The Phil Lind Initiative: Heather Cox Richardson

“Democracies die more often through the ballot box than at gunpoint.” — Heather Cox Richardson

As a professor of history at Boston College and an award-winning author, Heather Cox Richardson has explored critical periods of American history, from the Civil War and Reconstruction to the Gilded Age and the evolution of the Republican Party. Reaching over 1.5 million readers daily with her wildly-popular newsletter Letters from an American, she has earned a reputation as one of the most trusted voices in American public life.

Bridging academic rigor and public discourse with insight and precision, Cox Richardson offers accessible yet profound commentary on American politics. Her Phil Lind Initiative talk draws from a deep well of historical knowledge to contextualize the current threats to American democracy. Her most recent book, Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America, was hailed by The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer as “a vibrant, and essential history of America’s unending, enraging and utterly compelling struggle since its founding to live up to its own best ideals.” Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and The Guardian, among other outlets.

Presented by UBC’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs in partnership with the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts.