Benjamin Carp
Professor and Daniel M. Lyons Chair of History
History
Location: 1117 Boylan Hall
Phone: 718.951.5000 x6799
Fax: 718.951.4504
Email:
Benjamin L. Carp is the author of The Great New York Fire of 1776: A Lost Story of the American Revolution, appearing soon. He also wrote Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party and the Making of America (2010), which won the triennial Society of the Cincinnati Cox Book Prize in 2013; and Rebels Rising: Cities and the American Revolution (2007). With Richard D. Brown, he co-edited Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, 1760-1791: Documents and Essays, 3rd ed. (2014). He has written about nationalism, firefighters, Benjamin Franklin, and Quaker merchants in Charleston. He has also written for Colonial Williamsburg, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. He previously taught at the University of Edinburgh and Tufts University. He was born and raised in New York State and each of his parents earned two CUNY degrees.
Education:
Ph.D., University of Virginia - 2004 (History)
M.A., University of Virginia - 1999 (History)
B.A., Yale University - 1998 (History)
Areas of Expertise:
Carp's principal expertise is on the era of the American Revolution. He has written books on urban politics in the years leading up to the Revolution (including chapters on taverns in New York City and Independence Hall in Philadelphia) and the Boston Tea Party. He has taught classes on fear and violence, the colonial period of American history, 19th-century American history, women in early America, and American military history before 1900.
Books and Publications
"An Incendiary War: Conspiracies, Disasters, and the American Revolution, 1775-1790." Rethinking American Disasters: New Essays in Cultural, Political, and Environmental History. Ed. Cynthia A. Kierner, Matthew Mulcahy, and Liz Skilton. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2023
The Great New York Fire of 1776: A Lost Story of the American Revolution. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2023
"'The First Incendiary': A Female Firebrand and the New York City Fire of 1776." Women Waging War in the American Revolution. Ed. Holly A. Mayer. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. 23-37. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2022
"America's Road to Revolution." BBC History Revealed 107: 36-39. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2022
"Introduction to Papers Given at the 2020 Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association" and "Conclusion." Decentering Early New York City's History. New York History 103.1: 1-3, 36-38. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2022
"A New Low for US Democracy." BBC History Magazine 266: 10-11. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2021
Review of Iconoclasm In New York: Revolution To Reenactment, by Wendy Bellion. Gotham: A Blog for Scholars of New York City History, Jan. 9. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2020
"'Jefferson's Embargo: National Intent and Sectional Effects." Jeffersonians in Power: The Rhetoric of Opposition Meets the Realities of Governing. Eds. Joanne B. Freeman and Johann N. Neem. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. 128-47. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2019
"Boston in 1743." The Atlas of Boston History. Ed. Nancy S. Seasholes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2019
Review of American Honor: The Creation of the Nation's Ideals during the Revolutionary Era, by Craig Bruce Smith. American Historical Review 124.4: 1448-49. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2019
Review of The Road to Charleston: Nathanael Greene and the American Revolution, by John Buchanan. Journal of Military History 83.4: 1271-73. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2019
"'Disreputable among civilized Nations': Destroying Homes during the Revolutionary War." Justifying Revolution: Law, Virtue, and Violence in the American War of Independence. Eds. Glenn A. Moots and Phillip Hamilton. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. 168-89. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2018
"Declaring Independence." Revisiting the Founding Era: Readings from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Ed. Carol Berkin. New York: Gilder Lehrman Institute. 1-13. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2018
"Homesick for the Quarterly." Uncommon Sense--The Blog, Feb. 1. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2017
"World Wide Enough: Historiography, Imagination, and Stagecraft." Journal of the Early Republic, 37.2: 289-294. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2017
"'Fix'd almost amongst Strangers': Charleston's Quaker Merchants and the Limits of Cosmopolitanism." William and Mary Quarterly, 74.1: 77-108. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2017
"Birthing Pains." Review of Scars of Independence: America's Violent Birth, by Holger Hoock. BBC World Histories 5: 95. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2017
"On Forgetting History," part of three-part feature, "What Are the Spectres that Continue to Haunt the US?" BBC World Histories 7:27. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2017
Review of Groundless: Rumors, Legends, and Hoaxes on the Early American Frontier, by Gregory Evans Dowd. Journal of Social History 51.1: 174-75. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2017
