Revolutionary Reads Author Event
Meet and hear Mary Beth Norton, acclaimed historian and author of the 2024 Revolutionary Community Read '1774: The Long Year of Revolution'. This event is free and open to the public.
- Date:11/17/2024 01:00 PM
- Location Kapelski Learning Center, East 14th Street, Chester, PA, USA (Map)
- More Info:The Kapelski Center is accessed from E 14th Street. Attendees may park in any Widener parking lot with the attached parking pass (passes will be available inside the Kapelski Center for those who can not print one at home). There is a parking lot with ADA-accessible spaces across the street from the building entrance as well as un-zoned, unmetered street parking.
Register Now
Description
Each year through 2026, the Revolutionary Reads committee will select a title examining the lead up to the Revolutionary War and the Declaration of Independence to be that year’s Community Read. This year the committee has chosen 1774: The Long Year of Revolution by Mary Beth Norton. Learn about the Revolutionary Reads Program.
About the Book
In this masterly work of history, the culmination of more than four decades of research and thought, Mary Beth Norton looks at the sixteen months leading up to the clashes at Lexington and Concord in mid-April 1775. This was the critical, and often overlooked, period when colonists traditionally loyal to King George III began their discordant “discussions” that led them to their acceptance of the inevitability of war against the British Empire.
Drawing extensively on pamphlets, newspapers, and personal correspondence, Norton reconstructs colonial political discourse as it took place throughout 1774. Late in the year, conservatives mounted a vigorous campaign criticizing the First Continental Congress. But by then it was too late.
In early 1775, colonial governors informed officials in London that they were unable to thwart the increasing power of local committees and their allied provincial congresses. Although the Declaration of Independence would not be formally adopted until July 1776, Americans had in effect “declared independence ” even before the outbreak of war in April 1775 by obeying the decrees of the provincial governments they had elected rather than colonial officials appointed by the king. Norton captures the tension and drama of this pivotal year and foundational moment in American history and brings it to life as no other historian has done before.
About the Author
A historian of colonial America who has often focused on the experiences of women, Mary Beth Norton is one of the most respected historians in the United States today. She has published books examining women's experiences during the American Revolution, the Salem Witch Trials, and several popular American history textbooks. In 1997, Founding Mothers & Fathers: Gendered Power and the Forming of American Society was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in American History. She served as president of the American Historical Association in 2018. Dr. Norton is the Mary Donlon Alger Professor Emeritus of American History at Cornell University.
Author Visit
Revolutionary Reads will culminate with a visit from the author on Sunday, November 17 at 1:00 pm hosted by Widener University.
This event is free and open to the public.
Register here.
Get the Book
Read or listen to the book by borrowing it from Delaware County Libraries.
Reserve the book.
Check out the eBook.
Borrow the digital audiobook.
Reserve a Book Club in a Bag tote and read with your friends. Call your local library to reserve the tote.
Visit www.delcolibraires.org today!