history Archives - The John Adams Institute

“In August of 1619, a ship carrying more than 20 enslaved Africans arrived in the English colony of Virginia. America was not yet America, but this was the moment it began.” Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones has devoted her career to exposing systemic and institutional racism in the United States. Chief among her …...

New York Burning

John Adams & Fulbright event with Jill Lepore

Apr 20, 2023, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

New York City, 1741: Fires break out throughout the city. Public and private property is set ablaze, and the ruling elite is nervous. There are whispers of a coup, or worse, an outright rebellion. But the perpetrators of the crimes lurk in the shadows, and so, fueled by the paranoia that accompanies hearsay, the authorities …...

Karen Joy Fowler

Booth

Sep 15, 2022, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

April 14th 1865, on the balcony of the Ford Theatre in Washington DC, John Wilkes Booth has just assassinated president Abraham Lincoln. This shocking incident would ring through history and make the Booths the most infamous family in the country. The John Adams Institute is pleased to host author and Man Booker finalist Karen Joy …...

Guns & Votes

Carol Anderson

May 30, 2022, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

On paper, every American has the right to vote and – thanks to the Second Amendment – to bear arms. But in reality, says Carol Anderson, both these rights are undermined by the racism which is so deeply rooted in American society. And that, in turn, undermines democracy. Anderson is a professor of African-American studies …...

Michael Ignatieff

On Consolation

May 19, 2022, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

How do we find solace in modern times? The internationally acclaimed Canadian author and historian Michael Ignatieff will visit the John Adams Institute to discuss just that in his new, bestselling book: On Consolation: Finding Solace in Dark Times. Ignatieff was the rector of the Central European University in Budapest, until he was forced to …...

Russell Shorto

Smalltime: A Story of My Family and the Mob

Sep 15, 2021, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Could it really be happening? Will there – after more than a year and a half online – be a John Adams event with a real, live speaker?! Yes, in addition to our rich online program we are happy to start welcoming speakers in person again. On September 15, Russell Shorto will take the John …...

Niall Ferguson

Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe

Jul 05, 2021, 7:30 pm - 8:45 pm

Might there have been fewer deaths from Covid-19 if governments had been quicker to impose lockdowns and restrict, even ban, air travel? Might its spread have been more quickly controlled if the Chinese authorities had been more open when the first cases were identified? The knowledge about diseases that we have accumulated over the past …...

Martin Luther King vs. The FBI

Documentary & Doc Talk

Jan 23, 2021, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Captivating and urgent, Martin Luther King vs. The FBI uncovers how during the civil rights movement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) utilized every means at its disposal to sabotage the efforts of dr. Martin Luther King and other Black activists. Based on recently discovered and declassified files, the documentary powerfully demonstrates how fear for …...

Ian Buruma

The Churchill Complex

Dec 01, 2020, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

What would Churchill do? The Special Relationship between Britain and America has done much to shape the world as we know it, from World War II through to Trump and Brexit. The victors of the war inherited a legacy of leadership and prestige as beacons of freedom and democracy. But what is left of that …...

The US 2020 Elections

High School Student Webinar

Nov 02, 2020, 10:30 am - 11:30 am

Our 2020 Quincy Club lecture school series on the US Presidential Elections filled up fast. For everyone who missed out or wants to participate again, the John Adams is organizing a live online broadcast on the day before the elections, Monday 2 November at 10.30 am. This broadcast will be presented live by Albertine Bloemendal, …...

Madeleine Albright

Hell and Other Destinations

Jun 20, 2020, 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm

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 …...

High School Student Webinar

California and Silicon Valley

Jun 11, 2020, 10:30 am - 11:30 am

Every year, already since 2002, the John Adams Institute organizes a lecture program called The Quincy Club at schools all throughout the Netherlands to help young audiences better understand American culture. This year, the John Adams presented a unique, online live Quincy Club webinar about California’s Silicon Valley, an English program aimed at students in …...

Esther Safran Foer

I Want You to Know We're Still Here

May 26, 2020, 9:00 pm - 10:00 pm

For our third online event we invited author Esther Safran Foer. The mother of three renowned authors – Franklin, Jonathan and Joshua – has written a heartfelt memoir exploring the history of her parents and extended family who were killed in Ukraine during World War 2. Her book, I Want You to Know We’re Still …...

Francis Fukuyama

In Government We Trust

May 12, 2020, 12:00 am - 9:00 pm

How will the current COVID-19 crisis influence national democracies and international political relations? Will there be a shift in the balance of powers – between countries, but also between democracies and dictatorships? For insight and knowledge on these matters, we can look to the renowned American political scientist Francis Fukuyama. The John Adams Institute and …...

Roger Ross Williams

The Innocence Files

Apr 15, 2020, 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm

The documentary series The Innocence Files is inspired by ‘The Innocence Project’, started in 1992 by two New York lawyers who use DNA technology to exonerate people who were wrongly convicted. There are now Innocence Projects in every state of the US. They have been able to get over 2500 people out of jail, often …...

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 …...

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), …...

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 …...

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? …...

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 …...

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 …...

Hyphen-Nation

American Perspectives on Diversity

Feb 05, 2010, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Immigration and diversity: they are the biggest, hottest, most painful issues in the Netherlands. America is the land of diversity. What is the secret to America’s approach? It’s a tiny thing: the hyphen. Everyone in the U.S. has a dual identity: Mexican-American, Italian-American, African-American…America tells newcomers: “Become American, join us…but don’t lose your origins!” Can …...

Stephen Greenblatt

Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare

Nov 23, 2004, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute hosted writer Stephen Greenblatt, who spoke on his biography on William Shakespeare, titled Will in the World: How Shakespeare became Shakespeare. For his biography, Greenblatt did extensive research on Shakespeare’s life concerning religion, London, ghosts, rural life, alcoholism, his marriage and his fellow writers. The Elizabethan era seems to come to life, …...

Jonathan Spence

Treason by the Book

May 30, 2002, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with Yale professor Jonathan Spence, who visited on account of his book Treason by the Book. Treason by the Book is a historical account of the Zeng Jing (曾靜) case which took place during the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor of China around 1730. Zeng Jing, a failed degree …...

