Live public history talk in Houston 6/13/26
I’m thrilled to help celebrate America’s 250th birthday at the Houston History Research Center on June 13th with a talk on the “founding frenemies.”
You can find more details and register for the free event here.
I’ve been living with these feuding founders for a while now—I just wrapped up teaching a course on the Founding Frenemies for UMass Boston’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, and it was a really incredible experience.
For five weeks, I had the privilege of spending 90 minutes at a time with a group of curious, engaged lifelong learners exploring some of the most fascinating and contentious relationships in early American history. We dug into the conniving trickery of Aaron Burr, the rise and fall of George Washington’s close friendship with James Madison, and John Adams’s rivalries with Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson.
This class reinforced the idea that the founders were not made of marble any more than the nation they created. They were humans with curiosity and passion, with strong opinions, tempers, paranoia and fragile egos. And differences. You don’t get the United States as we know it without both the manic energy of John Adams and the confident chill of Ben Franklin. If my students took away one thing from my course, it’s that America has never been one thing.
If you’re in the Houston area, I’d love to see you June 13th! Not only will it be a fun story-filled event, but it takes place in the gorgeous 100-year-old Julia Ideson Building that (according to legend) is haunted by the ghost of an old caretaker. How cool is that?
America at 250: Founding Frenemies and the Rivalries that Shaped the Nation
Date: Saturday, June 13, 2026
Time: 11:00am – 12:30pm Central Time
Location: Houston History Research Center – Julia Ideson Building – Meldrum Room (1st Floor)
You can find details and register for the free event here: https://calendar.houstonlibrary.org/event/16693436
