The New European Terrorism in Historical Perspective

press release: The Middleton Public Library and the UW-Madison Speakers Bureau present the latest in our continuing lecture series:

UW-Madison history professor Laird Boswell, an expert in the history of modern France, presents our fourth lecture of 2018 in the Scholar'd for Life series.

"The 2015 terrorist attacks against the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo followed later that year by the extensive attacks in Paris that left 130 dead and close to 500 wounded were the culmination of a wave of 21st Century terrorism in Europe.  This talk will focus largely on France and provide an explanation of how French terrorists, often claiming to act in the name of Islam, have posed a challenge to French republicanism.  What explains the radicalization of a small number of French Muslims?  Is this a new form of terrorism or is it best understood as part of a longstanding presence of terrorist activity in Europe?"

Professor Laird Boswell is a specialist in the history of Modern Europe, especially France, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His teaching and research interests have focused largely on society and politics – ranging from the transformations of rural society, to the history of European socialism and communism, the history of nationalism, voter behavior and, more recently, the contemporary extreme right. He wrote his first book on peasant communism in France and is currently completing a study that uses the border region of Alsace and Lorraine to discuss changing conceptions of national belonging in twentieth century France. In addition to his work in the History department, he has directed the University of Wisconsin Center for European Studies and served as director of the UW study abroad program in Aix en-Provence, France. 

Scholar'd for Life is a lecture series presented by the Middleton Public Library in partnership with the UW-Madison Speakers Bureau.  Taking the "Wisconsin Idea" as its starting point, this series aims to promote lifelong learning, intellectual curiosity, and engagement between academics and the community as a whole.  More information, including recordings of past lectures, at www.midlibrary.org/sfl.