Mark Danner

A Helpless Giant? America and the Post-Cold War World

Jun 14, 2000, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute presented an evening with writer and journalist Mark Danner. He spoke on American Foreign Policy after the Cold War. Danner is a former staff writer for The New Yorker and frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books. Danner specializes in U.S. foreign affairs, war and politics, and has written extensively …...

Jamaica Kincaid

The Sound of Silence: Tales from the Caribbean

Dec 07, 1989, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

In 1989 Jamaica Kincaid visited the John Adams Institute to talk about ‘A Small Place’. Lyrical, sardonic, and forthright, ‘A Small Place’ magnifies our vision of one small place with Swiftian wit and precision. Jamaica Kincaid’s expansive essay candidly appraises the ten-by-twelve-mile island in the British West Indies where she grew up, and makes palpable …...

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 …...

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 …...

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 …...

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 …...

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, …...

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. …...

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 …...

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 …...

Bernstein: East Side, West Side

An evening with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Feb 01, 2017, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

As a young musician Leonard ‘Lenny’ Bernstein lived in an immigrant neighborhood of New York City, the Lower East Side. He died in his apartment at the prestigious Dakota building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. In cooperation with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, we presented a special program in the West-Indisch Huis which shed a …...

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 …...

Mark Landler

Alter Egos: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and the twilight struggle over American Power

Jun 21, 2016, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

The deeply reported story of two supremely ambitious figures, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton—archrivals who became partners for a time, trailblazers who share a common sense of their historic destiny but hold very different beliefs about how to project American power. In Alter Egos, New York Times White House correspondent Mark Landler takes us inside the …...

Ian Buruma

Their Promised Land: My Grandparents in Love and War

Jun 29, 2016, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

The John Adams Institute proudly presented an evening with journalist, writer and academic Ian Buruma. His new book, Their Promised Land: My Grandparents in Love and War, is an account of a love sustained through the terror and separation of two world wars and the thousands of love letters sent in the darkest hours of …...

Nigel Hamilton

Commander in Chief: FDR's Battle with Churchill, 1943

May 02, 2016, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

In the next installment of the “splendid memoir Roosevelt didn’t get to write” (New York Times), bestselling and award-winning biographer Nigel Hamilton tells the astonishing story of FDR’s year-long, defining battle with Churchill, as the war raged in Africa and Italy. Nigel Hamilton’s Mantle of Command, long-listed for the National Book Award, drew on years of archival …...

Requiem for the American Dream

Kelly Nyks

Apr 06, 2016, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

In Requiem for the American Dream, Noam Chomsky argues that the collapse of American democratic ideals and the rise of the 1% means that the American dream is harder than ever to achieve. Tracing a half-century of policies designed to favor the most wealthy at the expense of the majority, Chomsky lays bare the costly debris left …...

Zak Ebrahim

The Terrorist’s Son

Mar 10, 2016, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

What is it like to grow up with a terrorist in your home? Zak Ebrahim was seven years old when his father, El-Sayyid Nosair, shot and killed the leader of the Jewish Defense League. While in prison, Nosair helped plan the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. The boy spent the rest …...

Kate Andersen Brower

The Residence

Mar 21, 2016, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

“Downton Abbey meets House of Cards”. From the mystique of the glamorous Kennedys to the tumult that surrounded Bill and Hillary Clinton during the president’s impeachment to the historic tenure of Barack and Michelle Obama, each new administration brings a unique set of personalities to the White House – and a new set of challenges …...

Robert Putnam

Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis

Nov 16, 2015, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

A groundbreaking examination of the growing inequality gap from the bestselling author of Bowling Alone: why fewer Americans today have the opportunity for upward mobility. Robert Putnam – about whom The Economist said, “his scholarship is wide-ranging, his intelligence luminous, his tone modest, his prose unpretentious and frequently funny” – offers a personal but also …...

Niall Ferguson

Kissinger the Idealist: 1923-1968

Oct 26, 2015, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Niall Ferguson, Professor of History at Harvard University and one of the most renowned historians of this age, has returned to the John Adams Institute to discuss part one of his long-awaited biography of Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary of State and foreign policy chief for Presidents Nixon and Ford. Kissinger is widely regarded as …...

Senator George Mitchell

The Negotiator: Reflections on an American Life

Jun 08, 2015, 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm

This event was part of our ongoing 2016 Election Series. Previous events in the series were Jennifer Lawless and George Packer. During a political career that spans over four decades, George Mitchell has gained a reputation for his skill in finding compromise and common sense in desperate situations and places. In his aptly-titled memoir The Negotiator, he shares …...

Jerome Karabel

Who Gets in, What Comes Out: Accessibility & Responsibility of Top Education

May 28, 2015, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

At the end of the 19th century, Harvard launched a policy to attract students not only from the elite, but also from public schools. This move resulted in an unwelcome surprise for Harvard: they enrolled too many Jewish students. Harvard quickly took measures that were intended to, as President A. Lawrence Lowell said, “prevent a dangerous …...

George Packer

The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America

Apr 16, 2015, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

This event was part of our ongoing 2016 Election Series. Other events in the series were Jennifer Lawless and Senator George Mitchell. America is unravelling. Within three decades, the land of endless opportunity has become more than ever a country of winners and losers. In his book The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America, George Packer …...

Bill Browder

Red Notice

Feb 26, 2015, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Bill Browder, founder and CEO of the hedge fund Hermitage Capital Management, went from being the biggest foreign investor in Russia’s stockmarket to being ‘one of the country’s biggest enemies’, in his own words. His battle against corporate corruption led to the authorities declaring him a “threat to national security” and a prison sentence of …...

Gary Shteyngart’s “Little Failure” book tour

October 17, 2014

Gary Shteyngart wrote a hilarious piece in The New Yorker about his “Little Failure” book tour. This tour has also passed through the John Adams Institute on November 17, 2014. Read his piece here....

