December 2010 | Vol. IX No. 4

One Civilized Reader Is Worth a Thousand Boneheads

Nancy Berg Professor of Asian and Near Eastern Dr. George Washington Carver Languages and Literatures Ken Botnick Professor of Art Director of Kranzberg Book Studio The Center received a peppers, as well as green Gene Dobbs Bradford beautifully written and beans and Asian-style Executive Director Jazz St. Louis illustrated children’s eggplant. I don’t like the Elizabeth Childs book in the mail this weeding, but I enjoy the Associate Professor and Chair of Department of Art History and week. The book, donated homegrown fruits and Archaeology by local author Susan vegetables. Mary-Jean Cowell Grigsby, contains a hand- Associate Professor of Performing Arts Grigsby’s book re- Phyllis Grossman written note on the title minded me of fresh Retired Financial Executive page: “To the Center for tomatoes and cucumbers Michael A. Kahn the Humanities, Wash- Author and Partner while introducing me to Bryan Cave LLP ington University. Thank Dr. George Washington Zurab Karumidze you for supporting chil- Carver (1864 or 1865— Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia dren’s literature.” This Peter Kastor 1943). In the Garden with Associate Professor of History and volume introduced me to Dr. Carver (Albert Whit- American Culture Studies Program one of the most interest- Chris King man & Company, 2010) Editorial Director ing people I have ever is based on stories and The St. Louis American Newspaper encountered. It also writings by the legendary Olivia Lahs-Gonzales reminded me of an annual Dr. Carver at work in his lab. Director American scientist, botanist, Sheldon Art Galleries project that I seldom antici- educator, and inventor. Grigsby’s narrator is Steven Meyer pate with pleasure, but that I always end up Associate Professor of English Sally, a young African-American girl living in Joe Pollack enjoying. rural Alabama in the early 1900s. Sally meets Film and Theater Critic for KWMU, Writer The project is my husband’s annual garden. Dr. Carver when he steps down from a mule- Anne Posega Every spring I criticize him for spending drawn wagon piled high with plants, tools, and Head of Special Collections, Olin Library time and money on a garden. Every spring seeds. Dr. Carver traveled all over the South Qiu Xiaolong Novelist and Poet he agrees, yet plants it anyway. He has been teaching struggling local farmers how to re- Joseph Schraibman gardening since he was in elementary school pair the soil depleted by years of cotton crops, Professor of Spanish but does not remember how he got started. and to grow new crops like peanuts and sweet Henry Schvey Professor of Drama He does recall the first few pathetic harvests: potatoes. Charged with bringing education to Wang Ning a handful of two-inch carrots, pea-sized farmers by Booker T. Washington, founder of Professor of English, Tsinghua University radishes, and marble-sized beets. This year’s Tuskegee University where Dr. Carver taught James Wertsch Marshall S. Snow Professor of Arts and garden, however, produced an almost endless for 47 years, Carver designed a mobile school Sciences supply of full-size cucumbers, tomatoes, and called a “Jesup wagon” after the New York Associate Vice Chancellor for International Affairs

Ex Officio Edward S. Macias Provost & Exec VC for Academic Affairs Gary S. Wihl visit our blog site at http://cenhum.artsci.wustl.edu/pubs/blog.htm Dean of Arts & Sciences editor's notes continued

financier Morris He also published Ketchum Jesup, six bulletins on who provided sweet potatoes, five funding. By 1918, on cotton, and four Dr. Carver was on cowpeas. Other running his “mov- bulletins discussed able school” out alfalfa, wild plums, of the back of a tomatoes, orna- truck. mental plants, corn, The fictional off- poultry, dairying, shoot of Carver’s hogs, preserv- visit to Sally is his ing meats in hot decision to stay weather, and nature and help her class study in schools. with their school George Washing- garden. Here Dr. ton Carver is said Carver’s genius to have discovered is revealed, and three hundred uses Nicole Tadgell’s for peanuts and color palette, rich hundreds more for with earth tones, brings the story to life. One of the soybeans, pecans, and sweet potatoes. Among the syn- lessons that particularly struck me is provided when thetic substances he prescribed to southern farmers are Sally’s brother Ben raises a stick to kill a spider spin- adhesives, axle grease, bleach, buttermilk, chili