Land speculator, revolutionary, pamphleteer, politician, and empire-builder, Ira Allen was a key figure on the late eighteenth-century Green Mountain frontier. Based on his 2024 book Ira Allen: A Biography, J. Kevin Graffagnino’s lively talk evaluates Allen’s checkered career and makes the case for including him in our picture of Vermont’s formative decades.
This program is hosted by the Woodstock History Center and the Norman Williams Public Library.
Photo Credit: Arminnius, Wikimedia Commons
About the presenter
J. Kevin Graffagnino is author/editor of 17 books on Vermont history, including The Shaping of Vermont, Vermont in the Victorian Age, and Vermont Heritage: Essays on Green Mountain History, 1779-1920. His most recent books are Ira Allen: A Biography and Vermontiana: An Annotated Checklist, 1764-1899, both of which came out in 2024. Dr. Graffagnino was curator of Vermont history at the University of Vermont library’s Special Collections 1978-95 and executive director of the Vermont Historical Society 2003-08. Since 1980 he has spoken in more than half the towns in Vermont.
