Shira Lurie

Assistant Professor

B.A. Honours (The University of Western Ontario)
M.A. (The University of Western Ontario)
Ph.D. (The University of Virginia)

McNally North 218
Phone: 902 420 5169
Email: shira.lurie@smu.ca

Twitter: @ShiraLurie
Website: www.shiralurie.com

Shira Lurie is a political historian of the early United States with particular interests in popular politics, protest, and political violence. Her book, The American Liberty Pole: Popular Politics and the Struggle for Democracy in the Early Republic, was published by UVA Press in 2023. She also thinks, teaches, and writes about historical memory in public space and popular culture.

Her writing has been published in the Journal of the Early Republic, The Washington Post, The Toronto Star, and Inside Higher Ed and she has appeared as a guest on Canadian radio and television. Prior to coming to Saint Mary’s, she was the University College Fellow in Early American History at the University of Toronto.

You can purchase a copy of The American Liberty Pole at this link. 

Selected Publications:
 
“Who Tells Which Story? Teaching Hamilton, History, and Memory,” in The Hamilton Phenomenon, ed. Chloe Northrop (Wilmington: Vernon Press), Forthcoming 

“Liberty Poles and the Contested Right of Protest in America’s Founding Era,” in Protest in the Long Eighteenth Century, eds. Yvonne Fuentes and Mark Malin (New York: Routledge, 2021) 

“The problem with Joe Biden’s quixotic quest for American unity,” The Toronto Star, January 25, 2021 

“Republicans have been sowing the seeds of yesterday’s coup attempt for decades,” The Toronto Star, January 7, 2021 

“‘Illegality’ of monument destruction is entirely the point,” The Toronto Star, September 8, 2020 

“It’s Republicans, not Democrats, threatening our constitutional order,” The Washington Post, January 7, 2020 

“The Constitution isn’t the cure for President Trump. It’s the cause,” The Washington Post, October 24, 2019 

“Why the Democrats are wrong about Trump’s politicization of the Fourth of July,” The Washington Post, July 3, 2019 

“Liberty Poles and the Fight for Popular Politics in the Early Republic,” Journal of the Early Republic, vol. 38, no. 4 (Winter 2018): 673-697

Selected Fellowships:
 
Research Fellow, Power, Violence, and Inequality Collective, 2018-2019 

Doctoral Fellowship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, 2014-2018 

American Philosophical Society – Jack Miller Center Fellowship, 2018

Lapidus Early American and Transatlantic Print Culture Predoctoral Fellowship, Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, 2017

Dilworth Fellowship, Historical Society of Pennsylvania and Library Company of Philadelphia, 2017

Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Master’s Fellowship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, 2012-2013