Literary Lunch with Alabama Authors
Authors @ Gorgas presents: Earl H. Tilford, Turning The Tide: The University of Alabama in the 1960s.
Authors @ Gorgas will present Earl H. Tilford, the author of Turning The Tide: The University of Alabama in the 1960s, an institutional and cultural history of a dramatic decade of change at The University of Alabama set against the backdrop of desegregation, the continuing civil rights struggle, and the growing antiwar movement, on Thursday, May 15, 2014.
The event will take place in Gorgas Library, room 205, noon – 1:00pm.
Tilford’s book documents the period when a handful of University of Alabama student activists formed an alliance with President Frank A. Rose, his staff, and a small group of progressive-minded professors in order to transform the university during a time of social and political turmoil. Together they engaged in a struggle against Governor George Wallace and a state legislature that reflected the worst aspects of racism in a state where the passage of civil rights legislation in 1964 and 1965 did little to reduce segregation and much to inflame the fears and passions of many white Alabamians.
“Turning the Tide is essential reading for anyone who ever worked for, attended, or has been a fan or supporter of The University of Alabama. Then, too, anyone interested in the way changes in higher education foretold changes in contemporary society during the tumultuous 1960s will be fascinated by this book,” said Roger Sayers, former president of The University of Alabama.
Tilford is the author of Crosswinds: The Air Force’s Setup in Vietnam and Search and Rescue in Southeast Asia: USAF in Southeast Asia, and coeditor of The Eagle in the Desert: Looking Back on the United States Involvement in the Persian Gulf War.
The room will be set with tables and the attendees are encouraged to bring a brown bag lunch or purchase lunch in the library’s grab-and-go café. Limited free public parking is available on Capstone Drive West, behind the library. For other parking options, please visit bamaparking.ua.edu/pages/visitor-parking.html. For more information about the event, please email: jdwilson@uapress.ua.edu.
Authors @ Gorgas is a free lunch-time speaker event spotlighting outstanding books by Alabama writers and is cosponsored by the Alabama Center for the Book, The University of Alabama Libraries and The University of Alabama Press.