sauce, ning a web near the garden. Dr. Carver stops Ben and fuel briquettes (a biofuel), ink, instant coffee, linoleum, reminds him that the spider is trapping bugs that want mayonnaise, meat tenderizer, metal polish, paper, to eat the garden, the moral being, “Before you change plastic, pavement, shaving cream, shoe polish, synthetic or destroy something, make sure you understand why rubber, talcum powder, and wood stain. All these uses it’s there and how it relates to its natural community.” for plants were intended as homemade substitutes for He teaches the students to restore the soil and respect commercial products beyond the budgets of small one- the balance of nature. He tells them to listen to the horse southern farmers. We need this kind of vision plants because they will tell what they need. If you love for people of developing nations today. Moreover, we it enough, anything will talk with you. And he prepares need this kind of genius for an earth running short of a delicious vegetarian lunch, including “chicken” made resources. Carver’s application of scientific methods to from peanuts. sustain farmers and help make them independent of the Susan Grigsby’s story illuminates an African-Amer- cash economy is summarized in the text on his tomb- ican scientist who was ahead of his time. Dr. Carver stone: He could have added fortune to fame, but caring was born in Diamond Grove, Newton County, Marion for neither, he found happiness and honor in being Township, near Crystal Place, now known as Diamond, helpful to the world. And he, indeed, helped small- Missouri, before slavery was abolished. Although scale farmers everywhere. there is a monument to him at the Missouri Botanical George Washington Carver Recognition Day is cel- Garden in St. Louis, Carver is buried near Booker T. ebrated on January 5, the anniversary of his death. Washington at Tuskegee University. During his more than four decades at Tuskegee, Carver’s official publi- cations consisted of 44 practical bulletins for farmers. The first appeared in 1898 and the last in 1943. His Jian Leng most popular bulletin, How to Grow the Peanut and Associate Director 105 Ways of Preparing it for Human Consumption, The Center for the Humanities was published in 1916 and reprinted many times. book of the month by Gerald Early

Review of face a New York judge in April 1954 automobile accident that made him, to deal with charges of criminally through some sort of brain damage, Shocking True Story: The neglecting her two daughters, Rebecca heterosexual. He then went on to Rise and Fall of Confidential, (Orson Welles the father) and Yasmin marry Eve, the wife of his best friend, “America’s Most Scandalous (result of the union with Khan) by Keenan Wynn, although he seemed Scandal Magazine” allowing them to live in squalor in closer to Keenan than to Eve. There the run-down White Plains home of was the story about the Harvard dorm, a babysitter. Confidentialrevived the all of whose residents were gay, and By Henry E. Scott story in September 1954, complete the lowdown on heartthrob actor Tab Pantheon Books, 2010, 222 pages with shocking pictures of the girls in a Hunter’s arrest with a group of young including notes, bibliography, poverty-stricken environment, jux- men who were having something like index, and photos taposed to pictures of Hayworth and a gay slumber party. Boldly, in light Haymes dining out at a fashionable of what we know now, popular pianist restaurant. (Haymes, twice divorced Liberace sued Confidential for outing before the Hayworth marriage, was him. The magazine featured lurid not known for paying his child support stories of black singers like Sammy on time or even at all. He was deeply Davis, Jr., Billy Daniels, Herb Jeffries, in debt at the time of the Hayworth and Billy Eckstine and their wild marriage and was being threatened escapades with their white paramours. with deportation.) The photos were In its pages, readers learned of Mae taken courtesy of a Confidential re- West’s affair with her black ex-prize- porter who represented himself to the fighter chauffeur and of tobacco heir- babysitter as a potential buyer of the ess Doris Duke’s hanky panky with an property. Hayworth and Haymes were African prince. deeply embarrassed by the story. At As Henry E. Scott writes in Shock- the time the story appeared, Confiden- ing True Story, “Recurring themes in tial had a circulation of over one mil- Confidential such as homosexuality lion. The circulation was to get even and miscegenation