Join Michael in his conversation with Professor Edward L. Ayers about his fascinating new book American Visions: The United States, 1800-1860 which explores the revealing history of this most formative period in US history when voices of dissent and innovation help create visions of America still resonant today.

Professor Ayers is Tucker-Boatwright Professor of the Humanities at the University of Richmond, where he is President Emeritus. President Barack Obama awarded him the National Humanities Medal in 2013, hailing his "commitment to making our history as widely available and accessible as possible."

Professor Ayers has written prizewinning books on the history of the United States. They include In the Presence of Mine Enemies: Civil War in the Heart of America, winner of the Bancroft Prize and the Beveridge Prize; and The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction, a finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, and The Thin Light of Freedom: The Civil War and Emancipation in the Heart of America, winner of the Lincoln Prize and the Organization of American Historians’ prize for best book on the Civil War era. His most recent books are Southern Journey: The Migrations of the American South, 1790-2020, and American Visions: The United States, 1800-1860.