tonight's speaker is william m. fowler jr., distinguished professor of history at northeastern university and the long time president of the new england quarterly. he's the author of a number of highly-regarded books, contributions to scholarly publications, and articles in the popular media. many of which concentrate on aspects of the american revolution, its military and political history, and the people of that era, both the famous and the obscure. the list of publications in professor fowler's cv is long so i can't list them all, but here are two popular books that everyday readers might well remember. "samuel adams" and "the baron of beacon hill." the last time he was at the library was in 2005. at the time he was the director of the massachusetts historical society and he joined gordon wood and me in a fascinating and fun discussion celebrating the 225th anniversary of the massachusetts constitution of 1780. the story line of bill's newest book starts just a year later in 1781. there's an interesting bridge between t