2024 Harmsworth Lecture in American History: The Roots of American Authoritarianism
Please note this lecture will be held at the Examination Schools at 17:00
The United States has long been associated with liberal principles, but the nation has also nurtured deep pockets of authoritarianism. With a broad angle of vision across the past century, McGirr teases out the leaders, movements, and regional strong-holds of an American authoritarian tradition. She excavates the historical conditions that have fueled these movements, arguing that the growing power of authoritarianism within the Republican Party poses an urgent peril to the United States as a pluralist and multiracial democracy.

Lisa McGirr MA MPhil PhD Columbia, Charles Warren Professor of American History at Harvard University, has been appointed Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Visiting Professor of American History in the Faculty of History and Rothermere American Institute, in association with The Queen’s College, Oxford, for one year from 1 October 2024.
Date: 12 November 2024, 17:00 (Tuesday, 5th week, Michaelmas 2024)
Venue: Examination Schools, 75-81 High Street OX1 4BG
Speaker: Professor Lisa McGirr (Harvard)
Organising department: Rothermere American Institute
Part of: American History Research Seminar
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Public
Editor: Belinda Clark