Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence
By Joseph Ellis, facilitated by Dr. Douglas Nelson
Tuesday, November 18, 2025 at 5:30 p.m.
No charge
Reservations required King Library
Pulitzer-winning historian Joseph Ellis captures the pivotal summer of 1776, when the thirteen colonies declared independence while Britain sent its largest armada to crush the rebellion. Through a seamless narrative, Ellis examines key figures like Washington, Adams, and Jefferson, showing how political and military events shaped each other. Revolutionary Summer offers a fresh, compelling take on this defining moment in American history.
CREATING A NATION
Rick
Atkinson, Ph.D.
The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780
Monday, January 12, 2026 at 3 p.m.
$200 for four-part series ■ Book signing to follow Walter S. Gubelmann Auditorium
Presented in partnership with The New York Historical
By winter 1777, two years into the Revolutionary War, the Continental Army was exhausted, having barely escaped annihilation by the fighting forces of the British Empire. King George III, determined to bring the rebellious American colonies to heel, faced a set of foes in Benjamin Franklin, in Paris courting French alliance, and George Washington, in Pennsylvania, persuading Congress to deliver the support to the Continental Army. The King’s task was becoming ever more complicated, with wartime expenses piling up and the threat of international rivals entering the fray. Celebrated historian Rick Atkinson discusses this story, the subject of the second volume of his landmark American Revolution trilogy.
CMSLC’s Wu Han and David Finckel
S&J LAMBERT CONCERT SERIES
“America at 250” I
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Sunday, February 1, 2026 at 3 p.m.
$40 • No charge for Four Arts members
Walter S. Gubelmann Auditorium
Generously supported by the Chisholm Foundation
American composers tell stunning stories in the first concert of the festival. Percy Gottschalk takes us on a tour of the union with showstopping, anthem-filled piano music. Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, originally a ballet about a young couple starting lives on a homestead, is a milestone work of Americana culminating in a rousing chorus of Simple Gifts. Plus, a concert version of the score that Bernard Herrmann wrote for the film Psycho is full of thrills and chills.
TALK OF KINGS
The Presidents: 250 Years of American Political Leadership
By Iain Dale, facilitated by Dr. Alvin Felzenberg
Tuesday, February 3, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. No charge
Reservations required King Library
Alvin Felzenberg will focus on Thomas Jefferson in The Presidents: 250 Years of American Political Leadership. As the author of the chapter on Jefferson, Felzenberg will offer insight into his presidency, influence on the young nation, and complex legacy. This discussion will explore Jefferson’s vision for America and the challenges he faced as a leader.
S&J LAMBERT CONCERT SERIES
“America at 250” II
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Wednesday, February 4, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.
$40 • No charge for Four Arts members
Walter S. Gubelmann Auditorium
Generously supported by the Chisholm Foundation
Two great American composers and one composer greatly inspired by America are on the bill for the second program. First, Souvenirs written by a homesick Samuel Barber gives us a portrait of New York night life. Pathbreaking Boston-based composer Amy Beach’s Piano Quintet puts an American spin on Romantic music. And Czech composer Antonín Dvořák draws on American musical culture in his lush “American” String Quintet, which he wrote on a visit to Spillville, Iowa.
S&J LAMBERT CONCERT SERIES
“America at 250” III
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Sunday, February 8, 2026 at 3 p.m.
$40 • No charge for Four Arts members
Walter S. Gubelmann Auditorium
American music is full of fireworks — opportunities for composers and musicians to dazzle and astound. In the final concert of the “America at 250” Festival, show pieces by American 20th-century masters like George Antheil, Paul Schoenfield, and John Adams are woven together with familiar, lyrical numbers by Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin. The concert concludes with Gershwin’s glorious Jazz concerto Rhapsody in Blue, in a playful and awe-inspiring arrangement for piano, four hands.
CMSLC’s Richard Lin
CREATING A NATION
Jeffrey Rosen
The Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle Over Power in America
Monday, February 9, 2026 at 3 p.m.
$200 for four-part series
Walter S. Gubelmann Auditorium
Book signing to follow
MUSICAL SCREENING 1776
Saturday, February 14, 2026 at 2 p.m.
$30 • $25 for Four Arts members
$15 for students with valid ID
Walter S. Gubelmann Auditorium
1972 • Rated G • 2 hours, 21 minutes Directed by Peter H. Hunt
This screening of the Tony-winning musical celebrates the founding fathers’ midwifery of the Declaration of Independence. Starring William Daniels, Howard da Silva, Ken Howard, Blythe Danner, and Donald Madden, 1776 centers around familiar historical characters as they organize a movement for independence from Mother England: the tough and unyielding John Adams; the charming and pragmatic Benjamin Franklin; the brilliant Thomas Jefferson who is chosen to write the Declaration of Independence even as he longs for the
CREATING A NATION
Doug Bradburn, Ph.D. Why George Washington Matters Now More Than Ever
Wednesday, March 4, 2026 at 3 p.m.
