Full Course List

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Courses

• Lectures on Diverse Topics

  WWLL is fortunate to have access to distinguished people who volunteer their time and expertise to give lectures on an eclectic array of topics.

  Course Organizers: This course was organized by Ann Dolbear, Steve Engler, Barbara Mason, and Bruce Belason. The Zoom host is Bill Cohen.

  Below is a summary of dates, lecture titles, and speakers. For the entire lecture description and speaker bio, click on the “+” symbol to the right of the course title. To hide the information accessed, click again on either the lecture title or the “+” sign to the right of the title.

  • September 14

    Dr. Megan Kate Nelson: How the Real West was Lost: The Frontier Myth and the Erasure of U.S. Western History

    Over the course of the nineteenth century, what we know as “The American West” came into being. In this talk, Pulitzer Prize finalist Megan Kate Nelson will explain how diverse communities grew and flourished in the region while, at the same time, they were erased from a frontier myth that lionized individualism and celebrated white settlers traveling west in search of prosperity.

    Drawing on material from her new book, The Westerners (published by Scribner in 2026), Dr. Nelson will describe the individual and federal actions that created these cultural tensions during the nineteenth century. She will introduce three of the protagonists in her book, whose popular memories were manipulated in the years after their deaths: Sacajawea, not just Lewis and Clark’s guide but an explorer who forged her own path; Jim Beckwourth, a biracial fur trader whose sharp cultural insights made him famous in his time; and the defiant Ella Watson, a Canadian immigrant with dreams of becoming a cattle rancher in Wyoming.

    Speaker: Born and raised in Colorado, Megan Kate Nelson is a historian and writer based in Boston, with a BA from Harvard and a PhD in American Studies from the University of Iowa. She is the author of five books, including The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier (Scribner, 2026); Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America (Scribner, 2022; winner of the 2023 Spur Award for Historical Non- Fiction); and The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West (Scribner, 2020; 2021 Pulitzer Prize finalist in History).

    Dr. Nelson also writes about the Civil War, the U.S. West, and American culture for The New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, Slate, and Time.

  • September 28

    Dr. Susan Rogers: Individuality and the Music Listening Brain

    This presentation discusses the joy, personalization, and the health benefits of music. Musical taste forms over a lifetime of positive and negative listening experiences to create a unique profile for each music lover.

    Your favorite music reveals your sense of self and offers a reference point for sharing aspects of yourself with others. Dr. Rogers will discuss how music preferences form and the notion of a personalized “listener profile.” No matter which style is your favorite, listening and participating in musical activities is what neuroscientists call a “whole-brain workout.” Musical activities help promote successful aging by easing some of the negative aspects of growing older.

    The speaker will look at how music is harnessed to improve motor coordination, how singing boosts the immune system, and how listening to music enhances the quality of life.

    She concludes with some insight into age-related hearing loss and the importance of hearing aids for social and mental well-being.

    Speaker: Susan Rogers holds a doctoral degree in experimental psychology from McGill University (2010). Prior to her science career, Susan was a multi-platinum-earning record producer and audio engineer.

    She is best known for her work with Prince (1983-1987), but her production/engineering credits also include David Byrne, Barenaked Ladies, Rusted Root, and many others.

    She teaches neuroscience and psychoacoustics for Berklee Online.

    Her book on music listening is titled This is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You published by W. W. Norton in 2022. She is currently writing Music Cognition: From Anatomy to Ecstasy for Princeton University Press.

  • October 5

    NOTE DIFFERENT TIME FOR THIS PRESENTATION: 9:45-10:45 am

    Dr. Jay H. Buckley: Thomas Jefferson: America’s Flawed Founder of Freedom.

    Thomas Jefferson was a deeply paradoxical figure—both a founding champion of liberty and a lifelong slaveholder—whose legacy must be understood in its full complexity. While he enslaved more than 600 enslaved people and participated in a system he publicly condemned, Jefferson consistently articulated and promoted ideals of natural rights, equality, and freedom that reshaped the United States and influenced democratic movements worldwide.

