Naval Gazing: Remembering the Maine and the Ordinary Origins of American Empire, 1898-1916 with Dr. Jason W. Smith
On the night of February 15, 1898 the battleship USS Maine suddenly exploded and sank in Havana. Two-hundred sixty-six men were dead and the United States moved precipitously toward war with Spain. This presentation examines the ways commemorative practices surrounding the Maine reflected and cemented the public’s investment in the Navy, the state, and the American empire that emerged between 1898 and World War I, privileging ordinary Americans’ place in the nation’s rise to global power.
About the Presenter:
Jason W. Smith is associate professor of History at Southern Connecticut State University. He previously served as the Class of 1957 Postdoctoral Fellow in Naval History at the United States Naval Academy. He has published articles in numerous academic journals, and he is the author of To Master the Boundless Sea: The US Navy, the Marine Environment, and the Cartography of Empire, published in 2018. He is currently at work on a new book titled Sea Power and Spectacle: A Cultural History of Navalism and Ordinary Origins of American Global Power.
- Date: June 22
- Time: 6:00pm - 7:00pm
- Cost: Free (Registration Required)
- Location: Tropic Cinema
