Strengthening European-American Relations There is something new afoot at the John Adams – something bigger than bringing American culture to the Netherlands. We are making European connections! After all, the John Adams is not the only cultural institution in Europe which keeps tabs on great American thinking. It struck me that if these institutions are …...
Dutch historian and staff writer of the Correspondent Rutger Bregman wrote a powerpul piece for Time in which he ponders the question how the coronavirus will change the world, and if these changes will be for the better or worse....
Good evening, and a very warm welcome to everyone — for an evening on the US Constitution. We are gathered here on Super Tuesday. As we speak, Democrats in 14 states are casting their votes for the preferred Democratic candidate of their choice, which will eventually lead to a Democratic candidate running against Donald …...
Ladies and gentleman welcome, and welcome again Daniel Ziblatt. Forgive me for starting this introduction with a little story about myself. I know it´s not done, but sometimes temptation is just too strong. For the first thing that came to mind when asked to host this evening with Daniel Ziblatt on How Democracies Die …...
By Tracy Metz “With so many problems confronting us today, are we ready to turn to a different leadership model? And if so, what might it be?” With this rhetorical question, Russell Shorto in his foreword sets the scene for the book to follow, Don’t Drown a Dead Duck: The art of gentle effectiveness …...
On October 5, 2017, the New York Times published an article with the headline: ‘Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades’. It was researched and written by two brave reporters, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey. Tonight we are happy and honored to welcome half of this duo: Megan Twohey. That headline, ‘Harvey …...
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome again and thank you very much for coming tonight. Because I would have understood if you’d stayed home. If you would have stuck glued to the television-set to watch the drama unfolding on Capitol Hill with the impeachment-hearings. But you’ve been wise to come. For what a moment in time …...
I’d never noticed this before, but when you Google the name Joseph Stiglitz – as I did some time ago when I went online to order his latest book – one of the frequently asked questions that pops up is this one: ‘Is Joseph Stiglitz a socialist?’ From a Dutch perspective that’s a somewhat …...
Jill Lepore is one of our era’s most important historians. It is by now conventional to say this; it’s also true. But saying such a thing forces us to think about what it means to be an important historian. She is the author of twelve books, including one co-authored work of historical fiction. I …...
I’m Margaret van Beuningen, from Pymwymic, the ‘Put Your Money Where Your Meaning Is Community’ of impact investors. Founded here in Amsterdam 25 years ago by my Dutch husband, Frank van Beuningen, Pymwymic has grown into a community of several hundred private investors who want to be connected to the purpose of their capital, …...
Jonathan Safran Foer doesn’t shy away from tackling life’s biggest questions. In his novels and non-fiction to date, he has covered the Holocaust, 9/11, the Middle East conflict, Jewish identity, family relationships, factory farming and, with this latest book, the climate crisis. As one reviewer from Bookforum noted when his last novel came out, …...
Good evening everyone, How nice to see so many familiar faces, and also plenty of new ones! Alice Roegholt, the director of this fantastic museum and the driving force behind the promotion of The Amsterdam School as an architectural style and this masterpiece, Het Schip in particular, cannot be with us tonight because her …...
In 1995, as a graduate student at The Pennsylvania State University, I wrote a paper entitled “The Merchants of Death and the Origins of War,” for an International Relations seminar, which I also presented at the annual Pennsylvania Political Science Association meeting. Although it is 25 years ago, I still vividly remember this paper, …...
The merchants of St. Eustatius were used to the presence of British warships around the island, on the lookout for ships with supplies for the rebellious settlers in North America. It therefore took some time before they realized that the fleet approaching the island on the morning of February 3, 1781, came for a …...
When in the spring of 1775 the first shots sounded in the American War of Independence – as it would later be known -, neither party was prepared for a prolonged struggle. Washington’s Continental Army faced many problems. His army was not only smaller, but in need of everything, especially weapons and gunpowder. So …...
