Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright returned to the John Adams Institute once more, this time for an online interview with Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal about her new book Hell and Other Destinations, a 21st-Century Memoir. As one of the world’s most admired and tireless public servants, Albright reflects on the final stages of …...

UN, US, NL

Online Webinar with Samantha Power and Karel van Oosterom

Jun 25, 2020, 9:00 pm - 10:00 pm

With her book The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir, Samantha Power – Barack Obama’s ambassador to the United Nations from 2013-2017, Pulitzer Prize winner and human rights advocate – has written an intimate, powerful, and galvanizing memoir. The book traces Power’s distinctly American journey from immigrant to war correspondent to presidential Cabinet official during …...

100 Years of Voting: Women’s Rights and Responsibilities

Liz Cheney & The National Archives on the 19th Amendment

Aug 27, 2020, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

In 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, winning women a constitutional guarantee of equal voting rights with men and bringing an end to decades of political disenfranchisement. Hosted by the American Women’s Club of Amsterdam, the U.S. Consulate General in Amsterdam and The John Adams Institute, this free online event will feature …...

David Frum on the upcoming Presidential Elections

'Trumpocalypse: Restoring American Democracy'

Sep 24, 2020, 9:15 pm - 10:15 pm

The John Adams is pleased to announce the second speaker in our fall program, in collaboration with De Balie. David Frum, journalist at The Atlantic and author, will be joining us for a free online event to discuss the upcoming presidential elections with moderator Tim Wagemakers. Political commentator David Frum will also discuss his latest …...

Kim Wehle

How to Read the Constitution - and Why

Mar 03, 2020, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Super Tuesday! That unique American event marks an important moment at the start of the elections. This year it takes place on Tuesday March 3rd. On that very day, the John Adams will host Kim Wehle, a law professor, constitutional scholar, commentator and author of the book How to Read the Constitution – and Why. …...

Meg Waite Clayton

The Last Train to London

Jan 21, 2020, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Next year the Netherlands commemorates 75 years of liberation from Nazi repression. Bestselling author Meg Waite Clayton is coming to the John Adams to discuss her new novel The Last Train to London, which is based on the true story of the Vienna Kindertransports and the heroic woman who led the rescues, Truus Wijsmuller. In …...

Daniel Ziblatt

How Democracies Die

Jan 16, 2020, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

How do democracies die? Not at the hands of generals, but of elected leaders – presidents or prime ministers who subvert the very process that brought them to power. That is the unsettling conclusion of Harvard professor Daniel Ziblatt’s highly praised book How Democracies Die. He will be speaking about it at the John Adams on …...

Roger Ross Williams

Documentary 'The Apollo' & Doc Talk

Nov 24, 2019, 1:45 pm - 4:00 pm

IDFA and the John Adams present the documentary The Apollo by director Roger Ross Williams. After the screening, Williams will take the stage for an interview, along with several experts on soul music. In 2018, the John Adams hosted Roger Ross Williams for a screening of his powerful documentary American Jail. The Apollo Theater on …...

An evening with John Grisham

in conversation with Twan Huys

Nov 19, 2019, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

We are thrilled to announce that best-selling author John Grisham is coming to the Netherlands for the very first time. After his debut A Time to Kill appeared in 1988, his books have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold over 300 million copies worldwide. Grisham drew his experience from practicing criminal law …...

Megan Twohey

She Said

Dec 03, 2019, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

The most explosive book of this year is without a doubt She Said: Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor’s book about their wide-ranging investigation into Harvey Weinstein’s alleged sexual predation. It has already been labeled a “feminist All the President’s Men”. Megan Twohey will take the John Adams stage to discuss her Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting about …...

George Packer

Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century

Nov 20, 2019, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Arrogant, self-absorbed, even brutal – yes. But also sentimental and sometimes compassionate. Endearing? Not so much. Brilliant? Absolutely. Above all, Richard Holbrooke was ambitious – and he embodied much of the character of American foreign policy in the latter half of the 20th century. George Packer, one of America’s most renowned authors and winner of …...

Dina Nayeri

The Ungrateful Refugee

Nov 04, 2019, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Eternal gratitude. Is that what is expected from a refugee? How long can you stay grateful, and how do you show your gratitude? And if you do not show your gratitude, will you be sent back to… well, to where? In The Ungrateful Refugee (translated by Susan Ridder into De ondankbare vluchteling for Volt Publishers), …...

