Welcome to the not Old Better Show. I'm your host Paul Vogel-Zang.

Our guest today, Dr. James Lewis, professor of history at Kalamazoo College,

has written a fascinating new book about Aaron Burr, titled

The Burr Conspiracy, uncovering the story of an early American crisis.

In the book, Dr Lewis uses the uncertainty about Burr's intentions in the fall of

1806 and the trouble that followed to address the role of conspiracy and

crisis in our young newly developed democracy and the impact it had on politics and political culture.

Dr. Lewis also looks at how biased newspaper reports, partisan politics, the federal government, and notions

of honor and gentility played out in the

chief villain of the founding fathers.

The Burke conspiracy was a very famous moment

of early American history

when it seemed like the former vice president had perhaps committed treason and so I'm

very interested in how people at the time came to understand this as as treasonous event and how they put together a story out of the

swirl of conflicting rumors and accounts and reports that allowed them to move forward and to act and to put a man on trial for his life.

That of course was our guest today, Dr. James Lewis, who will be appearing at the Smithsonian Associates Program, November 6th, at the Ripley Center.

As part of our Smithsonian Associates Art of Living Series, we are joined today via Skype with

Dr. James Lewis.

Well, Dr. James Lewis, thanks very much for joining the show today.

I'm looking forward to it.

Good.

Well, Dr. Lewis, Alexander Hamilton, as well as Aaron Burr, are part of pop culture today certainly but following the

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