With the apparent withdrawal of the United States from the leadership position of the Western Alliance, a role it has held for eighty years, the question on many minds is whether Western Europe can survive in a new world order centered around three superpowers: The United States, Russia, and China. Specifically, is NATO capable, without US backing, of surviving a conventional war with Russia. We will look at the military, economic, and industrial balance between NATO (minus the USA) and Russia, and at least cast some light on the important issues involved in Western Europe's survival as a viable fourth force in an increasingly hostile world.

Speaker details: Frank Chadwick is a military historian and author of books, articles, and columns on contemporary military affairs. He is particularly interested in the ongoing Ukraine War, taught an OLLI course on the subject, and facilitates a continuing study group on the war.

With the apparent withdrawal of the United States from the leadership position of the Western Alliance, a role it has held for eighty years, the question on many minds is whether Western Europe can survive in a new world order centered around three superpowers: The United States, Russia, and China. Specifically, is NATO capable, without US backing, of surviving a conventional war with Russia. We will look at the military, economic, and industrial balance between NATO (minus the USA) and Russia, and at least cast some light on the important issues involved in Western Europe's survival as a viable fourth force in an increasingly hostile world.

Speaker details: Frank Chadwick is a military historian and author of books, articles, and columns on contemporary military affairs. He is particularly interested in the ongoing Ukraine War, taught an OLLI course on the subject, and facilitates a continuing study group on the war.

February 5th MC = Casey Sutherland

Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park nows plays an expansive central role in cutting-edge global science. The survival of Life on Earth through geological time has depended on organisms successfully responding to, and eventually controlling, mineral growth within the environment. These Life-Water-Mineral interactions have long been an essential, unavoidable, and ubiquitously distributed force of nature, providing fundamental benefits for health and survival (from bones to teeth) as well as profound practical problems and disease (from kidney to heart and breast calcification). Integration of concepts and techniques from Geology, Biology and Medicine (GeoBioMed), forged at Mammoth, has opened a whole new realm of unexplored approaches for testing novel drug therapies and clinical interventions for a wide variety of human diseases as a viable alternative to reliance on surgery.

Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park nows plays an expansive central role in cutting-edge global science. The survival of Life on Earth through geological time has depended on organisms successfully responding to, and eventually controlling, mineral growth within the environment. These Life-Water-Mineral interactions have long been an essential, unavoidable, and ubiquitously distributed force of nature, providing fundamental benefits for health and survival (from bones to teeth) as well as profound practical problems and disease (from kidney to heart and breast calcification). Integration of concepts and techniques from Geology, Biology and Medicine (GeoBioMed), forged at Mammoth, has opened a whole new realm of unexplored approaches for testing novel drug therapies and clinical interventions for a wide variety of human diseases as a viable alternative to reliance on surgery.

Presenter: Hannah Majewski

Falconry Manuals and Treatises: Avian-human Partnerships Through History

Join falconer and RBML Graduate Assistant Hannah Majewski in exploring the Rare Book and Manuscript Library’s collection of falconry manuals and treatises to see how falconers from the medieval up through today navigated their relationships with birds of prey.

Presenter: Hannah Majewski

A Study in Sherlock: Liminal Literature and the Birth of Sherlock Holmes

Come and explore the RBML’s collection of Sherlock Holmes texts and see how they fit (or don’t) in the popular genre of liminal literature known as “penny dreadfuls.” How does the infamous detective fit in a time when such stories were never meant to last? Let’s talk about it!

Presenter: Cait Coker and James Gordon

Chattin' with Trekkers: Star Trek at the RBML

Do you like Star Trek? Would you like to spend an hour looking at Star Trek television scripts and fanzines? How do you feel about debating the best episodes? Stop by for all of these, and more!

Presenter: Tony Hynes

Great Title: In the Land Downunder: The Science, Pseudoscience, and Fiction of Our Hollow Earth

The cultural history of the world below our feet, the Underland, has deep roots. From cave art to coal mining, from cenotes to catacombs, from Hades to Xibalba, from Dante to Verne, and Symzonia to Atvatbar, the Underland has been central to our desires and fears. This brief tour of the Underland explores some of the facts and much of the fiction of this very human experience, with more than a little fantasy. The cast of characters includes Dante Alighieri, Edmond Halley (of comet fame), John Cleves Symmes, Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Richard Shaver, and even an appearance by Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr.

Presenter: Dana Miller

Talking Heads: A Look at Phrenology and Physiognomy Texts

“And whilst I scan the human skull / The heavy, thick, the bright, or dull; / I can propound, from ev’ry pate / The sad realities of fate. / My simple slave is Doctor Gall, / And Spurzheim answers at my call” (Preface, A political lecture on heads, p. 6)

Phrenology is a pseudoscience developed by German physicians Franz Joseph Gall and Johann Spurzheim in the early 19th century. At the intersection of psychology and physiology, phrenology is the study of the shape and size of the human skull in order to gain insight into one's intellectual faculties and character. Often conflated with phrenology, physiognomy (also a pseudoscience) involves the judgement of one's character through the evaluation of their physical attributes, such as facial features.

Join us for a discussion about phrenology, physiognomy, and the relationship between these two problematic methods of understanding human behavior, and a look at materials from RBML's collection!

Presenter: Carrie Lingscheit

The (Not So) Lost Art of Mezzotint

Mezzotint is an intaglio printmaking technique characterized by soft gradations of tone and rich and velvety blacks. Come and learn about the history and current resurgence of this 17th-century method, with a live demonstration of tools and technique by a contemporary practitioner!