Recorded Virtual Events

Below you’ll find the collection of all of our past virtual events recorded for your viewing pleasure! While the events are free to view, we hope you’ll consider contributing what you’d call a fair ticket price while participating. Click the button below to head over to our events page and register for any of our upcoming virtual events!

Upcoming Events

Shelley Puhak discusses her nonfiction debut THE DARK QUEENS chronicling the remarkable, little-known story of two trailblazing women in the Early Middle Ages who wielded immense power, only to be vilified for daring to rule. 

Watch Now

he Mark Twain House & Museum welcomes authors Frye Gaillard and Cynthia Tucker to discuss THE SOUTHERNIZATION OF AMERICA: A Story of Democracy In The Balance.  

Watch Now

Scholar and collector Kevin Mac Donnell discusses “Mark Twain in the Marketplace: The Use of Mark Twain’s Name and Image to Sell Everything.”

 

Watch Now

Writer, actor, and feminist Tracy Dawson joins Chion Wolf, the host of WNPR’s Audacious and The MTH&M’s The Mouth Off, to discuss trailblazers throughout history who disguised themselves as men to gain access and opportunities denied them because they were women.

Watch Now

Labor columnist and independent journalist Kim Kelly to discusses the history of the labor movement and the people—workers, organizers, and their allies—who risked everything to win fair wages, better working conditions, disability protections, and an eight-hour workday.

Watch Now

Author B.J. Hollars and his young son Henry join playwright Jacques Lamarre to discuss their father-son adventures “roughing it” out west in modern America. 

 

Watch Now

Harriet Beecher Stowe Center and The Mark Twain House & Museum proudly present Dorothy Wickenden in conversation with Dr. Manisha Sinha on THE AGITATORS: Three Friends Who Fought for Abolition and Women’s Rights.

Watch Now

The Mark Twain House & Museum welcomes Deborah Cohen in conversation with Chris Tomlinson to discuss LAST CALL AT THE HOTEL IMPERIAL,  the extraordinary story of John Gunther, H. R. Knickerbocker, Vincent Sheean, and Dorothy Thompson.

Watch Now

Reyna Grande joins award-winning poet and educator Bessy Reyna in conversation on Grande’s new novel, A Ballad of Love and Glory.

Watch Now

Paul Fischer discusses his new book THE MAN WHO INVENTED MOTION PICTURES, a page-turning history about the invention of the motion picture and the mysterious man behind it—detailing his life, work, disappearance, and legacy.

Watch Now

Vanderbilt University Professor Cecilia Tichi discuss her book, WHAT WOULD MRS. ASTOR DO? The Essential Guide to the Manners and Mores of The Gilded Age with MTHM Executive Director Pieter Roos and Tony Award-winning stage, film and screen star Donna Murphy, who portrays Mrs. Astor on HBO’s hit series The Gilded Age.

Watch Now

Dr. Lillian Faderman, award winning gender and sexuality scholar, discussed her new book WOMAN: THE HISTORY OF AN AMERICAN IDEA with Dr. Heather Munro Prescot  to explore the history behind the struggle to define womanhood in America. 

Watch Now

Maud Newton discusses her new book ANCESTOR TROUBLE: A RECKONING AND A RECONCILIATION a searching, moving, and inspiring attempt to use genealogy to expose the secrets and contradictions of her own ancestors, and to argue for the transformational possibilities that reckoning with our ancestors offers all of us. 

Watch Now

Screenwriter and thriller novelist Chris Hauty joins New York Times-bestseller John Lescroart to discuss Lescroart’s new, relentlessly twisty murder thriller.

Watch Now

Best-selling author Kate Moore talks about The Woman They Could Not Silence, an unputdownable story of a brilliant and courageous woman who unexpectedly changed the world.

