Avsnitt
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A gem rescued from the archives! We are re-releasing the Toni Morrison episode after cleaning up the audio.
Toni Morrison writes about history, slavery, racism, resilience and survival with an unflinching voice. Her novels, once a staple of every American school bookshelf, are now the targets of politically motivated reviews and book bannings.
Despite this, there is no getting around the fact that she was one of America’s greatest writers. Before her death in 2019, her oeuvre stretched out over almost four decades. Her debut novel, The Bluest Eye, in 1970, already showed her ear for dialogue, and richly expressive depictions of African American struggles. In 2009, she came to Amsterdam on the strength of her book, A Mercy, which made the New York Times Book Review Top Ten of 2008.
She read a passage for us from “A Mercy”. Although physically frail, her mind was sharp during her conversation with the Dutch novelist, playwright and translator, Bas Heine (May 20th, 2009 at the Aula of the UvA in Amsterdam).
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Ivo Daalder is a Dutch born American citizen, who became the U.S. representative to NATO from 2009 to 2013 under President Barack Obama and was a foreign policy advisor for his 2008 presidential campaign. He also served in the United States Security Council during the Clinton administration. He’s now the CEO of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
The John Adams Institute and the Netherlands Atlantic Association welcomed Ivo Daalder back to the land of his birth in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the North American Treaty Organization, or NATO.
The world has changed immensely since the end of the cold war it was created to fight. There’s war on its Eastern front and a potential conflict with China. And Donald Trump, ever suspicious of NATO, is president again. Indeed, governments all over the western world have made a significant populist rightward shift. In this conversation moderated by Dutch journalist Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal, Mr. Daalder says the stakes for NATO have never been higher, and that maybe even liberal democracy itself hangs in the balance.
Recorded on September 16, 2024 at the Dominicuskerk in Amsterdam. Click here for the video, or visit our digital library and scroll through our rich archive.Support the show
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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Super Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020. Professor of law, a constitutional scholar, commentator and author Kim Wehle joined the John Adams to lay out exactly what was at stake in the election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The constitutional issues were, and still are, enormous.
In her book How to Read the Constitution – and Why Kim Wehle describes in clear language what is actually in the Constitution, and most importantly, what it means today. She also describes how the Constitution’s protections are eroding and why every American needs to heed this “red flag” moment in our democracy back in 2020 and right now. The book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the constantly breaking news about the backbone of American government.
This conversation took place at the Aula in Amsterdam and was moderated by the Dutch journalist and John Adams regular Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal.
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It’s April 14th, 1865. The actor John Wilkes Booth pulls a gun and assassinates President Lincoln who is sitting in a balcony of the Ford Theatre in Washington DC. Booth becomes one of the most infamous men in American history. But what about his family? Who were they? What did they believe? Did they have any role in the killing?
These are questions author and Man Booker finalist Karen Joy Fowler discusses in her epic book, Booth.
Booth is a sweeping American saga that charts the rising fame of the Booth family from humble beginnings to their fame as the nation’s most famous family of actors. And, of course, it looks at their fates after the event that made them the nation’s most infamous family of actors.
This conversation was recorded on 15 Sept, 2022 at the OBA Public Library in Amsterdam and was presented by the University of Amsterdam Professor, Katy Hull.
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History is entering a new phase, where old forms and ideas clash with present realities. The John Adams Institute was excited to welcome Francis Fukuyama back to Amsterdam to discuss his findings in his book, Liberalism and Its Discontents.
In this rigorous and trim volume, Fukuyama returns to liberalism, arguing that it cannot grow complacent. Liberalism—despite its flaws—appears to be the only system adaptable enough to accommodate the myriad challenges the future holds.
Today, caught up in the maelstrom of political ideologies and cultural realities, where can people take ideological and organizational refuge? How can we not only survive, but thrive together in a world whose present is dominated by immense challenges and an uncertain future? Fukuyama’s return to one of his most iconic topics is not only timely and insightful, but also cements his reputation as one of today’s most engaging thinkers.
