Acclaimed writer Mark Edmundson will present “Why Football Matters: What’s Gained (and Lost) from a Gridiron Education” on Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. in Gasson Hall, room 100. Edmundson, author of the new book Why Football Matter: My Education in the Game (Penguin Press, 2014), will talk about the paradoxical game that transformed him as a young man, teaching self-discipline and teamwork but also celebrating violence. Football showcases athletic beauty and physical excellence, but it also damages young bodies and minds. It instills confidence and purpose, and also cockiness and an inflated sense of superiority. The Washington Post calls Edmundson’s book a “richly textured look at football as a vital part of American culture.” Edmundson, a professor of English at the University of Virginia, is also the author of the books Why Read?, Why Teach?, Kings of Rock and Roll, The Death of Sigmund Freud, and Nightmare on Main Street. His essays have appeared in Harper’s, The New York Times, The American Scholar and Raritan, to which he is a contributing editor. Listen to an interview with Edmundson on PRI’s “The Takeaway.” Sponsor: Lowell Humanities Series.