Watch Now

Comic book writer and novelist Alex Segura discusses SECRET IDENTITY, his thrilling new noir mystery set in the world of comic books, with bestselling author Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

Watch Now

Historian and author William Hazelgrove lights out for the territories with FORGING A PRESIDENT: How the Wild West Created Teddy Roosevelt. Joining him in conversation will be MTH&M Assistant Curator Mallory Howard.

Watch Now

The author of Reading Lolita in Tehran and Republic of Imagination returns with a guide to the power of literature in turbulent times, arming readers with a resistance reading list. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Susan Campbell joins Dr. Nafisi in conversation.

Watch Now

Drawing upon twenty-five years of experience representing Black youth in Washington, D.C.’s juvenile courts, Kristin Henning makes a powerfully compelling case that the crisis in racist American policing begins with its relationship to Black children.

Watch Now

The Mark Twain House & Museum proudly serves memoir realness with Edgar Gomez, author of HIGH-RISK HOMOSEXUAL, in conversation with playwright Jacques Lamarre.

Watch Now

Author, journalist and formerly incarcerated individual Daniel Genis joins Jacques Lamarre in conversation on Genis’s new memoir, SENTENCE: Ten Years and a Thousand Books in Prison.

Watch Now

Director, actor and playwright Eleanor Reissa and composer and pianist Ted Rosenthal have both turned their parents’ World War II era letters respectively into a book and a jazz opera. Rabbi Debra Cantor joins Reissa and Rosenthal to discuss these deeply personal works.

Watch Now

Author Paul Koudounaris – a man who might just love cats as much as Mark Twain did – discusses the history of America’s felines and their oft neglected contributions.

Watch Now

In 2001, Laurie Zaleski established the Funny Farm Animal Rescue outside Mays Landing, New Jersey. Today, she carries on her mother’s mission to save abused and neglected animals. Funny Farm is Laurie’s story: of promises kept, dreams fulfilled, and animals lost and found.

Watch Now

New York Times bestselling author Laura Thompson joins MTH&M Executive Director Pieter Roos live from the UK for a virtual lunchtime conversation on her new book HEIRESSES: The Lives of the Million Dollar Babies.

Watch Now

Authors Chris Tomlinson and Bryan Burrough join Twain scholar Dr. Kerry Driscoll  discuss the real story of the Alamo, dispelling the myths, exploring why they had their day for so long, and explaining why the ugly fight about its meaning is now coming to a head.

Watch Now

E. E. Burke joins us for a special Valentine’s week program sharing her love for Twain and why she has created two new adventure novels filled with action and romance: Tom Sawyer Returns and Taming Huck Finn.

 

Watch Now

Amistad Center for Art & Culture, Harriet Beecher Stowe Center and The Mark Twain House & Museum present ZORA NEALE HURSTON: YOU DON’T KNOW US NEGROES AND OTHER ESSAYS with Dr. Henry Louise Gates, Jr., Dr. Genevieve West, and Dr. Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar.

Watch Now

Professor and political scientist Barbara Walter joined in conversation by CTWAC’s CEO Megan Torrey for a discussion of Professor Walter’s new book HOW CIVIL WARS START AND HOW TO STOP THEM.  

Watch Now

The Mark Twain House & Museum and Max Restaurant Group are delighted to welcome Gilded Age Cocktails author Dr. Cecelia Tichi in conversation with MRG’s Beverage Director Brian Mitchell. Who knows, we may whip up a few cocktails during this virtual discussion that will leave you both shaken and stirred!

Watch Now

Cynthia von Buhler in conversation with playwright Jacques Lamarre on her sexy and thrilling Minky Woodcock graphic novels.

 

Watch Now

A conversation with Charles Person, a Civil Rights Movement pioneer and author of the new memoir Buses Are a Comin’. Joining Person in conversation is Professor Raymond Arsenault, author of Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice.

Watch Now

Historian and novelist William Hazelgrove discusses his newest book, ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY MINUTES: The Race to Save the R.M.S. Titanic with historian and former MTH&M Interpreter Jason Scappaticci.