Joseph Stiglitz

People, Power, and Profits

Nov 15, 2019, 8:30 pm - 10:30 pm

Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz is returning to the John Adams to discuss his important new book People, Power, and Profits (translated into Winst voor iedereen, by Arian Verheij and Huub Stegeman for Athenaeum), about the dangers of free market fundamentalism and the many economic challenges America is facing. In this book, Stiglitz explains how …...

Raymond Neutra

My Father and Frank Lloyd Wright

Aug 29, 2019, 5:30 pm - 9:00 pm

From old-world Vienna to the breezy mid-century Modernism of Southern California: the career of the architect Richard Neutra (1892-1970) spanned continents and epochs. His son Raymond Neutra is coming to Amsterdam for an event co-hosted by Iconic Houses and Museum het Schip, to talk about his father’s work and his relationship to architecture in America. After …...

Jill Lepore

These Truths

Oct 16, 2019, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Three truths, no more and no less: political equality, natural rights, and sovereignty of the people. According to Thomas Jefferson, these truths were the foundation on which the American experiment rested. Most Americans recognize his words in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” How …...

Jed Emerson

The Purpose of Capital

Oct 01, 2019, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

What is the purpose of your capital? The emergent ‘impact investing’ movement holds out the golden promise that we can make money and do good at the same time. This new financial sector is being embraced not only by family offices and social entrepreneurs, but also by traditional financial strongholds such as by Blackrock, JP Morgan and …...

Leon Neyfakh

Storytelling in the Digital Age

Sep 10, 2019, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

The podcast. Whether you only have a quick 15 minutes to spare on the bus or train, or an hour-long drive to work, there’s a perfect podcast out there for you. Podcasts can tell real, engaging stories, creating a sense of connection between listener and content, and at the same time making you feel part …...

Jonathan Safran Foer

We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast

Sep 03, 2019, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Climate change is the single biggest threat to human survival – and we are dealing with it all wrong, according to bestselling author Jonathan Safran Foer. In his new book We Are the Weather, Foer explores the central dilemma of our time in a creative and urgent new way. We have turned our planet into …...

Hendrik Meijer

Senator Arthur Vandenberg and the Creation of NATO

Jun 20, 2019, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

In 2020 the Western world will celebrate the founding of NATO 70 years ago. To make the idea of such a transatlantic treaty even possible, the US had to move from a position of isolationism towards a more open and engaged relationship with European countries. This change of direction started with the Vandenberg Resolution, which …...

Barry Eichengreen

The Populist Temptation

May 27, 2019, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

In the last few years, populism – on both the right and the left – has spread like wildfire throughout the world. Economic changes and downturns have left sections of populations worse off. What are these economic grievances that drive populist movements? And how can our welfare systems designed to support them prevent these grievances? …...

Stephen P. Williams

Blockchain: The Next Everything

May 13, 2019, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

What is blockchain? Why does everyone, from tech experts to business moguls, believe it is bound to revolutionize society as significantly as the internet? Join us for an evening that helps us understand what it is, how it works and what the implications are for the future of our world. Journalist and author Stephen Williams, …...

Kristen Roupenian

You Know You Want This

Apr 02, 2019, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

When Kristen Roupenian’s short story ‘Cat Person’ came out in The New Yorker magazine and online at the end of 2017, it immediately went wildly viral: it became the second-most-emailed page on the New Yorker’s website in that entire year. The story confused readers who mistook it for reportage rather than fiction, given that it …...

Peter Sellars

The Future of Opera in a Changing World

Mar 01, 2019, 5:30 pm - 6:15 pm

The John Adams is partnering with the Dutch National Opera for a special 45-minute talk about the future of opera in a changing world, by renowned stage director Peter Sellars. Sellars is best known for staging plays and operas for numerous international theaters in settings wildly different from those suggested by the text. He wrote …...

Francis Fukuyama

Against Identity Politics

Mar 08, 2019, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

The John Adams Institute, in collaboration with De Balie, is once again hosting the renowned political scientist Francis Fukuyama to discuss his new book Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment, translated into Dutch as Identiteit and published by Atlas Contact. In Identity, Fukuyama shows that populist nationalism is not motivated by …...

