Holy Family University will be hosting a speaking engagement with an author, whose book discusses the American Revolutionary War.

The university, along with Glen Foerd on the Delaware, will co-host a Speaker Series event featuring historian Aaron Sullivan, author of The Disaffected: Britain’s Occupation of Philadelphia, published by University of Pennsylvania Press, which the American Revolution Round Table of Philadelphia named the best book on the American Revolution Era in 2019.

The live event will be held on Nov. 10 at 7 PM in the Education and Technology Center Auditorium of Holy Family University. The event is free and open to the public. The talk will be simulcast via Zoom.

Sullivan explores the British occupation of Philadelphia during the American Revolution, chronicling the experiences of a group of people who were pursued, pressured, and at times persecuted, not because they chose the wrong side of the Revolution but because they tried not to choose a side at all. For these people, the war was neither a glorious cause to be won nor an unnatural rebellion to be suppressed, but a dangerous and costly calamity to be navigated with care.

Both the Patriots and the British referred to this group as “the disaffected,” perceiving correctly that their defining feature was less loyalty to than a lack of support for either side in the dispute, and denounced them as opportunistic, apathetic, or even treasonous. Sullivan will sign copies of his book, which will be available for purchase at the event. 

The lecture is part of the Glen Foerd-Holy Family University Speaker Series that showcases topics of area cultural and historical interest. All lectures are free and open to the public. For those who wish to attend the webinar, the Zoom link can be found here.

Learn more about Sullivan’s book at Holy Family University.