$200 for four-part series
Walter S. Gubelmann Auditorium
Dr. Doug Bradburn, President and CEO of George Washington’s Mount Vernon and the former Founding Director of the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon, will discuss the significance of our
Best-selling author and president of the National Constitution Center Jeffrey Rosen explores the clashing visions of Hamilton and Jefferson about how to balance liberty and power, a debate that continues to define and divide our country: Jefferson championed states’ rights and individual liberties, while Hamilton pushed for a strong Federal government and centralized finance system. This ongoing debate has shaped all the pivotal moments in American history — and now more than ever, the clash between Hamiltonian and Jeffersonian ideals resonates in our most urgent national debates over issues such as immigration, abortion, and presidential immunity.
company of his new bride Martha; and the rest of the Continental Congress. All events lead up to July 4, 1776 when the Declaration was signed.
shared democratic values and the enduring legacy of George Washington’s character and leadership, which are more relevant today than ever before. The precedents Washington established continue to provide essential guidance, offering valuable lessons for addressing the challenges of the modern world. In an era marked by declining civic knowledge, global threats to democracy, rising political division at home, and concerns about the future of the American experiment, the lessons and principles we can draw from George Washington’s example remain crucial. Dr. Bradburn will also provide updates from Mount Vernon, the most visited historic home in America.
CAMPUS ON THE LAKE
Emmanuel Ducamp, Ph.D.
A New Style for a New Era
Monday, March 9, 2026
at 3 p.m.
$20 ■ No charge for Four Arts members
Dixon Education Building
The second half of the 18th century was characterized not only by drastic political changes in Western Europe and America but also in many artistic fields. The lack of symmetry and the ‘frivolous’ ornament of the past were to be replaced by a more severe outlook: columns, pediments and ornaments derived from classical antiquity. Dr. Emmanuel Ducamp, art historian and lawyer, will show how the Enlightenment and its desire for political change which materialized in America in 1776 — a new era indeed for that part of the world — went hand in hand with changes in taste and the arts.
CREATING A NATION
Danielle Allen, Ph.D.
The Declaration of Independence and the Case for Classical Learning
Monday, March 16, 2026
at 3 p.m.
$200 for four-part series
Walter S. Gubelmann Auditorium
With a Ph.D. in Classics from Cambridge University, Dr. Danielle Allen is a renowned American classicist, political scientist, and Harvard professor, known for her visionary work at the intersection of ethics, technology, and civic life. As Director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at Harvard Kennedy School, she cochaired the Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship, producing the influential report Our Common Purpose. A MacArthur Fellow and recipient of the 2020 Kluge Prize, Allen has shaped national policy, including during the COVID-19 crisis, and authored several acclaimed books such as Our Declaration, Cuz, and Justice by Means of Democracy. Learn about The Declaration of Independence through the eyes of trailblazing historian, Dr. Danielle Allen.
FILM SCREENING & DISCUSSION
We Hold These Truths: The Global Quest for Liberty
with Justice Douglas Ginsburg Saturday, March 28, 2026 at 2 p.m.
No charge • Reservations required Walter S. Gubelmann Auditorium 2023 • 57 minutes, plus discussion with Judge Ginsburg following • Directed by James Taylor
In We Hold These Truths, Federal Judge Douglas Ginsburg explores the enduring influence of America’s Declaration of Independence. This promissory note for liberty inspired more than 100 nations seeking their independence. In the United States it influenced the abolitionist movement, the Women’s Suffrage movement, and iconic civil rights figures Frederick Douglass and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In addition to serving on the D.C. Circuit, Judge Ginsburg is currently a Professor of Law at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University.
CAMPUS ON THE LAKE
Anne Higonnet, Ph.D.
The Fashion Stars of the French Revolution Thursday, April 2, 2026 at 3 p.m.
$20 ■ No charge for Four Arts members Dixon Education Building Book signing to follow
Three stars rose to fashion fame during the French Revolution of 1789: Josephine Bonaparte, future empress of France, Terézia Tallien, reputed to be the most beautiful woman in Europe, and Juliette Recamier, muse of intellectuals. Much like how the American Revolution redefined political ideals across the Atlantic, the French Revolution sparked a radical transformation not only in governance but also in the very fabric of fashion and identity. Join Dr. Anne Higonnet, Professor of Art History at Barnard College of Columbia University, as she discusses her book about these three stars, Liberty Equality Fashion: The Women Who Styled the French Revolution.
