SALISBURY READS REVOLUTION SONG
Salisbury READS is presented by the Scoville Memorial Library in partnership with the Salisbury Association, the Salisbury Forum, and Troutbeck Symposium, in connection with Connecticut 250, commemorating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Join us for a CONVERSATION WITH REVOLUTION SONG AUTHOR RUSSELL SHORTO on Friday, March 27th. For more information visit Salisbury Forum.
Salisbury READS is an annual celebration of reading, conversation, and community. Join the READ and explore the fascinating action, ideals, controversies, and personal histories of life during the American Revolution.
READ Revolution Song. Borrow a copy at SML's circulation desk or listen to the audiobook for free via Libby (just enter your Scoville Library card number).
PARTICIPATE in discussions, events, workshops, tastings, and activities.
EXPLORE the local roots of the American Revolution and its enduring resonance through a variety of programs.
DISCUSS Salisbury READS encourages the entire community to read a selected book together and engage in discussions and interactive events.
More about REVOLUTION SONG
Revolution Song has been praised as “first-rate intellectual history” (Wall Street Journal), “literary alchemy” (Chicago Tribune) and simply “astonishing” (New York Times).
Shorto takes us back to the founding of the American nation, drawing on diaries, letters, and autobiographies to flesh out six lives that cast the era in a fresh new light. Through these lives we understand that the revolution was fought over the meaning of individual freedom, a philosophical idea that became a force for conflict and change.
The six central historical figures include an African man who freed himself and his family from slavery, a rebellious young woman who abandoned her abusive husband to chart her own course, a Seneca leader who advocated for neutrality but ended up leading his warriors to fight with the British, a self-educated shoemaker and lawyer who becomes an Albany politician and anti-Federalist, and a certain Mr. Washington, a man admired for his social graces but harshly criticized for his often-disastrous military strategy.
A powerful narrative and a brilliant defense of America’s founding principles, Revolution Song makes the compelling case that the American Revolution is still being fought today and that its ideals are worth defending.
Russell Shorto is the director of the New Amsterdam Project at The New York Historical and senior scholar at the New Netherland Institute. He is the author of eight books of narrative and believes that history is most meaningful when explored through individuals in conflict. His books have been published in fourteen languages and have won numerous awards. In 2009 he was given a knighthood by the Dutch government for advancing Dutch-American historical awareness. In 2018 he was inducted into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame.
To hear Russell Shorto introduce Revolution Song, click this link and scroll down to the video.
SALISBURY READS EVENTS
Click the green link to register.
January 22 & 29, Genealogy Workshop: Trace Residents' Roots to the Revolution with Genealogist Jane Muir Sellery
January 25, REVOLUTION SONG, Book Discussion with Peter Vermilyea
February 1, Traitor or True Defender? Loyalists & the American Revolution with Thomas Key
February 21, Taste of the Revolution: Make Pâte à Choux with Pâtissière Flora Lazar
February 22, REVOLUTION SONG, Book Discussion with Peter Vermilyea
March 1, Our Homeland, Our History with the Institute for American Indian Studies (Event link coming soon.)
March 15, REVOLUTION SONG, Book Discussion with Peter Vermilyea
March 27, Author Russell Shorto in Conversation with Peter Vermilyea and Rhonan Mokriski. Presented by the Salisbury Forum in partnership with the Salisbury Association, Troutbeck Symposium, and the Scoville Memorial Library, and in connection with Salisbury Commemoration 250 and CT 250, this discussion will include a special focus on Shorto’s Revolution Song.
March 29, Elizabeth ‘MumBet’ Freeman: One Minute a Free Woman, performance by Tammy Denease (Event link coming soon.)
April 18, Taste of the Revolution: Tea and Liberty: Talk & Tasting Party with Mike Harney (Event link coming soon.)
PAST EVENTS
October 11, Salisbury READS Launch & Book Giveaway. 150 books were given away to the community, courtesy of SML and the Salisbury.
October 25, Stitch the Salisbury Cannons with Beverly Army Williams & America’s Tapestry (all ages event)
November 1, Taste of the Revolution: CORN! Cooking & Baking Contest (all ages event)
November 9, The American Revolution in the Northern Colonies with Tom Key (ages 18+)
November 22, Taste of the Revolution: Fermentation & Independence (all ages event)
December 14, Book Discussion with Author Jana Laiz, A Free Woman on God's Earth: The True Story of Elizabeth "Mumbet" Freeman