Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Doris Kearns Goodwin to Deliver Furphy Lecture

World-renowned presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin will deliver the 32nd Rev. Thomas J. Furphy Lecture on Thursday, October 27, at DeSales University.  

Goodwin is the author of seven critically acclaimed and New York Times bestselling books, including her most recent, Leadership in Turbulent Times, which incorporates her five decades of scholarship studying Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Baines Johnson.

Goodwin was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in history for No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II. She worked with Steven Spielberg on Lincoln, which was based in part on her award-winning Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. She also recently served as executive producer on Washington, a History Channel miniseries that chronicled George Washington’s journey from soldier to statesman.

The lecture will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Billera Hall. It’s free and open to the public but tickets are required. For ticket reservations, visit alumni.desales.edu/furphy. If you have any questions, please call 610.282.1100, ext. 1364. Goodwin will sign copies of her books after the lecture. She will also take part in a closed student session earlier in the day.

Established in 1983, the Furphy Lecture Series is named in memory of Fr. Thomas J. Furphy, OSFS, who distinguished himself as a teacher of “National Problems” during his 38-year career in education. The theme of the series is “National and International Problems.”

Goodwin joins an illustrious group of previous speakers, including Jeb Bush, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, John Cardinal O’Connor, Jeanne Kirkpatrick, William Colby, Abba Eban, Lee Iacocca, Antonin Scalia, George F. Will, Vladimir Posner, William J. Bennett, Shimon Peres, Zbigniew Brzezinski, George Mitchell, Louis Freeh, Benazir Bhutto, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, William S. Cohen, Richard Armitage, John Ashcroft, Trent Lott, Dr. William Poole, Tom Ridge, J.C. Watts, and Jon Huntsman.