Brooke Barbier
HISTORIAN
BIO
Brooke Barbier is a public historian who received her PhD in American history from Boston College, researching Boston’s social and cultural life during and after the American Revolution. While earning her graduate degree, she taught history at Boston College and Stonehill College.
Two of Brooke's favorite things are history and beer, so in 2013 she founded Ye Olde Tavern Tours, which offers tours of Boston’s historic sites and taverns (beer is included!). She is the author of King Hancock: The Radical Influence of a Moderate Founding Father and Boston in the American Revolution: A Town Versus an Empire and has been interviewed by the New York Times, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and Boston.com. She is originally from San Diego, CA and has lived in Boston for many years.
BOOKS BY BROOKE
King Hancock: The Radical Influence of a Moderate Founding Father
2024 NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION JAMES P. HANLAN BOOK AWARD
2024 NEW ENGLAND SOCIETY NONFICTION BOOK AWARD
"engaging" and "highly readable"-Wall Street Journal
Learn Revolutionary History with Brooke
YE OLDE TAVERN TOURS
In 2013, Brooke founded Ye Olde Tavern Tours, which leads guests on walking tours discussing the revolutionary and drunken history of Boston--beer is included!
HISTORY IN A MINUTE VIDEOS
One-minute videos that highlight the quirky, significant, and lesser-known people, buildings, and events from Boston's past.
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Brooke is entertaining, dramatic (in the best way) and does everything she can to make you feel what it was like to be in Boston in the mid 1700’s.
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She is so passionate about what she does that even someone with no interest in American Revolutionary history at the beginning of their visit will feel enthralled with it at the end.
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Brooke is really knowledgeable, energetic, and fun! We learned a ton about the history of places that we walk by almost every day!
Katherine H.,
Amherst, Canada
Chris L.,
Minneapolis, MN
Mike C.,
Tampa, FL
Public Events and Lectures
"Revealing the Most Unexpected Facts about John Hancock and the Declaration of Independence," Thomas Crane Public Library, Quincy, MA: Thursday, January 16, 6pm. More info here.
King Hancock Book Talk, Friends of Boca Grande, Boca Grande, FL: Wednesday, January 22, 2025. Tickets available here.
"How to Radicalize a Moderate: John Hancock and the Outbreak of the Revolutionary War," Hingham Historical Society, Hingham, MA: Sunday, March 9, 2025. More info here.
"Inside the Vault," Gilder Lehrman Institute (Virtual): Thursday, April 3, 2025. More info to come.
CONTACT
or email directly: brooke.barbier [at] gmail.com
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