# Event Details

- **Event Name**: Kim Phillips-Fein presents “COUNTRY OF LORDS” IN CONVERSATION W/LESTER SPENCE
- **Event Start and End Date**: Sat, 19 Sep, 2026 at 12:00 pm – Sat, 19 Sep, 2026 at 01:00 pm (-04:00)
- **Event Description**: 32nd Street Stage
Presented by Red Emma's

A Pulitzer-finalist historian charts a 250-year-old intellectual and political tradition—the conviction that all Americans are NOT created equal.

The story of American history is often told as a hard-won march toward the promise of equality, derived from Thomas Jefferson’s famous proclamation that “all men are created equal.”

But this inspiring story obscures a parallel tradition: an enduring and organized argument against equality itself. Again and again, influential Americans have asserted a fundamental inequality among human beings, arguing that the social, economic, and racial hierarchies in which some groups of people rule over others are not only natural but good.

In Country of Lords acclaimed historian Kim Phillips-Fein traces this argument for inequality through six vivid archetypes. She discusses the natural aristocrats, such as John Adams, who feared the tumult of too much democracy; the social Darwinists, led by Yale professor William Graham Sumner, who blamed the poor for their own miseries; those who preached a gospel of production, including Henry Ford, who wanted an industrial hierarchy in which the “best” people ruled over compliant inferiors; utilitarian racists who advocated for eugenics and a racial hierarchy; meritocrats like Harvard psychologist Richard Hernstein who described an economic caste system based on “intelligence” in his co-authored book, The Bell Curve; and most recently, technocrats who seem to see themselves as superior because they are closest to the machines destined to outstrip and supplant fallible flesh-and-blood humanity.

The anti-egalitarian lineage Phillips-Fein traces is both clear and deeply unsettling. It challenges readers to think about the fragility of the ideal of equality and to reckon with the disturbing arguments of those who have campaigned against it over the past two and a half centuries. Country of Lords is essential reading for anyone trying to make sense of the widening gap between the nation we claim to be and the nation we are becoming.

Kim Phillips-Fein is Robert Gardiner-Kenneth T. Jackson Professor of History at Columbia University. She is the author of Fear City, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and Invisible Hands. She lives in New York City.

Lester Spence is a Professor of Political Science and Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He specializes in the study of black, racial, and urban politics in the wake of the neoliberal turn, and is the author of Knocking the Hustle: Against the Neoliberal Turn in Black Politics.
- **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/baltimore/kim-phillips-fein-presents-country-of-lords-in-conversation-w-lester-spence/200030667895847
- **Event Categories**: Art, literary-art, science-fair
- **Interested Audience**: 
  - total_interested_count: 0

## Ticket Details


## Event venue details

- **city**: Baltimore
- **state**: MD
- **country**: United States
- **location**: 3128 Greenmount Avenue, Baltimore, MD, United States, Maryland 21218
- **lat**: 39.327
- **long**: -76.60985
- **full address**: 3128 Greenmount Avenue, Baltimore, MD, United States, Maryland 21218

## Event gallery

- **Alt text**: Kim Phillips-Fein presents “COUNTRY OF LORDS” IN CONVERSATION W/LESTER SPENCE
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events2/banners/59deccf1f5593592f1bfaab62831e590eba9c22d7bcd0921b45da5752f4b6e13-rimg-w1200-h630-dc080808-gmir?v=1788743147

## FAQs

- **Q**: When and where is Kim Phillips-Fein presents  COUNTRY OF LORDS  IN CONVERSATION W/LESTER SPENCE being held?
  - **A:** Kim Phillips-Fein presents  COUNTRY OF LORDS  IN CONVERSATION W/LESTER SPENCE takes place on Sat, 19 Sep, 2026 at 12:00 pm to Sat, 19 Sep, 2026 at 01:00 pm at 3128 Greenmount Avenue, Baltimore, MD, United States, Maryland 21218.
- **Q**: Who is organizing Kim Phillips-Fein presents  COUNTRY OF LORDS  IN CONVERSATION W/LESTER SPENCE?
  - **A:** Kim Phillips-Fein presents  COUNTRY OF LORDS  IN CONVERSATION W/LESTER SPENCE is organized by Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse.
- **Q**: What has been the experience of attendees at Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse's events?
  - **A:** Attendees have given Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse a rating of 5/5 based on reviews from early attendees on AllEvents. Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse has a verified profile on AllEvents where you can read reviews and explore their upcoming events.

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