Politics and religion in America: how do the two intersect at this moment in our nation’s history? Kevin Kruse, M.A. ’97, Ph.D. ‘00, a historian focused on the relationships between race, religion and politics, will address this question in his talk, “Make America Born Again: Religion and Politics in the 2016 Campaign” as this year’s LaFeber-Silbey lecturer.

The lecture is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 3, at 4:30 p.m. in McGraw Hall Room 165. The talk is free and open to the public.

“Kevin Kruse is a genial, engaging speaker, and a wonderful interlocutor,” said Isabel Hull, the John Stambaugh Professor of History and organizer of this year’s LaFeber-Silbey Lecture. “He’ll have lots to tell us about the puzzling intersection between a man like Trump and Americans who understand themselves as religious fundamentalists.”

Kruse’s recent book, “One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America,” uncovers the connection between corporate money and the rise of the evangelical movement.

Kruse is a professor of history at Princeton University. He received his doctorate in history from Cornell; his dissertation became the prize-winning book, “White Flight,” which analyzed the wave of resegregation during the civil rights movement.

The LaFeber-Silbey Endowment in History Lecture is held yearly and is given by speakers who are active in public life, policy making or academics, and who are often Cornell alumni. Several alumni underwrite the series, named for two emeritus faculty members, Walter LaFeber and Joel Silbey, to expose undergraduates to distinguished figures with experience in public life, journalism, or academia.

Claire Anne Perez is the communications assistant for the Department of History.