The 2025-2026 book for Salisbury READS is Revolution Song: A Story of American Independence by Russell Shorto.

The READ launches on Saturday, October 10^th, with a double book giveaway! We will give away of 75 copies of Revolution Song, courtesy of the library and the Salisbury Association. We'll also give away 20 coupons for free copies of our children's READ, Mumbet's Declaration of Independence. All starting at 10 AM, on the library lawn, and continuing as long as copies & coupons last!  We will also have a YA read available for tweens, teens, and lovers of YA literature.

We hope you’ll read Revolution Song and join us in discussion, inquiry, events, and activities related to this narrative history of America’s founding and the War of Independence. We'll also explore the Revolution’s local roots and its resonance today through a variety of programs.

This year’s READ is presented in partnership with the Salisbury Association, the Salisbury Forum, and the Troutbeck Symposium.

All programs at the Scoville Library SML are free to the public, thanks to the Friends of the Scoville Library.

Events will take place October 2025 through March 2026.

The READ culminates on March 27^th with a special event: Author Russell Shorto in Conversation with Rhonan Mokriski, Salisbury School History Teacher and co-founder of the Troutbeck Symposium.

Upcoming Events  

Details and registration information are published a month ahead of an event, and new events will be added. Please check back here, visit the SML calendar, or join SML's mailing list for updates.

October 10, Salisbury READS launch and giveaway of 75 free copies of Revolution Song, courtesy of SML and the Salisbury Association. We'll also give away 20 coupons for free copies of our Children & Families READ, Mumbet's Declaration of Independence. Visit our table on the library lawn starting at 10 AM.  (All ages event)

October 25, Stitch the Salisbury Canons with Beverly Army Williams & America’s Tapestry (All ages event)

November 1, Taste of the Revolution: CORN! Cooking & Baking Contest (All ages event)

November 22, Taste of the Revolution: Fermentation & Independence (All ages event)

(Date TBA), Battles of Revolution: The Northern Campaign with Tom Key (ages 18+)

December 30, The Scoville Library’s annual Hidden Treasures library tour will highlight SML’s Revolution-era roots. (All ages event)

January 11, Quinnetukut: Our Homeland, Our History with Darlene Kascak of the Institute for American Indian Studies (All ages event)

January 25 Revolution Song, Book Discussion with Peter Vermilyea (ages 18+)

February 22, Revolution Song, Book Discussion with Peter Vermilyea (ages 18+)

March 15, Revolution Song, Book Discussions with Peter Vermilyea (ages 18+)

March 27, Author Russell Shorto in Conversation with Rhonan Mokriski, Salisbury School History Teacher and co-founder of the Troutbeck Symposium (presented in partnership with the Salisbury Forum, Troutbeck Symposium, and Salisbury Association)

What is Salisbury READS? 

Initiated in 2024, the Salisbury READS is an annual celebration of reading, conversation, and community. The READ encourages the entire community to read a selected book together and engage in discussions, activities, and other informative and interactive events.

More about Mumbet's Declaration of Independence

Salisbury READS includes children and families! We're reading Mumbet's Declaration of Independence, a fascinating picture book biography of Elizabeth Freeman, who, in 1781, in Great Barrington, became the first enslaved African American woman to win her freedom in a Massachusetts court.

More about Revolution Song

Revolution Song has been praised as ​“first-rate intellectual history” (Wall Street Journal), ​“literary alchemy” (Chicago Tribune) and simply ​“astonishing” (New York Times). Shorto takes us back to the founding of the American nation, drawing on diaries, letters, and autobiographies to flesh out six lives that cast the era in a fresh new light. Through these lives we understand that the revolution was fought over the meaning of individual freedom, a philosophical idea that became a force for conflict and change.

The six central historical figures include an African man who freed himself and his family from slavery, a rebellious young woman who abandoned her abusive husband to chart her own course, a Seneca leader who advocated for neutrality but ended up leading his warriors to fight with the British, a self-educated shoemaker and lawyer who becomes an Albany politician and anti-Federalist, and a certain Mr. Washington, a man admired for his social graces but harshly criticized for his often-disastrous military strategy.

A powerful narrative and a brilliant defense of America’s founding principles, Revolution Song makes the compelling case that the American Revolution is still being fought today and that its ideals are worth defending.

Russell Shorto is the director of the New Amsterdam Project at The New York Historical and senior scholar at the New Netherland Institute. He is the author of eight books of narrative and believes that history is most meaningful when explored through individuals in conflict. His books have been published in fourteen languages and have won numerous awards. In 2009 he was given a knighthood by the Dutch government for advancing Dutch-American historical awareness. In 2018 he was inducted into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame.

To hear Russell Shorto introduce Revolution Song, click this link and scroll down to the video.