Watch Now

Biographer and historian Thomas Crowl joins Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Susan Campbell to discuss his definitive account of audacious con woman Cassie Chadwick, the Carnegie Imposter!

Watch Now

The Mark Twain House & Museum celebrates the most wonderful time of the year! We are delighted to present Karolyn in conversation with playwright Joe Landry and Hartford Stage Artistic Producer Rachel Alderman, co-director of the upcoming production of It’s a Wonderful Life – A Live Radio Play

Watch Now

The Mark Twain House & Museum’s Beatrice Fox Auerbach Director of Collections Jodi DeBruyne sits down with author and historian Hannah Farber to discuss Farber’s new book UNDERWRITERS OF THE UNITED STATES.

Watch Now

The Mark Twain House & Museum is delighted to welcome New York Times-bestselling thriller writer Jeffery Deaver discussing his latest novel THE MIDNIGHT LOCK with fellow bestseller Steve Berry!

 

Watch Now

Amistad Center for Art & Culture, the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, and The Mark Twain House & Museum present an important conversation on THE MATTER OF BLACK LIVES, a collection of The New Yorker‘s groundbreaking writing on race in America.

Watch Now

Leo Baekeland’s groundbreaking creation, perhaps best remembered for its use in colorful costume jewelry and accessories, transformed our world and has also endangered it. This panel conversation will examine Bakelite, Leo Baekeland, and the legacy of plastics.

Watch Now

Join author and scholar David Damrosch and moderator Julia Pistell for a transporting and illuminating voyage around the globe, through classic and modern literary works that are in conversation with one another and with the world around them.

Watch Now

Authors Dr. Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen join Dr. Ina Park for an informative and shockingly fun conversation on PATIENT ZERO: A Curious History of the World’s Worst Diseases.

Watch Now

Author, investigative reporter and RollingStone National Political Correspondent Matt Taibbi returns for a conversation on his (almost true) new book on the ins-and-outs of working in the drug trade.

Watch Now

Professor Reuben Jonathan Miller discussing HALFWAY HOME: Race, Punishment and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration, with Community Partners in Action’s Director of Operations Deborah Rogala, LCSW

Watch Now

Tiphanie Yanique, the award-winning author of Land of Love and Drowning, joins Dr. Christina Greer to discuss Yanique’s electric new novel that maps the emotional inheritance of one couple newly in love.

Watch Now

Join Katie Mears and Jodi DeBruyne, the Mark Twain House Director of Collections, as they discuss Mark Twain’s role in the history of stand-up comedy.

Watch Now

Giacomo Calabria presents a brief history of Mark Twain’s surprising, sometimes scandalous, and ongoing contributions to gaming from the 1880s to the modern era.

Watch Now

A deadly discussion (and return engagement) by two people who know a thing or two about the poisoner’s proclivities. This conversation will cover the storied poisons of history, some of the most spectacular (and twisted) poisoners of our time, and a nod to some of the great poison-infused murder stories.

Watch Now

Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization elegantly cuts through the tangle of urban legends and anecdotal impressions surrounding our notions of intoxication to provide the first rigorous, scientifically-grounded explanation for our love of alcohol.

Watch Now

Author Richard Thompson Ford discusses his illuminating book DRESS CODES: HOW THE LAWS OF FASHION MADE HISTORY with Vogue Senior Editor Corey Seymour.

Watch Now

The true story of a torrid love triangle tainted by a touch of cyanide! The Gilded Edge author Catherine Prendergast is joined by Lindsey Fitzharris, the author of The Butchering Art.

Watch Now

Cappy McGarr and the host of WNPR’s The Colin McEnroe Show discusses the behind-the-scenes drama and laughter behind the creation of American humor’s highest honor.

Watch Now

Bestselling novelist Walter Mosely, NPR White House Correspondent and co-host of NPR’s Politics Podcast Scott Detrow, and Le Carré’s son John Cornwell join Harper’s Editor Christopher Beha for a conversation on Le Carré’s career, legacy, and what it took to publish his final work.