Review of The Common Cause: Creating Race and Nation in the American Revolution, by Robert G. Parkinson. Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 125.1: 68-69. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2017
"'The Unpleasing Part of the Drama': Fear, Devastation, and the Civilian Experience of the Revolutionary War." Fear and the Shaping of Early American Societies. Eds. Lauric Henneton and L. H. Roper. Leiden: Brill. 284-303. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2016
"The 'Paradox' Paradox." Process: A Blog for American History, April 14. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2016
"In Retrospect: Edmund S. Morgan and the Urgency of Good Leadership." Reviews in American History, March: 1-18. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2016
"Stamp Collection." Review of Community without Consent: New Perspectives on the Stamp Act, by Zachary McLeod Hutchins. Common-place.org 17.1. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2016
"Ten Days that Made a Nation." BBC History Magazine, March: US1-US8. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2016
"Ask the Author: Still a Prologue? The Stamp Act Protests at 250." Common-place. Fall. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2015
"Tempests and Teapots: Sexual Politics and Tea-Drinking in the Early Modern World." Notches: (Re)Marks on the History of Sexuality, Sept. 22. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2015
"Evacuation Day: Marking the End of the Revolutionary War." We're History, Nov. 25. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2015
Review of Seasons of Misery: Catastrophe and Colonial Settlement in Early America, by Kathleen Donegan. The Historian 77.4: 786-88. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2015
Review of Propaganda 1776: Secrets, Leaks, and Revolutionary Communications in Early America, by Russ Castronovo. Journal of American History 102.3: 857-58. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2015
"A Mother's Milk or Another Mother's Milk: Colonial Debates on Breast Feeding." Colonial Williamsburg Magazine 36.1: 36-43. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2014
Brown, Richard D. and Benjamin L. Carp. Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, 1760-1791: Documents and Essays, 3rd ed. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. (Books and Publications: Book (Edited)) 2014
Review of City Water, City Life: Water and the Infrastructure of Ideas in Urbanizing Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago, by Carl Smith. Journal of Interdisciplinary History 44.3: 402-03. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2014
Review of Free Trade and Sailors' Rights in the War of 1812, by Paul A. Gilje. H-Diplo Roundtable Reviews 15.38: 5-8. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2014
"Seven Myths about the Boston Tea Party." Journal of the American Revolution, Nov. 12. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2013
"Walking the Streets of the Revolutionary City." Journal of the American Revolution, vol. 1. Eds. Todd Andrlik, Hugh T. Harrington and Don N. Hagist. Yellow Springs, Ohio: Ertel. 14-17. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2013
"Separated by a Common History: North and South in Colonial Times." Colonial Williamsburg Magazine 35.1: 55-59. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2013
Review of No Turning Point: The Saratoga Campaign in Perspective, by Theodore Corbett. Journal of the Early Republic 33.3: 549-51. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2013
Review of Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution, by Nathaniel Philbrick. BBC History Magazine, September: 64. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2013
"Did Dutch Smugglers Provoke the Boston Tea Party?" Early American Studies 10.2: 335-59. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2012
"Tea Act in America" and "Boston Tea Party." Reporting the Revolutionary War. Ed. Todd Andrlik. Naperville, Ill.: Sourcebooks. 72-83. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2012
"Terms of Estrangement: Who Were the Sons of Liberty?" Colonial Williamsburg Magazine 34.1: 2-7. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2012
Review of The Freedoms We Lost: Consent and Resistance in Revolutionary America, by Barbara Clark Smith. Journal of the Early Republic 32.1: 130-32. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2012
Review of Clothed in Robes of Sovereignty: The Continental Congress and the People Out of Doors, by Benjamin H. Irvin. American Historical Review 117.2: 520-21. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2012
"Franklin and the Coming of the American Revolution." A Companion to Benjamin Franklin. Ed. David Waldstreicher. Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell. 146-63. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2011
"The First American Political Movement." Review of American Insurgents, American Patriots: The Revolution of the People, by T.H. Breen. Reviews in American History 39.3: 421-26. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2011
"La Boston Tea Party, modèle pour les insoumis." Alternatives Internationales 53: 20-25. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2011
Review of A Mighty Empire: The Origins of the American Revolution, rev. ed., by Marc Egnal. The Historian 73.4: 817-18. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2011
"A Global Tea Party." BBC History Magazine 11.13: 18-23. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2010
