An Introduction to NYIH Studios
Welcome to the New York Institute for the Humanities podcast. Learn more about the history of the Institute and our shows.
Jan 9, 2023
Rousseau's Ideas About Censorship in the Arts
A Lecture by Richard Sennett
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2023
In 1982, the Institute held a multi day discussion of censorship. In this session from the Vault, sociologist Richard Sennett talks about Jean Jacques Rousseau’s ideas about censorship in the arts.
The discussion is moderated by Aryeh Neier, and includes Sidney Morgenbesser, Susan Sontag, Joseph Brodsky, Richard Gillman, Frances Fitzgerald, Karen Kennerly, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, and Michael Scammell.
Jan 5, 2023
On W. H. Auden
A Discussion with Christopher Isherwood and Stephen Spender
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2023
In 1983, ten years after W. H. Auden’s death, the New York Institute for the Humanities organized a series of readings and discussions of his work. In this episode from the Vault, Edward Mendelson, Auden's literary executor, moderates a discussion between Christopher Isherwood and Stephen Spender.
Jan 3, 2023
Why are Insects so Scary? On Insects in Films.
A Lecture by May Berenbaum
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This episode from the Vault is a lecture by May Berenbaum about why insects are so scary. Professor Berenbaum is an American entomologist whose research focuses on the chemical interactions between herbivorous insects and their host plants. She teaches entomology at the University of Illinois, and was awarded the National Medal of Science in 2014. She is also the organizer of the annual Insect Fear Film Festival.
Jan 1, 2023
Comedies of 'Fair Use'
Lewis Hyde on Owning Art and Ideas
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2022
In April 2006, The Institute held a two day symposium about copyright and intellectual property, titled Comedies of Fair Use. In this session, Lewis Hyde talks about owning art and ideas.
Hyde is a cultural critic and scholar, whose work focuses on the nature of imagination, creativity, and property. He is best known for his books, The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property, and Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth and Art.
Dec 30, 2022
Edmund Leach on Roman Jakobson's Contributions to Linguistics
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2023
In this episode from the Institute’s Vault, we hear the1982 Gallatin Lecture, in which Sir Edmund Leach discussed the work of Roman Jakobson, who he met in 1960, at Stanford’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.
Jakobson was one of the pioneers of structural linguistics, and a major influence on Claude Levi-Strauss and Roland Barthes. He taught at Harvard from 1940 until his retirement in 1967. Leach was a British social anthropologist, and the provost of King's College, Cambridge from 1966 to 1979.
Dec 28, 2022
"Gone with the Wind" Revisited
A Lecture by Molly Haskell
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2022
In this week’s episode from the Institute’s Vault, Molly Haskell talks about her 2009 book, Frankly, My Dear: "Gone with the Wind" Revisited, published by Yale University Press.
Haskell grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and studied at the Sorbonne. She came to New York in the sixties to work for the French Film office, where she wrote a newsletter about French films. She wrote about movies for the Village Voice, Vogue, and New York magazine.
Dec 27, 2022
The Role and Revival of Narrative in History
A Lecture by Laurence Stone
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In this week’s episode from the Institute’s Vault, we hear a lecture on the revival of narrative in history by Laurence Stone. Professor Stone taught at Princeton from 1963 to 1990. He died in 1991. He is best known for his books The Crisis of the Aristocracy, 1558-1641, The Causes of the English Revolution, 1529-1642, and Family, Sex and Marriage in England 1500-1800.
Since 1977, the New York Institute for the Humanities has brought together distinguished scholars, writers, artists, and publishing professionals to foster crucial discussions around the public humanities. For more information and to support the NYIH, visit nyihumanities.org.
Dec 6, 2022
Second Thoughts on Consistency
A Lecture by Hans Magnus Enzensberger
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In October 1981, Hans Magnus Enzensberger gave the Institute’s James lecture, titled “Second Thoughts on Consistency.” Enzensberger, who died in November, 2022, at the age of 93, was a German translator, editor, author, and poet. He was born in Bavaria, and was just 15 years old when the Third Reich collapsed. After studying literature and philosophy in university, he earned a doctorate at the Sorbonne in Paris. Enzensberger wrote in both English and German. In addition to novels, he has written more than five volumes of poetry, including collections for children.