were good for sales better before things got a lot worse. because they pandered to popular fears and pre-conceptions.” As Con- Part 2 fidential informant and former L.A. Guerrilla/checkbook journalism vice cop Fred Otash put it when critics Part 1 that exposed the peccadilloes of Hol- complained about the crass nature of lywood stars and the hypocrisy of the scandal magazine, “Kick all the On September 24, 1953, actress/ Hollywood’s management of its talent Communists out of Hollywood, kick dancer Rita Hayworth, who had been was Confidential’s stock in trade: out the homosexuals, enforce marital married to Orson Welles and Prince its reporters sought out, through all fidelity on both husbands and wives, Aly Khan, wedded singer/actor Dick sorts of means, informants and paid and you won’t have any scandal—and Haymes, whom Confidential would them if their information withstood no scandal magazines.” Of course, dub “Mr. Evil” for the way he alleg- fact-checking. Confidential was the believing in the overthrow of capital- edly abused Hayworth. (Haymes’s predecessor of tabloid sheets like the ism, being gay, or being an adulterer sympathetic biographer, Ruth Prigozy, National Enquirer or even Vanity Fair were not crimes. And the first two takes some exception to those allega- (upscale tabloid journalism with just were not even immoral. But in Eisen- tions, unsurprisingly, in her book The a touch of the New Yorker) just as it hower’s America, many white Ameri- Life of Dick Haymes: No More Little was the descendant of the National cans were concerned about whether White Lies, published in 2006.) It Police Gazette, the New York Eve- Negroes wanted to marry their daugh- was, to be sure, not a marriage made ning Graphic, which helped launch ters (the possibility of interracial sex in heaven. None of Hayworth’s five the careers of Ed Sullivan and Walter was one of the major reasons white marriages was, and she divorced Winchell, and the sensational journal- southerners vehemently opposed Haymes two years later amidst allega- ism of Hearst in the late nineteenth school integration) and equally con- tions that he repeatedly slammed her and early twentieth centuries. cerned about whether “queers” wanted head against the wall on several occa- Another 1954 Confidential story to bugger their sons (homosexuality sions, which was not hard to believe as chronicled how actor Van Johnson threatened marriage, manhood, and Haymes had a severe drinking prob- battled his homosexuality but finally the home) and whether Commu- lem at the time. Before the end of the was able to overcome it in 1943 when nists wanted to brainwash both marriage, however, Hayworth had to he suffered a fractured skull in an their sons and their daughters book of the month continued

(Communism threatened all things magazine, a guide to local inns and American). The journalism of fear taverns, when he was twelve. His coupled with the journalism of envy— father referred pejoratively to all the sins, arrogance, and foolishness of endeavors that involved manipulating the rich and famous unveiled to public words as “the air business,” by which ridicule—remains a winning combi- he meant hot air or B.S. Selling nation. Confidential, lacking irony or the unreal to the unwashed was, to any bohemian flair, did not in any way Harrison’s father, both irrelevant and condone the behavior of the celebri- contemptible. Harrison dropped out ties; the magazine was four-square for of high school and eventually wound patriotism, Negroes engaging in coitus up in Hollywood in 1935, working for only with other Negroes, homosexuals Quigley Publishing Company. While being cured or quarantined, and mar- working for Quigley in Hollywood, ried people not committing adultery. Harrison began collecting cheesecake So, it might seem strange at first blush photos with which he launched the that the magazine was harshly con- first of many “girlie” magazines. He demned by Hollywood and in most was fired in 1941 for his sideline en- respectable quarters of public opinion terprise, but with the help of his sisters (although reading it was a guilty plea- Jewish-owned business selling Roman he kept the girlie magazines going. sure for many). Catholic theology to Protestant Amer- (Harrison’s publishing was always The problem was, first, that Confi- ica.” (Little did anyone know then a family business.) In 1946, with a dential made money exploiting and that revelations of the Confidential sufficient number of underground sensationalizing