"Noble Patriots or Glorified Vandals?" The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 16: C2. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2010
Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party and the Making of America. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2010
"The Urban Crucible as Urban History." Re-Review of The Urban Crucible: Social Change, Political Consciousness, and the Origins of the American Revolution, by Gary B. Nash. Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 113.4: 404-9. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2009
"Preserving the Library in the Digital Age." The Readex Report 4.4. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2009
"Changing Our Habitation: Henry Laurens, Rattray Green, and the Revolutionary Movement in Charleston's Domestic Spaces." Material Culture in Anglo-America: Regional Identity and Urbanity in the Tidewater, Lowcountry, and Caribbean. Ed. David Shields. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press. 285-309. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2009
"Nice Party, But Not So Revolutionary." Washington Post, Outlook section. April 19: B3. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2009
"The Ghost of Tea Parties Past." OUPblog. April 23. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2009
"The Tea Party's Appeal Across the Political Spectrum." History News Network. July 20. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2009
Review of Another City: Urban Life and Urban Spaces in the New American Republic, by Dell Upton. Journal of American History 96.2: 530-31. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2009
Review of Social Change in America: From the Revolution through the Civil War, by Christopher Clark. Journal of American Studies 43.2: 361. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2009
Review of In the Name of the Father: Washington's Legacy, Slavery, and the Making of a Nation, by Francois Furstenburg. New England Quarterly 81.2: 356-58. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2008
Review of The Politics of War; Race, Class, and Conflict in Revolutionary Virginia, by Michael A. McDonnell. Social History 33.4: 479-81. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2008
"Born in War." Review of War and Society in the American Revolution: Mobilization and Home Fronts. Eds. John Resch and Walter Sargent. Reviews in American History 35.3: 351-57. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2007
"Crime in the City: American Revolution." OUPblog. Aug. 15. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2007
Rebels Rising: Cities and the American Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2007
"The Night the Yankees Burned Broadway: The New York City Fire of 1776." Early American Studies 4.2: 471-511. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2006
Review of Riot and Revelry in Early America. Eds. William Pencak, Matthew Dennis and Simon P. Newman. Labor: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas 2.4: 125-27. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2005
Review of The Unknown American Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and the Struggle to Create America, by Gary B. Nash. New York Journal of American History 66.2: 129. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2005
"Cities in Review." Re-review of Cities in the Wilderness and Cities in Revolt, by Carl Bridenbaugh. Common-place 3.4. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2003
"Nations of American Rebels: Understanding Nationalism in Revolutionary North America and the Civil War South." Civil War History 48.1: 5-33. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2002
Review of An Empire Divided: The American Revolution and the British Caribbean, by Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy. Journal of Interdisciplinary History 33.1: 136-37. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2002
"Fire of Liberty: Firefighters, Urban Voluntary Culture, and the Revolutionary Movement." William and Mary Quarterly 58.4: 781-818. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2001
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
Gilder Lehrman Scholarly Advisory Board. (Awards and Honors) 2021
Ethyle R. Wolfe Institute for the Humanities Fellowship, Brooklyn College, for "The Night Broadway Burned; The New York City Fire of 1776." (Grants and Fellowships) 2020
New York Academy of History Fellow. (Awards and Honors) 2020
PSC-CUNY Traditional B Award, for "The Night Broadway Burned: The New York City Fire of 1776." $6,000; 2020-2021. (Grants and Fellowships) 2020
Price Visiting Research Fellowship, William L. Clements Library, for "The Night Broadway Burned: The New York City Fire of 1776." $1,000. (Grants and Fellowships) 2018
PSC-CUNY Enhanced Research Award, for "The Night Broadway Burned: The New York City Fire of 1776." $10,684.50; 2018-2019. (Grants and Fellowships) 2018
Archie K. Davis Fellowship, North Caroliniana Society, for current research on the Revolutionary War. (Grants and Fellowships) 2013
David Library of the American Revolution Fellowship, for current research on the Revolutionary War. (Grants and Fellowships) 2013
Society of the Cincinnati Cox Book Prize, for Defiance of the Patriots. (Awards and Honors) 2013
Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati Fellowship, Society of the Cincinnati Library (Anderson House), for current research on the Revolutionary War. (Grants and Fellowships) 2012
Defiance of the Patriots, "Must-Read Nonfiction" selection, Massachusetts Center for the Book. (Awards and Honors) 2011