This conversation was recorded on 3 October, 2022 at the Aula (Uva) in Amsterdam.
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Bret Easton Ellis took 13 years to write The Shards. It’s a horror novel. Or maybe it’s an autobiography. In fact, it’s both. The Shards is a fictionalized retelling of Mr. Ellis’s 18th year.
It tells the story of a group of superficially sophisticated teens have their lives shattered by a series of terrible events. It’s 1981 Los Angeles and a local serial killer known only as The Trawler draws ever closer to Bret and his friends. He taunts them with grotesque threats and acts of violence. As Bret’s obsession with the killer grows, he spirals into paranoia and isolation.
This mesmerizing novel is a vivid and nostalgic fusion of fact and fiction at the edge of what’s real and fantasy. Bret Easton Ellis is probably best known for his now-iconic book American Psycho (1991) and the highly memeable film that followed.
Bret Easton Ellis was interviewed for the John Adams Institute by Dutch writer and critic Joost de Vries at Boom Chicago in January of 2023.
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In the third and final episode of the election specials of our podcast Bright Minds, America expert and podcaster Laila Frank talks to law professor, constitutional scholar, commentator and author Kim Wehle. She is an expert on constitutional law and the separation of powers, with particular emphasis on presidential power and administrative agencies. Her latest book Pardon Power - How the Pardon System works – and Why, just dropped. In the run-up to the 2020 U.S. presidential election, she joined the John Adams to talk about her book How to Read the Constitution – and Why. What are her hopes, fears and expectations for this election cycle?
KimberlyWhele.com her personal website
Laila Frank
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The current episodes of our podcast Bright Minds are all about the U.S. presidential elections. America journalist Laila Frank, specialized in politics and change in the U.S., will bring you conversations with remarkable American political thinkers about their hopes, fears and expectations for this election cycle.
In the second episode of our election specials, Laila Frank talks to author, journalist and political insider Mark Leibovich. What are his hopes, fears and expectations for this election cycle?
Mark is a staff writer for the Atlantic and the author of five books, including three New York Times best sellers, and two No. 1 Times best sellers, This Town (2013) and Thank You for Your Servitude. He is the recipient of a National Magazine Award for profile writing. His latest piece in the Atlantic is a true gem of anecdotal yet brutal political analysis of the Republican Party.
Mark Leibovich's Film Pick:
All The President's Men
Episode Links:Video of Mark Leibovich the John Adams Institute
Mark Leibovich’s page at The AtlanticLaila Frank
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The next three episodes of Bright Minds are all about the U.S. presidential elections. America journalist Laila Frank, specialized in politics and change in the U.S., will bring you conversations with remarkable American political thinkers about their hopes, fears and expectations for this election cycle.
First up is professor of African-American studies and author Carol Anderson. She is a renowned speaker and has written several books on race, systemic inequality and power structures. All are extremely relevant for the upcoming elections.
Carol Anderson’s Book Picks:
Tyranny of the Minority by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
Minority Rule by Ari BermanIn 2022, Carol Anderson took to the John Adams stage to talk about voting rights and the 2nd Amendment. Click here to watch the video.
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This fourth episode of the Future 400 podcast is all about theater and dance. Battery Dance, New York City's longest running public dance festival, is hosting the Dutch-Turkish choreographer Rutkay Özpinar from Korzo Theater as part of the Future 400 exchange. And the Dutch theater director Ira Kip is working on her new play, Kings… Come Home, a reflection the impact of being uprooted, which will go to the National Black Theater and the Apollo Theater in New York. Both Kip and Özpinar are searching for a global conversation that brings disparate cultures and histories together on the stage. “The reason why we dance is not just the music,” says Rutkay. “In every culture you can find dance, from a prayer to a celebration.”
