Dr. Danielle Allen on “Radical Duke”
Non-Members $15 | Members $10
Pursuits of Knowledge
Edward J. Larson on "Declaring Independence - Why 1776 Matters"
- Complimentary parking
Join Monticello in conversation with Edward Larson on his latest book, Declaring Independence: Why 1776 Matters.
- Non-Members $20
- Members $15
Event Details
- Location: Monticello's Howard and Abby Milstein Theater at Monticello's David M. Rubenstein Visitor Center
- Seating opens at 5:30pm and the program begins promptly at 6pm
- Meet the author and book signing available after the program
- Complimentary parking is available at the visitor center
- The Museum Shop will be open before and after the program - merchandise, snacks, and beverages will be available for purchase
Declaring Independence - Why 1776 Matters by Edward J. Larson.
About the Book
At the beginning of 1776, virtually no one in the colonies was advocating independence: Americans based their grievances against Parliament on their rights as British subjects. By the end of 1776, independence was on every patriot’s lips. The many tyrannies of a king had made an independent republic necessary. In Declaring Independence, Edward J. Larson gives us a compact, insightful history of that pivotal year. He traces a narrative arc that runs from the inspiring appeals of Paine’s Common Sense in January; through the soaring ideals of midsummer, when the Continental Congress grounded independence in the self-evident truths of human equality and individual rights, and the states wove revolutionary principles of republican government and the rule of law into their new constitutions; to Paine’s urgent pleas of December, when “the times that try men’s souls” required Americans not “to shrink from the service of their country.” Dramatic military clashes also punctuate the year: the British evacuation of Boston forced by the brilliant maneuvers of Washington’s Army; the Battle of Long Island, a costly defeat that opened New York to British occupation; and the desperate year-end victory of a threadbare American army at Trenton.
About the Author
Ed Larson holds the Hugh and Hazel Darling Chair in Law and is University Professor of History at Pepperdine University. Originally from Ohio with a PhD in the history of science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and law degree from Harvard, Larson has twice lectured on all seven continents in a single year, twice held a distinguished visiting chair at Yale Law School, twice taught law at the University of Melbourne, once taught at Stanford Law School, and held an endowed chair in law the University of Georgia, where he also chaired the History Department. Prior to become a professor, Larson practiced law in Seattle and served as counsel for the Washington State House of Representative and the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor.
Recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in History and numerous other awards for writing and teaching, Larson is the author or co-author of sixteen books and two hundred published articles. His latest book is Declaring Independence: Why 1776 Matters. An earlier book, The Return of George Washington: 1783-1789, was a New York Times Bestseller and resulted in Larson being invited to deliver the Supreme Court Historical Society lecture and serve as a featured presenter for the Library of Congress's Faculty 36 Madison Council event. His other books, which has been translated into over twenty languages, include An Empire of Ice: Scott, Shackleton, and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science and the Pulitzer Prize winning Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion. Larson's articles have appeared in such varied publications as Nature (twice), Atlantic Monthly (twice), Science, Scientific American, Time, Wall Street Journal, and dozens of academic journals and law reviews.
Monticello gratefully acknowledges the partnership of More Perfect in our 250th anniversary initiatives.
