Richard Aquila is the director of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and professor of history at Pennsylvania State University, the Behrend College. He specializes in U.S. social and cultural history and his publications include Home Front Soldier: The Story of a G.I. and His Italian American Family During World War II (1999); Wanted Dead or Alive: The American West in Popular Culture (1996); That Old Time Rock and Roll: A Chronicle of An Era, 1954-63 (1989); and The Iroquois Restoration: Iroquois Diplomacy on the Colonial Frontier, 1701-1754 (1983, 1997). Aquila has also written, produced, and hosted numerous documentaries for NPR. From 1998 to 2000, his weekly public history series, "Rock & Roll America," was syndicated on NPR and NPR Worldwide.

Lecture topics:

• Trail of Freedom: Images of Native Americans in Popular Music
• "History You Can Dance To": NPR's "Rock & Roll America" as Public History
• Images of the American West in Popular Culture
• America's Cold War Culture and Rock 'n' Roll
• "Into the Fire": September 11, Popular Music, and Public Memory

Viewed Saturday, November 21, 2009