Oct 25, 2022
Leonardo da Vinci and Vassari’s "Lives of the Painters"
A Lecture by Harry Berger
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In this episode of the Vault, we hear Harry Berger’s talk about Leonardo da Vinci and Vassari’s "Lives of the Painters." Harry Berger was a scholar of Renaissance English literature who wrote books about art history, anthropology, and philosophy. He taught at UC Santa Cruz, where he was an emeritus professor until he died in 2021, at age 96.
Since 1977, the New York Institute for the Humanities has brought together distinguished scholars, writers, artists, and publishing professionals to foster crucial discussions around the public humanities. For more information and to support the NYIH, visit nyihumanities.org.
Oct 10, 2022
Eric Hobsbawm on "Literacy and the Tower of Babel"
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2022
In this episode from the Vault, we hear from historian Eric Hobsbawm, a frequent visitor at the New York Institute for the Humanities. His talk, Literacy and the Tower of Babel, took place in November 1984.
Oct 3, 2022
Clothes in Literature
A Talk by Anne Hollander
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In this 2008 episode from the Vault we hear from fashion historian Anne Hollander, a longtime member of the Institute, and former president of the PEN American Center. Hollander was the author of Seeing Through Clothes, Moving Pictures, and Sex and Suits: The Evolution of Modern Dress. At the time of her death, in 2014, she was working on a book about clothes in literature, which is the subject of this talk.
Sep 19, 2022
Tod Gitlin on the Recovery of American Ideals
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In this episode from the Institute’s Vault, we hear from Tod Gitlin. Gitlin was president of the Students for a Democratic Society, and went on to become a sociologist, political activist, and journalist, teaching at Berkeley, NYU and Columbia. He wrote sixteen books, and spoke at the Institute in 2007 about his book, The Bulldozer and the Big Tent: Blind Republicans, Lame Democrats, and the Recovery of American Ideals. Gitlin died in February 2022.
Aug 23, 2022
Greil Marcus on the Death of His Father
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In this 2008 episode of The Vault, Greil Marcus reads from a Three Penny Review essay about the death of his father, who went down with the USS Hull in 1944, six months before Marcus was born. Marcus is a music journalist and cultural critic. His books include Mystery Train, Lipstick Traces, and Invisible Republic.
Aug 17, 2022
His Sister, Her Monologue
A Discussion with Hilton Als
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In this 2011 episode from The Vault, Hilton Als reads from, and discusses, His Sister, Her Monologue, a novella he published in Mcsweeney's #35. Als is a staff writer at the New Yorker, and his theater criticism was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2017. He is the author of two books. The Women, published in 1996., and White Girls, which came out in 2014. "A Pryor Love," His New Yorker profile of Richard Pryor appeared in 1999.
Jul 27, 2022
Samantha Power on Hannah Arendt and Human Rights
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In this episode from the Institute’s Vault, Samantha Power describes how Hannah Arendt influenced her thinking about politics and human rights. Power spoke during a two day symposium-- “Hannah Arendt Right Now”--which explored the philosopher’s impact on the 21st Century. The 2006 event was held on the hundredth anniversary of Arendt’s birth.
Samantha Power was Barack Obama’s human rights adviser, and then served as the US Ambassador to the United Nations. She is the author of several books, including A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, which won the 2003 Pulitzer prize. She is a professor of practice at Harvard’s Law School and Kennedy School.
In the second half of the episode, Azar Nafisi responds to Power. Nafisi is best known for her 2003 book, Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books.
Jul 25, 2022
Learning to Drive
A Talk by Katha Pollitt
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2022
A longtime Institute member, Katha Pollitt is an American poet, essayist and critic. She is the author of four essay collections and two books of poetry. Her column for The Nation magazine, “Subject to Debate” won a National Magazine Award in 2003.
In this episode from the Institute’s Vault, Pollitt talks about her 2007 book, Learning to Drive: And Other Life Stories, a collection of personal essays.
