Richard Slotkin American Studies Inaugural Lecture

“Thinking Mythologically: Black Hawk Down, the “Platoon Movie,” and the War of Choice in Iraq.” American History Inaugural address. Richard Slotkin's classic American Studies histories include his award-winning trilogy, Regeneration Through Violence: The Mythology of the American Frontier, 1800-1860, and Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in the Twentieth Century, and The Last Battalions: The Great War and the Crisis of American Nationality. His novels include The Crater: A Novel of the Civil War, The Return of Harry Starr, and Abe: A Novel of Young Lincoln. He won Wesleyan's Binswanger Award for Excellence in teaching twice and is the founder of the American Studies Department.