Gary Shteyngart

Little Failure: A Memoir

Nov 17, 2014, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Gary Shteyngart’s parents were disappointed in their baby, who was sickly and asthmatic. His dad called him ‘Snotty’, his mom ‘Failurchka’ – hence the title of his new book, ‘Little Failure’. He is back at the John Adams for the second time to talk about his new book, his first foray into non-fiction in the …...

Francis Fukuyama

Political Order and Political Decay

Sep 26, 2014, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Francis Fukuyama, the renowned professor of political science at Stanford, returns to the John Adams Institute. Three years ago he came to talk about The Origins of Political Order (2011), in which he explained why some societies successfully evolved into fully formed states, while others remain largely governed by tribalism. Now he will discuss its …...

Darrin McMahon

Divine Fury: A History of Genius

Sep 15, 2014, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

The John Adams Institute and the Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies have joined forces to organize the annual Burgerhart lecture, in which an eminent scholar reflects on the Enlightenment. Darrin McMahon was awarded Best Book of the Year awards by the New York Times, the Washington Post and the online magazine Slate for his previous book …...

Andrew Solomon

Far from the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity

Feb 20, 2014, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Parents cherish hopes and expectations for their children. But what if your child is “different”? Andrew Solomon draws in Far From the Tree, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award 2012, on ten years of research and interviews with more than three hundred families. He writes about families coping with deafness, dwarfism, Down syndrome, …...

Henry Urbach

The Glass House

Feb 17, 2014, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Henry Urbach is Director of the Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut, one of the 20th century’s most significant residential structures. Built in 1949 by Philip Johnson — an enfant terrible of American architecture —as a weekend retreat that grew over several decades into a campus comprising numerous structures and an important art collection. The …...

Reza Aslan

Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

Mar 20, 2014, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Who was the historical figure Jesus of Nazareth? Not the divine Jesus Christ, but the man shaped by the political, social and economic contexts of early first century Palestine? In Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, Reza Aslan, biblical scholar and author of the international bestseller No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and …...

Ruby Wax

Sane New World

Nov 05, 2013, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Ruby Wax might win the title of ‘Hardest Working Woman in Show Business’. She has been an interviewer, comedian, actress, script editor, author, teacher. And she’s wildly successful in everything she does. Her TV series Ruby Wax Goes Dutch was a hit; her interviews with celebrities have achieved cult status. Her new book, ‘Sane New …...

Russell Shorto

Amsterdam: A History of the World’s Most Liberal City

Oct 16, 2013, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Amsterdam could stake a claim to being the birthplace of the modern world. That, in essence, is what Russell Shorto argues in Amsterdam: A History of the World’s Most Liberal City. His book weaves together the lives of Amsterdammers past and present, from Rembrandt to Anne Frank to Theo van Gogh, and teases apart the many …...

Herdenking Slavernijverleden

Commemorating 150 years

Jun 30, 2013, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

The year 2013 marks the 150th anniversary of both the Emancipation Proclamation and the end of slavery in the Dutch colonies. The John Adams Institute is partnering with the Stichting Herdenking Slavernijverleden to commemorate this dual landmark with two events: – On June 30th, Emily Raboteau, author of Searching for Zion, gave a talk about …...

Barbara Kellerman

The End of Leadership

May 13, 2013, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Who will lead? The question has been asked by humans since time began. Alexander, Napoleon, George Washington, Henry Ford, Steve Jobs…history is an endless succession of people who purport to know the way, and of others willing to follow. But things are different now. Barbara Kellerman of Harvard, an expert on leadership, says in The End of …...

Anne Applebaum

Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956

Jan 31, 2012, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

What separates Europe’s eastern half from the west? Why did communism take root in the East? How did the Soviet Union dominate there in the aftermath of World War II, and how did societies view the transformation and adapt? Anne Applebaum has mined newly-opened archives to craft a vivid picture of how people believed in …...

Madeleine Albright

Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948

Nov 26, 2012, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

The first female Secretary of State in United States history was born Marie Jana Korbelová in Prague in 1937. When she was two years old, her family fled the Nazi threat and escaped to England–for political reasons, she was told. Only later did she learn that she was in fact Jewish. After a stellar career …...

Gayle Lemmon

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana

Nov 13, 2012, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana is a New York Times bestselling book that highlights the tremendous difficulties women in Afghanistan face even as it reveals paths of promise. It focuses on the drive and entrepreneurial spirit of Kamila Sidiqi, who was forced out of school by the Taliban, then learned to sew, and developed a business to support …...

Frans Verhagen

Lincoln - Een Geniaal Politicus

Sep 25, 2012, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

American historians consistently rank Abraham Lincoln as the country’s greatest president. Yet during his time in office he was arguably its most divisive. His very election ignited the Civil War, which remains the bloodiest in U.S. history. In the first Dutch biography of Lincoln in more than half a century, America-journalist and publicist Frans Verhagen …...

Nathan Englander

What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank

Sep 04, 2012, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Nathan Englander’s new short story collection self-consciously references the two poles of his work: Jewish life and American prose. The title refers to the late Raymond Carver, whose What We Talk About When We Talk About Love redefined the short story. By replacing love with Anne Frank (i.e., Jewishness), Englander signals what the New York Times called his …...

Gini Reticker

Peace Unveiled

Apr 11, 2012, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

As Afghanistan continues to struggle, so do its women and children. But there are strong individuals who give reason for hope. The groundbreaking documentary film Peace Unveiled, narrated by Tilda Swinton, follows three Afghan women who organized to protect women’s rights from being traded away in 2009 during peace talks between U.S.forces and the Taliban. One …...

Walter Isaacson

Steve Jobs

Apr 02, 2012, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Steve Jobs created Apple. He gave the world the iPad, the Mac, and the iPhone. He was also an eccentric who was capable of bursting into tears when he didn’t get what he wanted, or of refusing to wear a hospital mask because its design offended him. In his phenomenal biography of Jobs, Walter Isaacson …...

Deborah Scroggins

Wanted Women: Faith, Lies, and the War on Terror - The Lives of Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Aafia Siddiqui

Mar 08, 2012, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

The Somali-born activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali is lauded in America as a champion of the cause of women within Islam. But the Dutch know her differently. As a member of the Dutch parliament and collaborator of polarizing filmmaker Theo van Gogh, she stirred sharp feelings here. Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist and uslim terrorist now …...