July 13, 2022
On Hannah Arendt and Humanitarianism
A Discussion with Rony Brauman and Samantha Power
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2022
From the Institute’s Vault, we have an excerpt from a two day symposium--“Hannah Arendt Right Now”--which explored the philosopher’s impact on the 21st Century. The 2006 event was held on the hundredth anniversary of Arendt’s birth.
In this episode, Dr. Rony Brauman describes how Arendt influenced his thinking about the politics of humanitarian aid. Brauman was president of Doctors without Borders from 1982 to 1994. In 1999, he co-directed The Specialist - Portrait of a Modern Criminal, a documentary about the trial of Adolf Eichman. Samantha Power responds to Brauman’s presentation. Power was the US ambassador to the United Nations from 2013 to 2017, and author of A Problem From Hell, America and the Age of Genocide, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2003.
Jul 8, 2022
On Hannah Arendt's "Eichmann in Jerusalem"
A Discussion with Anthony Grafton, Rony Brauman, Margarethe von Trotta, and Pamela Katz
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2022
In this episode from the Institute’s Vault, we have an excerpt from a two day symposium--“Hannah Arendt Right Now”--which explored the philosopher’s impact on the 21st Century. The 2006 event was held on the hundredth anniversary of Arendt’s birth.
The focus of this episode is Arendt’s 1963 book, Eichmann in Jerusalem. The session begins with historian Anthony Grafton, whose father, a journalist, once wrote about Arendt. The second speaker is Dr. Rony Brauman, the co-directed The Specialist: Portrait of a Modern Criminal, a documentary about the trial of Adolf Eichman. The third speaker is Margarethe von Trotta, the German director whose 2012 film about Hannah Arendt focuses on the Eichmann trial. The session concludes with Pamela Katz, who wrote the screenplay for Hannah Arendt.
Jun 20, 2022
On Arendt and Iran
A Discussion with Azar Nafisi and Ladan Boroumand
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2022
In this episode from the Institute’s Vault, we have an excerpt from a two day symposium--“Hannah Arendt Right Now”--which explored the philosopher’s impact on the 21st Century. The 2006 event was held on the hundredth anniversary of Arendt’s birth. In this session, Azar Nafisi and Ladan Boroumand talk about how Arendt’s work on totalitarianism helped them understand the Islamic Revolution in Iran, where both of them were born. Azar Nafisi - is best known for her 2003 book Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books. Ladan Boroumand is an historian and human rights advocate. She is the author of several articles on the French Revolution, Iran’s Islamic revolution, and the nature of Islamist terrorism.
June 13, 2022
On Hannah Arendt, Iraq, Vietnam, and Totalitarianism
A Discussion with Kanan Makiya and Jonathan Schell
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2022
In this episode from the Institute’s Vault, we have an excerpt from a two day symposium--“Hannah Arendt Right Now”--which explored the philosopher’s impact on the 21st Century. The 2006 event was held on the hundredth anniversary of Arendt’s birth. In this session, Kanan Makiya discusses Arendt’s influence on his thinking with Jonathan Schell. Makiya was born in Baghdad and educated at MIT. His book, Republic of Fear: The Politics of Modern Iraq, was published in 1989. Makiya was a proponent of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Schell, who died in 2014, was a writer for The New Yorker and The Nation. His 1967 book, The Village of Ben Suc, chronicled the devastation of a South Vietnamese village by American forces. He wrote many pieces against the war in the New Yorker.
Jun 6, 2022
On Arendt and the Nuclear Question
A Discussion with Jonathan Schell and Elisabeth Young-Bruehl
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2022
In this episode from the Institute’s Vault, we have an excerpt from a two day symposium--“Hannah Arendt Right Now”--which explored the philosopher’s impact on the 21st Century. The 2006 event was held on the hundredth anniversary of Arendt’s birth. In the opening session, Jonathan Schell and Elisabeth Young-Bruehl discuss Arendt’s thoughts on the nuclear question. Schell, who died in 2014, was a writer for The New Yorker and The Nation. His 1982 book, The Fate of the Earth, is a meditation on the consequences of nuclear war. Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, a longtime member of the Institute, died in 2011. She was a doctoral student of Arendt’s, and author of Hannah Arendt: For Love of the World, the first biography of Arendt.
