2025-2026 History Department Speaker Series Event:

“The American Revolution and the Fate of the World”

Speaker: Professor Richard Bell, University of Maryland

Time: Tuesday December 2, 5-6:30pm

Location: ZSR Auditorium (Room 404)

Event Description

When we think of the American Revolution, we picture 13 colonies squaring off against the British Crown in a spirited bid for independence. But this version of the story is only half the truth—and perhaps not even the most interesting half. In his forthcoming book and this public lecture, historian and author Richard Bell invites us to rediscover the Revolution as a world war that unleashed chaos, opportunity, and transformation across six continents—from the sugar fields of the Caribbean to the court of the King of Mysore, from refugee camps on the Canadian frontier to political uprisings in Sierra Leone and Peru—and traces the far-flung reverberations of the war through the lives of the people it displaced, empowered, or destroyed.

This event is brought to you by the Department of History at Wake Forest University