Harvard Book Store Presents:

Eric Foner

presenting 
Our Fragile Freedoms: Essays 
in conversation with Randall Kennedy 

Harvard Book Store welcomes Eric Foner—acclaimed historian and author of the bestsellerReconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution and the Pulitzer Prize winner The Fiery Trial—for a discussion of his new essay collection Our Fragile Freedoms. He will be joined in conversation by Randall Kennedy—Michael R. Klein Professor at Harvard Law School and the author of six books including, Say It Loud!: On Race, Law, History, and Culture.

Ticketing

There are two ticket options for this event.

1. Book-Included Tickets: Includes admission for one and one hardcover copy of Our Fragile Freedoms pre-signed by Eric Foner.
2. Admission-Only Tickets: Includes admission for one.

Note: Books bundled with tickets may only be picked up at the venue the night of the event, and cannot be picked up in-store beforehand. Ticket holders who purchased a book-included ticket and are unable to attend the event will be able to pick up their book at Harvard Book Store up to 30 days following the event. This offer expires after 30 days. Please note we cannot guarantee signed copies will be available to ticket holders who do not attend the event.

About Our Fragile Freedoms

From one of the most acclaimed and influential historians of the United States, an insightful guide to our history and why it matters.

Eric Foner has done more to shape the public and professional understanding of American history than any other scholar. The preeminent historian of the Civil War era, Foner’s keynote has been American freedom and the recurring battles over its meanings and boundaries. His award-winning works show that freedom has been a birthright for some and a struggle for others, that rights gained can also be lost, and that they must always be tended with knowledge and vigilance. The present political moment makes the importance of these themes abundantly clear.

This collection of Foner’s recent reviews and commentaries demonstrates the range of his interests and expertise, running from slavery and antislavery, through the disunion and remaking of the United States in the nineteenth century, Jim Crow and the civil rights movement, and into our current politics. Each piece shows a master at work, melding historical knowledge and balanced judgment with crystalline prose. Foner takes up towering figures from Washington to Lincoln, Douglass, and Rosa Parks, pivotal events such as the Fugitive Slave Act and the Tulsa Race Massacre, and the fragility of constitutional guarantees to civil liberties, due process, and birthright citizenship, whether in times of war or peace. He also explores recent controversies over how to commemorate, and how to teach, our history.

Praise for Our Fragile Freedoms

Eric Foner’s essays, old and new, feel utterly fresh. With a rare combination of authority and generosity, he writes from deep conviction yet with a spirit of openness toward ideas and arguments with which he sharply disagrees. By illuminating the past in light of the present, he confirms his standing as the leading American historian of his generation. -Andrew Delbanco, author of The War Before the War

Our greatest historian, Eric Foner offers engaging, insightful, and sobering reflections on our contested history and imperiled republic. I would feel more confident about keeping our freedoms if every citizen could read Foner’s calm and lucid reflections on our past, present, and future. -Alan Taylor, author of American Civil Wars

Our Fragile Freedoms is a necessary read for our troubled times, but also a delightful read for anyone who savors the pleasure of seeing history come alive in the work of a contemporary master of the historical profession. -Henry Louis Gates, Jr., author of The Black Box

Our Fragile Freedoms shows why Eric Foner is the ‘go to’ author for readers seeking incisive commentary steeped in deep historical knowledge about current and past controversies. -Randall Kennedy, author of Say It Loud!

Bios

Eric Foner‘s indelible works include the landmark history, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution; a bestselling study of Lincoln and slavery, The Fiery Trial, winner of the Pulitzer, Bancroft, and Lincoln Prizes; and an influential history of the Reconstruction amendments, The Second Founding. The DeWitt Clinton Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University, Foner continues to write frequently for The Nation and other publications.

Randall Kennedy is Michael R. Klein Professor at Harvard Law School where he teaches courses on contracts, criminal law, and the regulation of race relations. He was born in Columbia, South Carolina. For his education he attended St. Albans School, Princeton University, Oxford University, and Yale Law School. He served as a law clerk for Judge J. Skelly Wright of the United States Court of Appeals and for Justice Thurgood Marshall of the United States Supreme Court. He is a member of the bar of the District of Columbia and the Supreme Court of the United States. Awarded the 1998 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award for Race, Crime, and the Law, Mr. Kennedy writes for a wide range of scholarly and general interest publications. His other books are For Discrimination: Race, Affirmative Action, and the Law (2013), The Persistence of the Color Line: Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency (2011), Sellout: The Politics of Racial Betrayal (2008), Interracial Intimacies: Sex, Marriage, Identity, and Adoption (2003), and Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word (2002). A member of the American Law Institute, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Association, Mr. Kennedy is also a Trustee emeritus of Princeton University.

Masking Policy

Masks are encouraged but not required for this event.