Richmond: Virginia museum to host author Patrick Spero for lecture in December

Author Patrick Spero will present a lecture, book signing and reception at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture in Richmond on Dec. 5 at 5:30 p.m.

Tickets are required.

In his latest book, The Scientist Turned Spy: André Michaux, Thomas Jefferson, and the Conspiracy of 1793, Spero explores one of the most accomplished explorers of North America before Lewis and Clark.

His work took him from the Bahamas to Hudson Bay, and it is likely that no contemporary of his had seen as much of the continent. But there is more to his story.

During his decade-long American sojourn, Michaux found himself thrust into the middle of a vast international conspiracy.

In 1793, the revolutionary French government conscripted him into its service as a secret agent and tasked him with organizing American frontiersmen to attack Spanish-controlled New Orleans, seize control of Louisiana and establish an independent republic in the American West.

An unexpected figure emerges at the center of the plot: Thomas Jefferson.

Spero sheds new light on an incipient American political climate that fostered reckless diplomatic ventures under the guise of scientific exploration, revealing the air of uncertainty and opportunity that pervaded the early republic.

Spero is the librarian and director of the American Philosophical Society Library and the incoming CEO of the institution.

He is a scholar of early American history and the author of four books, including:

• Frontier Country: The Politics of War in Early Pennsylvania (2016)
• Frontier Rebels: The Fight for Independence in the American West, 1765–1776 (2018)
• The Other Presidency: Thomas Jefferson and the American Philosophical Society (2024)
• The Scientist Turned Spy: André Michaux, Thomas Jefferson, and the Conspiracy of 1793 (2024)

Tickets are on sale now starting at $28 per person.

A light reception and book signing will follow the lecture. Signed copies of the book will also be available for purchase at the museum store.

The program is part of the VMHC’s Commemoration of the 250th Anniversary of the United States and presented in partnership with the American Philosophical Society.

VMHC is located at 428 N. Arthur Ashe Blvd. in Richmond.