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DRAWING ON HISTORY lydia|MAXWELL History. Just the word itself can cause some people to go into a hypnotic trance. Learning all those dates and places and having to read about ancient times and people can suck the life out of you. Everyone has had at least one course that is dry as dirt, where it takes some effort to stay awake in class. But presentation is everything to James Macleod, professor of history. He keeps people engaged and students find that his courses become well-woven stories — with twists and turns, surprises and bombshells, highs and lows. “He brings you on a journey without being a showman,” said Dave Dwyer, professor of mathematics. “He can really hold people. It’s a gift he has.” Arriving at UE in 1999 after a five-year stint at Harlaxton, Macleod has become a popular voice where history is concerned. “He humanizes and connects the history he’s teaching to the people listening, Dwyer said. “He has a great ability to suck you in and put you in a scene.” Over the years, Macleod has combined his love of history with sketching, eventually discovering that he had a flair for political cartooning. His cartoons started receiving attention in 2006 when he won a competition for the Union of Concerned Scientists. That year also had a lot going on politically, and Macleod vowed at that time to
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I think history is a perfect fit for him. He brings narrative to the subject.”
draw a cartoon every day. Since then, his work has been published hundreds of times
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in magazines and newspapers. “Sometimes being a political cartoonist is the easiest thing in the world,” he said. “But sometimes what’s going in the world is so absurd it’s like, ‘what more can you say?’” Probably Macleod’s best-known piece followed the 2015 killing of 12 people working for Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical newspaper that attracted attention for its controversial depictions of Muhammad. Macleod was subsequently interviewed by NPR and said having his work featured on CNN and in The Wall Street Journal and Hustler was surreal.
“I think I have to be one of the only people to have a cartoon published in The Wall Street Journal and Hustler in the same month,” he joked. Political cartoons always range in offensiveness, but Macleod’s work leans more toward being emotional and moving than satirical. Dwyer thinks this approach lets readers know who the artist really is while still calling out hypocrisy and blowhards. “I think the most important thing is you feel like you’re doing something,” Macleod said. “You feel in some small way you can add your voice to the political discourse.” In addition to his cartooning, Macleod has written books on Evansville cartoonist Karl Kae Knecht and the history of Evansville during World War II. He also made a documentary last year with Joe Atkinson, digital multimedia specialist in residence, that told Evansville’s war story through the rememberances of about 40 residents. “One of the great privileges in my life was to meet these great people and talk about their experiences,” Macleod said. “It was a tremendously interesting project.” While cartooning and writing are important aspects of his life, teaching remains Macleod’s lifeblood and he believes that it is important to expose students to many different types of sources rather than just the written word. “I think my central passion is not forcing my views on my students, but sharing my passion with them,” he said. Macleod said his goal is to help his students realize what they are capable of and how to utilize what they have. He wants them to be able to connect what has happened in the past to what is happening in their lives today. “I think before you can change the world, you need to understand the world and you can’t understand it until you know its history,” he said.
February 2018 | Crescent Magazine