"The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life" with Sophia Rosenfeld

Join us for a Lunch at the Library presentation from Sophia Rosenfeld, who will be discussing her new book: The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life.

Thomas Paine was the first great American polemicist for the right to vote—or choice in the political sphere.  But it is not at all clear that what Paine and his contemporaries had in mind in the late 18th century was choice in the contemporary sense.  As the future of democracy looks increasingly precarious today in the US and in many parts of the world, this talk will consider how the idea and experience of choice have evolved from the revolutionary moment to our present.  

Sophia Rosenfeld is Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History and chair of the History Department at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of Democracy and Truth: A Short History and Common Sense: A Political History, among other books. Her writing has also appeared in leading publications such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Nation.

This event will take place on Wednesday, March 12, 2025 at 12:00 p.m. ET in Benjamin Franklin Hall and will also be livestreamed. This event is free to attend but registration is required.

Please register to attend in-person and online. Lunch will be provided to those attending in person.

Can't make it? Join us instead at Washington Crossing on Thursday, March 13 at 7:00 p.m. for the DCAR Lecture! Details here.