The University of Mary Washington will present its 2012 Chappell Great Lives Lecture Series beginning in January and running through April. The popular program, which will examine the lives of a wide range of intriguing historical figures, is open to the public free of charge. The lectures will be held at 7:30 p.m. in George Washington Hall’s Dodd Auditorium on selected Tuesday and Thursday evenings. The series begins Tuesday, January 24, with a lecture on Kurt Vonnegut by Charles J. Shields, associate director of the Great Lives Series. Shields is the author of the recently released “And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut, A Life,” the first full-length biography of Vonnegut. The book has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Shields also is the author of “Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee,” the bestselling biography of the author of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” The 2012 series will continue with lectures on major figures such as Christopher Columbus, Marquis de Lafayette, … [Read more...]