Andrew Davis and Jeff Biggers

Join us for a conversation between Jennifer Holt (Film and Media Studies) and co-authors Andrew Davis and Jeff Biggers about their novel, Disturbing the Bones.

In Disturbing the Bones, a plot to disrupt a global peace summit in Chicago collides with a civil rights case breakthrough at a mysterious archaeological site. Chicago detective Randall Jenkins has not been back home to the historic Civil Rights hotspot of Cairo, Illinois since the disappearance of his mother, a well-known journalist, several decades ago. That all changes the day Dr. Molly Moore, an ambitious young archaeologist in the national spotlight for her groundbreaking high-tech discoveries, uncovers a set of strange bones at a huge 12,000-year-old site at a highway construction project. With retired military general and contractor William Alexander breathing down her neck to cover up the dig, Molly and Randall soon find themselves in the middle of a wild military conspiracy. The detective and archaeologist’s entwined family mysteries suddenly thrust them into the central position as the only people who can ensure the safety of the ongoing Chicago global peace summit. They must take on the rogue general who views any disarmament agreement as a clear and present danger to the United States. The fate of global peace and the lives of Molly and Randall hang in the balance. A reception will follow.

Andrew Davis, raised on the southside of Chicago, is the acclaimed director and screenwriter of numerous films, including Holes, Under Siege, Code of Silence, A Perfect Murder, and The Guardian, and whose landmark film, The Fugitive, chosen in 2020 by Los Angeles Times readers as the ultimate summer film, was nominated for seven Academy awards including Best Picture.

Jeff Biggers is an American Book Award-winning historian, journalist, playwright, and monologist. He is the author and editor of ten books, and his work has appeared in American and foreign newspapers, magazines and numerous anthologies.

Jennifer Holt is Professor of Film and Media Studies at UC Santa Barbara. Her most recent book, Cloud Policy: A History of Regulating Pipelines, Platforms, and Data, was published in September 2024 by MIT Press.

Hosted by the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center