American Revolution Round Table of New York's Annual Award for Best Book on the Era of the American Revolution, for Defiance of the Patriots (2010). (Awards and Honors) 2011
Mellon Research Fellowship, Virginia Historical Society, for "Destruction during the American Revolution." (Grants and Fellowships) 2006
Leverhulme Research Fellowship, Leverhulme Trust, for "Destruction during the American Revolution." 2005-06. (Grants and Fellowships) 2005
Research grant, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, for "Destruction during the American Revolution." (Grants and Fellowships) 2005
American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies Fellowship, Library Company of Philadelphia and Historical Society of Pennsylvania, for "Cityscapes and Revolution: Political Mobilization and Urban Spaces in North America, 1740-1783." (Grants and Fellowships) 2003
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Library Resident Fellowship, American Philosophical Society Library, for "Cityscapes and Revolution: Political Mobilization and Urban Spaces in North America, 1740-1783." (Grants and Fellowships) 2003
Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, Institute for Citizens and Scholars, for "Cityscapes and Revolution: Political Mobilization and Urban Spaces in North America, 1740-1783." 2003-04. (Grants and Fellowships) 2003
Fellowship, GIlder Lehrman Institute of American History, for "Cityscapes and Revolution: Political Mobilization and Urban Spaces in North America, 1740-1783." (Grants and Fellowships) 2003
Barbara S. Mosbacher Fellowship, John Carter Brown Library, for "Cityscapes and Revolution: Political Mobilization and Urban Spaces in North America, 1740-1783." (Grants and Fellowships) 2002
W.M. Keck Foundation and Fletcher Jones Foundation Fellowship, Huntington Library, for "Cityscapes and Revolution: Political Mobilization and Urban Spaces in North America, 1740-1783." (Grants and Fellowships) 2002
Kate B. and Hall J. Peterson Fellowship, American Antiquarian Society, for "Cityscapes and Revolution: Political Mobilization and Urban Spaces in North America, 1740-1783." (Grants and Fellowships) 2001
Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati Fellowship, Massachusetts Historical Society, for "Cityscapes and Revolution: Political Mobilization and Urban Spaces in North America, 1740-1783." (Grants and Fellowships) 2001
Price Visiting Research Fellowship, William L. Clements Library, for "Cityscapes and Revolution: Political Mobilization and Urban Spaces in North America, 1740-1783." (Grants and Fellowships) 2001
Winterthur Fellowship, Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, for "Cityscapes and Revolution: Political Mobilization and Urban Spaces in North America, 1740-1783." (Grants and Fellowships) 2001
Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship in Humanistic Studies, Institute for Citizens and Scholars, 1998-99. (Grants and Fellowships) 1998
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
Comment, "Imperial borderlands." Panel at "Underrepresented Voices of the American Revolution" Conrad E. Wright Research Conference. Massachusetts Historical Society. Boston, July 15. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2022
Discussant, "Revolutionary Roads: Environment, Capitalism, and Development." History Graduate Student Conference, CUNY Graduate Center. New York, April 8. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2022
Panel judge, History, Beacon Conference, SUNY Orange Community College. Middletown, N.Y., June 3. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2022
Panelist, Roundtable Discussion, "Talkin' about A Revolution: Communication in History and Historians Communicating," CUNY EARS Graduate Conference, New York, May 20. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2022
Comment, "Loyalists and Their Legacy." Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, annual meeting. Philadelphia, July 15. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2021
Panel judge, History, Beacon Conference, SUNY Westchester Community College. Valhalla, N.Y., June 4. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2021
Panelist, "America's Revolutionary Moment: New Approaches to the Continental Army." Society for Military Historians, annual meeting. Norfolk, Va., May 23. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2021
"How Revising History Shaped the American Revolution" with Michael D. Hattem. New-York Historical Society. New York, Dec. 7. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2020
"Incendiaries: The Great Fire of 1776 and the Spreading Nature of Radicalism and Disaster." Consortium on the Revolutionary Era, annual conference. Tallahassee, Fla., Feb. 28. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2020
"Shaping the Patriot Story of the Fire of 1776." "Foundations of Independence: Protest and Communication in Revolutionary America, 1770 to 2020" conference, Institute for Thomas Paine Studies, Iona College. New Rochelle, N.Y., Sept. 25-26. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2020
"The Motley Crew and the Viper's Nest" and "Two Captive Officers and Two Fateful Encounters." Yale Early American History seminar. New Haven, Conn., Oct. 14. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2020
"The Radical Fringe of the American Revolution: Perpetrators of the New York City Fire of 1776." "Revolutions: Moments and Movements in Historical Perspective" symposium, Seton Hall University. South Orange, N.J., Feb. 7.
