WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Handmade posters depicting the book covers of George Orwell's 1984, William Golding's Lord of the Flies and countless other controversial American classics adorned the walls of a crowded Purdue University lecture hall filled Tuesday night with activists, students, professors, a state legislator and French documentary filmmakers.

The most controversial author on Purdue's campus these days — Howard Zinn — was what brought the crowd to Purdue.

More than 100 people came together Tuesday at Purdue to read and celebrate the work of the controversial anti-war historian whose name has been uttered frequently around campus this year....