Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Check Out Dr. Andy Dunar's Newest Book!


Congratulations to History Department Chair Dr. Andy Dunar on the publication of his newest book! You can order it at Amazon.

"The 1950s evoke images of prosperity, suburbia, a smiling President Eisenhower, cars with elaborate tail fins, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, and the "golden age" of television -- seemingly a simpler time in which the idealized family life of situation comedies had at least some basis in reality. A closer examination, however, recalls more threatening images: the hysteria of McCarthyism, the shadow of the atomic bomb, war in Korea, the Soviet threat manifested in the launch of Sputnik and the bombast of Nikita Khruschchev, and clashes over the integration of of public buses in Montgomery, Alabama, and a high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. Andrew J. Dunar successfully shows how the issues confronting America in the late twentieth century have roots in the fifties, some apparent at the time, others only in retrospect: civil rights, environmentalism, the counterculture, and "movements" on behalf of women, Chicanos, and Native Americans.

The rise of the "Beats," the continuing development of jazz, the emergence of rock 'n' roll, and the art of Jackson Pollock reveal the decade to be less conformist than commonly portrayed. While the cold war rivalry with the Soviet Union generated the most concern, Dunar skillfully illustrates how the rise of Nasser in Egypt, Castro in Cuba, and Communist regimes in North Korea, Vietnam, and China signaled new regional challenges to American power."

Monday, November 13, 2006

Whad'Ya Know?




















Not much, how about y'all!!?

Andrew Dunar and Stephen Waring were guests on Michael Feldman's radio quiz show Whad'Ya Know? on Saturday 18 November. Feldman began the show with funny remarks about Huntsville, including some of its sacred cows and provincial foibles. His first guests were Dunar and Waring. They talked about the history of "Rocket City, USA" and their book The Power to Explore: A History of the Marshall Space Flight Center . Waring was happy that Dunar did most of the talking. Dunar was happy that Waring learned from his lessons in sarcasm. The show was broadcast live from the Von Braun Civic Center, but you can listen to a RealAudio recording of the entire show. A review of the event by the Huntsville Times called the professors "local notables." Alas, Waring and Dunar's fifteen minutes of fame have elapsed.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Go Global!


Undergraduate students are welcome to attend the Global Studies evening at the Union Grove Gallery on Monday, November 13 at 7:00 PM. Free international music and food!

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Dr. Susan Grayzel's Visit to UAH


On October 19 and 20, Dr. Susan Grayzel, a historian of gender and warfare at the University of Mississippi, visited UAH.

On Oct. 19, Dr. Grayzel gave a lecture to students on how the study of gender can help society understand modern warfare. Following the lecture, students participated in a lively debate about female combatants. Later that evening, she delivered a public lecture on the gendered civilian experience of aerial bombing in World War One. Members of the audience then raised broader questions about women's wartime experiences.

On Oct. 20, students in Dr. Molly Johnson's "Women in Modern European History" class discussed one of Dr. Grayzel's books on women in the First World War with her, focusing not only on the themes of the book itself, but also Dr. Grayzel's experiences conducting archival and library research in European archives. This class session was followed by a reception for students in Union Grove Gallery.

The History Department looks forward to inviting future scholars to visit UAH and discuss their research with students and with the University and North Alabama communities!

Friday, November 03, 2006

Knossos Lecture


Dr. Donald Evely, Knossos curator of the British School of Athens, Greece, will give a presentation on "Knossos: New Thoughts and Future Perspectives" on 9 November. The sponsors of the event are the UAH Humanities Center and the North Alabama Society of the Archaeological Institute of America. It will begin at 7:30 PM in Chan Auditorium of the Administrative Science Building on the UAH campus. Juice and cookies after!

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Dr. John Hart Lecture on Americans in Mexico

On Thursday, November 2, Dr. John Hart, a historian from the University of Houston, will give a lecture entitled “Empire and Revolution: The Americans in Mexico since the Civil War.” This lecture, to be held at 7:00 p.m. in Roberts Recital Hall, is part of the Global Studies Forum on Mexico.

