Published: October 07, 2009 10:48 pm         

Understanding the mob mentality

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.”

Those famous words uttered by Mark Antony in William Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar” can lead to understanding the mob mentality.

J. Rufus Fears will walk participants through the lessons of Julius Caesar’s reign and what lessons of leadership the Roman Empire holds for America today in the second of a series of five lectures.

His talk will be 7 p.m. Monday in the Gantz Center at Northern Oklahoma College Enid.

It will be his second in a series of lectures on leadership lessons based on the Great Books.

More than 300 people attended the first lecture.

The series then will continue Nov. 9 with Homer’s “The Iliad,” followed by Jan. 11 with Machiavelli’s “The Prince” and end on Feb. 8 with a lecture based on Elie Wiesel’s “Night.”

Admission is free and open to the public.

Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” was a five-act play, which detailed the killing of Caesar, the ensuing battle for public opinion and the eventual demise of the conspirators who killed him.

The play and the lecture will cover lessons the Roman Empire can teach us.

The one-hour session will feature an opportunity to enter to win a copy of the book “Julius Caesar.”

In addition, Fears will build on lessons from his first lecture and how they resonate in today’s administration and public policy.

Fears holds the G.T. and Libby Blankenship Chair in the history of liberty at the University of Oklahoma.

He also serves as David and Ann Brown Distin-guished Fellow of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. Fears earned his Ph.D. from Harvard Univ-ersity.

Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center named Fears as scholar in residence for the educational arm of the center, the Leadership Institute.

In this capacity he leads the Heritage Center in a variety of educational programs to teach leadership principles exemplified by those who settled the Cherokee Strip and through their perseverance developed northwest Oklahoma.

For information, call Andi Holland, president of the CSRHC, at 234-8999 or visit the center’s Web site, www.regionalheritagecent er.org.