VERO BEACH — The Emerson Center 2011 Celebrated Speakers Series now includes noted historian and author Douglas Brinkley on Saturday, February 5 as a replacement for previously scheduled Peggy Noonan. Brinkley is an historian, author and former national security advisor to the President of the United States. Individual speaker tickets are currently on sale at the Emerson Center for this presentation and others in the 2011 Celebrated Speakers Series, sponsored by Wilmington Trust. Individual tickets are $65 each. Performances are held at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Other presentations include: Zbigniew Brzezinski on February 26; Gwen Ifill, moderator and managing editor of Washington Week on March 19; and Paul Krugman, one of the world’s foremost economists on April 9.
When news, that Peggy Noonan cancelled her February 5 appearance, the Emerson Center quickly contacted Douglas Brinkley, already under consideration as a future speaker.
“He’s perfect,” said Don Croteau of the Emerson Center. “Our subscribers love history and historians, and Brinkley’s tremendous range of work, his books about Presidents Teddy Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan, as well as subjects like Henry Ford, the aftermath of Katrina, and conservation in Alaska, will appeal to many. His appearance is timely too, in observation of the 100th anniversary of President Reagan’s birth.”
Called “America’s new past master” and “the best of the new generation of American historians,” Dr. Douglas Brinkley is a distinguished professor of history at Rice University and a fellow at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. His writing covers a broad range of topics, including presidents, military campaigns, American leaders, Catholicism and Hurricane Katrina. He fascinates audiences with his knowledge of history’s biggest people and events and how they relate to current times.
Brinkley is the history commentator for CBS News and a contributing editor for Vanity Fair, Los Angeles Times Book Review and American Heritage. The New York Times selected five of Brinkley’s award-winning books as Notable Books of the Year and The Reagan Diaries was a New York Times bestseller. His latest book, The Quiet World: Saving Alaska’s Wilderness Kingdom, 1879-1960, offers a riveting, expansive look at the past and present battle to preserve Alaska’s wilderness.
Brinkley’s presentations share his insights on the history of American presidency based on his voluminous research regarding the Roosevelt, Reagan and Carter presidencies. Brinkley frames the current challenges facing President Obama and how his election changed the course of American history.
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of President Ronald Reagan’s birthday, audiences can expect to hear stories about Reagan as part of Brinkley’s presentation. He may also tell about his visits to Pelican Island in Vero Beach and Ocala National Forest, while researching his book The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America, about Roosevelt’s other career as a naturalist and protector of species and great natural places.
The Emerson Center is located at 1590 27th Avenue, on the SE corner of 16th Street and 27th Avenue.
Purchase tickets by calling 772-778-5249, on-line at www.TheEmersonCenter.org or at the Emerson Center itself.