St. Eustatius – or Statia as the English-speaking islanders say – is hardly a tourist destination. Unlike neighboring St. Maarten, visited by thousands of Dutch and American holiday-makers, St. Eustatius has no golden beaches. Yet this small Dutch island on the northern end of the Lesser Antilles is popular with divers, who are attracted …...
Ladies and gentleman, The question of populism captured everyone’s attention in 2016 when against all predictions the British voted to leave the European Union and Donald Trump won the election for the American presidency. This year, the ghost of populism- to paraphrase Marx- is roaming around Europe. Here in the Netherlands the issue was …...
Good evening. My name is Maarten van Essen and I am the program director of the John Adams. A special word of welcome to our guests from the US: Stephen Williams, author of ‘Blockchain: The Next Everything’ and Stevie Conlon, Vice President responsible for bank regulatory advisory services at Wolters Kluwer in the US. …...
By Tracy Metz The Super 8 was pure magic. Kodak’s first affordable lightweight amateur camera, which came on the market in the mid-60’s, gave everyone a tool with which to tell their story in moving images and keep them for posterity. From baby’s first steps to events that moved the world, the Super 8 …...
I read Kristen Roupenian’s Cat Person for the first time in the same week I got asked twice how many #metoo experiences I had had in my life. How many, not if I had had any. I read it for the second time because somebody – a former US correspondent journalist whom I have …...
Qoute: “We’ve all been a little confused this past week, because our dearly beloved Westertoren bells have been carted off to be melted down for the war, so we have no idea of the exact time, either night or day. I still have hopes that they’ll come up with a substitute, made of tin …...
My first week in Los Angeles was miserable. Months of fantasizing about a new life and a new career reality ended in a shitty campervan in a garden in the Valley, an empty mailbox, loneliness and instant self-doubt. On the fourth day I drove my rental car straight into the rear end of a …...
In the first half of 2018, people just couldn’t stop talking about a debut novel that would be released soon, and then after it was released, people still couldn’t stop talking about it. The New York Times called it ‘a new kind of American epic’. It was shortlisted for the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal …...
I suppose we are all familiar with the law of Chekhov’s gun, right? That is the fiction equivalent of the law of gravity or the first law thermodynamics – it is the storytelling law first formulated by the Russian writer Anton Chekov that states that if a gun is introduced in the first act, …...
What is a “unique” photograph? Is it still possible to make photographs that are unique, given the medium’s ubiquity in our world? Unique: Making Photographs in the Age of Ubiquity is a thoughtful guide for photographers through today’s complex landscape of images, with the ultimate goal of understanding how to make images that matter. Artist …...
Michael Pollan was born too late to participate in the psychedelic era of the sixties. “The only way I was going to get to Woodstock,” he writes, “was if my parents drove me.” Eventually, the doors of perception opened for Pollan this millennium. New science, old psychedelics How to Change Your Mind is Pollan’s exciting …...
They say generals are always busy fighting the last war. The same probably goes for pundits: always busy analyzing the last election. When Obama won a relatively easy presidential victory in 2012, the common wisdom was that the Republican Party had missed the boat. In a rapidly changing America, it had become a bastion …...
The late food historian Alan Davidson was once invited to appear on the tv-show of the American domestic goddess Martha Stewart. He talked about his groundbreaking book on the history and culture of food, called The Oxford Companion to Food, and he was then asked to prepare his favourite dish. Davidson, being part English, part Scottish, …...
As an American who has lived in Europe now for over half her life, I read Jeremy Rifkin’s book The European Dream with mixed feelings. On the one hand, of course it is music to my ears. When I came to Europe after college I could feel the difference: a different pace of life, a …...
There are not many men in my life, but Tom Wolfe is one of them. He seems to have accompanied me through many stages of my life. He published ‘The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test’ in 1968, when everyone of my generation was experimenting with drugs – smoking pot, dropping acid (I, of course, only inhaled…). …...
Introduction by Charles Den Tex: Good evening ladies and gentlemen, It is a great honour for me to introduce to you tonight’s leading lady. She has taken this country, and a few others, by storm. She is a woman who makes writing look natural and who makes success look easy. People like that, I tell …...