Tommy Orange

There There

Feb 14, 2019, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

The author of one of the most galvanizing debut novels of 2018 took the John Adams stage to discuss his story about twelve characters who converge and collide on one fateful day. Tommy Orange’s groundbreaking novel There There – translated for Meulenhoff into Dutch as Er Is Geen Daar Daar – was chosen as one …...

David Eicher & André Kuipers

Mission Moon: Reliving the Great Space Race

Feb 06, 2019, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

In 1969 a seemingly impossible goal was achieved as Neil Armstrong uttered his immortal line: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for Mankind.” This year celebrates not only 50 years since Apollo 11 and the first human steps on the Moon, but also the achievements of all the Soviet and American …...

Saskia Coenen-Snyder

Signs and Sounds in Nazi-Occupied Amsterdam

Mar 14, 2019, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

How did residents of the city of Amsterdam experience the Nazi-occupation in the 1940s through their sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch? People’s senses changed dramatically during these years, and learning more about the history of the senses gives us better insight into how people experienced the war. In a co-operation with the Anne Frank …...

Jennifer Clement

Gun Love

Jan 16, 2019, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

For our first event of 2019, the John Adams will host Jennifer Clement, author of four novels and President of PEN International – the first woman President since the organization was founded in 1921. Clement’s latest novel is Gun Love, which was a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award and was named one of …...

Michael Pollan

How to Change your Mind

Dec 11, 2018, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Michael Pollan is returning to the John Adams to discuss his new book How To Change Your Mind with renowned psychiatrist Damiaan Denys. In this new book Pollan has moved on from his research on food to delve into the world of psychedelics and their medical use. In the past decade, there has been renewed …...

Analyzing the Midterms

With Darius Baxter & Frank Luntz

Dec 06, 2018, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

The 2018 midterm elections, featuring hundreds of congressional, state and local primaries, culminate with the Nov. 6 general election to decide whether Democrats gain control of Congress or if Republicans keep their hold on the legislative branch. On December 6, one month after these elections, two political commentators from opposite sides of the political spectrum …...

Errol Morris

Documentary 'American Dharma' & Doc Talk

Nov 18, 2018, 5:30 pm - 7:45 pm

The John Adams presents, in cooperation with IDFA, the documentary American Dharma about Steve Bannon. The screening will be followed by a discussion between filmmaker Errol Morris and journalist Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal. The movie is an extensive interview by Morris with Steve Bannon, head of the 2016 Trump campaign, former White House Chief Strategist …...

Christiane Amanpour

From the Gulf War to the Trump Presidency

Jan 25, 2019, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

On January 25th, Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief international anchor and host of the network’s award-winning global affairs program ‘Amanpour’, will take the stage at the John Adams for the first time. Amanpour will discuss her illustrious career in journalism, spanning three decades, from the Gulf War to the Trump presidency. Amanpour’s international career began in …...

Timothy Snyder

The Road to Unfreedom

Nov 13, 2018, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Democracy and the rule of law in Western societies are under threat, according to Timothy Snyder, professor of history at Yale University, due to Vladimir Putin’s efforts to destabilize neighboring governments and to stir up dissent in countries from France to the United States. The John Adams, in a collaboration with De Balie, is happy …...

Richard Powers

The Overstory

Nov 04, 2018, 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm

National Book Award winning author Richard Powers took a risk with his new novel The Overstory: in it trees talk. The trees are well-developed characters with interesting quirks who converse with each other, and with a handful of humans. Or rather, a few characters in The Overstory become convinced that trees are talking to them. …...

The U.S. Midterm Elections: What’s at Stake?

A John Adams & Fulbright Event with Jonathan Capehart

Oct 18, 2018, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

The John Adams and the Fulbright Center are bringing Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jonathan Capehart to Amsterdam. Capehart is a contributor to MSNBC, host of “America on the Line” on New York Public Radio (WNYC) and a member of The Washington Post editorial board, where he writes about politics and social issues. He will discuss the upcoming US mid-term elections …...

American Jail: Film & Interview

With Director Roger Ross Williams

Oct 04, 2018, 7:30 pm - 10:00 pm

The John Adams, in collaboration with Submarine, is bringing Academy Award-winning director Roger Ross Williams to Amsterdam to discuss his latest documentary, American Jail. In this provocative and personal film, he explores the modern tragedy of mass incarceration from both a very personal and a political angle. He contends that poor people and minorities are more …...

