Banners lecture on Steinbeck

Staff Reports
The Contraband

Historian David Wrobel will present a lecture on “John Steinbeck’s America: A Cultural History of the Great Depression” at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 7, in Stokes Auditorium of Hardtner Hall at McNeese State University as part of the 2016 Banners at McNeese season.

Wrobel examines some of the key events and ideas of the 1930s against the backdrop of John Steinbeck’s writings, including “Of Mice and Men” and “The Grapes of Wrath.”

His presentation includes coverage of the Dust Bowl and drought conditions that triggered the exodus from the Southern Plains, the conditions faced by migrant families in California and the U.S. Senate’s investigation of those conditions, and the role that a single writer had in generating compassion and support within the nation.

Wrobel holds the Ward Merrick Chair in Western History at the University of Oklahoma, where he teaches courses on American thought and culture and the American West. He received his doctorate in American intellectual history from Ohio University.

He is a participant in the Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lecturer Program and held the position of Senior Research Fellow in Western American History at the Beinecke Library and Lamar Center at Yale University. He has served as president of the American Historical Association's Pacific Coast Branch as well as president of Phi Alpha Theta, the National History Honor Society.

For more information on this event or Banners at McNeese, visit the Banners website at banners.org or call the Banners office at 337-475-5123.

Persons needing accommodations as provided by the Americans with Disabilities Act should contact the ADA Coordinator at 337-475-5428, voice; 337-475-5960, fax; 337-562-4227, TDD/TTY, hearing impaired; or by email at cdo@mcneese.edu.