Who Else Opposed Monarchy in 1776?

Feinberg Series Lecture by Priya Satia

In this lecture marking America at 250, Stanford historian Priya Satia will examine alternative forms of republicanism prevalent in the 18th-century world that were eclipsed by colonial conquest. Erasure of these forms from popular memory has fueled myths about the exclusively European origins of the concept of freedom and its necessarily individualistic character. Satia will explore forms of British and American republicanism and their engagement with South Asian, Middle Eastern, and Indigenous American republican ideas.

Bio

Priya Satia is the Raymond A. Spruance Professor of International History and Professor of History at Stanford University. She is the author of three multiple-prize-winning books: Time’s Monster: How History Makes History (Belknap Press/Harvard University Press and Allen Lane/Penguin , 2020); Empire of Guns: The Violent Making of the Industrial Revolution (Duckworth/Penguin, 2018), and Spies in Arabia: The Great War and the Cultural Foundations of Britain’s Covert Empire in the Middle East (Oxford University Press, 2008). Her academic and popular writing has appeared in American Historical Review, Technology and Culture, Financial Times, Slate, and The Nation, among others. She is currently writing a new book, “The Lake of Liberation,” on British colonialism in Punjab.

The 2026-27 Feinberg Series

The 2026–27 Feinberg Series explores the global history of oligarchy, or rule by the rich and the popular movements that have resisted it. It is presented by the UMass Amherst Department of History in partnership with numerous co-sponsors. The Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series is made possible thanks to the generosity of UMass Amherst history department alumnus Kenneth R. Feinberg ’67 and associates. Visit the Feinberg Series website for details.