Madeleine Albright

Fascism: A Warning

Jun 29, 2018, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

We are happy to announce that former U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, is returning to the John Adams Institute to discuss her latest book ‘Fascism: A Warning’, which offers a personal and urgent examination of fascism in the twentieth century and how its legacy shapes today’s world. After her talk, Former Secretary Albright will …...

The Fourth Estate

An Evening with The New York Times

May 22, 2018, 7:30 pm - 10:30 pm

The John Adams Institute, in collaboration with VPRO Television, is happy to announce a special screening of the documentary series The Fourth Estate, a four-part series in which renowned filmmaker Liz Garbus (‘Bobby Fischer Against The World’) documents the Washington bureau of The New York Times during the tumultuous first year of the Trump administration. …...

Matthew Desmond

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City

Jul 04, 2018, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

What if the dominant discourse on poverty in the United States is wrong? What if the problem isn’t that poor people have bad morals, or that they lack the skills and smarts to fit in with our shiny 21st-century economy? What if the problem is that poverty is profitable? These are the questions at the …...

Mac Barnett & Jon Klassen

The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse

Jun 16, 2018, 3:00 pm - 3:45 pm

A wish has come true! The John Adams Institute is happy to announce we are hosting an event especially for children, with the award-winning duo author Mac Barnett and illustrator Jon Klassen, who have successfully collaborated on several picturebooks, the trilogy ‘Triangle’, ‘Square’ and ‘Circle’, as well as ‘Extra Yarn’, and ‘Sam & Dave Dig …...

Andrew Keen

How To Fix The Future

May 24, 2018, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

The John Adams Institute is happy to announce our upcoming event with author Andrew Keen, one of the world’s best known and controversial commentators on the digital revolution. In his new book, How to Fix the Future, Keen showcases global solutions for our digital predicament. After the huge changes of the Industrial Revolution, civilized societies remade …...

1968 – Vietnam Protest

You Say You Want A Revolution

May 05, 2018, 7:15 pm - 9:30 pm

Fifty years ago, from Paris to Mexico-City, young people, students, factory workers and filmmakers united to protest authority. They did not only carry rocks, but also light, flexible 16mm camera’s. On the fiftieth birthday of the May 1968 Paris events, EYE Film Museum, in their series “1968 – You Say You Want A Revolution”, will show …...

Jeremy Bailenson

Experience on Demand

Apr 24, 2018, 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

Virtual reality is getting better at simulating the real world. Can it also transform education, environmental conservation, health care? And… do we want it to? Yes, says Jeremy Bailenson, founding director of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab. He is speaking at the John Adams Institute on April 24th. Bailenson has spent two decades researching …...

A.M. Homes

May We Be Forgiven

Apr 13, 2018, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

The John Adams Institute is happy to announce our upcoming event with renowned novelist A.M. Homes, in co-operation with Toneelgroep Amsterdam. Libris Prize shortlisted author Murat Isik will interview A.M. Homes about her work. May We Be Forgiven (now adapted into a play by Toneelgroep Amsterdam) is a darkly comic novel of twenty-first-century domestic life and …...

Robbert Dijkgraaf & Pia de Jong

An evening on books, academic & family life

Mar 19, 2018, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

The John Adams Institute is happy to announce our upcoming event ‘An Evening with Robbert Dijkgraaf & Pia de Jong’. During this evening Dijkgraaf and De Jong will speak about their work and about academic and family life in the United States. The audience will be given a unique insight in the life and work …...

January 28th: Gordon Bennett! booklaunch

January 18, 2018

Gordon Bennett! On 28 January 2018 at 4 PM in bookstore Scheltema, publishing house Aspekt presents a biography of the American newspaper tycoon James Gordon Bennett jr. The book is written by the Dutch author Guikje Roethof, a former member of the Dutch parliament. James Gordon Bennett (1841- 1918) was a remarkable personality. He send …...

Interview with Jonathan Taplin

January 15, 2018

Jonathan Taplin, author of ‘Move Fast and Break Things’ was interviewed by Katherine Oktober Matthews. Taplin will be our guest on February 2nd, 8 PM at Pakhuis de Zwijger – moderator Tracy Metz. ...