This is the final episode of the Future 400 podcast series from the Dutch Consulate in New York, created and presented by John Adams Institute director Tracy Metz. It marks the 400th anniversary of the founding of New Amsterdam, the city that became New York. Each episode highlights a selection of the creative collaborations between artists, communities and institutions in both the Netherlands and the United States. For the full Future 400 cultural exchange program see www.dutchcultureusa.com.
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Design your look, design your life. Rambler Studios is a creative platform for raw talent. It offers young people a safe space where they can discover what they’re good at and find a sense of belonging – and maybe a career in street fashion. Started by Carmen van der Vecht in Amsterdam in 2010, it has branched out to New York’s Lower East Side. It operates there under the wings of the Henry Street Settlement, a philanthropic institution dating back to the late 1800’s. In the same basement in a social housing project where he himself learned to sew, fashion coach Andres Biel helps kids create and market their own ideas – “with some help from TikTok!”. On both sides of the Atlantic, the young people in the program say: “The most important thing I’m getting here are life skills.”
This is the third episode of the four-part bi-weekly Future 400 podcast series from the Dutch Consulate in New York, created and presented by John Adams Institute director Tracy Metz. It marks the 400th anniversary of the founding of New Amsterdam, the city that became New York. Each episode highlights a selection of the creative collaborations between artists, communities and institutions in both the Netherlands and the United States. For the full Future 400 cultural exchange program see www.dutchcultureusa.com.
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This second episode of the Future 400 podcast looks at work by Dutch and American photographers who are part of the annual international photo festival Photoville in Lower Manhattan. Dutch photographer Ernst Coppejans delves deep into the lives of LGBTQIA+ people living on the streets in New York. Kennedi Carter, a young Black photographer from the South, dresses people of color in a combination of garb from colonial times and contemporary streetwear. Photoville’s founder Sam Barzilay says: “Even though they are an Atlantic apart, there is a shared sensibility here.”
Future 400 is a bi-weekly four-part podcast series from the Dutch Consulate in New York, created and presented by John Adams Institute director Tracy Metz. It marks the 400th anniversary of the founding of New Amsterdam, the city that became New York. Each episode highlights a selection of the creative collaborations between artists, communities and institutions in both the Netherlands and the United States. Learn more about the whole two-year Future 400 program at dutchcultureusa.com.
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Future 400 is a bi-weekly four-part podcast series from the Dutch Consulate in New York. It is part of the two-year cultural program of the same name, marking the 400th anniversary of the founding of New Amsterdam, the city that became New York. Each episode highlights a selection of the creative collaborations between artists, communities and institutions in both the Netherlands and the United States.
Want to learn more about Future 400? The Dutch Consulate in New York City made a site for that! Just go to dutchcultureusa.com
Presenter: Tracy Metz, producers: Tracy Metz and Jonathan Groubert
Episode 1: New York Before New YorkWhen the Dutch colonists set foot on the island of Manhattan, four hundred years ago, there were already people living there: the Lenape. Historian Russell Shorto curated an exhibition for the New York Historical Society to tell the other stories about the town of New Amsterdam - and invited the Lenape to react with a powerful letter to an Unknown Ancestor, read by Brent Stonefish. And Pauline Toole, New York’s Commissioner of Records, tells us about the wonderful stories of real live people of many faiths and nationalities living in New Amsterdam that can be found in the 17th century archives.
John Adams Institute
A video animation of the 1660 Castello Plan was made which you can rent online here:
Castello PlanSupport the show
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Andrea Elliot’s 2022 Pulitzer winning book, Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City, follows eight dramatic years in the life of a young woman named Dasani Coates, a child with an imagination as soaring as the skyscrapers near her Brooklyn homeless shelter. Born at the turn of a new century, Dasani is named for the bottled water that comes to symbolize Brooklyn’s gentrification and the shared aspirations of a divided city. As she grows up, moving with her tight-knit family from shelter to shelter, this story goes back to trace the passage of Dasani’s ancestors from slavery to the Great Migration north. By the time she comes of age, New York City’s homeless crisis is exploding as the chasm deepens between rich and poor.
