Civil War is focus of Nov. 15-17
Turning Points in History forum

The Civil War is the theme of the 12th annual Presidential Forum on Turning Points in History. The free public program will take place in several campus locations and at the Starkville Public Library on University Boulevard.

The annual examination of a major event in the nation's 217-year existence is sponsored by the History Department with support from the Mississippi Humanities Council and the College of Arts and Sciences.

Featured speakers will include historians Carl Degler of Stanford University, Herman Hattaway of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and Hans L. Trefousse of Brooklyn City College and the City University of New York.

"The Civil War has become a very lively topic of widespread interest and our program will attempt to address every aspect of it," said forum coordinator William E. Parrish.

The forum's first program is a screening of Glory at 7 p.m. on the 15th in the Rogers Auditorium of McCool Hall. Others include:

• Documentary Civil War Films, 2:30 p.m. on the 16th, Colvard Union Small Auditorium.

• Hattaway discussing "The Impact of the Civil War," 7:30 p.m. on the 16th, Simrall Hall Auditorium.

• Degler addressing "The Social Impact of the Civil War," 11 a.m. on the 17th, Simrall Auditorium.

• A noon program on the 17th at the Starkville library featuring Mississippi State historian John F. Marszalek, who was nominated this year for a Pulitzer Prize for his biography on Union Gen. William T. Sherman. His topic: "Sherman: Myth and Reality."

• Trefousse speaking on "The Political Impact of the War," 2:30 p.m. on the 17th, Simrall Auditorium.

• A panel discussion analyzing "The Significance of the Civil War for Today," 7:30 p.m. on the 17th, Simrall Auditorium. Degler and Hattaway will be joined by historians William K. Scarbrough of the University of Southern Mississippi and Lucie Bridgeforth of Northwest Mississippi Community College, along with Civil War reenactor Jeffrey Neubauer of the Golden Triangle Civil War Roundtable.

Hattaway is a co-author of How the North Won: A Military History of the Civil War. He also wrote a biography of Confederate Gen. Stephen D. Lee, Mississippi State's first president.

Trefousse is the author of biographies on several major Civil War figures.

For additional information on the forum, call Parrish at 325-3604.