Interview with Jonathan Taplin

January 15, 2018

‘If you think that disruption is the highest calling – you know, move fast and break things – you have to rethink things.’ Jonathan Taplin is the author of ‘Move Fast and Break Things’, a book about the formation and rise of new technology companies with libertarian ideologies. Focusing on three monopolistic giants—Google, Facebook and …...

Interview with Russell Shorto

January 8, 2018

Katherine Oktober Matthews interviewed Russell Shorto on his latest book ‘Revolution Song’. Read the full interview here . On January 23rd Shorto discussed his book at the Aula of the UvA in Amsterdam. ...

Interview with Russell Shorto

January 8, 2018

‘We’re still fighting the American Revolution’ Russell Shorto returns to the John Adams to discuss his new book Revolution Song, a work of narrative non-fiction that weaves together the lives of six people for whom the American Revolution took different meaning and weight: George Washington; a British aristocrat and statesman; an African-born slave; …...

Jonathan Taplin

Move Fast and Break Things: How Facebook, Google, and Amazon Cornered Culture and Undermined Democracy

Feb 02, 2018, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

The John Adams is happy to announce a last-minute addition to our program. Jonathan Taplin is the author of Move Fast and Break Things, a bracing account of how the internet has been captured by the big tech companies. Taplin, himself with thirty years’ experience in the music and film industry, tells the story of …...

National Book Award

Jesmyn Ward wins second NBA for Fiction

December 8, 2017

2017 has been a stellar year for women writers. 15 of the 20 National Book Award finalists were women....

Introduction Colson Whitehead

by Maartje Laterveer

December 7, 2017

You can read the introduction of Colson Whitehead by Maartje Laterveer here....

Alex Ross

Adventures in Musical Modernism

Feb 03, 2018, 11:30 am - 1:00 pm

The John Adams is partnering with the String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam, which will run from 27 January to 3 February 2018 at the Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ. On the last day of the festival, the renowned music critic of The New Yorker, Alex Ross, will give a talk in which he will reflect on some of the …...

Interview Angela Nagle – About The Alt-Right

Interview: about the Alt-Right

November 14, 2017

John Adams director Tracy Metz interviewed Angela Nagle, writer of Kill All Normies, about the Alt-Right movement....

Jennifer Egan

Manhattan Beach

Feb 21, 2018, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

We are happy to announce that Jennifer Egan, who won the Pulitzer Prize for her last novel A Visit From the Goon Squad, will take the John Adams stage to discuss her new novel Manhattan Beach. The novel is set during the Depression and World War II and tells the story of an Irish family …...

Russell Shorto

Revolution Song

Jan 23, 2018, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Bestselling author Russell Shorto returns to the John Adams to discuss his much-anticipated new book Revolution Song. In this narrative, Shorto asks what the American Revolution would have looked like if it were told exclusively through the prism of personal lives. In Revolution Song, Shorto paints an intimate group portrait of six extraordinary figures of …...

Ryan Lizza

A Year of Trump

Nov 05, 2017, 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm

November 8 marks the first anniversary of the election of President Trump. It has been a turbulent year and many people are looking for reflection and insight into today’s United States. We are happy to announce that Ryan Lizza, the Washington correspondent for The New Yorker and on-air contributor for CNN, will take the John Adams …...

Interview Julia Gruen

Interview with Julia Gruen

October 13, 2017

John Adams director Tracy Metz interviewed Julia Gruen, the executive director of the Keith Haring Foundation, about the restored canvas by American artist Keith Haring, which is again on display at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Click here for the video....

Interview with Holly Krieger

October 2, 2017

The Creativity and Structure of Pure Mathematics American mathematician Dr. Holly Krieger is a lecturer at Britain’s University of Cambridge and Director of Studies and Fellow in Maths at Murray Edwards College, one of the few women-only colleges of Cambridge. She’ll be speaking at John Adams Institute on October 10 about the beauty of symmetry, …...

Videos about numbers and stuff

October 2, 2017

Numberphiles is a Youtube channel where a variety of mathematicians regularly post accessible numbery video's. The Numberphile videos are always fascinating, both for the layman as for a mathematician....

The Happiest Kids in the World

By Hollis Kurman

September 19, 2017

The introduction to the event of The Happiest Kids in the World can be read here....