    He made repeated (though often unsuccessful) efforts to curb or end slavery through legislation, legal cases, and policy, including opposing the slave trade, limiting slavery’s expansion into western territories, and helping abolish the transatlantic slave trade.

    At the same time, his personal actions—grounded in racial prejudice and economic dependence on slavery—fell far short of his ideals. Jefferson should neither be dismissed solely for his moral failures nor celebrated uncritically but rather understood as a flawed yet pivotal figure whose ideas about human liberty transformed global history even as he struggled to reconcile them in his own life.

    Below is an article that the class participants are invited to read that was published in the Lewis and Clark Trail Association journal: We Proceeded On.

    Jay H. Buckley grew up on ranches in Bridger Valley, Wyoming, and in the Uinta Mountains.

    He received an MA in history from BYU before earning his PhD at the University of Nebraska.

    Buckley is an Associate Professor of History at Brigham Young University, where he teaches courses in U.S., American West, and American Indian history and coordinates the American Indian Studies minor. He is the director of BYU’s Charles Redd Center for Western Studies.

    Buckley served as president of the national Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation (2011–2012), which provides leadership in scholarship, education, and conservation pertaining to the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.

    Buckley is the author of the award-winning William Clark: Indian Diplomat and co-author of eleven other books, including By His Own Hand?: The Mysterious Death of Meriwether Lewis, Zebulon Pike, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West, and Great Plains Forts.

  • October 19

    Larry DiCara: The State of the Union

    Drawing on his knowledge of politics and American history, Larry DiCara will discuss the State of the Union. There will be quotes from authors and commentators, about where the nation is heading and commentary regarding the upcoming important House and Senate elections.

    After the presentation there will be time for a robust conversation

    Speaker: Larry DiCara is a former president of the Boston City Council and has been an attorney for more than 50 years focusing on real estate development. He is the author of Turmoil and Transition in Boston: A Memoir of the Busing Era and the recent novel: Frothingham: A Novella About Boston, dealing with lawyers, politicians, and families in Boston in the 20th Century.

    Larry is a graduate of Boston Latin School, Harvard College, Suffolk University Law School, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

    He is the father of three grown children and splits his time between Boston, Marion, and Ft. Myers, Florida.

  • October 26

    Professor Richard Bell: The Reverse Underground Railroad - Slavery and Kidnapping in Pre-Civil War America

    Join us for a talk by Dr. Richard Bell, author of Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and Their Astonishing Odyssey Home that tells the incredible story of five boys whose courage forever changed the fight against slavery in America.

    Philadelphia, 1825: Five young, free Black boys fall into the clutches of the most fearsome gang of kidnappers and slave traders in the United States. Lured aboard a small ship with the promise of food and pay, they are instead met with blindfolds, ropes, and knives. Over the next four long months, their captors force them overland into the Cotton Kingdom to be sold as slaves. Determined to resist, the boys form a close brotherhood as they struggle to free themselves and find their way home.

    Their ordeal—an odyssey that takes them from the Philadelphia waterfront to the marshes of Mississippi and then onward still—shines a glaring spotlight on the Reverse Underground Railroad, a black-market network of human traffickers and slave traders who stole away thousands of legally free African Americans from their families in order to fuel slavery's rapid expansion in the decades before the Civil War.

    Speaker: Richard Bell is Professor of History at the University of Maryland. He is the author of the book Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and Their Astonishing Odyssey Home, which was a finalist for the George Washington Prize and the Harriet Tubman Prize.

    He has held major research fellowships at Yale, Cambridge, and the Library of Congress and is the recipient of the National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar Award and the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship.

    His new book, The American Revolution and the Fate of the World, published by Penguin, recently won the Journal of the American Revolution Book of the Year Award.

    He maintains a list of upcoming events at Richard-Bell.com.