Warm welcome on behalf of De Balie and the John Adams Institute, who joined forces on this occasion to welcome Professor Timothy Snyder and to discuss his book The Road To Unfreedom. An important book which cannot and should not be ignored by anyone who gives a damn about democracy, and the rule of …...
Our guest this afternoon is an American writer, he was born in Evanston, Illinois. He is a National Book Award winner, a recipient of the MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’, he is a professor in creative writing, he has been twice nominated for the MAN Booker Prize and weirdly he has lived for a couple of …...
The political and the personal meet in ‘American Jail’ Welcome to the John Adams Institute. My name is Tracy Metz, I am the director of the John Adams which – as many of you know – is an independent not-for-profit foundation that brings the best and the brightest of American thinking to the Netherlands. Under …...
Is the Statue of Liberty still an appropriate icon for the USA? To an international audience, the massive monument is undoubtedly the country’s most famous and cherished landmark. Lady Liberty still welcomes crowds of tourists, just like she used to welcome immigrants with her arms wide open. But does she tell an honest tale? Is …...
Introduction to Andrew Keen – How to Fix The Future It was only ten years ago that Andrew Keen was routinely discarded as a troll by most tech thinkers. “The problem is that Keen’s book is the worst of link bait. It’s link whoring. Or should I say talk-show prostitution?”, foamed tech apostle Jeff Jarvis. …...
Internet critic Andrew Keen: ‘There’s no app to fix the future’ By Katherine Oktober Matthews Andrew Keen has spent the last decade writing critically about the digital revolution. “I’ve been called everything from a Luddite and a curmudgeon to the ‘Antichrist of Silicon Valley,’’ he writes. In his newest book, How to Fix the Future, …...
The Quincy Club is the educational program of the John Adams Institute, which strives to help young audiences better understand American history and culture. It is named after John Quincy Adams, the son of John Adams and the sixth president of the US. Since 2002, it has organized fourteen lecture tours, in which a speaker …...
‘Virtual reality is complete mental transportation’ Virtual Reality has come a long way. Like most technological leaps, it’s had a huge push from the entertainment industry, but current applications span a wide range of social and academic fields. Jeremy Bailenson, founding director of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, has just released his …...
Hollis Kurman – Introduction to Jennifer Egan 21 February 2018, Aula/UvA, Amsterdam ‘Is there anything Jennifer Egan can’t do?’ So begins The New York Times Book Review of Manhattan Beach. This breathless review is a testimony, of course, to the uncanny breadth, depth and disruptiveness of Egan’s ability as a writer. Just when she had …...
All blog posts in our series “The War We would Forget” on the Vietnam War have now been assembled in a wonderful digital publication for your enjoyment. ...
All six blog posts in our series “A Nation Torn” on the 2014 midterm elections have now been assembled in a wonderful digital publication for your enjoyment....
John Adams Institute director Tracy Metz weekly vlogs about her daily life and all the fascinating and interesting things that she does and encounters. In weekvlog #6 she interviews past speaker Lauren Greenfield to talk about her photobook Generation Wealth, which is both a...
John Adams Institute director Tracy Metz weekly vlogs about her daily life and all the fascinating and interesting things that she does and encounters. In weekvlog #4 she interviews past speaker Thomas Frank about his most recent book Listen, Liberal, which lays bare the essence of the Democratic Party’s philosophy and how it has changed over the years. …...
Interview with Co-Founder Sarah Leary By Tracy Metz Nextdoor is a free private social network for neighborhood communities. It launched in 2011 in the US and at the beginning of 2016 in the Netherlands, its first European rollout. It has become quite popular: in the US 75 percent of all households use it, and in …...
John Adams Institute director Tracy Metz weekly vlogs about her daily life and all the fascinating and interesting things that she does and encounters. Weekvlog 12 is about the many surprises of Amsterdam: for example a group of people cycling naked through Amsterdam, but also about our wonderful event with Richard Nixon biographer John Farrell …...
