Contact: Sarah Nicholas

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Joseph M. Thompson, an assistant professor in Mississippi State’s Department of History, concludes the 2023-2024 MSU Faculty Book Talk series next week with a conversation about the intricate connection between American military life and the popular country music genre.

Thompson presents a lecture on his book “Cold War Country: How Nashville’s Music Row and the Pentagon Created the Sound of American Patriotism,” 3:30 p.m., April 19 in Mitchell Memorial Library’s John Grisham Room. The event is free and open to the public.

Released April 2, “Cold War Country” discusses familiar stars including Roy Acuff, Elvis Presley and George Strait and explains how the relationship between Music Row and the Pentagon “helped shape not only the evolution of popular music but also race relations, partisanship and images of the United States abroad.”

“These events are great opportunities for faculty to share their research and for the community to learn about the research happening on campus,” said Eric Vivier, an MSU associate professor of English who is a faculty fellow with MSU’s Judy and Bobby Shackouls Honors College and director of the book talk series.

MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences includes more than 5,000 students, 300 full-time faculty members, nine doctoral programs and 25 academic majors offered in 14 departments. Visit www.cas.msstate.edu for more information.

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