BRATTLEBORO — Middlebury College professor Tim Spears will look at the legacy of James Agee's book, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, in a talk at Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro on Feb. 6 at 7 p.m.
His talk, “The Making of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men,“ is part of the Vermont Humanities Council's First Wednesdays lecture series and is free and open to the public.
Published in 1941, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men depicted, in words and images, the lives of southern sharecroppers. Spears will discuss how writer James Agee and photographer Walker Evans resisted journalistic conventions to produce a book that raises important questions about the nature of documentary work - and art.
Spears is a Professor of American Studies at Middlebury College, where he also serves as Vice President for Academic Development. He received his B.A. from Yale University and did his graduate work at Harvard University in the History of American Civilization.
Spears has taught a wide range of classes, including courses on consumer culture, Chicago, regional and Southern literature, and football and higher education. He is the author of 100 Years on the Road: The Traveling Salesman in American Culture (1995) and Chicago Dreaming: Midwesterners and the City, 1871 to 1919.
The Vermont Humanities Council's First Wednesdays series is held on the first Wednesday of every month from October through May in nine communities statewide, featuring speakers of national and regional renown.