Name: Author Event! Tad Stoermer's A Resistance History of the United States
Start: 2026-07-09T18:00:00-04:00
End: 2026-07-09T19:00:00-04:00
Location: Symposium Books

Author Event! Tad Stoermer's A Resistance History of the United States

Symposium Books

Tad Stoermer comes to Providence to discuss his much needed book, A Resistance History of the United States!!!

Join us on Thursday, July 9th at 6pm as we host Tad Stoermer's A Resistance History of the United States. Signed copies of the book are available for purchase.Moderator TBAAbout the book:INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER! An urgent, bracing new look at American history that Ava DuVernay calls "deeply necessary for this moment." Revisit the Salem Witch Trials, the Underground Railroad, and other resistance movements of American history to get a bold new understanding of how resistance shaped our past—and how its principles can change our future. The United States was shaped by resistance—but not in the way we’ve been taught. The Revolution did not secure liberty; it opened the door to either liberty or oppression, where only white men enjoyed all of the benefits and protections of citizenship. In A Resistance History of the United States, public historian Tad Stoermer shows how from the very beginning, that tension—between the ideals of resistance and the realities of power—has defined America more than the Enlightenment ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Utililizing powerful storytelling to focus on key—and often lesser-known—moments in American history, this book reveals the truth of how resistance movements from Colonial times have opposed the powers that be. Stoermer covers an impressive roster of pivotal movements, with each chapter identifying a key resistance movement and principle meant to inspire contemporary readers, including: <ul><li>Bacon’s Rebellion/Metacomet’s War (1676)</li><li>Salem Witch Trials (1692)</li><li>The Black Loyalists (1783)</li><li>The Underground Railroad (1850)</li></ul>Through these and many more examples, Stoermer dismantles the mythologies that pass for American history—exposing the curated nostalgia, moral evasions, and institutional silences that have long protected abusive power. What emerges is an essential look at how we can take lessons from the past to understand, and effectively respond to, the injustices we face today.About the author:Tad Stoermer is a public historian who trained at the University of Virginia, Johns Hopkins, and Harvard, with a particular focus on Colonial and Revolutionary America. He is also a former congressional staffer and speechwriter, and he served in the US Army and Reserves as a reconnaissance scout. He lives in Denmark.About the moderator:Steve Ahlquist is a progressive reporter based in Providence, Rhode Island. His work has appeared in Rhode Island Future and UpriseRI.

Author Event! Tad Stoermer's A Resistance History of the United States

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Author Event! Tad Stoermer's A Resistance History of the United States

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