Watch Read the Revolution Speaker Series Programs
Bringing celebrated authors and historians to the Museum for lively, facilitated discussions of their work, the Read the Revolution Speaker Series explores compelling stories about the diverse people and complex events that sparked America’s ongoing experiment in liberty, equality and self-government.
2025-2026 Season
Read the Revolution
Read the Revolution with David Armitage
November 2025Author and historian Dr. David Armitaged joined the Museum in November 2025 for a lecture and discussion inspired by his book, The Declaration of Independence.
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Read the Revolution with Julia Gaffield and Marlene L. Daut
February 2026Authors Dr. Julia Gaffield and Dr. Marlene L. Daut joined the Museum’s Read the Revolution Speaker Series for a lecture and discussion inspired by their recent biographies on Haitian Revolutionaries and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
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Read the Revolution with Ned Blackhawk
April 2026Author Dr. Ned Blackhawk joined the Museum’s Read the Revolution Speaker Series for a lecture and discussion inspired by his book The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History.
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Read the Revolution
Read the Revolution with Laurie Halse Anderson
May 2026Author Laurie Halse Anderson joined the Museum’s Read the Revolution Speaker Series for a lecture and discussion about her process to research and write historical fiction for generations of young readers.
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Read the Revolution
Read the Revolution with Francis D. Cogliano and Peter S. Onuf
June 2026Dr. Francis D. Cogliano and Dr. Peter S. Onuf joined the Museum's Read the Revolution Speaker Series with a lecture and discussion to launch their new book, Thomas Jefferson Survives: American Independence in His Time and Ours.
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2024-2025 Season
Read the Revolution
Read the Revolution with Lindsay M. Chervinsky
October 2024Historian Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky joined the Museum in October 2024 to discuss her book, Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic.
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Read the Revolution
Read the Revolution with Michael D. Hattem
January 2025Author and historian Dr. Michael D. Hattem joined the Museum in January 2025 for a lecture and discussion inspired by his latest book, The Memory of ‘76: The Revolution in American History.
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2023-2024 Season
Read the Revolution
Read the Revolution with Tim McGrath
November 2023Author and avid sailor Tim McGrath joined the Museum for a special presentation, “’What Think You of an American Fleet?’: The Rise and Fall of the Continental Navy,” to kickoff the Museum's 2023-24 Read the Revolution Speaker Series.
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Read the Revolution with Stacy Schiff
January 2024Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Stacy Schiff joined the Museum in January 2024, in partnership with The Carpenters' Company, for a discussion inspired by her most recent book, The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams.
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Read the Revolution
Read the Revolution with John Gilbert McCurdy
June 2024Historian and author Dr. John Gilbert McCurdy joined the Museum in June 2024 for the launch of his book, Vicious and Immoral: Homosexuality, the American Revolution, and the Trials of Robert Newburgh.
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2022-2023 Season
Read the Revolution with William Hogeland
October 2022Watch William Hogeland's October 2022 lecture, Hamilton's Hub: The First Bank of the U.S. in the Creation of the American Economy.
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Read the Revolution
Read the Revolution with Ricardo Herrera
January 2023Watch Dr. Ricardo A. Herrera's January 2023 discussion on his book, Feeding Washington's Army: Surviving the Valley Forge Winter of 1778.
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Read the Revolution
Read the Revolution with Julie Winch featuring Atwood "Kip" Forten Jacobs
April 2023Watch Dr. Julie Winch's April 2023 discussion on her book, A Gentleman of Color: The Life of James Forten, where she was joined by Forten descendant Atwood "Kip" Forten Jacobs.
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Read the Revolution
Read the Revolution with Mary Beth Norton
June 2023Watch Dr. Mary Beth Norton's June 2023 lecture, "Gender and American Resistance to British Authority, 1765-1775: A Reassessment."
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2021-2022 Season
Read the Revolution with Holly Mayer
September 2021Watch Dr. Holly A. Mayer's September 2021 discussion on her book, Congress’s Own: A Canadian Regiment, the Continental Army, and American Union.
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Read the Revolution
Read the Revolution with Gordon Wood
October 2021Watch Dr. Gordon S. Wood's October 2021 discussion on his book, Power and Liberty: Constitutionalism in the American Revolution.
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Read the Revolution
Read the Revolution with Kari Winter featuring Rhonda Brace
February 2022Watch Dr. Kari J. Winter's February 2022 discussion about her 2004 edited edition of The Blind African Slave: Memoirs of Boyrereau Brinch, Nicknamed Jeffrey Brace by Jeffrey Brace as told to Benjamin F. Prentiss, Esq. (1810).
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Read the Revolution
Read the Revolution with Friederike Baer
May 2022Watch Dr. Friederike Baer's May 2022 discussion on her new book, Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War.
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2020-2021 Season
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Read the Revolution with Seanegan Sculley
November 2020Watch the Museum's archived video of Seanegan Sculley's November 2020 virtual discussion on his book, Contest for Liberty: Military Leadership in the Continental Army, 1775-1783.
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Read the Revolution
Read the Revolution with Jessica Millward
January 2021Watch the Museum's archived video of Jessica Millward's January 2021 virtual discussion on her book, Finding Charity's Folk: Enslaved and Free Black Women in Maryland.
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Read the Revolution with Cassandra Good
March 2021Watch the Museum's archived video of Cassandra Good's March 2021 virtual discussion on her book, Founding Friendships: Friendships Between Men and Women in the Early American Republic.
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Read the Revolution with Linda Colley
May 2021Watch the Museum's archived video of historian Linda Colley's virtual discussion on her new book, The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions, and the Making of the Modern World.
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2019-2020 Season
Read the Revolution
Read the Revolution with T.H. Breen
November 2019Watch the Museum's archived video of T.H. Breen's November 2019 discussion on his book, The Will of the People: The Revolutionary Birth of America.
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Read the Revolution
Read the Revolution with Stephen Brumwell
January 2020Watch the Museum's archived video of Stephen Brumwell's January 2020 discussion on his book, Turncoat: Benedict Arnold and the Crisis of American Liberty.
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Read the Revolution
Read the Revolution with Vincent Brown
February 2020Watch the Museum's archived video of Vincent Brown's February 2020 discussion on his book, Tacky's Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave War.
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Read the Revolution
Read the Revolution with Caitlin Fitz
June 2020Watch the Museum's archived video of Caitlin Fitz's June 2020 virtual discussion on her book, Our Sister Republics: The United States in an Age of American Revolutions.
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