the misbehavior that sort would eventually become routine Hollywood contacts like ex-vice cops, it condemned. It was a cheap, slop- and do little, if any, damage to the prostitutes, madams, press agents, pily written publication that appealed careers of the famous. Often the fires restaurateurs, chauffeurs, maids, bar- to “prurient interests,” as it were, and of fame burn ever more intensely be- tenders, gardeners, cooks, and private so was easy for both Hollywood and cause of scandal these days! Even the eyes, the underbelly support world respectable, middlebrow society to unknown and the untalented hope that of the Hollywood rich, he launched hate. For Hollywood, Confidential a bit of scandal will land them a real- Whisper, the forerunner of Confiden- was bad for business because it was ity television show or a six-figure con- tial, as a gossip and scandal magazine a publication that it could not control tract to write a memoir.) Launched to accompany his menu of girlies. as it did the fanzines and the gossip by Robert Harrison at the end of 1952, Whisper morphed into Confidential. columnists. Second, the magazine Confidentialsaw an extraordinary rise What Harrison understood was that violated the privacy of famous people in its stock in the mid-1950s. Indeed, the public loved exposure of the rich, who felt, their careers being at stake, by 1957 the magazine could claim the powerful, and the famous, no they had a right to fight back, which over nine million readers. This was matter how hypocritically they might they did. Whose business was it if the same year that California Attorney rail against it through their moral they were homosexuals, wife beaters, General Pat Brown indicted Confi- mouthpieces and institutions. What drunks, commies, adulterers, lechers, dential and Harrison for conspiracy to people loved even more than stories of leeches, or bad parents underneath commit criminal libel and for obscen- success were the tales of the downfall the gauzy publicity of fantasy and ity. Nothing sours so quickly as the of the successful. glamour that Hollywood spun out sweet smell of success. Harrison’s most fateful hire was daily to make the actors seem as large Howard Rushmore, a Mexico, Mis- and mythical as the roles they played? Part 3 souri, farm boy who wound up an Hollywood, through the 1950s, had Shocking True Story tells of the rise ardent Communist writing for the been the master of subtly appealing to and fall of (Max) Robert Harrison, Daily Worker, from which he was “prurient interests” under the watchful founder and editor of Confidential, fired for writing a glowing review of eye of the Catholic Legion of Decency born into a Russian Jewish immigrant the 1939 epic Gone With the Wind. and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. family in New York in 1904. Har- He subsequently became an ardent Hollywood at the time, with its self- rison was always a disappointment to anti-Communist and top-notch scan- censoring genuflection to bourgeois his father, a coppersmith, who wanted dal journalist. Rushmore was Har- morals and its contrary need to titil- the son to learn a trade. Harrison rison’s best and most important writer. late its audience with the secret allure lacked both the skill and the interest He also turned against Harrison when of sin and taboo-breaking, was, as to learn a trade and was attracted to he testified for the prosecution in the one scholar so neatly put it, “a journalism as a boy, creating his first 1957 “Hollywood versus Confiden- Music and Literature Reading Group tial” trial. Rushmore, an alcoholic The Center for the Humanities is excited Hoffman, who studied piano at the Yale and a morose character generally, to continue the Music and Literature School of Music, brings her love and who had, through his betrayals, Reading Group, a monthly discussion knowledge of music to this chronicle of turned both the left and the right in group that began last October. Led by the decisions that a musician must make the world of journalism against him, Drs. Maya Gibson and Matthew Shipe, in a time of turmoil. would wind up murdering his wife lecturers at Washington University, and committing suicide in the back the group will consider a wide range Wednesday, April 6th, 2011 seat of a New York taxi cab in Janu- of musical genres and literary forms Sway ary 1958. Gossip columnist Walter and will explore the ways in which Zachary Lazar Winchell, who loved Confidential be- different musical forms and musicians Back Bay