2018 Long Branch Speakers Series

The 2018 Long Branch Speaker Series mixes history, current affairs, the visual arts, and business. This year we have also added a special bonus for whole-season subscribers. Please join us. Together, we can all expand our horizons. Here’s the 2018 line-up:

Sunday, February 25: “Not with Fire & Sword”
Jonathan Noyalas, the Director of Shenandoah University’s McCormick Civil War Institute, will discuss healing the War’s wounds in the Valley. As Noyalas writes in Civil War Legacy in the Shenandoah: Remembrance, Reunion, and Reconciliation: “Among all of the tasks former Confederates had to deal with in the Civil War’s aftermath, ‘learning to forget the bitterness’ proved perhaps the most difficult.” This is an important subject that echoes into our own time, and Professor Noyalas is a much-praised lecturer.

Sunday, March 4: “The North Korean Enigma”
Chuck Downs takes us inside the mind of perhaps the most opaque and dangerous nation on the planet. A part-time Clarke County resident and the long-serving Deputy Director of the Pentagon’s East Asia office, Downs was cofounder of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and its executive director from 2008 to 2011. His talk will focus on what to expect of Kim Jong Un in the aftermath of the Winter Olympics.

Sunday, March 11: “Around the World with John Lewis”
A highly accomplished photographer and intrepid traveler, Clark County’s John Lewis has captured on film an astounding gallery of people and places from seemingly every part of the globe. In this talk, Lewis will focus in some of his favorite shots — who, what, where, when, and why. For the armchair traveler, this is a rare opportunity to circle the world with a highly entertaining guide.

Sunday, March 18: “So, You Want To Start a Business …”
Sarah Cohen did just that, and the results have been astounding. Her entrepreneurial brainchild, Route 11 Potato Chips, might be the most studied snack-food launch ever, garnering rave reviews in case studies by the Wharton School and Harvard Business School, among others. In the finale of the Long Branch Speakers Series, Sarah Cohen will let us in on her secrets. Expect lots of laughs along with some great advice.

And the Bonus for Whole-Season Subscribers
A private tour of the newly restored Cool Spring battlefield. The date: Saturday, June 2nd, 9-11 a.m. Your guide: Jonathan Noyalas. (See Above) Don’t miss it!

All talks begin at 6 pm and last approximately one hour, including time for questions and comments from the audience.

Attendees will have a chance to socialize beforehand over drinks and light hors d’oeuvres, beginning at 5:30.

Ticket prices: $25 for individual speakers, $80 for the entire series (cash or check at the door)

Seating is limited, and priority will go to series-ticket holders.

To reserve tickets, please contact Long Branch at 540.837.1856.

And Please Tell Your Friends!