Cullen Murphy

God's Jury

Feb 06, 2012, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition. So went the old Monty Python skit. But does anyone expect that the Roman Catholic Church’s office of the Inquisition is still with us today? In his insightful new book, Cullen Murphy, editor at large at Vanity Fair, deconstructs the infamous Inquisition, lays out its past, and offers a …...

Leo Blokhuis

The Sound of the South

Jan 18, 2012, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Leo Blokhuis is the Dutch “pop professor.” He is co-host of the TV show Top 2000 a Gogo. His last book, The Sound of the West Coast, won the Golden Tulip award, and the accompanying album reached gold status. In his new book, The Sound of the South, he makes the case that in the early 60’s southern soul was influenced …...

Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith

Van Gogh: The Life

Nov 22, 2011, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

So you think you know Vincent Van Gogh? Think again. In the first major biography of the Dutch genius in more than 70 years, Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith – who previously won a Pulitzer Prize for their biography of Jackson Pollock – give a richly detailed, and in some ways surprising, portrait of …...

Charles C. Mann

1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created

Oct 18, 2011, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

What do Italian tomato sauce, Florida oranges and Thai chili peppers have in common? All are products that are not native to those lands. Every American knows that 1492 was when Columbus “discovered” the New World. It was also the moment when, biologically, the world changed. In his previous bestselling book, 1491, Charles C. Mann …...

Isabel Wilkerson

The Warmth of Other Suns

Sep 28, 2011, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute, in cooperation with the US Embassy in The Hague, proudly presented an evening with journalist and writer Isabel Wilkerson. Almost everything you know about the black American experience relates to one thing: the so-called Great Migration, when millions of people left harsh conditions in the South for a better life in …...

Paul Theroux

The Tao of Travel: Enlightenments from Lives on the Road

May 25, 2011, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

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 …...

Lawrence Hill

The Book of Negroes

May 22, 2011, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The Book of Negroes, the third novel by Toronto-born writer Lawrence Hill, gives a fictionalized account of a remarkable historical event. In the 1700s, a number of Africans were taken into slavery, brought to America, transferred to Canada, and ultimately were able to return to Africa. Their circular passage is personified by Aminata Diallo, who …...

Francis Fukuyama

The Origins of Political Order

May 10, 2011, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

One of America’s most distinguished political thinkers took the John Adams Institute stage for the second time to discuss his far-ranging exploration of history and society. Francis Fukuyama’s book is about how states form, but while it goes back into the distant past, its relevance is very up-to-date. How did ancient societies relinquish their tribal …...

Robert D. Kaplan

Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of Power

Feb 08, 2011, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Robert Kaplan is one of America’s most provocative and influential writers about power and the future of the world. His books have outlined the threats brought by overpopulation, environmental desecration, and religious fervor. His book, Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of Power, argues that the Indian Ocean occupies a role that the Mediterranean once did: …...

David Remnick

The Bridge

Jun 08, 2010, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

As the editor of The New Yorker magazine, David Remnick has been responsible for some of the greatest writing of our time. As an author and journalist, Remnick has also produced transformative bestsellers, beginning with Lenin’s Tomb, about the end of the Soviet Union, and continuing with King of the World, his biography of Muhammad Ali. His book, The Bridge, …...

Kathryn Stockett

The Help

Jun 03, 2010, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The Help sat atop the New York Times bestseller list for a full year. Its popularity is due to its richly rendered story and setting, but also because it is daring. Kathryn Stockett, a white southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi, chose to tell the story of black maids in the old South, and to write in old-fashioned dialect. …...

Jon Krakauer

Where Men Win Glory

Apr 28, 2010, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Jon Krakauer has written some of the most popular outdoor adventure books of our time. Into Thin Air, about a fatal trip up Mount Everest, was Time Magazine’s book of the year. Into the Wild became a major motion picture. Krakauer’s fascination with endurance and heroism takes a different focus in his new book. Where Men Win Glory is the …...

Reverend Jesse Jackson

Hyphen-Nation: Public keynote address

Feb 05, 2010, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

From the civil rights marches of the 1960s, the Rev. Jesse Jackson has been at the core of the American civil rights movement. He made history as an African American running for president in the 1980s, and the image of him weeping for joy on the night of Barack Obama’s election brought things full circle …...

Jane Alison

The Sisters Antipodes

Dec 03, 2009, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The acclaimed American novelist Jane Alison wrote a memoir of her exotic childhood, and did so, in the words of the Boston Globe, “with the insight of a novelist and the language of a poet.” It is a story—involving double spouse-swapping among diplomats, daughters who were mirror images of one another, and ultimately tragedy—that Alison originally …...

Christopher Caldwell

Reflections on the Revolution in Europe

October 16, 2009

This was the third event in our New America Series, sponsored by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As a senior editor at The Weekly Standard and a contributor to The Financial Times, Christopher Caldwell is a Young Turk (if one can apply the term) in the American conservative movement. His provocative arguments have covered everything from California’s budget …...

Saïd Sayrafiezadeh

When Skateboards Will Be Free

Oct 01, 2009, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Say you grew up in 1970s and 1980s America. Say your father was Iranian and your mother was Jewish. Say both were radical members of the Socialist Workers Party, who cared more about handing out political leaflets than taking care of you. What would you do? If you were Saїd Sayrafiezadeh, you would write an …...

Amy Chua

Day of Empire

May 27, 2009, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

The Persian dynasties, the Roman Empire, the Dutch Republic in the 17th century, United States of America: all of these hyperpowers grew to world dominance at a time when they had high concentrations of minorities. Each admitted people who had been persecuted or cast off. And each profited from them. So says Amy Chua in …...

Toni Morrison

A Mercy

May 20, 2009, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

One of the most important American writers of her generation will take the John Adams Institute stage for the first time. Toni Morrison, as renowned for her magical realism as for her portrayal of the African American struggle, is that rare writer who is acclaimed by critics and adored by the reading public. In her …...