Books, cause it had gone to bat for him in his have been portrayed in literature and 2009, 272 pages contretemps with black dancer/singer in recent criticism. The group’s scope and approach is intentionally broad Taking its title from Josephine Baker, suggested that Har- and interdisciplinary, and we hope to the second song on rison make Rushmore an editor. attract a diverse audience to enhance our the Rolling Stones’ The State of California v. Robert perspective on the works. The schedule Sticky Fingers album, Lazar’s second Harrison, et al. ended in a hung jury, for Spring 2011 is as follows: novel presents an intricate fictionalized but it effectively killed Confidential account of the Stones and their as many of Harrison’s most impor- Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011 entourage—in particular, the filmmaker tant informants were revealed at the American Band: Kenneth Anger, the director of the trial. Without them, he had no dirt to Music, Dreams, and infamous Scorpio Rising (1964), and dish. He eventually sold the maga- Coming of Age in the Bobby Beausoleil, a musician most zine. It must be noted, much to Har- Heartland famous for his involvement with the rison’s credit, that Confidential did Kristen Laine Manson family—during the political and print investigative features on corpo- Gotham Press, 2004, social turmoil of the late 1960s. Lazar, rate America and consumer reports 320 pages the author of Aaron, Approximately that were, indeed, useful. Shocking (1998), will be visiting Washington True Story has a chapter on Confi- American Band: Music, Dreams, and University’s English Department this dential’s story on the bogus tobacco Coming of Age in the Heartland is spring. industry claim that filtered cigarettes Kristen Laine’s insightful chronicle were safe to smoke because the filters of a year-in-the-life of the Elkhart, Wednesday, May 4th, 2011 blocked all the harmful effects. Indiana Concord High School Marching Musicophilia: Tales of Minutemen, a 240-plus ensemble Music and the Brain Shocking True Story is a good, preparing to defend its state title. The Oliver Sacks though by no means exhaustive or work offers both a powerful portrait Vintage, 2008, thorough, account of Confidential. of small-town American life and a 448 pages Those interested in the subject matter meditation on the meaning of making might wish to read the book along music. In Musicophilia, with Samuel Bernstein’s Mr. Con- renowned neurologist fidential: The Man, His Magazine Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011 Oliver Sacks considers the potential & The Movieland Massacre That Appassionata relationship between music and unusual Changed Hollywood Forever (2006), Eva Hoffman brain disorders. By presenting a series which covers much of the same Other Press, 2009, of cases, some bizarre, some uplifting, ground but provides many more 272 pages Musicophilia encourages readers to photos and illustrations, including rethink the ways in which music affects the covers of most of the magazines Published to critical the human brain. Throughout this that Harrison published. (Bernstein’s acclaim in 2009, illuminating and entertaining book, book is a biography of Harrison, and Appassionata examines the meaning Sacks reconsiders music’s role in our Shocking True Story is not.) Bern- that music has in the midst of the lives and suggests how it is integral to stein’s book also provides a bit more violence that afflicts the modern world. our experience as human beings. detail about testimony at the trial. The novel follows Isabel Merton, an The reading group is open to the public. Books His book, however, does not have American pianist on tour in Europe, as will be available at the Washington University an index and is not organized in the she becomes romantically entangled Campus Bookstore. Discussions begin at most reader-friendly way. Shock- 3:30 pm in Eliot Hall, Room 307. Coffee and with Anzor Islikhanov, a semiofficial cookies will be provided. Please call the Center ing True Story is put together much representative of war-torn Chechnya, at 314-935-5576 to reserve a free parking better. who follows Isabel on her tour. sticker and to reserve a seat. Events in Join the Murder of the Month Club as they Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club will be discuss Crimson Snow by Jeanne Dams. December hosting a Book Fair where you can buy books 3:30pm, SLCL-Indian Trails Branch, 8400 for the children in HHBGC. Twenty percent of Delport Dr., 