"Soldier's Heart" Author Jeremy Rusk to Speak Nov. 7 at Library Station
October 25, 2011 —
Jeremy Webb Rusk, author of a new tale of love and conflict in Civil War Missouri – “Soldier’s Heart” – will give a book talk at 7 p.m. Monday, November 7, in the Santa Fe Room of the Library Station, 2535 N. Kansas Expressway.
The event is free and open to the public. His book will be available for purchase.
“Soldier’s Heart” was a familiar term to those who survived the American Civil War, and later became known in World War II as “battle fatigue” or “shell shock,” and now is known as post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
Rusks’ Civil War novel is grounded in the lives of his Confederate and Union ancestors. Rusk is a southwest Missouri native and a descendant of Webb City’s founding family. His great-grandfather Webb fought for the South and his other great-grandfather, from the pioneer Rusk family in Missouri, fought for the North.
A historian and philosopher with a special interest in the philosophy of history, Rusk holds a master's degree in history, a master's degree in the philosophy of religion, and a doctorate from Harvard University. He studied at Oxford University on a Rockefeller Fellowship and has taught philosophy in several universities. He served as founding Director of Harlaxton College, a study-abroad college in England, was founding director of a college for Seniors at Harvard University and later was an administrative dean at Harvard's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.