Henry Hudson Sets Sail

Town Hall Meeting featuring: Geert Mak and Russell Shorto

Apr 04, 2009, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

This special event celebrates the 400-year relationship between the Netherlands and the U.S., and especially between Amsterdam and New Amsterdam – that is, New York. It features talks by Geert Mak and Russell Shorto, the presentation of the book they co-wrote for the event (1609: The Forgotten History of Hudson, Amsterdam and New York), as …...

Shelby Steele

A Bound Man

Oct 05, 2008, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Barack Obama is the most compelling political figure to come out of the U.S. in at least a generation. At the core of his personality is his biracial background. Shelby Steele -a research fellow at Stanford University and a winner of the National Book Critics’ Circle Award- is also the child of a white mother …...

Lisa Jardine

Going Dutch

Jun 19, 2008, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

19 June 2008 In the great book of history, the British Empire typically merits a fat chapter, while the Dutch Enlightenment gets a passing mention. The problem with this, argues Lisa Jardine in her groundbreaking work Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland’s Glory, is that Britain’s rise was built on -not to say swiped from- the …...

Steve Coll

The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century

Apr 21, 2008, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

21 April 2008 One of America’ s most renowned international affairs correspondents came to the John Adams Institute podium to discuss his revelatory book on the Bin Laden family. Steve Coll won the Pulitzer Prize in 2004 forGhost Wars, which showed how 9/11 was an outgrowth of the CIA’ s long involvement in Afghanistan. His …...

Madeleine Albright

Memo to the President-Elect

February 19, 2008

19 February 2008 A one-of-a-kind event with Madeleine Albright: Secretary Albright discussed her book, Memo to the President-Elect, offered her analysis of what the next president must do to restore America’s international standing, and assessed the presidential candidates. This event was a coproduction of the John Adams Institute, the International School for Humanities and Social …...

Christopher Hitchens

God Is Not Great

February 13, 2008

13 February 2008 He dismisses Hillary Clinton as “an aging and resentful female” and, regarding Barack Obama, he asks, “why is a man with a white mother considered to be ‘black,’ anyway?” Christopher Hitchens is one of America’s most provocative public intellectuals. In his book, God Is Not Great – a runaway bestseller in the U.S. – …...

Daniel Mendelsohn

The Lost

Sep 18, 2007, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

18 September 2007 Award-winning author and critic Daniel Mendelsohn joined us to discuss his book The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award and received extraordinary critical acclaim e.g. in The New York Review of Books (“the most gripping, the most amazing true story I have …...

Niall Ferguson

The War of the World

May 22, 2007, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

British historian Niall Ferguson joined us to discuss the question why the 20th century was the bloodiest in modern history. Another theme he discussed was why he thinks the American Century will be remembered for the exhaustion of the West and the rise of China. He challenges Americans to rethink their place in the world …...

Michael Ruse

The Evolution-Creation Struggle

Mar 29, 2007, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Ruse was called “one of the most stimulating writers on the never-ending cultural debate over evolution” by New York Magazine. As one of the leading participants in the contemporary debate, Ruse gives a new perspective on the historical continuity of thinking about creation, evolution, and the relationship between religion and science. He uncovers surprising similarities …...

Tony Judt

A View from Nowhere: Is a History of Postwar Europe Possible?

Nov 03, 2006, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

New York University historian Tony Judt joins us to discuss his new book Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945. Judt covers the broad strokes and fine details of modern history, including the continent’s troubled relationship with the United States. Prof. Judt’s is ‘arguably the most esteemed writer on contemporary European history’, writes The New Yorker. …...

Madeleine Albright

The Mighty and the Almighty

Jun 17, 2006, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Madeleine Albright returned to the John Adams Institute after her first visit in 2003 to discuss her book The Mighty and the Almighty, translated in Dutch under the title ‘De macht en de almacht’ by Anthos/Manteau. In this book, Madeleine Albright tackles the thorny subject of the role of faith in international relations. Albright rejects …...

Mark Kurlansky

The Big Oyster

May 30, 2006, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Former pastry chef and international correspondent Mark Kurlansky reveals the secrets of the foods we love. His culinary odyssey, The Big Oyster, is a history of New York told through its most celebrated shellfish. New York City’s oyster houses were famous around the world until pollution finally destroyed the beds off nearby Ellis Island in the …...

Charles C. Mann

1491

Mar 17, 2006, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute proudly presented an evening with award-winning American journalist and author Charles C. Mann. Mann has been called both ‘revisionist’ and ‘revolutionary’. His work – 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus (Nieuw Amsterdam publishers: 1491; De ontdekking van precolumbiaans Amerika) – traces the early history of the continent and dispels long-held …...

Amitai Etzioni

The New Golden Rule

Dec 07, 2005, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Etzioni was in the Netherlands to launch the Dutch translation of his bestselling book The New Golden Rule: Community and Morality in a Democratic Society (De nieuwe gulden regel) with a preface by Balkenende, who was presented with the first copy in The Hague. A panel of MPs, including Ayaan Hirsi Ali ,Femke Halsema and …...

Eduard van de Bilt

Becoming John Adams, Leiden and the Making of a Great American, 1780-1782

Nov 23, 2005, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

23 November 2005 2005 was designated as ‘John Adams Year’ to mark the 225th anniversary of this honorable American citizen’s arrival in the Dutch Republic. Adams became the first American Ambassador to the Netherlands and arranged Dutch loans to keep the American War of Independence aﬂoat. Immediately upon his arrival in July 1780, John Adams …...

Jane Fonda

My Life So Far

Oct 13, 2005, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

From Hollywood to Hanoi, Jane Fonda has endeared and enraged Americans for more than four 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 new autobiography. Throughout her youth among Hollywood’s elite …...

John Adams in Amsterdam

Aug 25, 2005, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

25 August 2005 Mini Exhibition 4 Juli -25 August 2005 The American Diplomat John Adams in Amsterdam,1780-1782 The Amsterdams Historisch Museum and the John Adams Institute proudly presented the first-ever exhibition commemorating the life of U.S. President John Adams in Holland. The exhibition gave an impression of the political situation in the Netherlands at the …...