In this Guardian interview, past JAI speaker Naomi Klein talks about her new book No Is Not Enough: Defeating the New Shock Politics: “It is not like Trump is taking advantage of an external shock, he is the shock. And every 10 minutes he creates a new one. It...
A number of American photographers are represented this year at the bi-annual Fotofestival in the picturesque town of Naarden, on through June 18th. This year’s theme is ‘Right Here, Right Now’, a comment on photography’s role as our eyes on the world. Laura Morton, George Steinmetz and J Henry Fair show us our tech-driven society …...
How do we teach children about animals, really? While animals are often much-loved characters in children’s cartoons, books and films, they’re also a part of our food source. This paradoxical ‘love,’ both selective and contradictory, is not a new phenomenon, but one which only gains in absurdity together with the industrialization of food production. As …...
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 …...
Keeping Up with the Kardashians Past speaker Lauren Greenfield on her project Generation Wealth Lauren Greenfield is a filmmaker and photographer whose new monograph, Generation Wealth, brings together more than 25 years of her work on the excesses of capitalist culture. Her biting wit and bright lights spare no one, as she deconstructs the devolution of the …...
‘There are times when you should be on your screen, and times when you shouldn’t.’ Adam Alter’s latest book is “Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked”. In it, he describes the problem of rampant behavioral addiction and the calculated techniques of games, apps and other tech products to get and …...
Due to a mistake the Academy Award for Best Picture was mistakenly given to the musical 'La La Land', until the low-budget film 'Moonlight' was given the award instead....
Our current director Tracy Metz interviews her predecessor and author Russell Shorto: ”Trump is a fundamental threat to the values of the United States.”...
‘Being a futurist has forced me to live in the moment.’ Amy Webb is a futurist, and founder of the Future Today Institute, which researches emerging trends and tracks them as they evolve from blips on the fringe to big movements in the mainstream. She’ll be coming to speak at the John Adams Institute on …...
By Sterre Sprengers It might be an occupational hazard, but I have even more respect for Pete Souza sticking to his job for eight years than for Obama. It is probably because I simply cannot imagine what it would be like to be the President of one of the most powerful countries on earth. I …...
By Sterre Sprengers It might be an occupational hazard, but I have even more respect for Pete Souza sticking to his job for eight years than for Obama. It is probably because I simply cannot imagine what it would be like to be the President of one of the most powerful countries on earth. I …...
By Sterre Sprengers He is excited. Surprised maybe. By the place? By his own bare feet? He is looking straight into the camera. He is clearly not posing, he is still moving. On the picture, he seems to be alone, but on his visits he is accompanied with an entire delegation. So why is he …...
By Sterre Sprengers Smiling is socially desirable. The pictures by Pete Souza, the White House photographer, show President Obama doing it all day long – contrary to what one would expect with such a job. With a broad smile he shakes every hand, he poses for every picture and he opens every state visit. He …...
By Sterre Sprengers A picture is a split second of reality. How long would the moment on this picture have lasted? Obama is hunched over so far that he seems to have turned around. He could keep on walking, but perhaps he has to go. And the woman in the blue coat, has she already …...
By Sterre Sprengers Her most important mission is the battle against what has become a true epidemic in the United States:obesity. The program is called Let’s Move. Her message is simple: eat healthier and move more. Her target group are children and their parents. That makes her theme relevant and visually attractive. This means vegetables …...
By Sterre Sprengers Sometimes it is more a staring in the distance, leaning back, his face towards the sky. At other times his hunched position suggests he really is looking at something. What he is truly looking at, we don’t know. That is what makes these images so powerful. A window suggests a world outside. …...
By Sterre Sprengers Every couple knows the difference between affection in private and affection in public. A kiss or a heartfelt embrace feel different when you’re being watched. It often feels awkward. It means that a public display of affection feels more demonstrative, more like a statement. This doesn’t mean that the love is less sincere …...