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2020
Chair and comment, "Decentering Early New York City's History." American Historical Association Annual Meeting. New York, Jan. 6. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2020
"'The First Incendiary': A Female Arsonist and the New York City Fire of 1776." Sons of the American Revolution conference, "Women Waging War in the American Revolution." Philadelphia, June 15. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2019
Chair and comment, "After the Fire: Disaster Relief, Reform, Local Power in American Cities." Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, annual meeting. Cambridge, Mass. July 19. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2019
Comment, "Civilian Governance and Military Affairs in the American Revolution." Society for Military Historians conference. Columbus, Ohio. May 11. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2019
"The New York City Fire of 1776: Black Arsonists and Accusers." Washington Early American Seminar, University of Maryland. College Park, Md. Sept. 28, (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2018
Chair and organizer, "Crossing Genders and Genres in Narratives of the American Revolution." Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, annual meeting. Philadelphia, July 21. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2017
Comment, "Out of Print: Collective Violence and Orientalism in Revolutionary Era Writings." CUNY Early American Republic Seminar Graduate Conference. New York, May 12. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2017
Roundtable panelist, "Being An Early Americanist in the Current Political Climate." CUNY Early American Republic Seminar Graduate Conference. New York, May 12. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2017
"'History is Happening in Manhattan': A Critical Roundtable on Hamilton." Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, annual meeting. New Haven, Conn., July 22. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2016
"'Such Flaming Arguments': The Propaganda of Words and Deeds during the Revolutionary War." Conference on "Propaganda, Persuasion, the Press and the American Revolution, 1763-1783." Hong Kong, April 27. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2016
"New York and the American Revolution." Grades K-12 Election Day Workshop, New-York Historical Society. New York, Nov. 8. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2016
Author talk. Workshop session, "Teaching Three Centuries of History through MHS Collections," Massachusetts Historical Society. Boston, July 13. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2016
Comment, "Reconsidering the Boundaries of Urban Space in the Early Republic," CUNY Early American Republic Seminar Graduate Conference. New York, May 13. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2016
Panelist, "Chris Schmidt-Nowara In Memoriam (1966-2015): Pioneer of Atlantic Empire and Antislavery Studies." Latin American Studies Association, International Congress. New York, May 28. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2016
"'Disreputable among Civilized Nations': Destroying Homes during the Revolutionary War." Conference on "Was the American Revolution a Just War?" Philadelphia, Oct. 31. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2015
"'The Unpleasing Part of the Drama': Fear, Devastation, and the Civilian Experience of the Revolutionary War." CUNY Early American Republic Seminar. New York, Feb. 6. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
"A Wilderness of Fear: Colonial Experiences of Fear and the Origins of the American Revolution." Joint Omohundro Institute for Early American History and Culture and Society of Early Americanists Conference. Chicago, June 19. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2015
"Acts of Power: The Boston Tea Party, Thomas Jefferson, and Fears of Enslavement." Abram Kartch/Thomas Jefferson Lecture, William Paterson University. Wayne, N.J., April 21. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
"Leadership in the Work of Edmund S. Morgan." Columbia University Seminar on Early American History and Culture. New York, Feb. 10. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
"The Fearsome Consequences of the American Revolution." Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, annual meeting. Raleigh, N.C., July 18. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2015
"The Invention of Holidays: How Early America Shaped Our Days Off." Brooklyn College Historical Society general meeting. Brooklyn, NY, Oct. 8. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
Boston Background Session, "At the Crossroads of Revolution: Lexington and Concord in 1775." Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshop, Massachusetts Historical Society. Boston, July 28 and Aug. 4. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
Comment, "The Continued Costs of Conflict: War, Status, and Society in Revolution and Civil War." CUNY Early American Republic Seminar Graduate Conference. New York, May 1. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2015
"Fear: 'The Unpleasing Part of the Drama' of the American Revolution." Summer Seminar Series, McNeil Center for Early American Studies. Philadelphia, Aug. 7. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014
"The Boston Tea Party and the Making of America." Long Island Council for the Social Studies Annual Conference. Melville, N.Y., Oct. 24. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014
"The Global Origins of the American Revolution." U.S. History Teachers' Summer Symposium. Poly Prep Country Day School. Brooklyn, N.Y., June 21. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014
Panelist and chair, "The Boston Tea Party: The Most Dangerous Memory of the American Revolution." Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting. Atlanta, April 10. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014
"'Fix'd almost among Strangers': Charleston's Quaker Connections on the Eve of Revolution." Mid-Atlantic Conference on British Studies. New York, March 23. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2013
"Fear: 'The Unpleasing Part of the Drama' of the American Revolution." University of Florida. Gainesville, Fla., Nov. 12. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
"The Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution." Teacher workshop sponsored by Minute Man National Historic Park. Boston, Aug. 14. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
"The Fractured Teapot: Debating the Legacy of the Boston Tea Party." Series on "'Civil' Society? On the Future Prospects of Meaningful Dialogue." Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere, University of Florida. Gainesville, Fla., Nov. 12. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
