Thursday, June 25, 2009

July Not Fiction Book Discussions

Last month we discussed Fareed Zakaria's vision of a "post-American world"; this month we will discuss Linda Colley's The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History, a portrait of a pre-American, proto-global world and a remarkable woman whose life provides a view into that world. Colley, the Shelby M.C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton University, says "this book charts a world in a life and a life in the world. It is also an argument for re-casting and re-evaluating biography as a way of deepening our understanding of the global past." During the 50 years of her life, 1735-1785, at a time when most women of her social and economic circumstances rarely left the parlor, Marsh lived in Jamaica, London, Gibraltar, and Menorca and visited the Cape of Africa, Rio de Janeiro, and India; she was caught up in three different slave systems, including being captured by Barbary pirates and held captive by the sultan of Morocco; and she was involved in land speculation in Florida and in international smuggling. Her extraordinary mobility was made possible by larger forces connecting the world by way of the sea, such as naval warfare, international trade, and print. Does Colley manage to give us a compelling narrative of Marsh's life and present her as more than just a sketchy figure on the background of world events? Does she also manage to provide insight into world history? What can Marsh's life help us understand about our own rapidly "flattening" world"? We invite you to join our discussions: Tuesday, July 7, at 7:00 p.m. at the Main Library; Thursday, July 23, at 11:00 at the West Ashley Branch; and here on the blog.