist

In a challenging look at present-day contests over the way the war should be remembered, Tony Horwitz will look at the American Civil War's history and commemoration, and the race and politics involved. Horwitz will also examine the meaning and memory of the critical raid on Harper's Ferry, a desperate strike at the slaveholding South.

Joined by his teenage daughter, three of his sons, and a guerrilla band that included former slaves and a dashing spy, John Brown lead the raiders, who saw slavery as a sin against America's founding principles, to seize Harpers Ferry on October 17, 1859, and prompting a counterattack led by Robert E. Lee.

Pulitzer-prize winner Tony Horwitz is former journalist for The Wall Street Journal and The New Yorker and author of Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War. Following the lecture, he will sign copies of his new book Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War being released October 25.

This lecture is co-sponsored by Rice University's Humanities Research Center and Glasscock School of Continuing Studies.