Willard Sterne Randall
Saturday, June 18, 2011 -- Author Willard Sterne Randall gave an engaging talk about Ethan Allen, the man he called the "frontier founding father" of America, before an enthusiastic audience today. According to Randall, Allen was not the impetuous, posturing buffoon history has come to paint him. Rather, he was a free-thinker who continually challenged authority. Without Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, it is likely, Randall asserted, that Vermont would not today be a state, but rather a region of New York.
Willard Sterne Randall is the author of 12 published books, including biographies of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benedict Arnold and Alexander Hamilton. His new book, Ethan Allen: His Life and Times, will be published in August by W.W. Norton. You can learn more about the book here.