"The Meaning of 1776"

WDB Lecture Series

Dr. Ed Larson

"The Meaning of 1776"
Dr. Ed Larson
Wednesday, January 28, 2026
11:30 AM | Payson Library, Surfboard Room
Partnership with Pepperdine Libraries and the W. David Baird Distinguished Lecture Series
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Ed Larson is University Professor of History and holds the Hugh and Hazel Darling Chair in Law at Pepperdine University. Reared in Ohio with a Ph.D. in the history of science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and law degree from Harvard, Larson has lectured on all seven continents in a single year and taught at Stanford Law School, University of Melbourne, Leiden University, Yale Law School, University of Richmond, and the University of Georgia, where he chaired the History Department.  Prior to becoming a professor, Larson served as an associate counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives and practiced law in Seattle.

Recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in History and numerous other awards for writing and teaching, Larson is the author of sixteen books and over three hundred published articles.  His books, which have been translated into over twenty languages, include the 2020 national bestseller Franklin & Washington: The Founding Partnership; To the Edges of the Earth: The Race for Three Poles (recipient of the 2018 National Outdoor Book Award); A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America’s First Presidential Campaign; and the Pulitzer Prize winning Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion. Larson’s latest book is the critically acclaimed American Inheritance: Liberty and Slavery in the Birth of a Nation.  His next book, due out in November 2025, is titled Declaring Independence: Why 1776 Matters. Larson’s articles have appeared in such varied publications as Nature, Atlantic Monthly, Science, Scientific American, Time, Wall Street Journal, American History, The Guardian, and dozens of academic journals.

A popular lecturer, Larson has taught short courses at universities in Asia, Europe, and South America; been a featured speaker at book festivals and the Chautauqua Institute; and given addresses at over 80 American universities.  He was a resident scholar at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Study Center; held the Fulbright Program’s John Adams Chair in American Studies; participated in the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Writers and Artists Program; and served at an inaugural Fellow at the Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon. A panelist on the National Institutes of Health’s Study Section for Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues of the Human Genome Project, Larson often comments on issues of bioethics and science policy.  He is interviewed frequently for broadcast, print, cable, and internet media, including The Daily Show, The Today Show, Face the Nation, and multiple appearances on PBS, BBC, the History Channel, C-SPAN, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and NPR.