Category Archives: Kentucky Live

WKU Libraries hosted noted wildlife specialist Tom Barnes Thursday, February 12 at Barnes & Noble Booksellers as part of its Kentucky Live! Series. As Professor of Forestry and Wildlife Specialist at the University of Kentucky, he is a frequent commentator on wildlife management and animal damage control.

“Barnes is a frequent author for Kentucky Gardener, Kentucky Home and Gardening Magazine, Kentucky Afield and Back Home in Kentucky,” said Brian Coutts, Department Head of Public Services at WKU Libraries. “He’s regularly seen and heard on Kentucky radio and television and has presented more than 400 educational programs on a variety of wildlife related topics.”

In 1998 his first book Gardening for the Birds was published by the University Press of Kentucky. He followed that with a stunningly beautiful Kentucky’s Last Great Places in 2002 which included observations, anecdotes, and more than 100 of his full-color photos drawn from a thirteen-year exploration of little studied areas of the state. In 2004 he published Wildflowers and Ferns of Kentucky. His newest book Rare Wildflowers of Kentucky authored with Deborah White and Marc Evans documents Kentucky’s signature rare plants and includes 220 gorgeous full color photographs by Barnes. Barnes signed copies of his newest book following the presentation.

Photo Album | Podcast | Audio

WKU Libraries’ Kentucky Live! presented Jack Montgomery about his new book American Shamans: Traditional Healers & the Folk-Magic Tradition at Barnes and Noble on the evening of December 4, 2008.

Magical healings, ghostly encounters, and alternate realities have been a part of American society since the first colonial settlements. In his book, Jack Montgomery provides ample historical and personal material to reveal a largely hidden world, primarily influenced by African, Celtic and German roots, that still exists today.

Photo Album | Podcast | Audio

WKU Libraries presented Dew Curtis, founder of the acclaimed Fark.com on the evening of October 23, 2008 at Barnes & Noble Booksellers. Dew talked about “how mass media tries to pass off crap as news,” a topic that constitutes the title of one of his books. After his presentation, he signed the book for its buyers.

This presentation was part of the talk series known as “Kentucky Live! The Best of the Southern Culture.” For future presentations, please visit www.wku.edu/library/events/kylive/.

Photo Album | Podcast | Audio

WKU Libraries’ Kentucky Live! presented Kristine McCusker who spoke about her new book “Lonesome Cowgirls & Honky-Tonk Angels: The Women of Barn Dance Radio,” at Barnes and Noble on September 11 2008.

Popular between the two world wars, American barn dance radio evoked comforting images of a nostalgic and stable past for listeners beset by economic problems at home and worried about totalitarian governments abroad. Sentimental images such as the mountain mother and the chaste everybody’s-little-sister “girl singer” helped to sell a new consumer culture and move commercial country music from regional fare to national treasure. Kristine M. McCusker examines the gendered politics of these images through the lives and careers of six women performers.

Kristine M. McCusker is an associate professor of history at Middle Tennessee State University. She is coeditor of A Boy Named Sue: Gender and Country Music.

Photo album || Podcast of the event

Ronnie Dreistadt, Outreach Educator at the Kentucky Derby Museum, presented “Derby Legends and Other ‘Truths'” at Barnes & Noble on Thursday March 6th. He covered 134 years of Derby history through stories and legends.

Some of the horses and people he mentioned include Aristides, winner of the first Derby; Outlaw Frank James, one of the first “celebrities” to attend the race; Sir Barton, the first Triple Crown winner; and Secretariat, which still holds the record for the fastest running horse in the history of Derby.

This program is part of the “Kentucky Live!” series organized by the WKU Libraries.

Photo album of the event.
Podcast of the event.

“Kentucky Live! program organized by the WKU Libraries presented “The Longest Cave in the World: Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave Systems” with Dr. Chris Groves of the Department of Geography & Geology at WKU on the evening of November 8 at Barnes & Noble. Each attendee received a free pass to the Kentucky Library & Museum to see the Smithsonian Institution Caves Exhibit!*

Photos of the event on Flickr. And Podcast of the presentation