A lively historical view of the Gulf of Mexico, drawn from the award-winning book “The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea,” will be the topic of discussion during a lecture at UAB on Jan. 17.
Dr. Jack E. Davis, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author of three books and professor of environmental history at the University of Florida, will speak to an audience at the University of Alabama at Birmingham concerning the history, wisdom and hope of the United States and the Gulf of Mexico.
“We are very excited to welcome the winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in History to UAB,” said Jonathan Wiesen, Ph.D., professor and chair of the UAB Department of History. “As a historian and regular visitor to the Gulf Coast, I was drawn to Dr. Davis’ splendid book, which touches on so many themes of relevance to our understanding of U.S. history, the history of the Alabama and the broader Gulf coastline, and our past and present relationship with the environment.”
Davis starts from the premise that nature lies at the center of human existence and takes his audience on a compelling journey from the Florida Keys to the Texas Rio Grande, along marshy shorelines and majestic estuarine bays, profoundly beautiful and life-giving.
At the center of his talk is the way people, from pre-Spanish natives to present-day coastal residents, have organized their societies and individual lives around nature, and how Gulf nature has been a positive force in human events.
The lecture is free and open to the public. It will be held in Heritage Hall, Lecture Room 102, 1401 University Blvd., Thursday, Jan. 17, from 5-6 p.m. A book signing and reception will precede the lecture.