Let’s Talk About It : Special Programs
Making Sense of the Civil War (Coming in January, 2012)
This new series is designed as a succession of five conversations exploring different facets of the Civil War experience, informed by reading the words written or spoken by powerful voices from the past and present. Each session will explore a different topic.
“Making Sense of the American Civil War” was created and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of its We the People initiative, which promotes scholarship, teaching, and learning about American history and culture.
- March by Geraldine Brooks [2005]
- Selections from America’s War anthology
- Selections from America’s War: Talking About the Civil War and Emancipation on their 150th Anniversaries, a new anthology edited by Edward L. Ayers and published by NEH and ALA
- Selections from America’s War anthology
- Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam by James M. McPherson
- Selections from America’s War anthology
- Selections from America’s War anthology
PLEASE NOTE: Due to special funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, libraries awarded this program will host 5 sessions.
Behind the Headlines: An Introduction to the Middle East
This is a special Let’s Talk About It program that we have developed in response to many requests we have received for a series focusing on the Middle East. Mahmud Faksh, a professor of political science and an expert on the Middle East at the University of Southern Maine, has developed this new Let’s Talk About It series and will lead some of the discussions.
The format will be a little different from our normal Let’s Talk About It programs. Groups will meet 3 times with a facilitator/scholar who specializes in the Middle East. The readings for both sessions will be from The Contemporary Middle East, edited by Karl Yambert, a new, accessible anthology of writings by leading scholars incorporating historical, cultural, and political perspectives of the region. To provide participants with background and context, each session will begin with a 45-minute presentation by the facilitator, followed by approximately an hour and a quarter of facilitated discussion and questions.
This series will be offered a limited number of times each year throughout the state, depending upon the availability of an appropriate scholar.
We will delve into the history, cultures, and peoples of the Middle East, coupled with an examination of the Israeli-Palestinian quest for a peaceful settlement.
We will focus on the two key countries of Saudi Arabia and Egypt, assess their political stability in the face of mounting Islamist challenge, and examine their relations with the United States.
We will examine the two Gulf countries of Iraq and Iran, surveying the tumultuous and violent history of the Iraqi state and its lack of coherence as a national political community, and analyze the 1979 Khomeini Islamic Revolution in Iran, assessing its consequences for security and stability in the Gulf region and for the rebirth of militant jihadist Islam.
Here is the word document (52K) for Behind the Headlines: An Introduction to the Middle East
Contact Lizz Sinclair (email: lizz@mainehumanities.org) for more information.
