American Antiquarian Society
185 Salisbury Street
Worcester, MA 01609
United States
Americans agree that their nation’s origins lie in the Revolution, but they have never agreed on what the Revolution meant. For more than two centuries, Americans have reimagined the Revolution to fit the times and have contested the meaning of the nation's founding. Historian Michael D. Hattem's latest book, The Memory of ’76: The Revolution in American History, a finalist for the 2025 Washington Prize, reveals how conflicts over the meaning and legacy of the Revolution—including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution—have influenced the most important events and tumultuous periods in the nation’s history. In this virtual talk, he will discuss Americans’ uniquely emotional connection to the memory of the Revolution, its central role in American history as a contested national “origin myth,” and how revising the past is an important and long‑standing American political tradition.
Michael D. Hattem is a historian of the American Revolution and historical memory. He earned his PhD in History from Yale University and has taught at The New School and Knox College. He is the author of The Memory of ’76: The Revolution in American History (Yale University Press, 2024), and Past and Prologue: Politics and Memory in the American Revolution (Yale University Press, 2020). His work has been featured or mentioned in The New York Times, TIME magazine, The Smithsonian Magazine, the Washington Post, as well as many other publications and outlets.