USA Announces 2026 Mahan Lecture
Posted on April 10, 2026
Dr. Renata Keller, associate professor of history and undergraduate advisor at the University of Nevada, will speak at the University of South Alabama Department of History Mahan Lecture at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 15, in the Student Center Ballroom. The USA Foundation is supporting the event, which is free and open to the public.
Keller’s presentation will focus on her most recent book, “The Fate of the Americas: The Cuban Missile Crisis and the Hemispheric Cold War,” which was published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2025. The work examines how people and governments across the Americas were affected by the Cuban Missile Crisis.
“Dr. Keller’s book gives us a new way of thinking about the Cold War. Many Latin American countries were allies of the United States, but also had strong internal leftist movements and political parties, so for them, the Cold War internally and externally focused on issues like security, solidarity and sovereignty,” said Dr. David Messenger, professor and chair of the Department of History. “The Cuban Missile Crisis really brought these debates and issues to the forefront in many parts of the region.”
Keller is also the co-editor of The Global Twentieth Century book series and author of “Mexico’s Cold War: Cuba, the United States, and the Legacy of the Mexican Revolution.”
The Mahan Lecture is named after Howard F. Mahan, the founding chair of the Department of History in the USA College of Arts and Sciences. Through support from the University of South Alabama Foundation, the department established the annual lecture in honor of Mahan’s contributions to the University and the state.
