News And Events
Evelyn Wrench Speaker Adrian Tinniswood
Event
The Boston Branch of the English-Speaking Union
in cooperation with the Boston Athenaeum
10 ½ Beacon Street, Boston
presents the ESU's 2014 Evelyn Wrench Speaker
Adrian Tinniswood, OBE
speaking on his new book, The Rainborowes
More than a century before the American Revolution, Bostonians—and Boston ideals—played a role in overthrowing another English king. The Rainborowes bridges two generations and two worlds as it carries the reader back and forth across the Atlantic, between Boston and England, weaving together the lives of different members of the Rainborowe clan (including members of other prominent Boston families to whom they were related) as they struggle to forge a better life for themselves and a better future for humankind in the New World and in the Old, as colonists, entrepreneurs and idealists. The narrative unfolds between 1630 and 1660 – a time which shattered England and shaped America – and follows the fortunes of William Rainborowe, a formidable merchant-mariner and shipmaster, and his equally formidable sons and daughters. As it does, the reader comes to know and understand not only the lives and loves of a single family, but the dreams of an entire culture – confused and chaotic, catching hold of hope and losing its grip on old certainties. The Rainborowes explains America and mourns England's failed revolution. It spans oceans and ideologies and encompasses personal tragedies and triumphs, the death of kings and the birth of nations.
Adrian Tinniswood is the author of twelve books on architectural and social history and is a well-known author, lecturer, and broadcaster in Britain and America. He has worked with The National Trust and the Heritage Lottery Fund and lectured at both English and American universities. In June 2013, Adrian was awarded an OBE for services to heritage in the Queen's birthday honours.
The talk, which will take place at the Athenaeum on Thursday, April 3rd at noon, is free and open to the general public. The Boston Branch will have an allocation of seats reserved for . our members and their guests until April 1st. They may be booked, first come, first served, by contacting Catherine-Mary Donovan, at 617 266-2263 or cmd827ginger@yahoo.com.
