Presidential Historian Douglas Brinkley, Author of "American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race"

Presidential historian Dr. Douglas Brinkley, author of American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race, is a signature speaker for One Giant Leap: Apollo 11 @ 50, a two-day symposium presented by Hofstra University in partnership with the Cradle of Aviation Museum.

The Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969, marked a watershed moment in human history for science, engineering, and culture, not only in the United States, but around the globe.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of that landmark event, the symposium offers a series of programs and discussions that consider both the scientific and technological dimensions of the landing on the moon and its cultural and political repercussions, both locally on Long Island and around the world. 

Events are free and open to the public. For more information visit hofstra.edu/apollo11 or call the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.

Wednesday, April 3, 7 p.m.: Dr. Douglas Brinkley

The Helene Fortunoff Theater, Monroe Lecture Center, California Avenue, South Campus

This appearance is a homecoming for Dr. Brinkley who taught at Hofstra in the early 1990s.

Today Dr. Brinkley is the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of History at Rice University, CNN Presidential Historian, and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. In American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race (HarperCollins), this perennial New York Times bestselling author takes a fresh look at the space program, President John F. Kennedy's inspiring challenge, and America's race to the moon. Drawing on new primary source material and major interviews with many of the surviving figures who were key to America's success, Brinkley brings this fascinating history to life as never before. American Moonshot is a portrait of the brilliant men and women who made this giant leap possible, the technology that enabled us to propel men beyond earth's orbit to the moon and return them safely, and the geopolitical tensions that spurred Kennedy to commit himself fully to this audacious dream. Brinkley's ensemble cast of New Frontier characters include rocketeer Wernher von Braun, astronaut John Glenn and space booster Lyndon Johnson. A vivid and enthralling chronicle of one of the most thrilling, hopeful, and turbulent eras in the nation's history, American Moonshot is an homage to scientific ingenuity, human curiosity, and the boundless American spirit.