"Teapot in a Tempest: The Boston Tea Party and the Path to War." Ninth Annual Seminar on the American Revolution. Fort Ticonderoga, N.Y., Sept. 22. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
"Virtuous War, Vicious Cities: The American Revolution's Urban Legacy." Urban History Association conference. New York, Oct. 26. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2012
"'Enemies to Their Country' in Revolutionary Boston." American Studies Summer Institute. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and the University of Massachusetts-Boston. Boston, July 11. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
"'The Ringleader of All Violence': Revolutionary Boston and the Tea Party." Teaching American History Grant. Framingham State University and American Antiquarian Society. Worcester, Mass., Aug. 11. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
"African-Americans in Colonial New York." Teaching American History Grant. Gilder Lehrman Institute and Rockland County BOCES. New York, Aug. 23. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
"The Mobilization of Revolutionary America." The American Journey: History, Culture, and the Arts. Museum of Fine Arts. Boston, Feb. 23. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
"The Use of Violence in Revolutionary Boston." American Historical Association Annual Meeting. Boston, Jan. 9. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2011
"Urban Life during the Revolutionary War." History Connected Teaching American History Grant Summer Institute. Primary Source and Reading Memorial High School. Reading, Mass., July 12. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
"World War and the Coming of the American Revolution" and "City Life and the American Rebellion." Teaching American History Grant, Gilder Lehrman Institute and Guilford County, N.C., Schools. New York, June 28. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
Author talk. Lehman Center for American History, Columbia University. New York, March 23. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
Author talk. University of Virginia Club and Yale Club of Rhode Island. John Carter Brown Library. Providence, R.I., Feb. 14. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
Comment on "The Politics of Fear: Slave Conspiracy Panics, Community Mobilization, and the Coming of the American Revolution," by Jason T. Sharples. Boston Area Early American History Seminar, Massachusetts Historical Society. Boston, Feb. 3. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
Comment, "Mean Streets: Crowds and Violence in Colonial British American Cities." Seventeenth Annual Omohundro Institute for Early American History and Culture Conference, New Paltz, N.Y., June 18. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2011
Guest speaker. In-Service Day, Freedom Trail Foundation. Boston, March 8. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
Panelist, President's Plenary, "The Populist Temper in Early America: Is It Real or Is It Memorex?" Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, annual meeting. Philadelphia, July 14. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
"The Rise of Cities after the Revolution." Teaching American History Grant. Gilder Lehrman Institute and Md.-Baltimore City Public Schools. Towson, Md., June 28. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010
Author presentation. Historiography Seminar, CUNY Graduate Center. New York, Oct. 6. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010
Author talk. Colonial Society of Massachusetts. [Later broadcast on American History TV, C-SPAN3, February 2011.] Boston, Dec. 16. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010
Author talk. David Library of the American Revolution. [Later broadcast on Book TV, C-SPAN2, December 2010.] Washington Crossing, Pa., Oct. 7. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010
"Did Dutch Smugglers Provoke the Boston Tea Party?" Cities in Revolt: The Dutch-American Atlantic, ca. 1650-1830, Columbia University. New York, Nov. 13. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2009
"Global Perspectives on the Boston Tea Party." Exploring Transnational Studies Inaugural Conference. Tufts University. Medford, Mass., April 24. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2009
"Partygoers: Recovering the Narratives of the Boston Tea Party Participants." Boston Area Early American History Seminar. Massachusetts Historical Society. Boston, May 1. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008
"Teapot in a Tempest: the Boston Tea Party of 1773." Summer Seminar Series, McNeil Center for Early American Studies. Philadelphia, June 12. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008
"The Struggles of Empire." Chapter 1 of Defiance of the Patriots. Atlantic World Workshop. New York University. New York, Dec. 2. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008
Chair and discussant, "Remaking the American Nation: Secession and its Consequences for the Civil War United States." Seventh European Social Science History Conference. Lisbon, Portugal, Feb. 29. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2008
Chair, "Perspectives on Colonial America." New England Historical Association, spring meeting. Boston, April 26. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008
"Americans Mobilized: The Revolutions in the Cities." Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, annual meeting. Worcester, Mass. July 20. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2007
"Beyond George R.T. Hewes: Recovering the Narratives of the Boston Tea Party Participants." Thirteenth Annual Omohundro Institute for Early American History and Culture Conference and Fifth Biennial Society of Early Americanists Conference. Williamsburg, Va., June 9. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2007
"The Culmination of Destructive Warfare in Colonial America." Conference on Warfare and Society in Colonial North America and the Caribbean. Omohundro Institute for Early American History and Culture. Knoxville, Tenn., Oct. 6. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2006
"The Night the Yankees Burned Broadway: The Destruction of New York City in 1776." Conference on New York State History. New York, June 3. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2006
"A Revolution in Brick and Brush: The Cultural Politics of the Radical Cosmopolitan." Conference on Faces and Places of Early America. McNeil Center for Early American Studies. Philadelphia, Dec. 3. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2005
