They called it “The War to End All Wars.”
They were wrong. A century later, was World War I worth it? Scholars will kick that one around, among many other topics, at Drew University in Madison on June 5-6, 2015.
The Dean Hopper New Scholars Conference, titled History on Trial: Rethinking the Discipline, Rethinking the Past, will re-examine World War II, the Cold War, Prohibition, capital punishment, and how historical events have been treated by Andy Warhol and other pop culture icons. Depictions of Jewish women in film also will be explored.
Admission for both days is $80; it’s $30 to attend only a keynote address and dinner; undergraduates with ID may attend for $20.
Here are more details from the university:
Drew University Puts History on Trial at New Scholars Conference, June 5–6
Dean Hopper Conference asks: Was World War I worth it?
Madison, N.J.—Historians from universities around the United States, China and the United Kingdom will gather at Drew University on June 5 and 6 to apply a critical eye to history at this year’s Dean Hopper New Scholars Conference, “History on Trial: Rethinking the Discipline, Rethinking the Past.”
They will examine a variety of historical topics, including World Wars I and II, the Cold War, Prohibition, capital punishment and how historical events have been treated in textbooks and popular culture, including Andy Warhol as well as depictions of Jewish women in film.
Keynote speakers include George Robb, a history professor from William Paterson University, who will give a talk titled “Was World War I Worth It?” at 5 p.m. on Friday, and Adrienne Petty, a history professor from the City College of New York, whose talk “Beyond 40 Acres and a Mule” will examine what happened to African-Americans in post-reconstructionist America.
The conference takes place in Mead Hall starting at 1 p.m. on Friday and ends at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Admission for the full two-day conference is $80, but visitors may opt to pay a fee of $30 to attend only a keynote address and dinner; undergraduates with ID may attend for $20. It is the third year of the conference, which was organized by the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies History and Culture program.
Register online at drew.edu/hopper.
The Dean Hopper Conference is also an excellent opportunity for graduate students and junior faculty to meet and interact with experts in their chosen fields. Among this year’s speakers are Robb, the author of British Culture and the First World War and White Collar Crime in Modern England. Petty, who has received fellowships from the Schomburg Center, the Smithsonian Institution and the Ford Foundation, is the author of the book Standing Their Ground. Many universities will be represented, including the University of Hawaii, Bowling Green State University, New York
University, Harvard Law School, Wayne State University and the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, among others.
About Drew University
Drew University, a Phi Beta Kappa liberal arts university, includes the College of Liberal Arts, the Drew Theological School and the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies. Drew is located on a beautiful, wooded, 186-acre campus in Madison, New Jersey, a thriving small town close to New York City. Particularly noteworthy opportunities for undergraduates include the Wall Street Semester, Semester at the United Nations, Semester on Contemporary Art and Semester on Communications and Media in New York City, and several international semester opportunities. The university is home to the Center for Civic Engagement, the Drew Summer Science Institute, the Charles A. Dana Research Center for Scientists Emeriti (RISE) and the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, an independent professional theater, as well as the United Methodist Archives and History Center and one of the country’s leading concentrations of materials on Willa Cather.
