Most of us have read Longfellow’s poem in our early years and assumed it was historically accurate. Not so. Longfellow wrote the poem 85 years after Paul Revere made his famous ride April 18-19, 1775. This talk will examine the historical inaccuracies of the poem and try to explain Longfellow’s mistakes. It will then address the Battle of Lexington and Concord and the significance of the “shot heard round the world.”
After a 21-year career as an infantry officer in the Army, Fred Zilian was an educator at Portsmouth Abbey School, 1992-2015, where he taught history, ethics, and German. He was an adjunct professor (history and politics) at Salve Regina University, 2016-2022. He now lectures on a wide variety of subjects and offers tours of Newport & Boston and of the Battle of Rhode Island (1778).
Zilian holds a Ph.D. in international relations/strategic studies from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of numerous articles, essays, and book reviews on history, American society, Germany, religion, music, education, climate change, and globalization in numerous publications from the Wall Street Journal to the Newport Daily News.
This program is free and open to the public. Please sign up online to reserve your seat or call the library at 683-9457 to sign up.