  • November 2

    Jim O’Connell: Becoming Cape Cod, The Creation of a Seaside Resort

    Jim O’Connell’s talk on Becoming Cape Cod: Creating a Seaside Resort is based on his book about the history of Cape Cod’s development as a vacation mecca.

    The presentation, illustrated with his collection of rare historic postcards, traces Cape Cod’s resort history from its discovery by Henry David Thoreau before the Civil War to the present day.

    The talk covers three eras: 1870—1920, the early years of the resort; 1920—1950, the impact of the automobile on creating a tourist region with common marketing, a plethora of attractions, and a strong heritage appeal; and 1950—present, measures taken to preserve the Cape in the face of overdevelopment.

    The book Becoming Cape Cod served as the basis for a two-year exhibit on Cape Cod's history as a resort at Sandwich's Heritage Museums & Gardens in 2022—2023.

    Speaker: Jim O’Connell has a B.A. from Bates College and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Urban History from the University of Chicago.

    He teaches in the City Planning-Urban Affairs Program at Boston University.

    Jim has worked in planning positions at the National Park Service, the Cape Cod Commission, and the City of Springfield, Massachusetts.

    Besides his Cape Cod book, he has written Boston and the Making of a Global City, Dining Out in Boston: A Culinary History, and The Hub's Metropolis: Boston's Suburban Development, From Railroad Suburbs to Smart Growth.

    He formerly lived on the Cape, in Yarmouth Port, and currently lives in Newton with his wife, Ann Marie.

  • November 9

    David Wood: Eyewitness to Revolution: The Revolutionary War Collection at the Concord Museum

    Eyewitness to Revolution, published in 2025, includes 80 items from the Concord Museum collection associated with the American Revolution, particularly the event at the North Bridge on April 19, 1775, including paintings, documents, firearms, swords, powder horns, and ceramics.

    Speaker: David Wood has been curator of the Concord Museum since 1985 and has reinstalled and reinterpreted the entire museum twice and planned and implemented more than 100 temporary exhibitions.

    He has published numerous articles on Concord's craft community and two books, An Observant Eye: The Thoreau Collection at the Concord Museum (2006) and Eyewitness to Revolution: The Revolutionary War Collection at the Concord Museum (2025).

  • November 16

    Doug Most: The Story and the People Behind America’s First Subway

    You know it as the “T.”

    But do you know how Boston came to build the nation’s first underground trolley system, the challenges that were overcome, the tragedies that interrupted its construction, and the powerful men who made sure Boston built a subway before its more famous neighbor to the south, New York City?

    This is the story of The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry That Built America’s First Subway.

    Speaker: Doug Most, a Needham resident, is the author of Launching Liberty: The Epic Race to Build the Ships That Took America to War (Simon & Schuster, 2025). A lifelong journalist and author, his career has spanned newspapers, magazines, and universities, from Washington, DC, to South Carolina, New Jersey, and Boston.

    He worked for 15 years at The Boston Globe as the Sunday Magazine editor and deputy managing editor for special projects.

    His 2014 nonfiction book, The Race Underground, tells the story of the birth of subways in America in the late 1800s and was adapted into a PBS/American Experience documentary. The New York Times called the book “a sweeping narrative of late-19th-century intrigue.”

    After eight years at Boston University, he is now the Executive Director of Content & Editorial Strategy in the Office of Harvard Public Affairs and Communications.

  • November 23

    Robin Johnson: The AI Revolution IV: Staying Sharp, Safe and Connected

    In this fourth installment of our series, Robin Johnson returns to look beyond the immediate headlines and map out the true reality of our changing digital landscape. Artificial Intelligence is rapidly shifting away from a tech novelty and is becoming a fundamental part of the tools, websites, and devices we use every single day. Instead of acting like old computer programs that need rigid, step-by-step instructions, today's technology is evolving into software that can simply "figure it out" on its own.