Holly Krieger

The Beauty of Symmetry through the eyes of a Mathematician

Oct 10, 2017, 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

We are pleased to announce that renowned American mathematician Holly Krieger will visit the John Adams to discuss how mathematics can be used to describe the beauty of symmetry. For centuries, symmetry has fascinated philosophers, astronomers, mathematicians, artists, architects and physicists. It is a prevalent aesthetic theme in the art and architecture of many cultures, …...

Amsterdam Stories

Rob Rombout and Rogier van Eck

Dec 11, 2017, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Have the Netherlands left a mark on the US? Come find out on December 11th, when the Belgian filmmakers Rob Rombout and Rogier van Eck show a compilation of their road movie in which they take you all across the continent to visit all the American places named Amsterdam. On their journey through cities, towns, …...

Featured Text Box 1d

Interview with Rina Mae Acosta

July 31, 2017

‘The Dutch are able to see children for who they are’

Happiness is something that every parent, regardless of country or culture, wishes for their children. As it turns out, the Dutch may be onto something: according to UNICEF studies of child well-being in 2007 and 2013, Dutch children are the happiest kids in the world. But why? In their book ‘The Happiest Kids in the...
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Colson Whitehead

The Underground Railroad

Dec 06, 2017, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Colson Whitehead is the biggest literary sensation of this decade. He was the first author since Annie Proulx to win both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for his novel The Underground Railroad (translated as De Ondergrondse Spoorweg by Atlas Contact). Several prominent figures also declared it their favorite novel, including President Obama. …...
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Dan Brown

Origin

Oct 22, 2017, 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm

Watch the book trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4brbdYz8qu0...
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Featured Text Box 1b

Co-Founder of Nextdoor

July 17, 2017

Tracy Metz interviewed Sarah Leary, co-founder of the Nextdoor app: "Leary calls the app ‘a lifeline to your neighborhood wherever you go’: “I know here in Amsterdam what’s going on in my neighborhood in San Francisco.”...
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Featured Text Box 1

Interview with Rina Mae Acosta

July 10, 2017

According to UNICEF studies of child well-being in 2007 and 2013, Dutch children are the happiest kids in the world. But why? Journalist Katherine Oktober Matthews interviews American writer Rina Mae Acosta about how she broke down the Dutch approach to parenting....
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Mohsin Hamid

Exit West

Sep 12, 2017, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Mohsin Hamid returned to The John Adams Institute, this time to discuss his new novel Exit West, also translated and published as Exit West by De Bezige Bij. In a country teetering on the brink of civil war, two young people meet and fall in love. The sensual and fiercely independent Nadia and gentle, restrained Saeed. When …...
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Nicole Krauss

Forest Dark

Aug 29, 2017, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Bestselling American novelist Nicole Krauss joined the John Adams Institute to discuss her new novel Forest Dark, translated as Donker Woud by Ambo Anthos. The New York Times described Krauss as “one of America’s most important novelists”, and is best known for her novel The History of Love. Forest Dark is a story about the personal …...
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John A. Farrell

Richard Nixon: The Life

Jun 29, 2017, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

With his book Richard Nixon: The Life, John A. Farrell has written the defining biography of this media-hating president driven by paranoia and pursued by scandals. It is a tour de force, an enthralling biography of America’s darkest president, and has been hailed by critics as brilliantly researched, authoritatively crafted, and lively on the page. It is …...
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Martin Ford

Rise of the Robots

Jun 21, 2017, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

In his book Rise of the Robots (winner of the FT and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award), Silicon Valley entrepreneur Martin Ford looks at the impact on labor of robotisation and automation. They have made production so efficient that companies can now produce vast quantities of goods virtually without the help of human …...
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Branko Milanovic

Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization

Apr 13, 2017, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Who are the winners and losers of globalization? One of the world’s leading economists of inequality, the former World Bank economist Branko Milanovic, visited the John Adams to explain the income disparities both within countries and between them, as well as how we got here, and whether there’s a way out. In his book Global Inequality: A New …...
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Lauren Greenfield

Generation Wealth

May 16, 2017, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

We are obsessed by the lifestyles of the rich and famous. The acclaimed American photographer and filmmaker Lauren Greenfield, maker of the award-winning documentary The Queen of Versailles, is a prominent chronicler of consumerism, youth culture and gender issues. In addition to her many films, exhibitions and monographs such as Girl Culture, Fast Forward and THIN, she is most …...
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Adam Alter

My phone, my phone, my irresistible phone: Welcome to the age of addictive technology