May 25, 2022
On Tony Judt
A Lecture by Timothy Snyder
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2022
In this week’s episode from the Vault, we revisit a 2013 presentation by the Yale historian, Timothy Snyder, about the book he wrote with the historian, Tony Judt.
Judt was diagnosed with ALS in 2008 and died in 2010. He spent those two years writing books and lecturing, as well as holding weekly conversations with Snyder. The result was Thinking the Twentieth Century, which was published in 2012.
May 2, 2022
Fair Use and Documentary Film
A Discussion with James Boyle, Amy Sewell, Charles Sims, Pat Aufderheide, and Hugh Hanson
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2022
In April 2006, the Institute held a symposium about copyright and intellectual property, titled Comedies of Fair Use. This panel is about documentary film, and was moderated by Duke professor law James Boyle.
It begins with Amy Sewell, whose 2005 documentary, Mad Hot Ballroom looks at the lives of New York City public school kids, as they prepare for a citywide ballroom dancing competition. Charles Sims is a copyright and first amendment expert at the law firm of Proskauer Rose.
Pat Aufderheide is co-author of Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright, and professor at American University. Hugh Hanson teaches copyright and trademark law at Fordham University School of Law.
Mar 24, 2022
On Vladimir Putin
A Discussion with Masha Gessen and David Remnick
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2022
Institute fellow, and New Yorker staff writer, Masha Gessen is one of the foremost critics of Vladimir Putin. In 2014, Gessen spoke at the Institute with New Yorker editor David Remnick about Gessen's book, Words Will Break Cement, about Pussy Riot. Much of the conversation focused on Putin's ambitions for an imperial Russia.
Mar 21, 2022
On Fair Use
A Lecture by Lawrence Lessig
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In April 2006, the Institute held a two day symposium about copyright and intellectual property, titled Comedies of Fair Use.
The event began with a keynote address by Lawrence Lessig, who currently teaches at Harvard Law School. Lessig is the author of twelve books, and his work has had an enormous impact on discussions of intellectual property and, more recently, the challenge institutional corruption presents to democracy.
Mar 10, 2022
On Fair Use
A Lecture by Jonathan Lethem
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In April 2006, The Institute held a two day symposium about copyright and intellectual property, titled Comedies of Fair Use. At it, the novelist Jonathan Lethem made a presentation on his essay-in-progress, the final version of which would be published as The Ecstasy of Influence, in the February 2007 issue of Harper’s magazine.
Jan 15, 2021
Should You Ever Happen to Find Yourself in Solitary (11)
A Symposium
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In 2012, the Institute held a day long symposium, “Should you ever happen to find yourself in solitary: Wry Fancies and Stark Realities.” This episode features ACLU lawyer Scarlet Kim.
Jan 14, 2021
Should You Ever Happen to Find Yourself in Solitary (12)
A Symposium
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In 2012, the Institute held a day long symposium, “Should you ever happen to find yourself in solitary: Wry Fancies and Stark Realities.” In this final episode, Lawrence Weschler leads a discussion about what society should do about solitary confinement with Scarlet Kim, Juan Mendez, Robert King, and members of the audience.
Jan 13, 2021
Should You Ever Happen to Find Yourself in Solitary (6)
A Symposium
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In 2012, the Institute held a day long symposium, “Should you ever happen to find yourself in solitary: Wry Fancies and Stark Realities.” This episode features the poet, artist and novelist Breyten Breytenbach.
Jan 13, 2021
Should You Ever Happen to Find Yourself in Solitary (7)
A Symposium
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2021
In 2012, the Institute held a day long symposium, “Should you ever happen to find yourself in solitary: Wry Fancies and Stark Realities.” This episode features journalist Shane Bauer and prison activist Robert King.
Jan 13, 2021
Should You Ever Happen to Find Yourself in Solitary (9)
A Symposium
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2021
In 2012, the Institute held a day long symposium, “Should you ever happen to find yourself in solitary: Wry Fancies and Stark Realities.” This episode features philosopher Lisa Guenther.
