Shell museum to host talk by Pulitzer Prize winner
The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum will welcome Pulitzer Prize winner Jack E. Davis to speak to the local community on Feb. 20 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. at The Community House on Sanibel.
Davis, a professor of environmental history at the University of Florida, will share his lively historical view of the Gulf of Mexico, drawn from his 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea.” Significant beyond tragic oil spills and hurricanes, the Gulf has historically been one of the world’s most bounteous marine environments, supporting human life for millennia.
“Jack’s talk, ‘The U.S. and the Gulf of Mexico: History, Wisdom, and Hope,’ explores and celebrates the environmental history of the Gulf’s rich marine ecosystem,” Executive Director Dorrie Hipschman said. “His message will resonate well with those who call Sanibel and Captiva home and with those who love to collect shells on our beaches.”
Davis starts from the premise that nature lies at the center of human existence, and takes his audience on a compelling journey from the Florida Keys to the Texas Rio Grande, along marshy shorelines and majestic estuarine bays. At the center of his talk is the way people, from pre-Spanish natives to present-day coastal residents, have organized their societies and individual lives around nature, and how Gulf nature has been a positive force in human events.
Cost is $10 per person.
Advance reservation required at www.shellmuseum.org/event-calendar.
The Community House is at 2173 Periwinkle Way.