Watch Now

Surprising and delightfully engrossing, Americanon explores the true history of thirteen of the nation’s most popular books — the unexamined touchstones for American cultures and customs.

Watch Now

Rubenstein explores our grand national experiment in democracy, culture, innovation, and ideas, revealing the setbacks, suffering, invention, ingenuity, and social movements that continue to shape our vision of what America is and can be.

Watch Now

The first-ever full reckoning with Marvel Comics’ half-million-page story from a beloved authority on the subject who read all 27,000+ Marvel superhero comics and lived to tell the tale.

Watch Now

Matthew Pearl explores the little-known true story of the kidnapping of legendary pioneer Daniel Boone’s daughter and the dramatic aftermath that rippled across the nation.

Watch Now

An astounding work of fiction from a New York Times bestselling author that goes to the heart of racism, police violence, and the hidden costs exacted upon Black Americans, and America as a whole.

Watch Now

S.A. Cosby (Blacktop Wasteland) and Stephen Graham Jones (The Only Good Indians) reflect on their uniquely American stories of murder and revenge.

Watch Now

Side-splittingly funny one minute, a freak horror show the next, Ladyparts is an era-defining memoir for our time.

Watch Now

National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Evan Osnos examines three communities in the U.S. to uncover the roots of America’s fury.

WATCH NOW

This Tender Land author William Kent Krueger discusses his newest novel, Lightning Strike, with New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah.

Watch Now

A revelatory and enthralling new biography of Lincoln, many years in the making, that brings him to life within his turbulent age.

Watch Now

Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, authors of The New York Times bestseller The Personal Librarian in conversation with Kimberly Kersey, Executive Director of the Amistad Center.

Watch Now

Author and journalist, Lionel Shriver, discusses her brilliant and thought-provoking new novel, SHOULD WE STAY OR SHOULD WE GOwith Harper’s President and PublisheJohn R. McArthur.

Watch Now

Dwayne’s lecture focuses on two sermons Joseph Twichell preached in 1876 at Asylum Hill Congregational Church and the positive theological influence they had on Twain.

Watch Now

Author, host, and commentator Touré discusses his second book on the singer-songwriter, Nothing Compares 2 U: An Oral History of Prince with playwright and Prince enthusiast Jacques Lamarre.

Watch Now

Literary living legend, Joyce Carol Oates, discusses her stunning new novel, BREATHE, with Christopher Beha.

WATCH NOW

New York Times bestselling duo Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child join Christopher Rice for a conversation on the 20th installment in their wildly popular Agent Pendergast series.

WATCH NOW

Jaime Lowe in conversation on BREATHING FIRE: Female Inmate Firefighters on the Front Lines of California’s Wildfires, moderated by CPA’s Executive Director Beth Hines.

WATCH NOW

With Sword Stone Table, a whole new generation of writers bring their own takes on Arthur, Merlin, Mordred, Guinevere, and Lancelot.

WATCH NOW

Joshua Cohen discusses his quirky new novel, The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family.

Watch Now

New York Times bestselling author Amy Sohn presents a narrative history of Anthony Comstock, anti-vice activist and U.S. Postal Inspector, and the remarkable women who opposed his war on women’s rights at the turn of the twentieth century.

WATCH NOW

Author/researcher Dean Jobb in conversation with Deborah Blum on The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream, the true story of a Victorian Era monster, the ruthless “Lambeth Poisoner.”

Watch Now

New York Times bestselling author Kelly Williams Brown joined by the crafty star of the Style Network’s The Brini Maxwell Show to discuss Brown’s latest novel Easy Crafts for the Insane: A Mostly Funny Memoir of Mental Illness and Making Things.

Watch Now

INobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen: The Emotional Lives of Black Women, esteemed clinical psychologist Dr. Inger Burnett-Zeigler praises the strength of women, while exploring how trauma and adversity have led to deep emotional pain and shaped how they walk through the world. 

