Historian writes a book about zombies to reach students

Taking advantage of a unique overlapping of both personal and professional interests, Antonio Thompson, Austin Peay State University associate professor of history, and his wife, APSU associate professor of biology Amy Thompson, recently completed work on a new academic book, “But If a Zombie Apocalypse Did Occur: Essays on Medical, Military, Governmental, Ethical, Economic and Other Implications.”

“When ‘The Walking Dead’ came on television, I started watching it, and I saw that the show was really about people and not the zombies themselves,” Amy Thompson said. “One of the things you have to do as a college professor is reach your audience, reach your students, and talk about things that they like in order to engage them in learning.”

As devotees of the genre, the Thompsons saw the popularity of zombies as an opportunity to better reach students on a personal level. While at San Diego Comic-Con to present an academic paper in 2012, Antonio Thompson pitched the book’s concept to editors from McFarland Press, a major academic and adult nonfiction publisher, and quickly received a contract for the book.

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To construct the book, the Thompsons solicited top scholars across the country, including Harvard University assistant professor of psychiatry Dr. Steven Scholzman, to contribute essays for this work. They also invited three of their colleagues, APSU biology professor James Thompson, APSU nursing professor Linda Thompson and APSU sociology professor David Steele to write chapters for the book. ...