FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 05, 2007

Hungarian Historian to Discuss the State of History Today, Nov. 14

Hungarian historian, author and educator, John Lukacs, will present:  The State of History Today, Wednesday, Nov. 14, at noon in the Webster University Emerson Library Conference Room, 101 Edgar Road, Webster Groves, Missouri. 

Lukacs is a Ingersoll Prize recipient and his more than 20 books include: George Kennan: A Study of Character (Yale University Press, 2007), June 1941: Hitler and Stalin (Yale University Press, 2006) and The Hitler of History (1997). Lukacs will address what is happening to the study of history today and claims that there is a a duality. 

While on one hand, history is declining because people know less about it and it has been dropped from curricula as a necessary area of study. On the other hand, he notes, there also seems to be a great appetite for history by all kinds of different people who previously weren't interested in history. This is seen in the increase in history publications in television networks and documentaries devoted to history. But Lukacs contends that the demand is potential, not actual, and that while there is much interest, there is not so much demand.

Lukacs served from 1947–94 as professor of history at Chestnut Hill College, and as its department chair from 1947–74.He also served as a visiting professor at many universities, including Columbia, Princeton, Johns Hopkins University, and at the University of Budapest in his native Hungary.

The event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the Webster University Office of Academic Affairs. To arrange an interview with John Lukacs, contact Christine Wells Eason, director of media relations, Webster University Office of Public Affairs, at 314-968-5976 or eason@webster.edu.
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