Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy, a noted professor of early American and English history will be a guest lecturer at the Wells Fargo Auditorium in the Beatty Center at 5 p.m. on Oct. 15, 2014. The event is free and open to the public.
Professor O’Shaughnessy will be discussing Thomas Jefferson and his beloved home, Monticello. The title of his talk is “Beyond the Sphinx: Demystifying Thomas Jefferson.” O’Shaughnessy is the Saunders Director of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello and professor of history at the University of Virginia.
O’Shaughnessy most recently authored “The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire,” a much acclaimed explanation of how the leadership of the greatest nation of its time managed to lose the American Revolutionary War. O’Shaughnessy’s effort won several awards in 2014, including the prestigious George Washington Book Prize and the New York Historical Society American History Book Prize.
O’Shaughnessy is coming to the College at the invitation of the Honors College, through the founding Chairman of its Advisory Board, a teacher of two elective courses at the Honors College, and Executive-in-Residence, John Culhane.
Culhane said the campus and the community are in for a real treat. “The professor is a marvelous storyteller and as a fellow raised and educated in England and a long time resident of America he has a unique perspective in sharing his views on the early beginnings of our country and in this case, one of our most revered founders.”
O’Shaughnessy was born in Great Britain and holds dual citizenship in Britain and the United States. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history and a doctorate in philosophy from Oriel College, Oxford University. He has held his position at Monticello since 2003.
