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If you liked the British TV series “Downtown Abby,” meet the real life American equivalent in a newly published book, The Pinchots, by historian David Patterson. Like the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, and other business titans of the gilded age, the Pinchots became multi-millionaires who were important political and social reformers in the nation’s transformation from Victorian to modern America. Gifford Pinchot was a principal founder of the nation’s environmental movement and Theodore Roosevelt’s closest confidant. David will discuss how he came to write the book and the excitement of delving into what is arguably the largest collection of family papers in the Library of Congress.

David Patterson has taught diplomatic and peace history at major universities and served as chief editor of the longstanding documentary series, “Foreign Relations of the United States,” at the U.S. Department of State. He graduated from Yale and earned his PhD at the University of California at Berkeley. He wrote two other well-received books, Toward a Warless World and The Search for a Negotiated Peace.