Boston Athenaeum
Joseph J. Ellis on The Cause
With The Cause: The American Revolution and its Discontents, 1773-1783, Ellis takes a fresh look at the events between 1773 and 1783, recovering a war more brutal than any in American history save the Civil War and discovering a strange breed of “prudent” revolutionaries, whose prudence proved wise yet tragic when it came to slavery, the original sin that still haunts our land.
Ellis, a professor of history at Mount Holyoke College, won the National Book Award for American Sphinx and the Pulitzer Prize for Founding Brothers. (But don’t overlook his early Passionate Sage, about the retirement years of John Adams). This event will be a conversation between Ellis and Prof. Robert Allison of Suffolk University and Revolution 250.
Registration for this event costs $5, free for Boston Athenaeum members. Register through this page.
New England Historic Genealogical Society
Nathaniel Philbrick on Travels with George
In his new book, Philbrick tackles the question “Does George Washington still matter?” He argues for Washington’s unique contribution to the forging of America by retracing his journey as a new president through all thirteen former colonies, which were then an unsure nation.
In the fall of 2018, Philbrick embarked on his own journey into what Washington called “the infant woody country” to see for himself what America had become in the 229 years since. Writing in a thoughtful first-person voice about his own adventures with his wife, Melissa, and their dog, Dora, Travels with George follows Washington’s presidential excursions.
Philbrick won the National Book Award for In the Heart of the Sea and the New England Book Award for Bunker Hill, the first of his series following different narratives of the Revolutionary War.
This event comes in two parts. The first, a presentation and short discussion about the new book, is free. The second part requires an extra registration and costs $50, which brings a personalized signed book shipped by priority mail.
In the second part, titled “Writing History,” Philbrick will be joined by Ryan J. Woods, executive vice president of the N.E.H.G.S.; Catherine Allgor, president of the Massachusetts Historical Society; and audience members for an extended question-and-answer discussion about his inspirations, research, and writing process.
For links to register separately for both parts, visit this page. In addition to the organizations represented on that online rostrum, this event will be hosted by the Boston Public Library, GBH Forum Network, and Porter Square Books.
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