R. B. Bernstein

John Adams 1780-2005

Apr 18, 2005, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The first American diplomats in Europe fought an intellectual war for American independence to prove that Americans were intellectual equals deserving the respect of European philosophers. While Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson exploded the claim that nature and human beings degenerated in the New World, John Adams chose as his battlefield “the divine science of …...

Edward P. Jones

The Known World

Apr 17, 2005, 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Henry Townsend, a black farmer, bootmaker, and former slave, has a fondness for Paradise Lost and an unusual mentor — William Robbins, perhaps the most powerful man in antebellum Virginia’s Manchester County. Under Robbins’s tutelage, Henry becomes proprietor of his own plantation — as well as of his own slaves. When he dies, his widow, …...

Pauline Maier

The Everlasting American Dream

Feb 21, 2005, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

21 February 2005 For many American people today, the history of the American Revolution and all that went with it is still a matter of keen interest. A fact already signified by the enormous number of best-sellers written in recent years about the Founding Fathers of the United States. Pauline Maier, a historian attached to …...

Russell Shorto

New Amsterdam - The Island at the Center of the World

Nov 08, 2004, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

How did Manhattan grow into the most powerful city in the world? After literally stumbling over the gravestones of early Dutch settlers near his apartment in New York City’s East Village, Russel Shorto wanted to know more about this overlooked chapter in the history of old Manhattan. He visited archives in the city and eventually …...

Arthur Phillips

The Egyptologist, or Atum is Aroused

Oct 26, 2004, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The Egyptologist is a true crime story. The book jacket heralds it as ‘a darkly comic labyrinth of a story.’ Written in the form of journal entries and letters, The Egyptologist contains two plots meandering back and forth in time, each in their appropriate style. One story is woven around Egyptologist Ralph Trilipush and his quest for the …...

David McCullough

John Adams 1735-1826

Sep 21, 2004, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

To celebrate the 2004-2005 lecture season, the John Adams Institute paid tribute to the American patriot, John Adams, who provided both the original inspiration and namesake to the institute. 2005 marks the 225th anniversary of his arrival in Amsterdam and for the inaugural lecture we welcomed his biographer, David McCullough. Credited by The New York Review …...

Walter Russell Mead

Power, Terror, Peace and War: America's Grand Strategy in a World at Risk

Jun 23, 2004, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute welcomed Walter Russell Mead, senior fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, to talk about his latest book: Power, Terror, Peace, and War: America’s Grand Strategy in a World at Risk. Maarten Huygen, commentator for NRC Handelsblad, interviewed Mead and moderated the discussion. Power, Terror, Peace, and War is …...

Dutch-American Friendship Day

April 19, 2004

19 April 2004 On Monday, 19 April 2004, we celebrated the 222nd Dutch-American Friendship Day together with the Amsterdam American Business Club in WTC Schiphol. The Netherlands was, after France, the second country to recognize America as an independent nation. Our namesake John Adams, the second president of the United States, arranged for this on …...

Deirdre Bair

Jung: A Biography

Jan 27, 2004, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Deirdre Bair meticulously assembled every scrap of information about Jung she could get her hands on, culminating in a big book which strikes Publishers Weekly as “a balance between damage control and deification” and suggests that in bulk and detail there is little more to say. Bair has evoked the man in all his cynical …...

James Frey

A Million Little Pieces

Dec 09, 2003, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

A Million Little Pieces is the confessional autobiography of James Frey about his past as an alcoholic and drug addict. The book starts at the moment he is checked into a rehabilitation facility at the age of twenty-three. He is in such bad shape, that the doctor at the rehab center warns that another incidence of …...

Jhumpa Lahiri

The Namesake

Nov 13, 2003, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute welcomed Pulitzer Prize winning author, Jhumpa Lahiri, who spoke about and read from her recently published novel The Namesake. Pieter Steinz introduced and interviewed Jhumpa Lahiri as well as moderated questions from the audience. The Namesake expands on Lahiri’s signature themes: the immigrant experience, clash of cultures, conflicts of assimilation and the tangled …...

Madeleine Albright

Madame Secretary: A Memoir

Oct 14, 2003, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute proudly presented an evening with former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who talked about her autobiography Madame Secretary: A Memoir. This autobiography recounts her childhood in the 1930’s as the daughter of a Czechoslovakian diplomat, the family’s flight to London where they spent World War II, their emigration to the …...

Robert Kagan

Of Paradise and Power: America Vs. Europe in the New World Order

Apr 23, 2003, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The Netherlands Atlantic Association together with the John Adams Institute and The Busy Bee Publishing House proudly presented a lecture by Robert Kagan. Kagan’s book Of Paradise and Power had been recently translated into Dutch as Balans van de Macht. Leonard Ornstein, journalist for Netwerk, Dutch National TV, introduced Kagan and interviewed him after his talk. Kagan …...

Fay Weldon

Auto-Da-Fay

Apr 09, 2003, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

We were pleased to welcome well-known novelist, playwright and screenwriter Fay Weldon, who spoke about her autobiography Auto Da Fay (translated into Dutch with the same title by Publishing House Contact). Stine Jensen introduced Fay Weldon and conducted the interview with her, as well as moderated questions from the audience. Auto Da Fay is, as Fay Weldon remarks, …...

Robert Jan van Pelt

The Holocaust: A History

Jan 27, 2003, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute presented the renowned historians Debórah Dwork and Robert Jan van Pelt on 27 January 2003, exactly 58 years after the liberation of Auschwitz. Dwork and Van Pelt are the authors of the recently published book The Holocaust: A History (De Holocaust. Een geschiedenis; published by Uitgeverij Boom). Professor Johannes Houwink ten Cate, director …...

Peter Gay

Schnitzler's Century: The Making of Middle-Class Culture 1815-1914

Nov 20, 2002, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute welcomed the renowned Sterling Professor of History, Peter Gay. His work, Schnitzler’s Century: The Making of Middle-Class Culture 1815-1914 (Penguin UK, 2001), had been translated recently into Dutch by Publishing House De Bezige Bij under the title De eeuw van Schnitzler: Een nieuwe geschiedenis van de negentiende eeuw. Herman Beliën, historian …...

