Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Historians take to their soapbox for books that changed the world

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Ten professors, staff members and students associated with the department of history will each make their case for the book they think changed everything.

Each presenter gets six minutes. Then a jury will vote and declare a winner.

It’s the third annual “History Soapbox,” scheduled for 7 p.m. March 30 in Room 210 (General Lounge) of the Illini Union, 1401 W. Green St., Urbana.

History professor Marc Hertzman, a co-organizer with colleague Antoinette Burton, describes History Soapbox as “a raucous event sure to inspire anyone out of the reading doldrums.” The event poster describes it as “fun, informative and quite likely unbalanced.”

Among this year’s books: “The Fire Next Time,” by James Baldwin; “1984,” by George Orwell; “The Communist Manifesto,” by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, in honor of this year’s 100th anniversary of the Russian revolution; and the English Football Association’s 1863 “Rules of Association Football.”

Last year’s winner was Marquis de Sade’s “Philosophy in the Bedroom.”

For additional information, contact Hertzman at hertzman@illinois.edu.

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