War & Society Roundtable

The War & Society Roundtable, a joint community and university monthly reading group, has been in existence since 2006.  Sponsored jointly by Southern Miss’s Center for the Study of War and Society and the Library of Hattiesburg, Petal, and Forrest County, the Roundtable focuses on a different war and society book each month of the academic year.  A friendly but spirited discussion about the book is moderated by a History faculty member from Southern Miss.  The Roundtable is a great way for community members, faculty, and students to interact while exploring topics of mutual interest.  Copies of each month’s book—generously provided by the Friends of the Hattiesburg Library—are available for loan at the Hattiesburg Public Library well in advance of each meeting.  The Roundtable is free to the public and is generally held at 6pm on the second Tuesday of each month during the academic year.  See below for latest Roundtable schedule:

 Books

      2013      "War and Society across Time and Place"

Print Version

All meetings will begin at 6 p.m. and will be held at the Hattiesburg Library, located at 329 Hardy Street. Several copies of each book will be available for loan at the library before the discussion.  For more information, contact Sean Farrell at the Library at 601-584-3166 or Kenneth Swope at The University of Southern Mississippi at 601-266-5467 or Kenneth.Swope@usm.edu. 

 

  • Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Book: In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

Moderator: Jason Dawsey, Visiting Instructor of History, University of Southern Mississippi

Synopsis: “Suffused with the tense atmosphere of the period, and with unforgettable portraits of the bizarre Göring and the expectedly charming--yet wholly sinister--Goebbels, In the Garden of Beasts lends a stunning, eyewitness perspective on events as they unfold in real time, revealing an era of surprising nuance and complexity. The result is a dazzling, addictively readable work that speaks volumes about why the world did not recognize the grave threat posed by Hitler until Berlin, and Europe, were awash in blood and terror.”

 

  • Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Book:  The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris King

Moderator:  Kenneth Swope, Professor of History, University of Southern Mississippi

Synopsis:  “In December 1937, the Japanese army swept into the ancient city of Nanking. Within weeks, more than 300,000 Chinese civilians and soldiers were systematically raped, tortured, and murdered—a death toll exceeding that of the atomic blasts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. Using extensive interviews with survivors and newly discovered documents, Iris Chang has written the definitive history of this horrifying episode.”    

 

  • March, 2013

No Roundtable this month! Come and join us in New Orleans for the Society for Military History’s annual meeting instead!   Check it out at: www.smh2013.org

 

  • Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Book:  The Blitz: The British Under Attack, by Juliet Gardiner

Moderator: Allison Abra, Assistant Professor of History, University of Southern Mississippi

Synopsis: “September 1940 marked the beginning of Nazi Germany's aerial attack on civilian Britain. Lasting eight months, the Blitz was the form of warfare that had been predicted throughout the 1930s, and that the British people had feared since Neville Chamberlain's declaration that Britain was at war. Images of Britain's devastated cities are among the most iconic of the Second World War. Yet compared with other great moments of that war - Dunkirk, the North African campaign, D-Day - the Blitz remains curiously unexamined. 'The Blitz' is a much-needed exploration of one of the most important moments in Second World War history”

 

  • Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Book:  Generous Enemies: Patriots and Loyalists in Revolutionary New York by Judith L. Van Buskirk

Moderators:  Kyle F. Zelner, Associate Professor of History and Stephanie A. Seal, MA Candidate, University of Southern Mississippi

Synopsis: “Generous Enemies challenges many long-held assumptions about wartime experience during the American Revolution by demonstrating that communities conventionally depicted as hostile opponents were, in fact, in frequent contact. Living in two clearly delineated zones of military occupation—the British occupying the islands of New York Bay and the Americans in the surrounding countryside—the people of the New York City region often reached across military lines to help friends and family members, pay social calls, conduct business, or pursue a better life. Examining the movement of Loyalist and rebel families, British and American soldiers, free blacks, slaves, and businessmen, Van Buskirk shows how personal concerns often triumphed over political ideology.”

 

Past Roundtables 

 

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