Naomi Wolf

Misconceptions

May 14, 2002, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

14 May 2002 The John Adams Institute welcomed best-selling author Naomi Wolf to speak on her work Misconceptions (Valse Verwachtingen, published by De Arbeiderspers). Wolf, author of The Beauty Myth, has written an uncompromising account of the painful truth of motherhood in contemporary America. Beatrijs Smulders, advocate of Dutch-style confinement, obstetric and author of Veilig …...

Oliver Sacks

Uncle Tungsten: My Chemical Boyhood

Dec 10, 2001, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

December 10, 2001 Dr. Oliver Sacks visited the John Adams Institute to discuss his autobiography Uncle Tungsten: My Chemical Boyhood (Oom Wolfram en Mijn Chemische Jeugd). An elegant and beguiling writer, ‘a master at bleding sciences with old-fashioned storytelling’ (TIME), Dr. Sacks won international acclaim for his essays and books on migraines, sleeping-sickness, colour blindness, …...

Larry Siedentop

The United States and Europe: The European Union Revised

Nov 29, 2001, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Dr. Larry Siedentrop, political scientist and author, came to the John Adams Insitute to discuss European democracy and the threats to which it is exposed while forming the European Union. He also delved into the differences between the EU and the US. Compared to the US, Europe has an infinitely more difficult task to ‘write …...

Edmund White

Le Flâneur: a Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris

Nov 15, 2001, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Edmund White visited the John Adams Institute to present his personal view of Paris, having been a long-time resident. He took us through black, Arab and homosexual Paris, the Jewish ghetto and numerous obscure museums. White is well known for his novels about gay culture, his short stories, plays, essays and a biography of Jean …...

John Mollenkopf

Let's Ask New York: Migration and Immigration in New York and the Netherlands

Jun 19, 2001, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

In cooperation with the Universiteit van Amsterdam, the John Adams Institute held a lecture and panel discussion on migration and integration, and how approaches to this global issue differ in the USA and the Netherlands. John Mollenkopf, Professor at City University of New York, spoke about migration and its social effects. After his lecture, Geert …...

Robert D. Kaplan

Eastward to Tartary

Mar 28, 2001, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute presented an evening with Robert D. Kaplan, who talked about his book Eastward to Tartary (Oostwaarts, Het Spectrum). Eastward to Tartary is a riveting journey through the wreckage of the old Ottoman empire and into the heart of the oil-rich lands of Central Asia. In the closing years of the nineteenth …...

Ryszard Kapuscinski

The Shadow of the Sun

Nov 22, 2000, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute presented a lecture by the eminent Polish journalist and author Ryszard Kapuscinski, who talked about his life’s work and his book The Shadow of the Sun, a masterfully written account of his travels through Africa, his favorite continent. Kapuschinski avoided the official tours as well as the plus hotels, palaces and …...

Denise Chong

The Girl in the Picture

Dec 12, 2000, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

The John Adams Institute presented an evening with Chinese-Canadian author Denise Chong, who talked about her work and in particular her book The Girl in the Picture (Het Meisje van de Foto) published in Dutch by Prometheus. On 8 June 1972, a Pulitzer Prize winning photo was made that helped change the world’s view of war in …...

Jared Diamond

Gun, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

Oct 04, 2000, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Pulitzer-prize winning scientist and author Jared Diamond discussed his work and his iconoclastic book, Guns, Germs and Steel. Why did Europe and the Near East develop into the cradle of modern society? Why, until relatively recently, were civilizations in those two areas ascendant over those in Africa, Australasia, and the Americas? Professor Diamond offered an …...

Simon Schama

Rembrandt's Eyes

Dec 14, 1999, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Renowned English art historian Simon Schama spoke at the John Adams Institute about his book, Rembrandt’s Eyes. In this book, Schama explores Rembrandt’s obsession with and admiration of the Flemish painter, Peter Paul Rubens. It was only after the death of the legendary Rubens that Rembrandt discovered his own style, enabling him to breathe new …...

Frank McCourt

'Tis

Dec 01, 1999, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute welcomed the Irish-American author and Pulitzer Prize winner, Frank McCourt, for the second time to speak about his novel ‘Tis. ‘Tis, the sequel to Pulitzer Prize winner, Angela’s Ashes, continues McCourt’s story, from his arrival in the USA as an impoverished immigrant to his eventual career as a school teacher. McCourt’s …...

Ben Okri

Infinite Riches

Nov 11, 1999, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

November 11, 1999 The John Adams Institute welcomed internationally acclaimed novelist and Booker Prize winner Ben Okri, who spoke about Infinite Riches, the third book in the Spirit Child Azaro trilogy, following The Famished Road and Songs of Enchantment. Okri rewrites Africa’s history from an African perspective, showing the complexity of the colonial heritage. But …...

Arthur Golden

Memoirs of a Geisha

May 12, 1999, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute welcomed the American novelist Arthur Golden for a discussion of his dazzling first novel, Memoirs of a Geisha (Dagboek van een Geisha). In Memoirs of a Geisha, the reader experiences the life of Sayuri, a celebrated geisha who started her career in the 1920’s. Speaking her voice, Mr. Golden retraces the …...

Samuel Huntington

The Clash of Civilizations

Nov 03, 1997, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

To coincide with the Dutch translation of his international bestseller The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, political scientist Samuel Huntington lectured at the John Adams Institute. Huntington wrote The Clash of Civilizations as a result of an article published in Foreign Affairs in 1993, in which he argues that all future …...

Frank McCourt

Angela's Ashes

Sep 03, 1997, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute welcomed award-winning Irish-American author Frank McCourt who spoke about his autobiographical memoir Angela’s Ashes, which won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize as well as the US Critics Circle Award and sold over a milllion hard-back copies. McCourt already had along career as a teacher of creative writing and English at Stuyvesant High …...

