Watch: Renowned historian Rick Atkinson shares insights from American Revolution at Sept. 16 Presidential Lecture

September 21, 2026 Purdue Today

Three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, bestselling author and historian Rick Atkinson, known for his gripping narratives of military conflict from the American Revolution and World War II to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, joined Purdue President Mitch Daniels on Sept. 16 for a Presidential Lecture Series event titled “America @ 250: Celebrating Freedom’s Giant Leap.”

Two men sit on a stage and speak during a public discussion.
Historian Rick Atkinson (right) speaks with Purdue President Mitch Daniels at the Sept. 16 Presidential Lecture Series. (Photo University photo/Angelina Cuello)
Two people shake hands in a large study and reading space, with a large historical painting hanging on the wall behind them. Students seated at tables work on laptops throughout the room.
Rick Atkinson, left, chats with Purdue history and prelaw major Ethan Messal of Evansville in the Wilmeth Active Learning Center’s Mullins Reading Room, with the near life-size replica of Emanuel Leutze’s masterpiece “Washington Crossing the Delaware” in the background. The authorized copy of the work was commissioned in 1969 by historian Ann Hawkes Hutton and painted by Robert Bruce Williams. The painting was loaned to Purdue in 2014. (Photo University photo/Angelina Cuello)

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