Friday, October 13, 2006

PAT Honor Society News


UAH hosts the Tau Omega Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta (PAT), the history student honorary society. Chapter officers for the 2006-2007 year are:

President: Whitney Snow
Vice-President: Daniel Lofgren
Secretary/Treasurer: Emily Espenan

To learn more about PAT, including criteria for membership, contact Dr. Virginia Martin, faculty advisor, at martinvi@uah.edu.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Travel to Rome with the History Club!


The UAH History Club is currently watching HBO's Rome series on Thursday evenings. Come to Roberts Hall 423 at 7:00 p.m. to enjoy Rome and to eat some pizza too!

Monday, October 02, 2006

Lunch with Visiting Scholar Dr. Susan Grayzel

If you are interested in having lunch with visiting scholar Dr. Susan Grayzel on Friday October 20, please email Dr. Johnson at johnsomw@uah.edu. The (free!) lunch will be at 12:00 noon in Union Grove Gallery.

Visiting Scholar: Dr. Susan Grayzel




















Public Lectures of Dr. Grayzel

Thurs, Oct. 19, “How Can Gender Help Us Understand the History of Modern War,” 11:10 a.m., Wilson Hall 127 (co-sponsored by the Honors Forum)

Thurs., Oct. 19, “Defining the Civilian in Modern War: Women and the Invention of the Home Front in the Great War,” 7:00 p.m., Roberts Recital Hall

Background on Dr. Grayzel:

In October 2006, the UAH History Department is bringing historian Dr. Susan Grayzel to campus in conjunction with HY 390, “Women in Modern European History,” taught by Dr. Molly Johnson. Dr. Grayzel will give two public lectures on women and modern warfare. She will also discuss one of her books, Women and the First World War, with Dr. Johnson’s HY 390 students, who are reading her book as one of their class readings. In addition, she will meet informally with all interested history graduate and undergraduate students for a brown bag lunch.

Dr. Grayzel’s visit will help raise student and community awareness of the interrelationship between the history of the military and modern warfare and the history of women and gender. Gender studies have emerged as an important tool in reinterpreting traditional fields of historical inquiry, and Dr. Grayzel has successfully employed this approach to reinterpret military history, which has been one of the most tradition-bound fields of historical research.

Dr. Grayzel has distinguished herself as a historian of twentieth-century Europe, with a special focus on women’s and gender history and the comparative history of Britain and France. She has written two books, Women’s Identities at War: Gender, Motherhood, and Politics in Britain and France during the First World War (University of North Carolina, 1999), and Women and the First World War (Longman, 2002). Women’s Identities at War won the British Council Prize of the North American Conference on British Studies for the best book in the field of nineteenth- and twentieth-century British Studies by a North American author in 2000. Dr. Grayzel has also published numerous articles in journals including the Journal of Modern History, International History Review, Rural History, Journal for Peace and Justice Studies, and Twentieth-Century British History, and she has contributed essays to five edited books. She has also presented papers at numerous conferences including the North American Conference on British Studies, the Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, the Society for French Studies, and the American Historical Association.

The history of the air raid and its impact on understandings of gender, heroism, and citizenship in twentieth-century Britain is the focus of Dr. Grayzel’s present research. She is completing a book-length project tentatively entitled “At Home and Under Fire: Gender and the Civilian Experience of Air Warfare in Britain, 1914-1942.”

The History Department would like to thank the Distinguished Speakers Series, sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Faculty Senate, for helping sponsor Dr. Grayzel’s visit. We also thank the Women’s Studies Program, the Honors Program, and the Office of Continuing Education for providing support.

Scope us out!















Welcome! This blog is a new venture for the UAH History Department. We will regularly post news and information about the department.

News and Notes

about the department, its students, and alumni