From Molly Pitcher to Bouboulina: The Paradox of Heroinism in the Age of Revolutions," a discussion and book presentation by Dr. Maureen Connors Santelli. Exploration of the American philhellenic movement and its influence on early U.S. ideas of freedom through Santelli’s book Greek Fire: American-Ottoman Relations and Democratic Fervor in the Age of Revolutions.

Maureen Santelli is a historian of the early American republic, specializing in nineteenth-century diplomacy, reform, and the United States in the World. She attended the University of Montana in Missoula, where she earned undergraduate degrees in History and Classics. Santelli’s combined interests in ancient Greece, Rome, and early American history inspired her research as a graduate student at George Mason University, where she completed her Master’s and PhD. Santelli has completed fellowships at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and the Library Company of Philadelphia. She also has worked with the National Park Service as an interpreter and historian. Currently, she is a full professor at Northern Virginia Community College where she teaches United States, western civilization and world history courses. She has published an article with Early American Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, “Depart from that Retired Circle:” Women’s Support of the Greek War for Independence and Antebellum Reform. Her book, The Greek Fire: American-Ottoman Relations and Democratic Fervor in the Age of Revolutions, examines the rise of philhellenism in the United States and how the movement influenced both foreign and domestic policies during the early American republic. She has also contributed a chapter in Bouboulina and the Greek Revolution: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Heroine of 1821 (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023) entitled “Bouboulina’s Legacy in Nineteenth-Century America.”

Books will be available for purchase at this event. All sale proceeds benefit the Hellenic Museum of Michigan.