"Mobs or the Martial Ideal" with Kathryn P. Viens, PhD.

Host Professor Robert Allison welcomes Dr. Kathryn P. Viens, public historian and scholar, to explore how local histories have shaped Americans’ understanding of patriotism and the Revolution from the nineteenth century to today. Drawing from her essay “Mobs or the Martial Ideal? The Mutable Definition of Patriotism in Local Historical Narratives,” published in the online journal Remembering the American Revolution at 250, Viens discusses how community-based histories—often written by nineteenth-century antiquarians—both preserved and reframed the Revolution’s memory.

Together, Allison and Viens delve into the evolution of civic identity, how shifting cultural values influenced interpretations of the Revolution, and why local stories remain essential to the broader national narrative. This episode invites listeners to reconsider how patriotism has been defined, remembered, and reinterpreted in the generations since America’s founding.

https://journals.h-net.org/.../2025_Viens_mobs_martial_ideal