By Sterre Sprengers President Obama and small children. They seem to be a perfect match. He hugs them. They like to hug him back even more. He makes them laugh. They are never afraid, sometimes shy. Children can disarm the most powerful man on earth. As well as everyone around them. They endear everyone who …...
By Sterre Sprengers Obama likes fast food. Every now and then he stops the whole cortege at a diner to order a hamburger with fries and a milkshake. Apparently he sometimes does this completely unexpectedly, which creates chaos among his PR-team and the bodyguards. You can see the entire ‘hamburger’ collection here. For eight years, …...
By Sterre Sprengers The ceiling is hardly ever visible, but it is essential for each photograph. It is a large white dome, thanks to which the lighting is almost always ideal. No matter where you are standing in The Oval Office, whether it is day or night, you’re always in a big photo studio. You …...
By Sterre Sprengers When the leaders of the world gather to discuss really important matters, they meet in a country retreat (like Camp David). The atmosphere is intimate. The lights are dimmed. They are seated on comfortable couches and around small round tables (with nameplates, not because they don’t know each other, but because there …...
Obama eating a hamburger By Sterre Sprengers Obama likes fast food. Every now and then he stops the whole cortege at a diner to order a hamburger with fries and a milkshake. Apparently he sometimes does this completely unexpectedly, which creates chaos among his PR-team and the bodyguards. You can see the entire ‘hamburger’ collection here. For …...
Het Nationale Toneel performs RACE, a play by David Mamet which deals with the devastating consequences of (positive) discrimination. Two lawyers, one black and one white, have to defend a white business man who is accused with the assault of a black woman....
On December 20, Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement and initiator of the hashtag #blacklivesmatter, will deliver a lecture on the organization and strategy of the movement. She will also discuss the challenges the movement will possibly face under the Trump Presidency....
On December 17, EYE is screening 'Daughters of the Dust' as part of their Looking for America-series. This film tells the story of black families that meet on the beach before they migrate from the South to the Northern industrial cities around 1900. ...
Former John Adams guest David Remnick analyses the presidential victory of Donald Trump: ''The electorate has, in its plurality, decided to live in Trump’s world.'' Read his article in the New Yorker here....
On November 19 and 20 the IDFA will screen 'Weiner', a documentary that follows the former Congressman during his run for mayor of New York. During this campaign, new evidence of Weiner's sexting becomes available, leading to a major crisis. John Adams Director Tracy Metz will conduct a short Q&A with the director after the screening on Saturday....
Tracy Metz, director of the John Adams Institute, has won the Grote Rotterdam-Maaskantprijs. The Grote Rotterdam-Maaskantprijs is a biannual life time achievement award that is granted to those who have contributed to the cultural experience of architecture, urban planning and landscaping in the Netherlands. For over thirty years, Tracy has worked as a journalist, author and …...
New York based photographer Todd Jay Weinstein will present his new project The 36 Unknown in Pakhuis de Zwijger, on 8 November. Through this project the artist, who is mostly known for his street photography, explores a group of abstract images based on a Jewish legend of redemption. ...
Michael Moore has released a surprise documentary - a registration of his one-man show in Ohio, where he tries to convince a Republican audience not to vote for Trump. On Dutch television, the VPRO will broadcast the documentary on October 30, at 10:25 p.m., on NPO 3. ...
‘It’s all mixed’ American photographer Steve McCurry (b. 1950) has created some of the most recognisable images in the history of photography, including his iconic 1984 image ‘Afghan Girl’. He’s shot photo projects around the world for National Geographic and has been a member of the Magnum photo agency since 1986. At the John Adams …...
Stephanie Kelton is an economist, and served as an advisor to the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign. On October 14, she will discuss the proposed policies of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, as well as the 'Euro Dilemma'. ...
‘We see the world through the lens of language’ Lera Boroditsky studies the relationship between the mind, language, and the world. Her recent research shows that language holds a much more prominent role in our minds than we suspect. It’s not that we use language to express the thoughts that we have, but rather, the …...