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Jan 13, 2021
Should You Ever Happen to Find Yourself in Solitary (10)
A Symposium
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2021
In 2012, the Institute held a day long symposium, “Should you ever happen to find yourself in solitary: Wry Fancies and Stark Realities.” This episode features Juan Mendez, the UN's Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel and Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Jan 11, 2021
Should You Ever Happen to Find Yourself in Solitary (3)
A Symposium
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2021
In 2012, the Institute held a day long symposium, “Should you ever happen to find yourself in solitary: Wry Fancies and Stark Realities.” This episode features Joshua Foer, the 2006 USA Memory Champion, and Stuart Firestein, Columbia University chair of Biology.
Jan 11, 2021
Should You Ever Happen to Find Yourself in Solitary (4)
A Symposium
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2021
In 2012, the Institute held a day long symposium, “Should you ever happen to find yourself in solitary: Wry Fancies and Stark Realities.” The first presentation is by Jacques Servin and Mary Notari, members of The Yes Men, a performance activist group. Then we hear from avant garde artist and mosaicist Samantha Holmes.
Jan 11, 2021
Should You Ever Happen to Find Yourself in Solitary (5)
A Symposium
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2021
In 2012, the Institute held a day long symposium, “Should you ever happen to find yourself in solitary: Wry Fancies and Stark Realities.” This episode features monologist Mike Daisy.
Jan 8, 2021
Should You Ever Happen to Find Yourself in Solitary (1)
A Symposium
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2021
In 2012, the Institute held a day long symposium, “Should you ever happen to find yourself in solitary: Wry Fancies and Stark Realities.” In this episode, Lawrence Weschler talks with playwright Tony Kushner. It concludes with a poetry reading by Alastair Reid.
Jan 8, 2021
Should You Ever Happen to Find Yourself in Solitary (3)
A Symposium
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2021
In 2012, the Institute held a day long symposium, “Should you ever happen to find yourself in solitary.” In this episode, we hear from insect photographer Catherine Chalmers, media critic Carl Skelton, and sound editor Walter Murch.
Dec 14, 2020
Distracted-Attention in the Digital Age
A Discussion
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2020
Never before has attention been such a precious resource. So on May 19, 2015, the New York Institute for the Humanities held a discussion titled, Distracted: Attention in the Digital Age. Moderated by Virginia Heffernan, the panelists were Winifred Gallagher, David Mikics, Mark Edmundson, and Matthew B. Crawford.
Dec 7, 2020
Racial Libel as American Ritual
A Lecture by Derrick Bell
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2020
In 1995, legal scholar Derrick Bell spoke to the Institute about Racial Libel as American Ritual. Professor Bell was one of the founders of critical race studies. He taught at Harvard Law School until 1990, when he left to protest the school's lack of female African American faculty. He taught at NYU Law School until his death in 2011.
Nov 14, 2020
On Christopher Hitchens
A Talk by Steve Wasserman
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2020
In 2012, editor and literary agent Steve Wasserman spoke about his friend Christopher Hitchens, who died in 2011. Wasserman has been the editorial director of New Republic Books, Hill & Wang, Times Books and, most recently, Heyday, an independent publisher in Berkeley. He was also the editor of the LA Times Sunday Book Review, and an editor-at-large for Yale University Press.
May 27, 2020
Cold New World
Growing Up in a Harder Country
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William Finnegan, a New Yorker staff writer, and Pulitzer prize winner, talks about his work-in-progress, Cold New World: Growing Up in a Harder Country, which was published in 1998.
May 5, 2020
On Susan Sontag
A Lecture by Ben Moser
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Biographer Benjamin Moser talks about his 2019 biography of Susan Sontag, which won the Pulitzer Prize. Moser’s previous book, a biography of the Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Apr 28, 2020
On the Memory Industry
A Lecture by Art Spiegelman
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Art Spiegelman, whose graphic novel Maus won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992, took part in the 2011 New York Institute for the Humanities symposium, “Second Thoughts on the Memory Industry.”
Apr 7, 2020
On Anne Frank
A Lecture by Francine Prose
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Francine Prose talks about Anne Frank, the subject of her 2009 book, at the 2011 New York Institute for the Humanities symposium, “Second Thoughts on the Memory Industry.”
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Mar 23, 2020
On Writing History in a Post-Cold World
A Lecture by Eric Hobsbawm
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2020
In October, 1995, the great intellectual historian Eric Hobsbawm visited the Institute to give a talk entitled, "Inventing Your Own History," on the new challenges to how history is told in the post Cold War world.
