WWI Centennial Living History
Winchester Handley Library
by Douglas Batson
Wednesday, April 4, 2018, 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. FREE ADMISSION!
George M. Cohan’s resounding American war ballad Over There exclaimed “We’ll be over, we’re coming over; and we won’t come back till it’s over—over there.” While most U.S. troops were over there and back within a year, the November 11, 1918 armistice did not end the Great War. To prepare for the Paris Peace Conference, President Woodrow Wilson tapped Dr. Isaiah Bowman to lead “The Inquiry,” a group of distinguished geographers who served as a precursor to today’s National Intelligence Council. With its vast collection of maps and reports, The Inquiry informed Mr. Wilson’s 14 Points for a scientific peace settlement, an event that propelled America onto the world stage as its self-proclaimed moral and economic leader.
Come and experience what it was like in New York City when Dr. Bowman secretly convened “The Inquiry” 100 years ago with the presentation Geographies of Peace. https://handley.libcal.com/event/3913304
DOUGLAS BATSON is a retired military geographer and an expert in the political geography of World War I. As a living historian, he portrays Dr. Isaiah Bowman, then-Director of the American Geographical Society (AGS).
