1956: The World in Revolt
Simon Hall

• Thursday 16 June 2016, 6.00PM to 6:50pm
• Free admission
  Booking required
• K/133, King's Manor, Exhibition Square (map)
• No wheelchair access

Event details

Simon Hall, author of 1956: The World in Revolt, introduces his history of one of the most dramatic years of the 20th century.

Popular uprisings in Poland and Hungary shake Moscow's hold on its eastern European empire. Across the American South and in the Union of South Africa, black people risk their livelihoods and their lives in the struggle to dismantle institutionalised white supremacy and secure first-class citizenship. France and Britain, already battling anti-colonial insurgencies in Algeria and Cyprus, now face the humiliation of Suez. Meanwhile, in Cuba, Fidel Castro and his band of rebels take to the Sierra Maestra to plot the overthrow of a dictator...

In 1956, all across the globe ordinary people spoke out, filled the streets and city squares, and took up arms in an attempt to win their freedom. In response to these unprecedented challenges to their authority, those in power fought back in a desperate bid to shore up their position. It was an epic contest and one which made 1956 - like 1789 and 1848 - a year that changed our world.

About the speaker

Dr Simon Hall studied history at Sheffield and Cambridge, and held a Fox International Fellowship at Yale, before moving to the University of Leeds in 2003 to teach American history. His previous books include Peace and Freedom: The Civil Rights and Antiwar Movements in the 1960s and American Patriotism, American Protest: Social Movements Since the Sixties.

Waterstones

The book will be available to buy from the Waterstones' stall at this event.

Tickets