994-3300. sales on all other purchases will go to HHBGC. All day, LBB Downtown, 321 N. 10th St., 436- Author Jane Leavy will be discussing her recent 3049. novel The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood. 7pm, SLPL-Schlafly Wednesday, December 1 Sunday, December 5 Branch, 225 N. Euclid, 367-4120. You are invited to join the Thornhill Book Chat Left Bank Books is pleased to present as they discuss Richard Paul Evans’ Finding Laurence Gonzales, author of Lucy. 7pm, 399 Join the Public Contemplations discussion of Noel. 10:30am, SLCL-Thornhill Branch, N. Euclid Ave., 367-4120. Dismantling Discontent: Buddha’s Way through 12863 Willowyck Dr., 994-3300. Darwin’s World by Charles Fisher. 7pm, SLPL- Monday, December 6 Carpenter Branch, 3309 S. Grand Blvd. To Borders Bookclub in Sunset Hills will be reserve your copy, call Michael at 772-6586. Join the Book Bunch for their discussion of reading All Over but the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg. Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman. 7pm, 7pm, Borders-Sunset Hills, 10990 Sunset SLCL-Grand Glaize Branch, 1010 Meramec Friday, December 10 Hills Plaza, 909-0300. Station Rd., 994-3300. A Reading of Graduating MFA Fiction Writers Matt Bell, Gianna Jacobson, Patrick Harned Thursday, December 2 Tuesday, December 7 and Leeli Davidson. 7pm, E. Desmond and Join the Trailblazers Book Club as they Mary Ann Lee Theater of the Touhill Performing Come to the SLPL-Machacek Book discuss First Family by David Baldacci. 10am, Arts Center, UMSL, One University Blvd., 771- Discussion Group. 10am, 6424 Scanlan Ave. SLCL-Jamestown Bluffs Branch, 4153 N. 7391. Call 781-2948 for the current book selection. Hwy 67, 994-3300. St. Louis Poetry Center invites you to second Book Journeys invites you for their discussion You are invited to join the discussion of People of friday notes with poets Drucilla Wall and of The Christmas List by Richard Paul Evans. the Book by Geraldine Brooks at the Afternoon John MacEnulty with musical guest, Mick 2pm, SLCL-Indian Trails Branch, 8400 Delport Book Discussion Group. 2pm, SLCL-Grand McLaughlin. 7pm, Whole Foods Market in Dr., 994-3300. Glaize Branch, 1010 Meramec Station Rd., Town & Country, Clayton Rd. and Woods Mill 994-3300. Rd., 973-0616. Come to the Mystery Book Club! 7pm, SLCL- Florissant Valley Branch, 195 New Florissant Come to a discussion of Little Bee by Chris Saturday, December 11 Rd. Call 994-3300 for this month’s book Cleave. 7pm, SLCL-Meramec Valley Branch, Main Street Books will host its second annual selection. 625 New Smizer Mill Rd., 994-3300. Chicken Soup for the Soul, Canned Soup for the Body Food Drive. There will also be Left Bank Books will be presenting Antony Wednesday, December 8 a book signing, featuring local authors who John as he reads from and signs his most Join the Bookies for their discussion of 1984 by write for the Chicken Soup series. Bring in a recent novel, The Five Flavors of Dumb. 7pm, George Orwell. 2pm, SLCL-Oak Bend Branch, canned food item, purchase a Chicken Soup 399 N. Euclid Ave., 367-6731. 842 S. Holmes Ave., 994-3300. book and receive 20% off your entire purchase. 1pm, 307 South Main St., St. Charles. For more Saturday, December 4 Chesterfield Arts presents their 2nd Annual information, call 636-949-0105 or visit www. mainstreetbooks.net. Come join the Schlafly Branch of the Saint Chesterfield Arts High School Writing Contest Louis Public Library as they have their Holiday Awards Event! This year’s theme, “The 16 Open House! Noted columnist and author Bill Challenge,” required students to incorporate 16 Join this week’s discussion of The Help by McClellan of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch will specific words into their entries. The winners will Kathryn Stockett. 1pm, SLPL-Buder Branch, autograph and answer questions on his new be announced at the event, and you will have 4401 Hampton Ave., 352-2900. book, Gently Down the Stream. 2pm, 225 N. the opportunity to hear their work. 7pm, 444 Euclid Ave., 367-4120. Chesterfield Center. For more information, visit Join the Saturday Afternoon Book Club www.chesterfieldarts.org or call 636-519-1955. for a discussion of The Moonflower Vine by The St. Louis Writers Guild will host a Jetta Carleton. 2pm, Webster Groves Public Winter Gala to celebrate the end of SLWG’s Author Yunte Huang will be discussing his Library, 3232 S. Brentwood, 961-3784. 