Scholar of American west to lecture

Patricia Limerick, author and historian of the West, will give a lecture, “Humanities Without Restraint: Using History to Calm Down the American West,” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, in the On Wisconsin Room of the Red Gym, 716 Langdon St.

The free public lecture is presented by the Center for the Humanities. For information call (608) 263-3409.

Limerick, a professor of history at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and chair of the board and faculty director of the Center of the American West, is an authority on the New West.

A recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship “genius award” in 1995, Limerick wrote the 1987 landmark book “The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West,” which has had a major impact on the field of American history.

She received both praise and criticism for debunking some long-held myths about the West and for focusing attention on women, minorities and the environment. Today, Limerick’s views are widely accepted.