Dr. James Carter, assistant professor of history at Texas A&M University, will present a free lecture on "Inventing Vietnam: Lessons in Nation Building from a Forgotten Example" as part of the McNeese State University Banners Series at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 29, in Parra Ballroom of the student union annex on the McNeese campus.

Carter received his doctorate at the University of Houston and his areas of specialization are U.S. foreign relations, the Vietnam War and modern East Asia.

His book, "Inventing Vietnam: The United States and State Building, 1954-1968," is scheduled to be published by Cambridge University Press. He has also published several articles on the role of private contractors in the building of South Vietnam and on war profiteering from Vietnam to Iraq.

Carter says he has always believed that students in any history class should be given a usable past. "The past can and should be useful in navigating and understanding the world around us all," he said. "To make it so, the historian must very often make the other half of the frog visible and to explain it, and to explain why it has not already been made visible."

He said for anyone wishing to understand history, the daily cacophony of news, official government statements and the like are more likely to confuse than inform.

"To investigate, interrogate and expose the patterns of the past, however, tells us how we got where we are, teaches us to ask better questions of leaders, shields us from otherwise seductive propaganda and enables us to determine where we will go," said Carter.