90th Anniversary festivities. Bill McClellan, book Charlie Chan, an absorbing history of St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist, will be the the legendary Cantonese detective. 7pm. Left Sunday, December 12 keynote speaker. 7pm, Orlando Gardens, 8352 Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid Ave., 367-4120. The BookClub invites you to their 419th Watson Rd. For more information, go to www. discussion. This month they will discuss stlwritersguild.org. Thursday, December 9 any book by Lemony Snicket. Contact Lloyd Come to the Thursday Matinee Book Club’s Klinedinst at 636-451-3232 for details about Main Street Books will be hosting Steve and discussion of The Year the Colored Sisters time and location. Matthew Murrie, authors of First Book of Came to Town by Jacqueline Guidry. 1:30pm, Seconds. 1pm, 307 S. Main St., St. Charles. SLCL-Natural Bridge Branch, 7606 Natural For more information, contact 636-949- Bridge Rd., 994-3300. 0105 or www.mainstreetbooks.net. discussion of Rules of Deception by Christopher Call 781-2948 for the current book selection. Monday, December 13 Reich. 7pm, SLCL-Jamestown Bluffs Branch, Join the Monday Book Discussion Group that 4153 N. Hwy 67, 994-3300. FV Afternoon Book Discussion Group invites meets on the second and fourth Mondays of the you to a discussion of Velma Wallis’s Two month. 1pm, SLCL-Weber Road Branch, 4444 Truman Capote was known for many things, Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Weber Rd., 994-3300. but he was a master of short fiction. Join the Courage and Survival. 2pm, SLCL-Florissant Wednesday Night Book Discussion Group Valley Branch, 195 New Florissant Rd., 994- Do you like to chat with friends about your as they discuss Breakfast at Tiffany’s and 3300. favorite books? You are invited to join the three other short pieces, including A Christmas discussion of The River Wife: A Novel by Jonis Memory. 7pm, SLCL-Cliff Cave Branch, 5430 The Tuesday Evening Book Club invites you Agee. 7pm, SLCL-Prairie Commons Branch, Telegraph Rd., 994-3300. to a discussion of the book The Art of Racing in 915 Utz Ln., Hazelwood, 994-3300. the Rain by Garth Stein. 7pm, SLCL-Thornhill Join the Evening Book Discussion Group Branch, 12863 Willowyck Dr., 994-3300. Tuesday, December 14 for a discussion of Three Cups of Tea by Greg The Foreign Literature group will discuss The Mortensen. 7:30pm, SLCL-Oak Bend Branch, Monday, December 27 Pilgrim Hawk by Glenway Westcott. 7:30pm, 842 S. Holmes Ave., 994-3300. Join the Monday Book Discussion Group Washington University’s West Campus, 7425 for a discussion. Visitors are welcome. 1pm, Forsyth, 727-6118. The FV Evening Book Discussion Group will SLCL-Weber Road Branch, 4444 Weber Rd., discuss The Shack: A Novel by William P. Young. 994-3300. You are invited to this week’s discussion of 7:30pm, SLCL-Florissant Valley Branch, 195 Tinkers by Paul Harding. 6:45pm, SLPL- New Florissant Rd., 994-3300. Upcoming Events & Notices Kingshighway Branch, 2260 South Vandeventer Ave., 771-5450. The Missouri Society of Children’s Book Thursday, December 16 Writers and Illustrators meets every month SLPL-Schlafly Branch will have its Book in three locations. The St. Charles group You are welcome to join the Pageturners’ Discussion one week early due to Christmas. meets the first Wednesday of each month at discussion of the Painted Veil by W. Somerset New members are welcome! This month’s book 7 pm at the Mid Rivers Barnes and Noble. For Maughm. 7pm, SLCL-Tesson Ferry Branch, is Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley. more information, contact Stephanie Bearce at 9920 Lin-Ferry Dr., 994-3300. 4pm, 225 N. Euclid Ave., 367-4120. [email protected]. The Florissant group meets the second Thursday of each month at 7 Wednesday, December 15 The Regional Arts Commission presents pm at Florissant Presbyterian Church. For more St. Louis County Library invites you to the Mary Troy, who will discuss her short stories information, contact Sue Bradford Edwards, Tuesday Afternoon Book Group as they discuss and novels including her latest novel, Beauties, [email protected]. The St. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. the first in a new series of novels of the Midwest. Louis City group meets the third Sunday of 2pm, SLCL-Cliff Cave Branch, 5430 Telegraph 7:30pm, 6128 Delmar, 863-5811. the month at SLPL-Buder Branch at 2:30 pm. Rd., 994-3300. For contact information, email Jessica Saigh, The Book Journeys invites you to a discussion [email protected]. SLPL-Schafly Branch will have its Central of Push: A Novel by Sapphire. 