Mar 11, 2020
Childism
Confronting Prejudice Against Children
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2020
In this Vault episode from 2011, Elisabeth Young-Bruehl talks about her book, Childism: Confronting Prejudice Against Children. The author of landmark biographies of Hannah Arendt and Anna Freud, Young-Bruehl was a long time member of the Institute. She died of a pulmonary embolism two weeks after this talk.
Dec 10, 2019
On American Literature
A Talk with Alfred Kazin
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In 1984, the scholar and critic Alfred Kazin visited the institute to talk about the long shadow Emerson cast over American (and international) literature. In this episode of The Vault, he discusses and defends his views of a writer who was critical to his sense of what American literature might embody.
Dec 3, 2019
Black and White and Gray All Over
Some Thoughts on the Problems and Politics of Journalistic Evenhandedness
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2019
In 2000, writer Philip Gourevitch lectured on the problem of point of view in political coverage. In this episode of The Vault, he discusses “Black and White and Gray All Over: Some Thoughts on the Problems and Politics of Journalistic Evenhandedness.”
Nov 21, 2019
"Satyagraha" and "Koyaanisqatsi"
A Lecture by Philip Glass
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In 1982, the composer Philip Glass presented the NYIH Gallatin Lecture at NYU. In this episode of The Vault, he discusses his relationship to theater and his turn to working with texts--particularly his work on the opera Satyagraha and his then-forthcoming composition for the film Koyaanisqatsi.
Feb 6, 2019
Memory in Romantic Song Cycles
A Lecturer by Charles Rosen
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The writer and pianist Charles Rosen combined musicianship and critical acuity to a degree of accomplishment matched by few figures in the twentieth century. In this episode, we revisit Rosen’s 1978 lecture at the institute, on stage and at the keyboard, titled “Memory in Romantic Song Cycles.”
Jan 22, 2019
Ryszard Kapuscinski on Herodotus
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2019
In 2004, journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski gave a luncheon lecture about the Greek historian Herodotus. He described Herodotus as the “first reporter,” a globalist who traveled to the edges of the known world to learn about how people other than the Greeks lived. In Herodotus’s Histories Kapuscinski finds the origins of modern reportage itself. An expanded version of the lecture was published in 2007 as Travels With Herodotus.
Oct 22, 2018
Illness as Metaphor
A Lecture by Susan Sontag
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In October of 1977, Susan Sontag delivered one of the institute’s five James Lectures for that year. Her topic was “Illness as Metaphor”. She explored the truth that it was no longer possible, as she wrote, “to take up one’s residence in the kingdom of the ill unprejudiced by the lurid metaphors with which it has been landscaped.” Though she did not directly reference it, she herself was being treated for breast cancer at the time. The lecture was published in 1978, first as three essays in the New York Review of Books, and then as a book. It went on to become one of Sontag’s best-known pieces of writing.
Oct 15, 2018
Hitch-22
A Conversation with Christopher Hitchens
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2018
At a luncheon of institute fellows in May of 2010, Christopher Hitchens and James Fenton sat down for a conversation about Hitchens’s forthcoming memoir, Hitch 22.
Sep 25, 2018
In A Free State
A Lecture by V. S. Naipaul (part 1)
NEW BOOKS NETWORK 2018
The work of V. S. Naipaul, who died in August 2018 at age 85, explored the depths of the postcolonial experience, beginning with his youth in his native Trinidad. In 1979, the novelist visited NYU to deliver the New York Institute for the Humanities’ James Lectures. In the first of two archival episodes, Naipaul lectures on his experience as a young reader and in the “incomplete space” of the Caribbean and reads from his Booker Prize-winning 1971 novel In a Free State.
Special thanks to DJ Cashmere for his work on this episode.
Sep 7, 2018
Elizabeth Holtzman on Impeachment
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As a new member of Congress in 1973, Elizabeth Holtzman participated in deliberations over the possible impeachment of Richard Nixon. In this lecture given in 2006, she reflects on the legacy of impeachment from Nixon to Bill Clinton and argues for its use against George W. Bush.