"Order, Disorder, and Rebellion in the Taverns of Prerevolutionary New York City." Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting. San Jose, Calif., April 2. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2005
"The Flames of War: Pyromachy and Destruction during the American Revolution." Columbia University Seminar on Early American History and Culture. New York, Oct. 11. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2005
Panelist, "Roundtable on United States Election." Transatlantic Seminar Series, School of Social and Political Studies, University of Edinburgh. Edinburgh, Scotland. Nov. 5. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2004
"Cityscapes and Revolution." Fall Colloquium, Omohundro Institute for Early American History and Culture. Williamsburg, Va., Oct. 7. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2003
"Changing Our Habitation: Domestic Spaces in Charleston during the Revolutionary Era." Program in the Carolina Lowcountry and the Atlantic World. Charleston, S.C., June 8. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2002
"Port in a Storm: The Boston Waterfront as Contested Space, 1747-1774." 70th Anglo-American Conference of Historians, Institute for Historical Research. London, July 5. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2001
"Port in a Storm: The Boston Waterfront as Contested Space, 1747-1774." Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, annual meeting. Baltimore, July 20. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2001
Professional Leadership
"The American Revolutionary War: everything you wanted to know." History Extra Podcast, with Elinor Evans. Feb. 27. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2022
"The Revolutionary Taverns of New York City." Brooklyn Lifelong Learning. Brooklyn, N.Y., April 6. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2022
"New York Burning, 1776, with Benjamin L. Carp." Revolution 250 Podcast, with Robert J. Allison. Sept. 21, (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2021
"A New York City Mystery of 1776: Who Set the Fire that Burned Broadway?" Brooklyn Lifelong Learning. Brooklyn, N.Y., March 9. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2021
"The Fraught Path to Inclusion: Newport's Jewish and African-American Communities in the Revolutionary Era." Congregation B'nai Israel. Rumson, N.J., April 29. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2021
"Weston's Revolution: Taverns, Tea, and Turncoats." Golden Ball Tavern Museum and Weston Historical Society. Weston, Mass., March 25. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2021
Author conversation with Kevin J. Weddle, The Compleat Victory: Saratoga and the American Revolution, OUP History Book Club, Oxford University Press. New York, May 12. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2021
Member, Admissions and Awards Committee, Graduate Center, 2020-2021. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2021
"Tea Party Tonight!" with Rob Crean, Chernoh Sesay, Jr., and William Fowler. Revolutionary Spaces. Boston, Dec. 16. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2020
Author interview, Defiance of the Patriots, Dr. Joseph Warren Historical Society. Boston, July 17. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2020
Member, Planning Committee, Robert L. Hess Scholar-in-Residence Program, 2019-2020. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2020
Selection Committee, Hench Post-Dissertation Fellowship, American Antiquarian Society, 2018-19. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2019
Chair, Committee on the Library, Faculty Council, 2015-2018. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2018
"The Revolutionary Taverns of New York City." Peter Minuit Chapter, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. New York, Jan. 10. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2017
"Pre-War of Independence Taverns of New York City." The Greenwich Series. New York, Jan. 16. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2015
Author talk. Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Florida. Palm Beach, Fla., Jan. 13. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2015
Member, Membership Directory Committee, Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 2011-15. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2015
"Cities and Revolution: The Cases of Boston's Waterfront and Newport's Churches." Society of Colonial Wars in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Boston, Jan. 16. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2014
"Defiance of the Patriots: The Revolution in Charlestown beyond the Neck." Local History Lecture Series, Historic Somerville. Somerville, Mass., Feb. 23. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2014
"Order, Disorder, and Rebellion in New York City's Revolutionary Taverns." Fraunces Tavern Museum. [Later broadcast on American History TV, C-SPAN3, November 2014-January 2015.] New York, Oct. 16. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2014
"Separated by a Common History" (in absentia). Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Florida. Palm Beach, Fla., Jan. 14. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2014
"The Fiery Side of New York's Revolutionary War." Historic Huguenot District. New Paltz, N.Y., June 25. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2014
Author talk. 1850 House Inn & Tavern. Rosendale, N.Y., June 23. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2014
Author talk. Lunch and Learn Speaker Series, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Tufts University. Medford, Mass., March 10. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2014
Co-organizer and roundtable discussant. "Fear in the Revolutionary Americas, 1776-1865." Center for the Humanities at Tufts, Tufts University. Medford, Mass., Oct. 31. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2014
Member, "A New Nation Votes" Advisory Board, Tufts University and the American Antiquarian Society, 2009-14. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2014
"Resolute Men (Dressed as Mohawks)." Old South Meeting House and Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum. Boston, Dec. 12. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2013
Author talk. Cox Book Prize honoree, Society of the Cincinnati. Washington, D.C., Oct. 24. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2013
Author talk. Fraunces Tavern Museum. New York, April 11. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2013
"'Our United Sentiments': Boston, Newton, and the Cause of Liberty." Newton Free Library. Newton, Mass., Feb. 13. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2012
Author talk. Massachusetts Society of the American Revolution. Boston, Feb. 25.
(Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2012
"Fires and Firefighting in Colonial New England." Edmund Rice (1638) Association. Natick, Mass., Sept. 17. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2011
Author talk. American Antiquarian Society. Worcester, Mass., April 5. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2011
Author talk. Arlington Historical Society. Arlington, Mass., April 15. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2011
Author talk. Bench and Bar Seminar. Social Law Library. Boston, Feb. 8. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2011
Author talk. Boston Public Library. Boston, April 13. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2011
Author talk. Historic Shirley-Eustis House. Roxbury, Mass., Feb. 27. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2011
Author talk. New England Historic Genealogical Society. Boston, Feb. 23. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2011
Author talk. Society of Colonial Wars in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Boston, Feb. 17. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2011
Author talk. St. Botolph's Club. Boston, May 5. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2011
Author talk. Sudbury Companies of Militia & Minute. Wayside Inn. Sudbury, Mass., May 2. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2011
Author talk. Yale Alumni Association of New York. Harney & Sons. New York, Oct. 20. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2011
Host, Boston Tea Party Annual Reenactment. Old South Meeting House. Boston, Dec. 11. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2011
Member, Fellowship Application Review Committee, Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, spring. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2011
Member, Short-Term Fellowship Selection Committee, Massachusetts Historical Society, spring. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2011
Author event. Old State House Museum and Bostonian Society. Boston, Dec. 15. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2010
Author talk (with David Art). Yale Club of Boston. Boston, Dec. 1. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2010
Author talk. American Revolution Round Table. New York, Oct. 5. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2010
Author talk. Boston Tea Party Chapter, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Dorchester, Mass., Dec. 16. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2010
Author talk. Old South Meeting House. Boston, Oct. 21. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2010
Author talk. Royall House and Slave Quarters. Medford, Mass., Nov. 17. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2010
Carp, Benjamin and Kris Manjapra. "Two Nations, Shared History." Lexington Historical Society. Lexington, Mass., April 30. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2010
Participant, College Board AP United States History Research Study, October. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2010
Skype Q&A, "Historical Perspective on the Boston Tea Party." Andover (Kansas) Middle School eighth-grade students. Sept. 16. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2010
"Teapot in a Tempest: The Boston Tea Party of 1773," two-part lecture series. Middays at the Meeting House. Old South Meeting House. Boston, Dec. 3 and 10. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2009
"Lexington, the Locals, and the Boston Tea Party." Cronin Lecture Series, Lexington Historical Society. Lexington, Mass., Nov. 21. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2008
Author talk. Elfreth's Alley National Historic Landmark District. Philadelphia, Oct. 29. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2008
Author talk. Redwood Library. Newport, R.I., Jan. 24. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2008
Other Professional Activities
Expert Advisor, "Essential Guide to the American Revolution." BBC History Revealed 107: 30-57. 2022
Scholar/Consultant, "Revisiting the Founding Era." Gilder Lehrman Institute, funded by National Endowment of the Humanities Community Conversations Grant. 2017
"The Global Boston Tea Party." Filmed for Fora.tv. Society of the Cincinnati, Anderson House. Washington, D.C., Oct. 24. 2013
Interviewee, Victoria Wood's Nice Cup of Tea (television documentary series), episode 2. KEO Films. BBC One (UK). Filmed in Boston. Aired April 11. 2013
Member, workshop for reinterpretation of Durant Kenrick House. Historic Newton. Newton, Mass., November 2010, November 2011 and June 2013. 2013
Author interview on Defiance of the Patriots, by Faith Middleton. The Faith Middleton Show, Connecticut Public Radio, WNPR FM 90.5. Aired Oct. 2. 2012
Expert interviewee. How Booze Built America (television documentary series), episode 1. Karga Seven Pictures. Discovery Channel. Aired Sept. 19. 2012
Video interviews, Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum. Boston, Aug. 16. 2012
Author interview, Defiance of the Patriots, by David Inge. Focus. Illinois Public Media, WILL AM 580. Aired Nov. 18. 2010
Guest scholar. "Teed Off: The Tea Party, Then and Now" (podcast). BackStory with the American History Guys. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. May. 2010
Member, scholarly panel, reinterpretation of Munroe Tavern. Lexington Historical Society. Lexington, Mass., March 5. 2010
Consultant, Days That Shook the World (Series III): "Boston Tea Party," Lion Television. United Kingdom. 2005
