LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - The role of Pennsylvania’s “lumber country” during the Civil War will be the focus of a public talk on Thursday evening, December 3 at Lock Haven University. As part of the Stevenson Library Book Talks series, Associate Professor Robert Sandow of the Department of History, Political Science, Economics and Geography will speak on his new book, “Deserter Country: Civil War Opposition in the Pennsylvania Appalachians.” Sandow’s talk begins at 7:00 p.m. Light refreshments will be served. The public is welcome.

According to the book’s description on Amazon.com, during the Civil War the Appalachian mountains “were home to divided communities that provided safe-haven for opponents of the war.” The description goes on to state that Sandow’s book “draws revealing parallels to the War in the southern mountains, exploring the roots of rural protest in frontier development, the market economy, military policy, partisan debate, and everyday resistance.” The description concludes, “Sandow also sheds new light on the party politics of rural resistance, rejecting easy depictions of war-opponents as traitors and malcontents for a more nuanced and complicated study of the class, economic upheaval, and localism.”

Each semester the Stevenson Library invites faculty and local scholars who have recently published a book to come to the library and give a talk. The Stevenson Library Book Talk team is comprised of Brian Ardan, assistant professor, library; Bernadette Heiney, information technology; and Rick Lilla, professor and department chair, electronic resources. All Book Talks are free and open to the public.

“Deserter Country: Civil War Opposition in the Pennsylvania Appalachians” is published by Fordham University Press.