Greenville Leader

Two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist H. W. Brands will serve as the voice to an “Heirs of the Founders: How Clay, Calhoun and Webster Showed Us the Way to Compromise” forum on Oct. 28 at The Poinsett Club in Greenville.

At a time when politics has never been more polarized, Brands told Furman University News there are lessons to be learned from the way the trio of 19th century politicians Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun and Daniel Webster handled things.

“Heirs of the Founders” is a “riveting story of how, in 19th century America, a new set of political giants battled to complete the unfinished work of the founding fathers and decide the future of our democracy,” the publisher said of the event sponsored by the American History Book Club and Forum (AHBC) and Furman University.

The 2021 Huff student and alumni scholar winners are also slated to recognized at the event. The awards are named for A.V. Huff, a former Furman professor, dean and vice president for academic affairs, and his wife Kate Huff, an elementary school teacher.

Junior history major George King is the winner of this year’s A.V. Huff History Scholars Award. The McLean, Virginia, native is studying the civil rights movement with Furman faculty member Steve O’Neill with much of the research dissecting the long-term effects the Brown v. Board of Education decision had on integration in South Carolina.

The Kate Huff History Scholars Award traveled to the Greenville County Living History Farm at Roper Mountain, curated by Dana Lackey. 

With Greenville County school students relegated to remote learning and the Living Farm shuttered due to the ongoing pandemic, Lackey enlisted the assistance of Furman faculty member George Lipscomb and his elementary social studies methods students to map out lessons focused on the Underground Railroad and Reconstruction.

Born in Oregon, Brands attended college in California, earning graduate degrees in mathematics and history. He later taught at Vanderbilt University and Texas A&M University, and eventually joined the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin, where he holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History and teaches history and writing to students up to the graduate school level.

Brands also frequently lectures on historical and current events and has penned such novels as the “The Zealot and the Emancipator,” “Dreams of El Dorado,” “The General vs. the President” and “Reagan.” His works “Traitor to His Class” and “The First American,” were Pulitzer finalists.

Previous AHBC speakers include Michael Beschloss, Maureen Dowd, David Brooks, Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough.

Brands' presentation is scheduled for 6 p.m., and to purchase tickets ($50 in person; $35 virtually) individuals can contact Karen Corn at karen.corn@furman.edu.