BOOK SIGNING SCHEDULED FOR SOUTHERN MISS HISTORY

PROFESSOR’S BOOK APRIL 14 HATTIESBURG

HATTIESBURG – University of Southern Mississippi assistant professor of history Dr. Doug Chambers will be signing copies of his recently released book, Murder at Montpelier: Igbo Africans in Virginia (University Press of Mississippi, 2005) Thursday, April 14 at Main Street Books in Hattiesburg from 5-6 p.m.

“This is an extraordinary book. In the past 15 years or so, students of American history have begun to pay much more attention to the African past of American slaves, though their efforts are often hampered by their inability to understand Africa,” said John Thornton, professor of History and African American Studies at Boston University, in his review of Chamber’s work.

“Africanists have not made their task easier by generally writing little about the topics that interest their colleagues in the Americas. Douglas Chambers has triumphantly overcome that barrier by immersing himself in the study of the Igbo to the point that he is accepted as an Africanist without reservation; yet at the same time, he is equally a master of the American side and its sources,” Thornton said. “His study of Igbos in Virginia, that underlies the murder mystery that makes the plot of his book, is provocative, well-informed, and convincing.”

For more information about Murder at Montpelier: Igbo Africans in Virginia or the book signing, contact Chambers at 266-4333.

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