Iran hostage crisis featured

DURHAM -- Duke University Libraries will host a panel discussion at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, "Witnessing Iran: 1979 and 2009," on how eyewitness accounts are used to write historical narratives, particularly in Iran.

The featured speaker is Mark Bowden, author of "Guests of the Ayatollah: The First Battle in America's War with Militant Islam," who will talk about the interviews he conducted in the aftermath of the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979. The discussion will be held in Room 217 of Perkins Library on Duke's West Campus and is open to the public.

Duke Libraries holds the interviews that Bowden conducted with hostages and hostage-takers as well as accounts he received from military officials about the failed rescue attempt. The Libraries also holds interviews that form the basis for the book "444 Days: The Hostages Remember," by Tim Wells.

Bowden is a national correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly. He is the author of several books, including "Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War" (1999), an international bestseller that was a finalist for the National Book Award.

Negar Mottahedeh, associate professor in Duke's literature department and author of the award-winning book "Displaced Allegories: Post-Revolutionary Iranian Cinema," will also speak. She will discuss how social networks and new media played a role in unrest this summer following national elections in Iran.

The discussion will be moderated by Bruce Kuniholm, dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy. For more information, visit guides.library.duke.edu/witnessing_iran.

Thornton named to NCCU board

RALEIGH -- Gov. Beverly Perdue has appointed Carlton E. Thornton Jr. of Durham to the N.C. Central University Board of Trustees.

Thornton is vice president of Agency of America in Virginia. He received his bachelor's degree in business administration from NCCU.

Contact Mark Donovan at mdonovan@heraldsun.com or (919) 419-6655. E-mail news of interest to our readers to news@heraldsun.com.