Penelope Fritzer earned degrees in both History (B.A., Connecticut College) and English (M.A., Florida Atlantic University and Ph. D., University of Miami), and she taught at the University of Miami, Broward College, and Florida Atlantic University, where she retired recently as a tenured Emeritus Professor. Penelope is the author of many articles and of twelve books, including several nationally used college textbooks.

Penelope was originally a history major, and has many years’ experience teaching European history, British and American literature, and Methods of Teaching Social Studies and English, along with a wide variety of Architecture and Art in History topics. Additionally, she was a popular speaker in Florida Atlantic University’s Life Long Learning program for older adults.

Penelope is a native of and very knowledgeable about New England, where she grew up and spent much time and made many journeys to historical sites up and down the east coasts of both Canada and the United States, including most recently as destination speaker cruising from Montreal to Fort Lauderdale.

Having taught European History for many years, Penelope is knowledgeable about the United Kingdom (where she has visited relatives yearly since 1980), and about Europe, travelling there from her base in the U. K. She was a destination speaker for five weeks in the Mediterranean in the fall of 2023 and is scheduled as destination speaker for a cruise around the U.K. summer 2025.
Additionally, having lived in South Florida nearly all of her adult life, she has spent extensive time in the Caribbean and is very familiar with its varied geography, history, and cultures: she was the destination speaker on back to back cruises round trip from Fort Lauderdale to the Panama Canal in November 2023.

All of her talks use Powerpoints, including gorgeously rich maps, paintings, and photographs to evocatively explore the geography, history, art/architecture, and culture of the various regions about which she speaks.
In addition to the many destination talks, Penelope has a variety of special topics she can address.

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DESTINATION TALKS

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Destination Talks include geography and history of the country/state and then the specific town/area with its notable art and architecture; local, ethnic and/or artistic traditions; plus representative foods and notable products (additional destinations on request):

French Canada (including Quebec City and Saguenay)
Maritimes Canada: Prince Edward Island and Halifax, Nova Scotia
Labrador and Newfoundland, Canada
Prince Edward Island, Canada
St. John, New Brunswick, Canada
Bar Harbor, Maine
Portland, Maine
Newport, R.I
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Overview of Scotland and the Isles
Falling in Love with Edinburgh
Why Is It Called Northern Ireland and Not Just Ireland?
Beatle-ing Our Way to a Mod World
Kiss Me, I’m Irish: Representations of Ireland in Popular Culture, Literature and Art
Canterbury: the History, the Tales, the Cathedral, the Beauty, the Oddities
Glorious London: Art and Architecture
Ketchikan and Introduction to Alaska
Representations of Alaska in Art, Literature and Popular Culture
Juneau and Haines/Skagway, Alaska
Icy Strait point and Sitka, Alaska
Corfu, Greece
Kotor, Montenegro
Dubrovnik and Split, Croatia
Sibenik, Croatia
Rovinj, Croatia
Bari and Crotone, Italy
Messina, Italy
Naples and Pompeii, Italy
Pompeii, Italy
Florence and Pisa, Italy
Monte Carlo, Monaco and Marseilles, France
Marseilles, France
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Sete/Montpellier, France
Barcelona, Spain
Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Belize City, Belize
Colon & Panama Canal, Panama
Panama Canal, Panama
Coxon Hole, Roatan
Limon, Costa Rica
Montego Bay, Jamaica

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SPECIAL INTEREST

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Special Interest Topics Powerpoint Talks (often ideal for multiple days at sea), additional talks on request:

"History through Art and Architecture: The United States" uses examples of historical paintings to give a brief history of the United States.

“History Through Art and Architecture: The United Kingdom” uses examples of historical paintings to give a brief history of the United Kingdom (variously England, Scotland, Ireland, or Wales).

“History Through Art and Architecture: Europe” uses examples of historical paintings to give a brief history of a selected specific European country.

European Royals: The royal family of the U.K. or of selected European countries and kingdoms.

Detective Fiction (overview or eight separate talks): Edgar Allen Poe and Other Early Writers, Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, The Golden Age and Agatha Christie, Noir and the Hard Boiled Detective, The Cozy Detective, The Ethnic Detective, The Scandinavian Detective, The 21st Century Detective.

“Geography in Classic Rock Music” traces the various expressions and implications of geography, sometimes in surprising ways, through examining audio/visual clips of classic rock music.

"World War I: The Most Important Event of the Twentieth Century" uses visually stunning propaganda posters, maps, and contemporary photos to explain the course and consequences of the war (1914-1918) that influenced major events of the rest of the century.