Watch Now

Adam Wilson discusses his razor-sharp, darkly funny, and deeply human rendering of a Post-Trump America in economic free fall. Harper’s Editor Christopher Beha moderates.

watch now

Thomas Nast, the “most famous editorial cartoonist of his time.”, and Twain spent a Thanksgiving together, almost toured together, and both worked with Albert Bigelow Paine on their respective biographies. Learn about these connections and more during John’s talk.

WATCH NOW

Harper’s Magazine and The Mark Twain House & Museum join forces to present a thrilling new work of historical fiction about the life  and mysterious murder — of a legendary Manhattanite in Gilded Age New York. 

watch now

Les Standiford in conversation with Barnum Museum Executive Director Kathy Maher on the confrontations, cutthroat business strategies, and eccentric personalities that built the Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey Circus.

Watch Now

Bestselling author Alex Michaelides joined in conversation by Brad Thor on his spellbinding tale of psychological suspense, weaving together Greek mythology, murder, and obsession.

WATCH NOW

Duane Tudahl in conversation will be Prince enthusiast, blogger and Glitch CEO Anil Dash take you on an intimate journey of love, loss, rivalry, and renewal with never-before-published memories from the Revolution, the Time, the Family, and Apollonia 6.

WATCH NOW

Author, historian, podcaster and commentator Zachary Karabell is joined by columnist and Hearst Connecticut Media Group Associate Editor Dan Haar to discuss Karabell’s new book, Inside Money.

WATCH NOW

Author of POST MORTEM Dr. Virginia de la Cruz Lichet of the University of Lorraine in France and Cecilia Casas Desantes of the Communications and Educational Department of Cerralbo Museum in Madrid, Spain in conversation with The Mark Twain House & Museum’s Assistant Curator Mallory Howard.

watch now

Brown University Professor and practicing psychiatrist Dr. Christine Montross discusses her groundbreaking new book, Waiting for an Echo: The Madness of American Incarceration, with Gordon Lyde, Peer to Peer Case Manager for Community Partners in Action’s Reentry Treatment Program.

Watch Now

Beloved Christian fiction author Tessa Afshar joined in conversation by Lauren Yarger on her latest book, Jewel of the Nile.

Watch Now

Author Dr. Rebecca Hall and Illustrator Hugo Martinez in conversation with Kimberly Kersey on WAKE: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts, the story of women-led slave revolts and chronicle of scholar Rebecca Hall’s efforts to uncover the truth about these women warriors.

watch now

A.E. Osworth sits down with MJ Kaufman to discuss Osworth’s novel We Are Watching Eliza Bright, a fast-paced thriller told from shifting points of view within the polarized gaming community.

Watch Now

Writer, lawyer, and journalist Eric Berkowitz and LA Times best-seller Marc Cooper on Dangerous Ideas, an examination of how censorship is used to prop up authorities and maintain class and gender disparities.

watch now

Sophfronia Scott in conversation with author and Episcopalian minister Barbara Brown Taylor on The Seeker and the Monk: Everyday Conversations with Thomas Merton.

watch now

Lost in Summerland finds essayist Barrett Swanson crossing the United States to uncover what it means to be an American amid the swirl of our post-truth climate.

Watch Now

The Mark Twain House & Museum and Theatre Within present longtime MAD Senior Editor Joe Raiola in a program of offbeat comedy that takes you behind the scenes of America’s dumbest magazine (BIG DEAL)!

watch now

In this month’s Trouble Begins at 5:30, KevinMac Donnell shows us some of the highlights from his collection, shares how he cares for his collection, and talk about how his collection is used for research.

watch now

Emmy-nominated stand-up, actor, author, professor, and podcaster Wayne Federman sits down with comedy journalist Katie Mears to discuss The History of Stand-Up: From Mark Twain to Dave Chappelle.