BOOK TALK AND PODCAST DISCUSSION TOPICS
1848. Margaret Fuller left a promising career as Ralph Waldo Emerson’s co-Editor of the Dial Literary Magazine to become the world’s first woman foreign war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune, covering the Revolution of 1848. In Rome, impassioned love and the ultimate test transformed her life.
An amazing set of famous historical characters revolve around Margaret Fuller:
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, co-editor with her of the Dial Literary Magazine.
- Giuseppe Garibaldi Head of the Guerilla Redshirt freedom fighters, whose powerfully written memoirs inform this story.
- Henry Mazzini, Founder of the Young Italy Movement, whom Margaret warned about President Louis Napoleon that he aspired to be Emperor Napoleon III and would betray the Revolution.
· Cristina Trivulzio Belgiojoso, known as Italy’s Joan of Arc, who became Margaret’s close friend.
- Pope Pius IX, the longest-serving Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, later made a Saint, who was forced to escape Rome during the Revolution of 1848.
- Giovanni Ossoli, who had renounced his nobility title to fight for the Revolution; he became Margaret’s lover and father of their child and convinced Margaret to use her writing skill to secure a petition from Americans, including then President of the United States, to the Pope.
Questions:
1. What do you see as the urgent message of 1848 for today?
2. What was your biggest surprise in writing the book 1848?
3. 1848 describes how the Revolution was lost in 1848; the story ends with the escape of Margaret and Giovanni on a boat back to the United States, but a storm destroyed the ship and they drowned just off the coast of Fire Island. How was writing this story uplifting for you?
4. How do you, and your invited chapter authors, believe that 1848 can empower change-makers committed to address civil liberties and social justice?
1848 invited chapter authors:
History offers another window on challenges we face today:
I first wrote 1848 as a screenplay to tell Margaret Fuller’s inspiring story. While studying with Buckminster Fuller at Harvard, I learned then about his great aunt Margaret and began research for this screenplay.
Questions:
1. How does 1848 enable us to look at the present through another lens?
2. How do you see story-telling as a powerful lens to shed light on problems that would be polarizing if debated?
3. How is story-telling like designing a puzzle to highlight problems that we do not want to face today?
4. How would you, and your invited chapter authors, ideally like for these podcasts, book talks and discussions to spark next steps that have impact?
More on Zann Gill. For reviewer copies of the book, see press release and contact Alex Young-Davis.