Out of an abundance of caution during the covid19 pandemic, there is no in person audience today and certain ceremonial elements have been prerecorded. Please welcome the official party to the stage the secretary of the army, the honorable ryan b mccarthy. Chief of staff of the army, general james c mcconville. Sergeant major of the army, michael a grinstead. Director of the National Museum of the United States army, ms. Tammy call. Accompanied by acting secretary of defense, the honorable christopher c miller. And chairman to the joint chiefs of staff, general mark a. Millie. Now presenting the colors is the third United States infantry regiment the old guard, accompanied by the old guard fife and drum corps. The National Anthem will be performed by Sergeant First Class jesse meeks from the United States army band, pershings own. Present. O say can you see by the dawns early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilights last gleaming . Whose broad stripes and bright stars through t
Please welcome the official party to the stage the secretary of the army, the honorable ryan b mccarthy. Chief of staff of the army, general james c. Mcconville. Sergeant major of the army, michael a. Grinstead. Director of the National Museum of the United States army, ms. Tammy call. Accompanied by acting secretary of defense, the honorable christopher c. Miller. And chairman to the joint chiefs of staff, general mark a. Millie. Now presenting the colors is the third United States infantry regiment, the old guard, accompanied by the old guard fife and drum corps. The National Anthem will be performed by jesse meeks from the United States army band, pershings own. Present arms o say can you see by the dawns early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilights last gleaming whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight , oh the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming . And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our
Preparation for the event tonight and they said that is the new faulkner biography. I said well, you got the faulkner part right. The best way i can describe this book is equal parts military history, social commentary, and literary criticism. And i think it will appeal equally to fans of any of those subjects. What the book really did for me is force me to give some serious thought to where faulkner stands at a time when we are asking ourselves some difficult and longoverdue questions about our countrys historic difficulties when it comes to matters of race. Was he something of a pioneer on those issues or was he or another white writer profiting off of racist caricatures of black americans . Dr. Michael gorra, as you might imagine, has some thoughts on that. He is a professor of English Literature at Smith College in massachusetts. He is the author of several books including portrait of a novel, the making of an american masterpiece, which was a finalist for the pool surprise and bio
2013. Ian buruma, professor of human rights and journalism at bard college, was educated in holland and japan. Hes won several awards for his work, among them the international prize, and the short and steam journalism award. The publication he writes for and include the new york review of books, new yorker new york times, the guardian. Which, the guardian, recently published his highly learned it and entertaining review of the British Museums current exhibition, sex and pleasure in japanese art. Among the previous books our religion and democracy on three continents, murder in amsterdam liberal europe islam in the limits of tolerance, and inventing japan, 1863 to 1964. In the year, zero the history of 1945, most of which he wrote while he was a fellow at the comment center, in 2011 and 2012. To the serious envy of his fellow fellow, start he was so productive. He has produced a brilliant portrayal of the world emerging from the devastation and unspeakable horrors of world war ii, in e
Former, and most recently, Civil War Monuments and the militarization of america which one the book award from the society of civil war historians as best book of the year on the issues of the civil war era. Hes been the editor of several influential volumes, including a particularly still relevant and useful set of edited essays on reconstruction originally issued almost 15 years ago, but still relevant today and a topic we wrestle with today. As well as a number of edited volumes. We are delighted to have him join us today. I will lead him with the first question, if you are ready . You might be muted. Things we aret of going to want to touch on in a relatively brief time today. Monograph,arkable you approach memorials and all kinds of interesting ways that we will want to touch on as works of art, what happens if we context in a national rather than bifurcated into , northern, andrn confederate stories. And what cultural readings we can read from them beyond the meaning of the civil