15 April 2024

Mirrors of Greatness: Churchill and the Leaders Who Shaped Him

Join the New England Churchillians with historian and author Professor David Reynolds.

This event is being held live in person on Monday, 15 April 2024, at 6:00 PM.

Author David Reynolds will speak about his new book and autograph copies in the historic United First Parish Church (“Church of the Presidents”) in Quincy, Massachusetts. The book may be purchased at the event for $23 (cash or check only).

About Professor David Reynolds

David Reynolds is Emeritus Professor of International History and a Fellow of Christ’s College. He is Director of Studies for History Part II and also for History & Politics.

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David studied at Cambridge and Harvard Universities and has been a regular visitor to the US since first going there as a graduate student in 1973. He won the Wolfson Prize for History in 2004 and was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2005. In 2013-15, he was Chairman of the History Faculty at Cambridge.

His visiting positions include posts at Harvard, Nihon University in Tokyo and Sciences Po in Paris. He also served on the Academic Advisory Committee for the Imperial War Museum’s new galleries on the First World War (opened 2014) and the Second World War (opened 2021).

David is the author of thirteen books and five edited or co-edited volumes. His most recent books are The Long Shadow: The Great War and the 20th Century, which was awarded the Hessell-Tiltman Prize; The Kremlin Letters: Stalin’s Wartime Correspondence with Churchill and Roosevelt, which won the Link-Kuehl Prize; and Island Stories: An Unconventional History of Britain.

He has also written and presented thirteen historical documentaries for BBC TV, ranging across the international history of the 20th century, as well as the award-winning BBC Radio 4 series America, Empire of Liberty.

About United First Parish Church – “Church of the Presidents”

This historic and still vital church was gathered in 1639 and is the burial place of Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams and First Ladies Abigail Adams and Louisa Catherine Adams. It was endowed by John Adams, who specified that it be a “Temple of stone” built of Quincy granite. The present building was completed in 1828, according to a design by Alexander Parris, and is the congregation’s fourth home, replacing the wooden Hancock Meeting House on the same site. This magnificent edifice is considered the finest existing Greek Revival church in New England. It is a National Historic Landmark.

The crypt where the presidents and first ladies lie entombed will be open for guided tours from 5:00 PM until 5:50 PM. It will be open for a brief time after the author’s presentation is completed.

The church anchors the East side of Hancock-Adams Common, which Architect Magazine has lauded as ”a celebratory ground that commemorates Quincy’s- national renown as the birthplace and home of two American presidents. … The transformation of Hancock Street introduces a new pedestrian promenade and plaza, which serve as an attractive setting for three of the city’s most important historic sites: United First Parish Church, Old City Hall and Hancock Cemetery.”

United First Parish Church

1306 Hancock Street
Quincy, MA 02169
United First Parish Church