Set a decade after Union victory in the Am erican Civil War\, Murder by Degrees invites readers into a thril ling murder mystery. It also offers a view of an American city radically t ransformed by the Civil War\, particularly women&rsquo\;s public facing wa rtime work in medicine\, science\, and education\, as well as class dynami cs in a growing urban environment entering an great age of wealth known as the &ldquo\;gilded age.&rdquo\; This talk explains how and why the Civil War catalyzed these major changes in American intellectual life and societ y\, especially when it came to issues of gender\, class\, and belonging in post-war Philadelphia.
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Timothy J. Williams is an Associate Prof essor of History at the University of Oregon. He works in the field of nin eteenth-century U.S. history and focuses on the cultural and intellectual history of the American Civil War era. He is the author of Intellectua l Manhood: University\, Self\, and Society in the Antebellum South (U niversity of North Carolina Press\, 2015) and editor\, with Evan A. Kutzle r\, of Prison Pens: Gender\, Memory\, and Imprisonment in the Writings of Mollie Scollay and Wash Nelson\, 1863-1866. He is currently writi ng an intellectual history of Civil War prisoners of war and their wartime and postwar writings. A Michigan native who grew up in Virginia\, Tim hol ds a PhD in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The &ldquo\;cozy mystery&rdquo\; is his favorite genre of fiction\, especi ally Louise Penny&rsquo\;s Inspector Gamache series.
\nM urder by Degrees \;is a thrillingly atmospheric tale of intrigue\, featuring a brilliant female doctor who&rsquo\;s ahead of her t ime. Set in Philadelphia\, 1875\, the debut novel by Ritu Mukerji\, Dr. Ly dia Weston is preparing for the start of a new term at Woman&rsquo\;s Medi cal College of Pennsylvania\, when the body of a young woman is fished out of the Schuylkill River. The death is ruled a suicide\, but Lydia is susp icious. As the investigation unfolds\, Lydia puts to use all her diagnosti c skills and autopsy table acumen to pursue the killer. \;
\nLearn more about \;A Novel Idea&n bsp\;here.
\nQuestions? Contact \;beccar@dpls.lib.or.us
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