Heather Cox Richardson is Professor of History at Boston College. She has written about the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, and the American West in award-winning books whose subjects stretch from the European settlement of the North American continent to the history of the Republican Party through the Trump administration. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and The Guardian, among other outlets. She is the cohost of the Vox podcast, Now & Then.
19th Annual Pro Lecture in Legal History
The William S. Boyd School of Law and UNLV Department of History presents
2024 19th Annual Pro Lecture in Legal History
Thursday, March 21, 2024
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
In-Person and Virtual
“Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America,” will be available for sale at the UNLV Bookstore the week of the event and before and after the lecture in the Moot Courtroom Lobby. Credit Cards Accepted.
Heather Cox Richardson, historian and author of “Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America,” will be joined by Michael Green, PhD, Professor and Chair of the UNLV History Department, for a fireside chat to discuss her book and explains how America, once a beacon of democracy, now teeters in the brink of autocracy-and how we can turn back. During this vital narrative Cox will answer such questions as "What is the current state of our democracy?" "How did we get here?" And "what we can do to take our country back?"
IN PERSON REGISTRATION (UNLV Community)
Due to limited capacity, ONLY special guests and UNLV students, faculty and staff may attend , but pre-registration for the in-person discussion is required. Students, faculty and staff MUST register with a UNLV email (Non-UNLV email registrations will be cancelled). Should the event reach capacity then please join us via ZOOM (virtual registration information is below)
In person registration will end at 12 p.m. on March 21 or until we reach capacity
Walk-in registration not permitted
VIRTUAL REGISTRATION
Non-UNLV community members and those not available to participate in-person can join us via ZOOM.
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A New York Times Bestseller!
In the midst of the impeachment crisis of 2019, historian and author, Heather Cox Richardson launched a daily Facebook essay providing the historical background of the daily torrent of news. LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN soon turned into a newsletter and its readership ballooned to more than 2 million dedicated readers who rely on her plainspoken and informed take on the present and past in America.
In Democracy Awakening, Richardson crafts a compelling and original narrative, explaining how, over the decades, a small group of wealthy people have made war on American ideals. By weaponizing language and promoting false history they have led us into authoritarianism -- creating a disaffected population and then promising to recreate an imagined past where those people could feel important again. She argues that taking our country back starts by remembering the elements of the nation’s true history that marginalized Americans have always upheld. Their dedication to the principles on which this nation was founded has enabled us to renew and expand our commitment to democracy in the past. Richardson sees this history as a roadmap for the nation’s future.
Richardson’s talent is to wrangle our giant and confusing news feed into a coherent story that singles out what we should pay attention to, what the precedents are, and what possible paths lie ahead. In her trademark calm prose, she is realistic and optimistic about the future of democracy. Her command of history allows her to pivot effortlessly from the Founders to the abolitionists to Reconstruction to Goldwater to Mitch McConnell, highlighting the political legacies of the New Deal, the lingering fears of socialism, the death of the liberal consensus and birth of “movement conservatism.”
Many books tell us what has happened over the last five years. Democracy Awakening explains how we got to this perilous point, what our history really tells us about ourselves, and what the future of democracy can be.
March 21, 2024
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
In-Person & Virtual