‘New York is probably ripe for another shock’ Interview with upcoming guest Jay McInerney Since his first novel ‘Bright Lights, Big City’ dropped onto the literary scene in 1984, Jay McInerney (b.1955) has been one of the strongest voices heralding the zeitgeist of New York City. He has just released his eighth novel, ‘Bright, Precious Days’ …...
Former John Adams Institute director Russell Shorto writes in the New York Times about how tourism and global hipsterism have transformed the city where he once lived. But not entirely — the canals endure....
Evan McMullin, a onetime chief policy director for House Republicans and a former CIA officer, is launching an independent presidential campaign with the help of political group Better for America....
Can architecture solve the wicked problems of a city like Detroit? This year’s US entry for the Architecture Biennale in Venice would like us to think so. But the solutions offered seem wide of the mark. By Tracy Metz Detroit has the dubious honor of being the symbol of the decline of America’s industrial cities. …...
NRC editor Maarten Schinkel interviews World Bank President Jim Yong Kim: “Veel van de proteststemmen die je nu ziet in Europa en de VS zijn van mensen die doorhebben dat ze niet voorbereid zijn op de onzekere toekomst”. ...
American architect and Amsterdammer David Dwars, former dealer for office furniture manufacturer and John Adams-sponsor Herman Miller, won a prestigious place as runner-up in the Refugee Challenge organized by What Design Can Do. The Challenge drew 631 entries from 70 countries. His team Architects for Society designed the so-called Hex House, ‘a rapidly deployable, dignified …...
The Guardian reviews Ian Buruma's new book 'Their Promised Land': "From his grandparents’ jigsaw-puzzle past, Buruma has assembled a fascinating chronicle of love, assimilation and immigration in modern Britain"....
On June 30, longtime Internet sceptic Andrew Keen will give a lecture on how to save our civilization in the digital age. There are many positive ways in which the Internet has contributed to the world, but as a society we are less aware of the Internet’s deeply negative effects on our psychology, economy, and …...
By Tracy Metz, Director of the John Adams Institute The director of Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930’s iconic house Fallingwater recently spoke at the John Adams Institute. Two of our staunch followers, Rick and Marga Donehoo, told me later that they had seen the office that Frank Lloyd Wright designed in 1937 for Fallingwater’s owner, Pittsburgh department …...
‘Few people will be voting for anyone, but a lot of people will be voting against someone.’ Interview with upcoming guests Timothy Prescott and Andy Tanenbaum Big Data and social media are playing an increasingly significant role in the electoral process, from projections on outcome to helping candidates understand where they should best focus their campaign …...
‘It’s a very powerful building, and a moving experience’ Interview with upcoming guest Lynda Waggoner Lynda Waggoner is the director of Fallingwater, a Pennsylvanian house designed in 1935 by the renowned American architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959). She is speaking at the John Adams Institute on May 12th at an event hosted at the museum Het Grachtenhuis. …...
On Friday, June 10, 2016, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam will host the 22nd Amerikanistendag, the annual student conference of the Netherlands American Studies Association. ...
‘I love books. I’ve loved books my whole life’ Interview with book club coordinator Glen Kendall In continuation of its mission to support American culture in Amsterdam, the John Adams Institute is launching its very own book club. We warmly welcome all book lovers to our circle, members and non-members alike! Glen –Vietnam veteran– is …...
Friend of the Institute Marilynne Robinson is this year's winner of the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, a lifetime achievement honor....
On April 9, Dutch photographer Désirée van Hoek will talk about her book 'Skid Row' at ABC Treehouse. She worked six years on 'Skid Row' in Los Angeles, one of the biggest homeless communities in America....
The Private World of Public Servants In her book ‘The Residence’, former White House correspondent Kate Andersen Brower looks not to the First Family themselves, but to the staff charged with the running the world’s most famous political household. She spoke with butlers, maids, chefs, florists, doormen and other staff members about their role in …...
Former guest of the Institute Michael Pollan discusses his Netflix docu-series with foodwriter Dorien Knockaert: "We intimideren onszelf met onze idealen over eten.'' ...