William Hardy McNeill

Reshaping the Human Past

Dec 12, 1996, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute hosted renowned historian William Hardy McNeill who was in Holland to receive the prestigious Erasmus Prize, the first non-European scholar ever to be awarded this honor. Born in Vancouver, B.C., William McNeill graduating from the University of Chicago with a Master’s degree in history in 1939. After war service in th …...

Harry Wu

Troublemaker

Nov 08, 1996, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with Chinese-American human rights activist Harry Wu, who introduced his book Troublemaker, written in collaboration with New York Times journalist George Vescey. Wu’s appeal for justice became world news when the United States made his release from detention a condition for First Lady Hillary Clinton’s attendance at the …...

Chaim Potok

The Gates of November

Jun 09, 1996, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

June 9, 1996 The John Adams Institute hosted an afternoon with the Jewish American novelist Chaim Potok, who was also a rabbi, a historian, a philosopher, and a painter. Chaim Potok first introduced the general public to the Hasidic spiritual and cultural life in The Chosen. His protagonists struggle to define their Jewish identity within …...

Colm Tóibín

America, Backyard of Ireland

Feb 21, 1996, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute welcomed journalist and novelist Colm Tóibín. He once said that tradition and religion are the air that the Irish breathe. The strength of Tóibín’s work lies in his ability to combine this collective history with the personal, bringing forward the tragedies and joys of the individual in a world of continuing …...

Francis Fukuyama

TRUST: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperty

Oct 23, 1995, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with Francis Fukuyama, former deputy director of the US State Department’s policy staff who started a worldwide debate in 1989 when he published an article which proclaimed the triumph of liberal democracy over all other ideologies and systems of government. ‘The end of history’ became a well-known slogan. …...

Simon Schama

Landscape and Memory

Oct 05, 1995, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

October 5, 1995 The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with historian Simon Schama. Simon Schama was born in London in 1945, educated at Cambridge, and has taught at Oxford and Harvard. He is currently Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University in New York. Simon Schama has won international fame with his …...

Abraham Pais

Einstein Lived Here

Sep 13, 1995, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute proudly hosted an evening with Abraham Pais, previously Emeritus Professor of Physics at the Rockefeller University in New York and at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen. His featured work was a collection of essays called Einstein Lived Here. In 1983, Abraham Pais, who knew Albert Einstein personally, described the scientific …...

Peter Matthiessen

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse

May 30, 1995, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On May 30, 1995, author Peter Matthiessen visited the John Adams Institute to speak about his book In the Spirit of Crazy Horse. The evening was moderated by Tracy Metz. With a lifelong passion for the natural and the wild, Peter Matthiessen has explored South American rain forests and other wilderness areas, producing twenty-three published …...

Colin Thubron

Lost Heart of Asia

Nov 23, 1994, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On November 23d, 1994, the John Adams Institute hosted an evening with author Colin Thubron, who spoke on his novel The Lost Heart of Asia. The evening was moderated by American author Don Bloch. Prize-winning novelist Colin Thubron is best known for his many travel books, having made extensive journeys through the Muslim Middle East, North …...

Ernest Hillen

The Way of a Boy: A Memoir of Java

Sep 25, 1994, 3:00 pm - 12:00 am

On September 25th, 1994, the John Adams Institute hosted the Canadian writer and journalist Ernest Hillen, who spoke about his debut The Way of a Boy: A Memoir of Java (translated in Dutch as Kampjongen: Herinneringen aan Java). The event was moderated by journalist Peter Schumacher. Ernest Hillen was born in Scheveningen. As a young child he …...

Art Spiegelman

Maus

Jun 05, 1994, 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm

On June 5, 1994, the John Adams Institute hosted an afternoon with writer and cartoonist Art Spiegelman. The event was moderated by Johannes van Dam, Joost Swarte, and Louis Tas. The use of a “comic” to describe the horrors of the Holocaust seems incongruous to say the least. Yet this is precisely what writer and …...

Peter Arnett

Live from the Battlefield

Apr 27, 1994, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On April 27th, 1994, the John Adams Institute hosted an evening with CNN journalist Peter Arnett. He spoke about his experiences while broadcasting from the battlefield, and his autobiography titled Live From the Battlefield: From Vietnam to Baghdad. The evening was moderated by historian and journalist Raymond van den Boogaard. Whether writing for print or broadcasting …...

E. L. Doctorow

How Writers Write

Oct 20, 1993, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On October 20th, 1993, American author E.L. Doctorow, visited the John Adams Institute to give a lecture about writing. He is internationally known for his works of historical fiction. His work includes The Book of Daniel, Ragtime World’s Fair, Billy Bathgate, The March and Homer & Langley. He taught at Sarah Lawrence College, the Yale …...

Mary Gordon

Who's Realism Is It Anyway?

May 22, 1991, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On May 22, 1991, American author Mary Gordon visited the John Adams Institute as part of her European tour as American Speaker. She spoke about her then recently translated novel The Other Side (translated in Dutch as De Overkant). The protagonist in The Other Side is ninety-year-old Ellen McNamara, who grimly faces death while in the …...

Yehuda Nir

A Lost Childhood

Sep 27, 1991, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

In the lecture series American Literature Today, the John Adams Institute will present an evening with the psychiatrist and author Professor Yehuda Nir. Yehuda Nir was born in 1930 in Lwow, Poland, a happy child in an affluent Jewish family. The war brought his privileged existence to an end. In 1942 his father was murdered …...

Frank McCourt

October 6, 1990

1990 Frank McCourt is the author of ‘Tis and autobiographical memoir Angela’s Ashes, which won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize as well as the US Critics Circle Award and sold over a million hard-back copies. McCourt already had along career as a teacher of creative writing and English at Stuyvesant High School in New York City before …...

Chaim Potok

Literature and Religious Authority: the Writer Against the World

Nov 08, 1989, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

1989 The noted American author Chaim Potok spoke on the subject of ‘Literature and Religious Authority: the Writer Against the World’. Following the lecture, a discussion with Dr. Marius Buning, a member of the Faculty of Literature at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, took place. Chaim Potok was also a philosopher, painter and rabbi without …...