Exploring 'The Divide': A Personal Story About Politics Today
Exploring 'The Divide': A Personal Story About Politics Today
Red vs. Blue. Rural vs. Urban. Trump vs. Biden. Blue-Collar vs. the Bourgeoise. How did our politics become so divided? Weaving the personal and the political, Dr. Jeffrey Bloodworth, a history professor at Gannon University and author, will trace the roots of our "divide." He will unearth Trumpism's origins to a class war in the 1970s Democratic Party. But our political divide is merely a symptom of a greater social chasm separating the educated upper-middle-class from the American mainstream, he argues. Using real stories from real people, Bloodworth will depict our divide in stark human terms and offer a path out of this dysfunction.
Location: Jefferson Educational Society - 3207 State Street, Erie, PA 16508
Date/Time: Thursday, May 2 at 7:00 p.m.
Admission: $10/person or $15 with a guest
Parking: lot behind building, State Street, 33rd Street, 32nd Street, French Street
Jeff Bloodworth is a professor of history co-director of the School of Public Service & Global Affairs at Gannon University (Erie, PA). Bloodworth holds a Ph.D. in modern United States history from Ohio University’s Contemporary History Institute and a certificate in contemporary history from the University of Copenhagen. He specializes in twentieth century political history. His book, Losing the Center: The Decline of American Liberalism 1968-1992 (University of Kentucky Press) was nominated for the Ellis W. Hawley and Frederick Jackson Turner awards. In addition, he is midway through a biography of Speaker Carl Albert, who presided as Majority Leader during the Great Society and Civil Rights era and as Speaker during Watergate.
Educational History
- Ph.D., History, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, 2006
- Certificate in Contemporary History, Nordic Summer School, University of Copenhagen, 2005
- Certificate in Contemporary History, Contemporary History Institute, Ohio University, 2001
- M.A., History, Missouri State University, Springfield, Missouri 1999
- B.A., History (cum laude), Missouri State University, Springfield, Missouri 1996
