Monday, February 24, 2025

Author Talk with Jeffrey Boutwell


The State Library of Massachusetts Author Talks Series presents Jeffrey Boutwell as our March speaker!

Please join us at noon in our historic reading room or tune in virtually; the event will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel courtesy of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Broadcast Services.

Be sure to sign up for our Author Talks newsletter and follow our social media channels (InstagramFacebook, and X) for the latest information on our visiting authors. If you are unable to attend, the recording will be posted to our YouTube channel to watch anytime - view all past recordings here!

About the book: Boutwell: Radical Republican and Champion of Democracy (2025) is the first major biography of statesman and key political figure George S. Boutwell. Serving as the Governor of Massachusetts from 1851-1853, Boutwell had a longstanding political career shaping America’s politics and economy. Boutwell worked closely with both President Lincoln and President Grant during the Civil War and Reconstruction eras - serving as Revenue Commissioner for Lincoln and Treasury Secretary for Grant. He helped write the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution and later served in the U.S. Senate. George Boutwell died in 1905 in Groton, Massachusetts.

Read the Wall Street Journal book review! ‘Boutwell’ Review: A Man Ahead of His Times.

About the author:
Jeffrey Boutwell is a writer, historian, and public policy specialist whose forty-year career spanned journalism, government, and international scientific research and cooperation. He has written widely on issues relating to nuclear weapons arms control, European politics, Middle East security issues, and environmental degradation and civil conflict. He has a Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a B.A. in history from Yale University, and he worked for many years at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Cambridge, Mass. Jeffrey grew up in Winchester and Concord, Mass., and now lives with his wife, Buthaina Shukri, in Columbia, Maryland. He and George Boutwell share a common ancestor, the indentured servant James Boutwell, who emigrated from England to Salem, Mass. in 1632.

As always, this author talk is free and open to all. Assisted listening devices will be made available upon request. If you are able to join us in person for this talk, attendees will be able to participate in a question-and-answer session with the author. Books available to purchase; cash, check, Venmo and Zelle accepted.

Any questions or concerns, please email us at AuthorTalks.StateLibrary@mass.gov.

For more information on the State Library Author talks series, please visit our site.



Author Talks Working Group