Hayes-Robinson Lecture

Professor Sarah Churchwell
Chair of Public Humanities and Professor of American Literature
School of Advanced Study, University of London 

As the United States reaches its 250th anniversary, Revolutionary language has returned. "No Kings" placards appear at protests, while Gadsden “Don’t Tread on Me” flags fly at rallies, and glossy AI-generated “heritage” imagery circulates from official channels. The Revolution is not safely filed away as history; it’s being weaponised to legitimise state violence, while being reclaimed by protesters insisting on the democratic ideals it was said to enshrine. 

America today is not only refighting its founding arguments at home; it is actively reshaping the international order, testing alliances, executive power, and the limits of democratic constraint. The 250th anniversary requires not commemoration but reckoning: with what the Revolution promised, what it actually created, and what is now being claimed in its name.

Sarah is the author of several acclaimed books, most recently The Wrath to Come: Gone with the Wind and the Lies America Tells (2022). She comments widely on politics, culture, and art in print, television, radio, and film. She has been a winner of the Eccles British Library Writer’s Award, longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Journalism and named one of Prospect magazine’s Top 50 World Thinkers. She is co-host with historian David Olusoga of the Goalhanger podcast Journey Through Time.

Admission is free but booking is essential.