Wednesday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. — RUTLAND — Award-winning biographer Willard Sterne Randall will look at British general John Burgoyne’s failed campaigns in the Champlain Valley in 1776 and 1777 in a talk at Rutland Free Library on Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. His talk, “On Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne’s Trail,” is part of the Vermont Humanities Council’s First Wednesdays lecture series and is free and open to the public.
Twice during the Revolution, British General John “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne visited the Champlain Valley. With new research, Randall has unearthed more discoveries about Burgoyne’s campaigns, including his newly uncovered route to Saratoga—and defeat.
Randall is the author of thirteen books, including “Benjamin Franklin and His Son,” which won a Frank Luther Mott Award for research from University of Missouri Graduate School of Journalism; “Benedict Arnold, Patriot and Traitor,” a runner-up for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; “Thomas Jefferson, A Life,” selected as one of Publishers Weekly’s best biographies of 1993; “George Washington, A Life,” included in Readers Digest’s Best Nonfiction of 1997; and “Alexander Hamilton: A Life.” He teaches American history at Champlain College in Burlington.
The Vermont Humanities Council’s First Wednesdays series is held on the first Wednesday of every month from October through May in nine communities statewide, featuring speakers of national and regional renown. Talks in Rutland are held at Rutland Free Library unless otherwise noted. All First Wednesdays talks are free and open to the public.
Upcoming talks in Rutland include “Churchill and Roosevelt: The Personal Element in Their Partnership” with UVM History Professor Emeritus Mark A. Stoler on Nov. 4; “The Impressionists: Painters of Modern Life” with Middlebury professor Kirsten Hoving on Dec. 2; and “Amelia” with Champlain College professor Nancy Nahra on Jan. 6.
For more info, contact Rutland Free Library at 802-773-1860, or the Vermont Humanities Council at 802-262-2626.