2pm, SLCL- Book Discussion one week early due to Indian Trails Branch, 8400 Delport Dr., 994- Call for Submissions: The Lindenwood Christmas. New members are welcome! This 3300. Review, the literary journal of Lindenwood month, the discussion is on the book Knit the University in St. Charles, Missouri, is currently Season by Kate Jacobs. 4pm, 225 N. Euclid NB Ladies of the E*Stallions Book Club accepting submissions of fiction, poetry, and Ave., 367-4120. invites you to a discussion of popular and personal essays for Issue 1, to be published sometimes controversial books. 7pm, SLCL- in Spring 2011. Submission deadline is Dec. As the Page Turns Book Discussion Group Natural Bridge Branch, 7606 Natural Bridge 15, 2010. Guidelines are available at http:// invites you to join in their discussion of Mignon Rd., 994-3300. TheLindenwoodReview.blogspot.com. F. Ballard’s book Hark! The Herald Angel Screamed. 7pm, SLCL-Weber Road Branch, Monday, December 20 Abbreviations 4444 Weber Rd., 994-3300. Come to the Let’s Talk book discussion group, STL: Saint Louis; B&N: Barnes & Noble; KPL: where you can hear reviews of books and Kirkwood Public Library; LBB: Left Bank Books; The Wednesday Afternoon Book Discussion movies people are enjoying—and give your SLCL: St. Louis County Library; SLPL: St. Louis Group invites you for a lively discussion of The own review! 11am, SLPL-Baden Branch, 8448 Public Library; SCCCL: St. Charles City County Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Church Rd., 388-2400. Library; UCPL: University City Public Library; Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. 2pm, UMSL: University of Missouri—St. Louis; WU: SLCL-Cliff Cave Branch, 5430 Telegraph Rd., Washington University; WGPL: Webster Groves The Monday Matters reading group will have 994-3300. Public Library. its final fall meeting where they will discuss Bloodletting and Vampire Cures by Vincent Join the Eureka Hills Book Discussion Group Lam. 7pm, University City Public Library, Check the online calendar at cenhum.artsci. for a discussion of Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth 6701 Delmar Blvd., 727-3150. wustl.edu for more events and additional details. Gilbert. 6pm, SLCL-Eureka Hills Branch, 103 To advertise, send event details to litcal@artsci. Hilltop Village Center, 994-3300. Tuesday, December 21 wustl.edu, fax 935-4889, or call 935-5576. Come to the SLPL-Machacek Book Trailblazers After Dark invites you to a Discussion Group. 10am, 6424 Scanlan Ave. Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Financial assistance for this project has been provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency, and the St. Louis, MO Regional Arts Commission. Permit No. 2535

The Center for the Humanities Campus Box 1071 Eliot Hall, Suite 300 One Brookings Drive St. Louis, MO 63130-4899 Phone: (314) 935-5576 email: [email protected] http://cenhum.artsci.wustl.edu

The Center for the Humanities Will Launch New Courses for Spring 2011

The Humanities: What They the voices of American soldiers. Who may speak for war Are, Where They Are Going, and violence? What can we learn from soldiers’ writ- and Why They Still Matter ing that cannot otherwise be learned from the broader (L56 CFH 101) canons of war literature we usually read? Such questions by Dr. Matthew Shipe intersect with larger anxieties surrounding race, gender, and the military in the United States. Are the humanities still rel- evant? This freshman seminar Children and Childhood in will present a historical and World Religions (L56 CFH cultural examination of the 341) humanities and their past and future place in American by Dr. Wendy Love Anderson universities. During the course of the semester, we will engage in the debates that currently surround the future of the humanities, and we will consider the value of a This course will explore a liberal arts education in today’s marketplace. wide range of teachings about children and childhood from across the world’s major reli- Blood, God, and County: gious traditions. We will ex- American Soldiers as Writers amine beliefs and practices involving child deities, child (L56 CFH 121) martyrs, childhood innocence, childhood responsibility, by Dr. Benjamin Cooper and rituals marking the beginning and end of childhood. We will also question the extent to which contemporary “secular” concepts of childhood have been constructed This freshman seminar will with—or against—religious foundations. consider literary and cultural representations of war through