Gary B. Nash, a retired history professor from the University of California at Los Angeles, will deliver a public lecture about the parallels between history and patriotism this afternoon.

“”We are in the middle of a war and, with 9/11, we now have the Patriot Act,”” Nash said. “”This is about how history and patriotism get linked together and will address some difficulties that our democracy has had in crisis situations with telling our history truthfully while trying to remain patriotic.””

A co-chair of the National History Standards Task Force from 1992-1996, Nash held an open forum yesterday at the Honors College where he discussed historical events and gave advice to students.

“”We’ve been through our share of feverish forms of patriotism,”” Nash said.

“”History has its politics and controversies.””

Although only a few people went to yesterday’s forum, one student in attendance, Chris Bischof, a history senior and member of honorary history fraternity Phi Alpha Theta, said he knows of many people who will attend this evening’s lecture.

Nash, who is visiting the UA for the first time since “”before it grew up and became such a big university,”” said he is glad to be here as part of the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program.

“”This is the sixth out of eight colleges that I am visiting,”” he added. “”I always like to get on the road to see new places and meet new people, and four-year colleges are so important now that there are over 2,000 of them in this country.””

Nash has received both the Distinguished Teaching Award and the Distinguished Emeriti Award at UCLA. He has authored, co-authored and edited more than 20 books through catching what he described as “”the scribbler’s disease.””

His lecture will begin at 4 p.m. in Room 350 of the Modern Languages building. Free parking is available in the Second Street Parking Garage.