Patricia Nelson Limerick, a professor of history at the University of Colorado at Boulder and one of the pioneers of the trend known as "New Western History," will deliver three Carl Becker Lectures at Cornell March 31 through April 2. She will deliver the lectures, which are free and open to the public, at 4:30 p.m. in Room 165 McGraw Hall as follows:

• Monday, March 31: "From Covered Wagons to Recreational Vehicles, Colt Revolvers to Nuclear Arms: Reappraising Continuity in Western American History." Tuesday, April 1: "The Atomic West: The Cold War and the Contamination of the Wide Open Spaces." Wednesday, April 2: "Something in the Soil: Rocky Flats, Denver and the Perceptions of Risk."

Limerick is the immediate past president of the American Studies Association and is a recipient of a MacArthur "genius" award. One of the foremost authorities on the history of the American West, she is the author of such books as Desert Passages and The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West. The latter established her as a leader among a new generations of historians engaged in "New Western History," a revisionist trend that has received much attention since emerging 15 years ago.

"The new Western historians reappraised the notion of the West as a region and stressed the roles and interactions of all of the region's diverse peoples, from Native Americans, to Europeans, to Mexicans and Asians and Africans," said Gary Okihiro, professor of history and organizer of Limerick's visit to Cornell. "These historians also have begun an important reassessment of humans and their environments and have produced significant works on environmental history."

Michael Kammen, the Newton C. Farr Professor of American History and Culture, described Limerick as "a lively, learned and witty speaker. She punctuates her analyses with memorable anecdotes, and her lectures at Cornell promise to be creative and stimulating."

The Becker Lectures in History series is the most important event sponsored by the Department of History. Now in its third decade, the series brings distinguished historians from all areas of specialization to Cornell for a series of three lectures each year. It is named for Carl Becker, who taught at Cornell from 1917 until 1941 (when he became the university's official historian). Becker is considered one of the most influential historians in the United States of the 20th century.