Dasani’s family have become emblematic of one of America’s most wicked problems: homelessness. Andrea Elliott's Pulitzer Prize winning story is a powerful expose on just how the disparity between those with wealth, and power, and those without, is rapidly growing.Support the show
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2024 is an election year. And in his book Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal', George Packer makes the case for why this may be the most important election since the civil war.
Packer accepts that America may be “a failed state”. A state that is in a “cold civil war” between four incompatible versions of the US: the Free America of libertarian Reagan, the Smart America of Clinton-era technocrats, the quote Real America quote of the bottom-feeding demagogue Donald Trump, and the Just America of #MeToo and BLM. Packer says this cold civil war has made Americans profoundly unreal to one another: they lack a shared reality, have burrowed into partisan encampments or sealed themselves in digital echo chambers of angry prejudice. But as Mr. Packer told our Amsterdam audience back in April of 2022, it isn’t all bad news. After all, America has had many such crises and has recovered from them all. And he offers a solution. The creation of a fifth version of the US: the “Equal America” – which involves extending the New Deal to Americans in more areas of their lives, from affordable and universal health care to a living minimum wage and beyond.
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Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones’s 1619 project has inspired both throngs of like-minded people as well as a severe backlash. This hasn’t stopped her from devoting her career to exposing systemic and institutional racism in the United States. The 1619 Project WAS published in New York Times Magazine—and is now a successful podcast and television series.
So, why 1619? That was the year an English ship carrying enslaved Africans and flying the Dutch flag appeared on the horizon of Point Comfort, Virginia. It ushered in the beginning of slavery in what would become the continental U.S., bringing unprecedented anguish and hardship to the generations that followed. No aspect of American society is untouched by the centuries of slavery that ensued. From the contemporary economy to American popular music, 1619 implores us to radically rethink America as we know it.
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2024 is an election year and Donald Trump is running again. This makes journalist and political commentator Mark Leibovich’s second nonfiction blockbuster Thank You for Your Servitude: Donald Trump’s Washington and the Price of Submission, particularly timely. Mr. Leibovich sketches the political landscape of Washington during the Trump presidency. We all know how Mr. Trump bent the Republican party to his will. But instead of focusing on the former President, Leibovich centers his narrative on the people and mechanisms that enabled his meteoric rise to power.
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Website - https://www.john-adams.nl/
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From Hollywood to Hanoi, Jane Fonda has endeared and enraged Americans for decades with her sparkling performances and outspoken views. Following an eclectic career as an actress, activist and fitness guru plus a string of high-profile husbands, the acclaimed Fonda tells all in her autobiography My Life So Far.
In this episode of Bright Minds, Jane Fonda reveals intimate details and universal truths that she hopes ‘can provide a lens through which others can see their lives and how they can live them a little differently.’Support the show
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From Hemingway to Dickens, from Nabokov to Twain, from Isak Dinesen to Graham Greene, many of the world’s great writers were also great travel writers. Paul Theroux, arguably the most renowned living travel writer, has capped a fifty-year writing career with The Tao of Travel, a collection of travel stories – by himself and others. Join us for a trip around the world with the man who gave us The Great Railway Bazaar, The Old Patagonian Express, To the Ends of the Earth, and other classics of the genre.
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President Bill Clinton’s former Secretary of Labor argues in his important book that in the last thirty years capitalism has flourished at the expense of democracy. Robert Reich – one of America’s most renowned economists – says people now see themselves as buyers and sellers first and citizens only later, if at all. The rise of supercapitalism has meant fantastically increased choices for consumer goods but also decimated public services, an end to job security and looming environmental catastrophe. The U.S. leads in this dark trend, Reich argues, but Europe is right behind, and the only solution is to renew civic participation: to turn consumers back into citizens.
The evening – produced in cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Business Contact Publishers – was moderated by Alexander Rinnooy Kan, Chairman of the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands, and included Maria van der Hoeven, Minister of Economic Affairs.
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- Visa fler
