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Pulitzer Prize-winning historians Jill Lepore and Jon Meacham on Lessons from History (Part I)

Khalilah Brown-Dean (left) hosts “Lessons from History," an event on May 1, 2026 at The Connecticut Forum. Khalilah spoke with Pulitzer Prize-winning authors and historians Jon Meacham (center) and Jill Lepore (right).
Nick Caito
/
Connecticut Public
Khalilah Brown-Dean (left) hosts “Lessons from History," an event on May 1, 2026 at The Connecticut Forum. Khalilah spoke with Pulitzer Prize-winning authors and historians Jon Meacham (center) and Jill Lepore (right).

At the start of May, Khalilah sat down for a conversation with historians Jill Lepore and Jon Meacham.

The conversation was titled “Lessons from History,” and it came at a time when a lot was going on in U.S. politics. In just the past week there had been gunshots fired outside the ballroom where the White House Correspondents' Dinner was being held, a Supreme Court ruling that impacted the Voting Rights Act and developments that continued to shape the Iran war. It also came at a notable time for Jill Lepore: just three days after the conversation, she was announced as this year's winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History. Jon Meacham also won a Pulitzer Prize back in 2009.

The event was the final discussion of The Connecticut Forum’s 34th season.

We enjoyed hearing from these award-winning historians so much that we decided to extend the conversation to two episodes. If you like what you hear today, you can hear more next week.

GUESTS:

Disrupted is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Kevin Chang Barnum is a producer for Connecticut Public Radio’s weekly show Disrupted. Kevin grew up in Connecticut and started his radio work at his graduate university’s radio station, KUCI. He has also worked for HRN, a network of food and beverage podcasts.
Dr. Khalilah L. Brown-Dean is an award-winning scholar at Wesleyan University, author, and host of 'Disrupted' on Connecticut Public.
Erica McIntosh is Senior Regional Editor for Southern Connecticut. Erica was born and raised in Connecticut.
Robyn Doyon-Aitken is the Deputy Director of Audio Storytelling and Talk Shows
Meg Fitzgerald is the senior manager of projects and radio programming.

Funding provided by:
The Connecticut Office of Film, Television and Digital Media

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