Athens, Ga. – University of Georgia historian James C. Cobb will deliver the 21st Ferdinand Phinizy Lecture on March 20 at 11:30 a.m. in the UGA Chapel. Cobb’s lecture on “Divided by a Common Past: Southerners and the Struggle to Control Their History” is free and open to the public.
The Ferdinand Phinizy Lectureship was established and endowed by Phinizy Calhoun of the UGA class of 1900 as a memorial to his grandfather, Ferdinand Phinizy, who was a graduate of the UGA class of 1838. Previous lecturers include John Kenneth Galbraith, Dean Rusk, Walker Percy, Richard Ford and most recently, Melissa Faye Greene.
One of UGA’s most distinguished faculty members and authors, Cobb will receive the 2015 Woodward Franklin Award for Historical Writing from the Fellowship of Southern Writers at the Southern Lit Alliance’s Celebration of Southern Literature in Chattanooga this April.
“Although Jim Cobb often focuses on the culture and history of the South, he is an astute commentator on the contemporary political and cultural scene, writing with verve, wit and a distinctive point of view,” said Hugh Ruppersburg, University Professor of English and senior associate dean in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.
“His tightly crafted prose and unwillingness to overlook fools and idle palaver make him a delight to read, whether in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, his personal blog (Cobbloviate) or his distinguished series of books and essays. He is one of the leading historians at work today.”
A native of Hart County, Cobb received his A.B., M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. He has published 13 books and some 50 articles dealing primarily with the interaction between economy, society and culture in the American South. A former president of the Southern Historical Association, Cobb has served as Senior Visiting Mellon Scholar at Cambridge University and Fulbright Senior Visiting Specialist at the University of Vienna. His books and articles have garnered a number of prizes, and he has been chosen by The Fellowship of Southern Writers to receive their 2014 Woodward-Franklin Award for distinguished historical writing.
For more information on the UGA department of history, see http://history.uga.edu/.
