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History hopped off the page as newly published professors introduced their historical books to a packed class of students eager to quiz the writers about their new books.

About 35-40 people jammed into a Satterfield classroom as history professors Elizabeth Smith-Pryor, Kevin Adams and Timothy Scarnecchia explained the work that goes into researching a book and getting it published.

Related Links: View the KSU History department and their latest events here. Read a review about “Property Rites” here. Read a brief about Scarnecchia’s book here. Read a brief about Adams’ book here.

Scarnecchia lived in Africa and was interested in the apartheid so he drew on personal interest and experience to write his book called “The Urban Roots of Democracy and Political Violence in Zimbabwe.”

“You have to be patient and learn from being steered a different way,” Scarnecchia said of writing his book.

Smith-Pryor has an interest in African-American studies and women’s rights which influenced her to write a narrative history about a 1920s divorce case.

“My hope is that people who aren’t history majors will be interested in the story and pick up the book,” Smith-Pryor said.

Adams shared with students how he spent time in the dusty backrooms of the National Archives researching the lives of around 9,000 military men who served on the western frontier.

He explained to them the difficult task he had of trying to decipher old microfilms that were almost unreadable and how that sort of research goes along with being a historian.

Monika Flaschka, a Ph.D. candidate for history, said she felt the book event was fabulous because it was a presentation of what historians do and how they do it.

“I always like knowing what my professors do,” she said.