Christopher R. Pearl

Chris Pearl is an historian of early America, specializing in the American Revolution. He earned his PhD from Binghamton University and is currently Associate Professor and Chair of History at Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Pearl's research on the American Revolution and the Founding has been widely recognized, including his new book, Declarations of Independence, which won the Walker Cowen Memorial Prize for an outstanding work of scholarship in eighteenth-century studies, as well as his article “Becoming Patriots,” which received the Pennsylvania Historical Association’s Philip S. Klein award.

Pearl has authored three significant books: Conceived in Crisis: The Revolutionary Creation of an American State (University of Virginia Press, 2020), From Independence to the U.S. Constitution: Reconsidering the Critical Period of American History, co-authored with Douglas Bradburn (University of Virginia Press, 2022), and Declarations of Independence: Indigenous Resilience, Colonial Rivalries, and the Cost of Revolution (University of Virginia Press, 2024).

His work has been showcased at such venues as the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon, the U.S. National Archives Museum, the American Historical Association’s National History Day at Philadelphia’s Carpenters’ Hall, the American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati, and Philadelphia’s Building Knowledge and Breaking Barriers. Pearl has also appeared on popular podcasts like the HISTORY® Channel’s “History This Week” and the "Revolution 250" podcast. His research has also been graciously supported by institutions including the American Philosophical Society, the David Library (and Center) of the American Revolution, the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies, and the University of Michigan’s William L. Clements Library.