Spotlight
History Professors Utilize Student Conversations to Deepen Scholarship
Bringing their academic passions to the forefront in recent book projects, three professors in the Southern Virginia University history program are utilizing classroom experiences to develop their scholarly works.
Fran MacDonnell, “Policing Show Business: J. Edgar Hoover, the Hollywood Blacklist, and Cold War Movies”
Inspired by his first book, which looked at a spy scare in the United States during World War II, Emeritus Professor of History Fran MacDonnell has taught a research seminar on Spies, Subversion, and Counter-Subversion at Southern Virginia University since 2011.
“With the things I was interested in, I think I was able to help students find great topics for their papers, but then the students themselves kind of inspired me to keep going with my work,” said MacDonnell. “And so I put in a lot of requests, starting around 2014–15, to the Freedom of Information Act, especially about people in the entertainment business.”
Receiving information on Hollywood stars from the National Archives and Federal Bureau of Investigation, MacDonnell published his book “Policing Show Business: J. Edgar Hoover, the Hollywood Blacklist, and Cold War Movies” in 2024, which tells the story of the development of the Hollywood Blacklist under J. Edgar Hoover’s leadership, and its impact on American movies and the artists in them.
“I think I’m able to show the damage that was done to a number of artists, but also the damage that was done to the American public because there’s a kind of alchemy to American movies where talented people of different political persuasions came together to make great, entertaining films,” said MacDonnell. “The people who were blacklisted or their careers ended couldn’t bring their talents to the screen.”
Andrew Sorber, “Prophecy and Politics in the Early Carolingian World”
Assistant Professor of Humanities and History Andrew Sorber has recently taken his interest in early medieval history to Routledge Press, and published a book titled “Prophecy and Politics in the Early Carolingian World” in 2024, which looks at the role of religion in political rhetoric to strengthen and then weaken the Carolingian family’s rule.
“The main argument is that while for Charlemagne the ability to claim divine revelation is a very positive thing— this makes his reign firmer, it gives him more control, and he’s able to do a lot with it—it gets out of hand,” said Sorber. “And so under his son, because they normalize this in the discourse, they couldn’t control it.”
While not currently teaching a course on the subject of his book, Sorber has seen student influences on his writing through the broader insights and interpretations the students provide in his classes. A student’s comment in one of his Classics of Islam classes about an unrelated topic helped him realize a flaw in an argument in his book.
“It reframed the way that I was thinking about a few key pieces of evidence that I had a hard time really interpreting,” said Sorber. “By taking the mindset that this student had, and then adapting it, I realized that it really improved the structure of the book and the way that I interpret the evidence.”
David Cox, “The Coming Emmanuel: Jesus Christ and the Great O Antiphons”
An ordained priest in the Epixcopal Church since 1972, Professor of History David Cox is currently co-authoring a book on the Great O Antiphons of the Christmas season, which describe features of the Messianic Christ and are most commonly known from the hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”
“Antiphons are liturgical texts that are used in saying the Psalms or canticles, such as a Magnificat. And these Antiphons all describe features of Christ,” said Cox. “I hope readers will get a sense of how this very early Christian understanding of the Savior is really at the heart of our Christian tradition.”
When asked by Honors Program Director John Armstrong to teach a history class for the honors program during the Fall 2025 semester, Cox decided to teach the course on his upcoming book. He will be focusing on one of the seven antiphons each week of the seven-week course.
“I’m looking forward to this seminar because it will probably happen before the book is published,” said Cox. “So to be able to share this with students and get their reactions and their reflections is going to be a very useful thing.”