Hollywood’s
Civil War (November
6-12)
After watching more than 90
Hollywood movies depicting the Civil War, history
professor Brian Wills
(UVA-Wise) right
can discuss the good and the bad, and the ugly films
that never should have been made. Ironically, he
considers Birth of a Nation one of the very best
as well as one of the very worst depictions of the
Civil War. Also featured:
What qualities does it take to lead men into battle;
to face almost certain death? Military historian
Joseph Whitehorne (Lord
Fairfax Community College)
says the greatest American military leaders all
possessed a healthy ego; they bore a common touch,
but they also exuded a certain ruthlessness.
An
Imperfect God (November
13-19)
Early biographers of the nation’s
first president left out the part where a young
George Washington raffled off slave children to
prevent his family’s financial collapse. But
Washington began to see the moral evil of slavery
during the Revolutionary War, and he set all of
his slaves free in his will. Henry
Wiencek’s recent
book An Imperfect God
traces Washington’s attitudes about slavery
over the course of his life. Also
featured: The birth
of the United States was not kind to many of Virginia’s
elite, but St. George Tucker managed to keep his
family solvent. The story of Tucker’s rise
and his attempts to avoid financial ruin is the
subject of a recent book by historian Phillip
Hamilton (CNU), The Making and Unmaking of a Revolutionary
Family: The Tuckers of Virginia, 1752-1830.
Writing Braveheart
(November 20-26)
The College
of William & Mary figures in the newest novel
by the author of Braveheart.
In his latest book, Love & Honor, Virginia
native Randall Wallace
takes us to a W&M circa 1774 and discusses the
art of historical fiction, working with Mel
Gibson, and writing screenplays (Pearl Harbor,
We Were Soldiers) for Hollywood.
Also featured:
Sharon Rowley right
of Christopher Newport University is captivated
by a more distant time in history. The Medieval
literature scholar finds that science fiction movies
and television programs draw a lot of their material
from the Middle Ages.
Talking
to Children about S-E-X (Nov
27-Dec 3)
Although the rate of teen
pregnancy is declining nationwide, the rate of sexually
transmitted diseases, or STDs, is exploding. Peer
health educator Mary
Sullivan (UVA) offers
some practical tips to help parents talk to their
kids about s-e-x. Also
featured: a study conducted
by David Branch
bottom left
and Shaye Arluk (ODU)
left
shows an alarming
number of obese children among Navy families in
the Hampton Roads area, more than three times the
national average.