Unknown, unloved? On February 15, The Atlantische Commissie organizes a debate about the usefulness and necessity of the Submarine Service of the Netherlands in the world....
Toneelgroep Amsterdam, the biggest theatre company in the Netherlands, is organizing a program prior to The Hidden force (De Stille Kracht) on January 11. ...
From January 16 to March 8, Nieuwe Vide in Haarlem is hosting the exhibition 'In search of Thomas Pynchon'. It is a project about American novelist Thomas Pynchon, known for his dense and complex works of fiction....
On December 7, American cartoonist, producer, actor, author of children's books, and former JAI guest Jeff Kinney will visit bookstore Scheltema as part of his Wimpy Kid World Tour. ...
On Saturday October 10, editor of the Blauwe Kamer Marieke Berkers will give an introduction to the film 'Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing America,' screened at the Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam (AFFR)....
On 4 October, VPRO Tegenlicht will screen an episode on TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership). To understand the possible consequences of such a system VPRO Tegenlicht goes to Canada, which is one of the most sued countries in the world after it had concluded a trade agreement with the U.S....
Running alongside the Dutch Theatre Festival, the Amsterdam Fringe Festival presents the works of more than 80 theatre groups that work at the creative margins of the performance art world across the city from 3-13 September....
This is the first installment of my blog ‘Wassup?’. As the director of the John Adams Institute I will post (ir)regularly to keep you up to date on our newstand provide an occasional peek behind the scenes. Feel free to send me your thoughts and reactions: info@john-adams.nl. We did something altogether new this week – well, …...
On August 10, Sarah Cameron Sunde will stand in the North Sea for her project 36.5. The performance reveals the dangers that are hidden below a calm water surface and challenges her physical and mental endurance. ...
The New York Times takes a critical look at college admissions mania which, “sends a message that college is a sanctum to be breached—a border to be crossed—rather than a land to be inhabited and tilled for all that it’s worth.”...
NRC Handelsblad gives Bill Browder's 'Red Notice' four out of five stars. "One of the first Western investors in Russia reveals how the police, the Justice Department and public officials looted his company. His narrative reads like a John le Carré thriller."...
De Balie will host a discussion on January 26 centered around the publication of Guantanamo Diary. Mohamedou Slahi has been detained in Guantánamo in 2002, without being charged. On January 20, his diary will be published worldwide....
Former John Adams Institute director Russell Shorto writes for the New York Times on the eve of New York’s 350th “birthday”, reminding us that the Dutch economic system and agreement to work together for the common good played an important role in the rise of New York. Read more here....
America has always been a meritocracy where the harder you worked, the higher you got. But, that is no longer the case says documentary filmmaker Michiel Vos. Watch the first episode of the VPRO series My America tonight, starting at 21:25 on Nederland 3. Read more here....
During the year, Pathé livestreams operas from The Met at its various theater locations. Now, for the summer, they are offering replays of the most popular shows for those who missed the livestreams, or for those who simply want to see their favorite opera again. For more information, click here (in Dutch). ...
Former John Adams Institute director Russell Shorto was interviewed by the Financieele Dagblad for a piece on watermanagement, Socialism and how the US could benefit from Dutch expertise. Read the article here....
The US novelist, whom the John Adams Institute hosted in 2012, traveled from Amman to Ramallah to attend the Palestine Festival of Literature and wrote about his experience for ‘The Diary’ in the Financial Times. Read here....
The John Adams Institute presented an evening with American author Wally Lamb. In his novel She’s Come Undone, the main character, Dolores Price experiences a great loss of innocence during her childhood and adolescence due to many unfortunate occurrences, shaping her into a highly unusual and depressed person who eventually has to undergo major transformations …...
The John Adams Institute presented an evening with Amy Tan, one of the most prominent American-Chinese novelists of our time. Amy Tan’s first novel, The Joy Luck Club, was made into an enthralling movie by Wayne Wang, with whom Amy Tan cowrote the screenplay. Her second novel, The Kitchen God’s Wife (De vrouw van de …...