    In this warm, conversational, and completely non-technical presentation, we will cover:

    • Real-World Impacts: We will demystify the broader effects of this technology, including how it is reshaping industries and the workforce, as well as provide a peek behind the curtain at hidden environmental costs, such as the massive amounts of power and water these systems consume.
    • Stories from the Front Lines: Robin will share the latest real-world advancements, showing how people are now using simple, everyday language to design visual projects or even build custom family games without needing to know a single line of computer code.
    • An Open Q&A Session: We will dedicate time to answering your specific questions so you can learn exactly what you need to stay current, protect your digital privacy, and confidently evaluate how to use these tools in the way that is best and most appropriate for you.

    Speaker: Robin R. Johnson is a friendly AI expert and innovator who focuses on making technology approachable, safe, and genuinely useful for everyday people.

    Over the last few decades, Robin has worked with some of the world's most recognizable creative and entertainment companies, including Meta, Disney, Electronic Arts, and DreamWorks, building tools that help people tell their stories.

    He currently leads AI innovation at Mixbook, the world's top-rated photobook platform, where he designs smart, simple tools to help families preserve and celebrate their most precious memories.

    A resident of Wellesley and a father of two, Robin is dedicated to helping his neighbors navigate the changing digital landscape with confidence, safety, and a healthy sense of perspective.

  • November 30

    B. Dale Magee, MD: From Snake Oil……to Science: The History of Regulation of the Pharmaceutical Industry in the U.S.

    

    During the 19th century, traditional medicine transformed from practices based on time-honored approaches, many of which may have done harm, to one moving toward the use of science. Drugs that were used were dispensed by physicians, but there was little standardization or testing. Along with this, however, came a growth in alternative approaches, including the widespread marketing of "cures" that could be purchased without the need for a physician and for which there was no limitation regarding the cures that were promised or the safety of the product.

    Drugs dispensed under both circumstances could do harm and might do no good. As public awareness grew, the calls for regulation grew as well. The involvement of the federal government was incremental, with regulations covering demonstrated harms. We will cover the calls for regulation and the responses of the government from the 19th through the late 20th centuries.

    Speaker: B. Dale Magee, MD, is a retired obstetrician-gynecologist with a career-long interest in the history of medicine, as well as health policy and public health. In 2024, he founded the New England History of Medicine Society. They provide presentations as well as tours for those interested in the history of medicine. All are welcome to join.

    In addition to a medical degree from the State University of New York Upstate Medical Center, he trained in Obstetrics & Gynecology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and later earned a master's degree in health policy & quality measurement at the Dartmouth Institute.

    He has served as president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, Commissioner of Public Health for Worcester, and on various public health committees dealing with maternal, infant, and child mortality.

    In addition, he served for four terms on the Shrewsbury School Committee.

• Poetry for the People

  9 weeks. September 28 - November 30. Fear and courage are often seen as opposites, yet courage exists because fear does. In this class, we will explore poems that reflect fear, courage, uncertainty, and loss, along with acts of bravery. Through the work of contemporary and classic poets, we will discuss how poetry gives voice to our fears and reveals the courage to face them. As with other Poetry for the People classes, class members are encouraged to express their views and insights to these poems, which enrich the class for all present.

  Teacher: Charles Kamar has a bachelor's degree from Boston State College and a master's degree from Boston University. He has taught at all secondary grade levels and spent 20 years at Newton North High School. In 1998, he won the Paul E. Elicker Award for Excellence in Teaching.

• Wollen Sie Deutsch Sprechen?

  An hour of conversation for students of German and German speakers. A basic knowledge of the German language is necessary. The group is peer-led, with members suggesting stories, articles, poems, and multimedia for discussion (auf Deutsch). Participants also write a few sentences on group-selected topics, helping us become more acquainted with each other as well as the Deutsche Sprache. Talents represented in the group make for a lively class.

  Teacher: Peer-Led class.