Please join us on December 26th for a talk during Patriot’s Week. The program will be from noon to 1 p.m. in the Level 2 Reading Room of the State Library with author William “Larry” Kidder and is taken from his latest book, Ten Crucial Days: Washington’s Vision for Victory Unfolds.
Note: Seating for this program is on a first come, first served basis. Once the room capacity of 75 individuals is reached, no further attendees will be admitted. ID is required as you enter the State Library because it is part of the Capitol Complex. A driver’s license or some type of picture ID is appropriate to use.
Between December 24, 1776 and January 3, 1777, George Washington was faced with a number of critical decisions. The actions he formulated would play a major role in either bringing the American Revolution to a crushing defeat or reviving hope for its eventual success. This talk examines those decisions to understand how the battles of Trenton and Princeton prevented an early end to the war for independence and reversed American despair during the “times that tried men’s souls.”
Mr. Kidder received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, served four years of active duty in the US Navy and is a retired high school history teacher who taught for forty years in both public and private schools. For close to 30 years, he has volunteered at the Howell Living History Farm, in Hopewell, New Jersey and has served as an historian, interpreter, and draft horse teamster.
His interest in history led him to the writing of his first book, The Pleasant Valley School Story: A Story of Education and Community in Rural New Jersey, which won the 2013 Scholarship and Artistry Award presented by the Country School Association of America.
His second book, A People Harassed and Exhausted: The Story of a New Jersey Militia Regiment in the American Revolution, published November 2013 tells the story of the First Hunterdon Militia Regiment for the first time. Other books he has written, contributed to, or edited include Farming Pleasant Valley: 250 Years of Life in Rural Hopewell Township, New Jersey, The American Revolution in New Jersey: Where the Battlefront Meets the Home Front, Crossroads of the American Revolution – Trenton 1774-1783 and Meet Your Revolutionary Neighbors. His newest book is the subject of this talk and was released in January, 2019.
If you have any questions, please contact Cindy Warrick at 609-278-2640 ext. 172 or cwarrick@njstatelib.org.