Apr 20, 2017, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

We spend more time communicating through our smartphones than we spend talking to our partner. New technology has nestled itself in our pockets, our lives, our habits, our dealings with each other and the rest of the world. This addiction is not just a sign of our own weakness: these products are actually designed to get us hooked. Adam Alter of NYU …...
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Trump’s First 100 Days

With Thomas Frank, Will Englund and Greg Shapiro

May 01, 2017, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Listen, Liberal – or: Whatever Happened to the Party of the People? is the title of the newest best-selling book by Thomas Frank, political analyst and historian. In his previous book What’s the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America (2004) Frank already explored the rise of populist conservatism in the US, focusing …...
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Michael Chabon

Moonglow

Apr 11, 2017, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Michael Chabon is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and Telegraph Avenue, as well as the screenwriter for the hugely successful Spiderman 2 film. On April 11th, this master storyteller returned to the John Adams Institute with his deeply personal new book Moonglow, translated as Maangloed by Ambo Anthos. In …...
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Amy Webb

The Signals Are Talking: How Today's Fringe Becomes Tomorrow's Mainstream

Mar 17, 2017, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

How do you spot the emerging trends in business, technology and culture so that you can distinguish the trend from the trendy? Futurist Amy Webb, founder of the Future Today Institute, visited the John Adams to discuss her new book The Signals Are Talking – about how to predict which of all the seemingly random …...
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Joby Warrick

Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS

Mar 22, 2017, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Two time Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Joby Warrick (Washington Post) visited the John Adams to discuss his new book Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS, translated into Dutch by Uitgeverij Q. In this book, Warrick tells the story of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, the founding father of the organization that would become the Islamic State. Drawing on unique …...
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Election Night

Presidential Elections 2016

Nov 08, 2016, 9:00 pm - 1:00 am

In collaboration with Paradiso we organised an Election Night event on November 8th. The program switched between CNN, NPO, live speakers and presentations about the election and American history. Kees van Minnen (directeur Roosevelt Study Center en Professor of American History at Ghent University) about the timeTheodor Roosevelt’s spoke at Paradiso while visiting the Netherlands. …...
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Mary Norris

Between You & Me

Oct 26, 2016, 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm

To celebrate the 50th birthday of our partner Athenaeum Boekhandel, we co-hosted an event with ‘Comma Queen’ Mary Norris. She has spent more than three decades guarding The New Yorker’s grand traditions of grammar and usage. Now she brings her vast experience, good cheer, and finely sharpened pencils to help the rest of us in …...
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Steve McCurry

On Reading

Nov 01, 2016, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Photographer Steve McCurry (1950) is best known for his iconic picture taken in 1984 of an Afghan girl, which was published on the cover of National Geographic the following year. He managed to enter Afghanistan just as it was being closed to Western journalists. The images that he smuggled out of the country showed the …...
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Zadie Smith

Swing Time

Nov 11, 2016, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

One of the most talented authors of this generation visited the John Adams Institute to speak about her exuberant and ambitious new novel Swing Time – published in Dutch by Prometheus Publishers. Zadie Smith’s star rose quickly with her debut novel White Teeth, which won multiple awards and proved Smith to be a wondrously talented …...
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Jonathan Safran Foer

Here I Am

Oct 14, 2016, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Here I Am is Foer’s third novel, after Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. The story focuses on an American Jewish family which is falling apart in a moment of crisis. The story is set against the broader backdrop of political instability and natural disaster in the Middle East. At stake is …...
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Hanya Yanagihara

A Little Life

Oct 05, 2016, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Hanya Yanagihara’s second novel A Little Life has established her as a major new voice in US fiction. The novel, which is both a dislocating meditation on the trauma of child sexual abuse, and a moving tribute to the possibilities and limitations of adult male friendship and love, was widely greeted as a book of …...
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Branko Milanovic

January 21, 2014

Read the introduction that Casper Thomas gave to our event with Branko Milanovic, who talked about his book Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization....
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Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia

A Supreme Court Justice's view on the Netherlands

Sep 09, 2004, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Having been known for his powerful intellect and unequivocal opinions, Antonin Scalia served 28 years on the U.S. Supreme Court. Having been considered one of the Court’s most conservative justices, he was regarded by George W. Bush as a model for future judicial appointments, which lead to speculation that he could one day occupy the …...
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