When: Thursday, October 23, 2025
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Where: In-person in our Archives and Research building or online via ZOOM.
This is a free event, though donations are greatly appreciated to support our mission and to continue to bring you educational programming.
Join us for a captivating evening with award-winning author Joe Jackson as he discusses his new book, Splendid Liberators: Heroism, betrayal, resistance, and The Birth of American Empire. This sweeping history tells the dramatic story of the Spanish- American War, when the United States gained an empire and faced a profound test of its national character. Jackson brings the era vividly to life through portraits of iconic figures—Teddy Roosevelt charging San Juan Hill, José Martí dreaming of Cuban freedom, Emilio Aguinaldo leading the Philippines, Clara Barton aiding the sick, and Mark Twain speaking out against empire. He also shares the remarkable story of David Fagen, an African American soldier who defied expectations by joining Filipino rebels in their fight against the U.S. army.
Jackson is the author of seven acclaimed works of nonfiction and a novel, including Black Elk: The Life of an American Visionary, winner of the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award, the Francis Parkman Prize, and more. A former investigative journalist who’s reporting once freed a man wrongfully convicted of murder, Jackson has built a career uncovering hidden histories and telling them with power and clarity. Though rumors place him everywhere from the Amazon to a South Seas atoll, the Joe Jackson joining us is the one whose storytelling carries readers across continents and centuries—and whose work reveals the human costs and consequences of America’s first imperial adventure.
This event is co-sponsored with Virginia Humanities: Virginia Center for the Book.
We will also be selling copies of his book at this event!
