Speakers Bureau Speaker

Chris Smith, Tempe
Chris Smith lectures about, writes about, and immerses himself in contemporary American culture. An associate professor of history at Arizona State University, Dr. Smith has also worked as a moving man, landscape gardener, bookseller, Santa Claus, factory worker, painter, bus driver, and waiter. He received the 1998 AHC’s Dan Shilling Public Scholar Award.

Americans and Their Things
Smith uses his large personal collection of artifacts to help audiences realize the importance of thing saved and remembered in understanding their personal history, and how things have shaped American social and cultural behavior. Using artifacts such as political memorabilia, children’s literature, tools, books, popular art, gender items, songs and other items, Smith introduces important ideas about the material of this nation, including Daniel Boorstein’s theory that we have become "a democracy of things."

The History of American Humor
This talk argues that understanding what Americans laughed at helps us to understand our collective history better, and to understand the importance of humor in our daily lives and to the human condition. The talk concentrates on various humorists such as Ben Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Will Rogers, Ambrose Bierce, and Woody Allen. Upon request, the presentation can include sections on cowboy humor and Arizona humorists such as Dick Wick Hall, Mo Udall, and J.R. Williams.