October 14, 2026
Award-winning historian, author, and journalist Fergus M. Bordewich will serve as the keynote speaker for Hampden-Sydney’s Founders Day event on November 10. Bordewich last spoke at Hampden-Sydney at the inauguration of President Larry Stimpert in 2017.
Bordewich’s work explores the people, political struggles, and pivotal moments that have shaped the American republic. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books, most recently Centennial: The Great Fair of 1876 and the Invention of America’s Future, published in 2026. His other works include Klan War, Congress at War, The First Congress—winner of the 2019 D.B. Hardeman Prize—and America’s Great Debate— winner of the 2012 Los Angeles Times History Prize.
An independent historian and writer since the early 1970s, Bordewich has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Atlantic, Smithsonian, Harper’s, and other publications. His work as a journalist took him to Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, as he reported on politics, culture, economic issues, and history.
Bordewich holds degrees from the City College of New York and Columbia University. He is a frequent speaker at universities and public forums and a regular book reviewer on American history. He lives in Washington, D.C., and Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife, Jean Parvin Bordewich, president of Guilford College.