Introduction Colson Whitehead

by Maartje Laterveer

December 7, 2017

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

Interview with Colson Whitehead

December 5, 2017

Colson Whitehead was six months into writing a novel about the digital economy when he was seized by the ghost of an old idea. He ended up writing The Underground Railroad, and talks about it in this interview. ...

Alex Ross

Adventures in Musical Modernism

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

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

When New York City Was a (Literal) Battlefield

November 16, 2017

For the research of his new book, Revolution Song, Russell Shorto explored the five boroughs of New York. With old maps in one hand and Google Maps in the other, the author roamed across the city’s boroughs, searching for remnants of the American Revolution....

Interview Angela Nagle – About The Alt-Right

Interview: about the Alt-Right

November 14, 2017

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

Jennifer Egan

Manhattan Beach

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

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

Pete Hoekstra appointed as U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands

November 13, 2017

On Thursday, November 9th, the U.S. Senate confirmed that the Dutch-born politician Pete Hoekstra has been appointed as ambassador to the Netherlands. Gary Stevens & Mary Ellen Murphy chatted with the former Holland Congressman (R-Holland) about his appointment as US Ambassador to the Netherlands during a Nov. 10, 2017 interview on WHTC Morning News. Listen to …...

Ryan Lizza

A Year Of Trump Video

November 6, 2017

Watch the video of our event with Ryan Lizza, who spoke with Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal about the press and the situation in the White House during a year of Trump....

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 …...

Dan Brown opens Embassy of the Free Spirit (Dutch)

November 2, 2017

On October 21st, Dan Brown opened ‘De Ambassade van de Vrije Geest’ (The Embassy of the Free Spirit) in Amsterdam. The Embassy wants to stimulate ‘free thinking’ through culture, art, science and spirituality. With that they do “all mankind a favor”, according to Dan Brown. Paul Steenhuis (NRC) interviewed Dan Brown about his connection to the …...

Who is Bill Browder, Vladimir Putin’s Enemy Number One?

October 30, 2017

Bill Browder may seem like a mild-mannered financier, but he is, perhaps, nemesis number one for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The 53-year-old is the CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, once the largest foreign investor in Russia. But in 2006, the authorities kicked him out of the country, calling him a threat to national security. The …...

Interview (in Dutch) with Holly Krieger in NRC

October 23, 2017

Ellen de Bruin of NRC Handelsblad interviewed Holly Krieger about her way of teaching mathematics. Krieger is one of the contributors to the popular video channel about math, Numberphile. "People who love math, love Holly Krieger,"...

George Saunders wins the Man Booker Prize

October 19, 2017

American author George Saunders won the Man Booker Prize 2017 for his first novel Lincoln in the Bardo, which is about the death of Abraham Lincoln's son William Wallace Lincoln and deals with the president's grief at his loss....

Ryan Lizza

A Year of Trump

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

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

Interview Julia Gruen

Interview with Julia Gruen

October 13, 2017

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

Introduction Holly Krieger

October 11, 2017

On the 10th of October Holly Krieger talked with Ellen de Bruin about The Beauty of Symmetry through the eyes of a Mathematician. Ellen de Bruin’s introduction of Holly Krieger can be read here....

Interview with Holly Krieger

October 2, 2017

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

The Nobel in economics awarded to Richard Thaler

October 2, 2017

An American behavioural Economist – Richard Thaler – has won the 2017 Nobel Prize in economics. His research combined economics with insight from psychology to show how heavily economic decision making is influenced by cognitive biases thereby undermining the assumption of humans as rational actors who maximise their utility. Read more about Richard Thaler his work …...

Interview with Holly Krieger

The Creativity and Structure of Pure Mathematics

October 2, 2017

Holly Krieger will be speaking at John Adams Institute on October 10 about the beauty of symmetry, one of the most visibly aesthetic principles of math. We spoke with Holly to learn more about the creativity and structure of pure mathematics....

Videos about numbers and stuff

October 2, 2017

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

The N.F.L. Protests and the Future of the Anti-Trump Movement

September 26, 2017

In the course of forty-eight hours, Trump managed to declare a kind of war against an institution and culture with which he was broadly aligned. He declared that athletes who persisted in kneeling during the anthem should not be allowed to play, and imagined himself as a team owner: “Get that son of a bitch …...

The Happiest Kids in the World

By Hollis Kurman

September 19, 2017

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

Is it time you went Dutch?

September 13, 2017

According to UNICEF, Dutch kids are ahead of their peers in childhood well-being when compared with 29 of the world’s richest industrialized countries. What are the things that set Dutch children apart from those in the UK and the US? On September 18 we'll discuss these topics and more with "The Happiest Kids in the World" authors Rina Mae Acosta and Michele Hutchison. ...

Introduction Mohsin Hamid

By Naema Tahir

September 13, 2017

Last night Mohsin Hamid talked with Naema Tahir about his new book Exit West. Naema Tahir’s introduction of Mohsin Hamid can be read here....

Holly Krieger

The Beauty of Symmetry through the eyes of a Mathematician

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

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

Interview (in Dutch) with Mohsin Hamid

August 21, 2017

Friend of the institute Joost de Vries interviewed Mohsin Hamid for De Groene Amsterdammer, talking about nostalgia, immigration and his new novel Exit West. Mohsin Hamid is coming to the John Adams on September 12 to discuss Exit West with moderator Naema Tahir....

America’s Favorite Books Unveiled on TV

August 13, 2017

The Great American Read, an ambitious eight-episode documentary series that PBS has just announced, will explore the place...

When Home Feels Like a Battlefield

August 7, 2017

Three months in Amsterdam, over and done with. It’s impossible for me to believe how quickly the time has gone by. I love this city, and I’ll miss so many things about it. I’m very excited to be headed home, but I can’t help but feel a sense of dread about the political situation that …...

Crushed By the Trucking Revolution

August 7, 2017

Gas station owners in smalltown America face bankruptcy due to the construction of bypass highways and a coming revolution in the trucking and automotive industry, that promises vehicles that can drive themselves long distances....

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, …...

What Makes Amsterdam Unique?

August 1, 2017

London— what a city. I just visited for the first time and absolutely loved it. The place has an unbelievable energy running through it, so much variety in its neighborhoods, such an invigorating landscape of diversity. Rich contrasts abound—it is sprawling yet walkable, obscenely opulent and deeply gritty, frenetic with pockets of incredible tranquility. It …...

Bernie Sanders’s Campaign Isn’t Over

July 31, 2017

Since the election Bernie Sanders has staged events in multiple states, the New Yorker writes. At every one, he speaks about the suffering of small-town Americans, and his belief that the Democrats can help them. Hillary Clinton’s loss gave his efforts a new urgency....

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Interview with Rina Mae Acosta

July 31, 2017

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

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

Diametrically Opposed or a Perfect Match?

July 25, 2017

People always talk about the ways that company culture affects organizational performance. But for some reason, these discussions rarely extend to the public sector. It’s strange—contrary to common belief, governments are composed of human beings, and these individuals powerfully influence what government actually does. I’m a strong believer in the innovative potential of cities, but …...
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Flood Topples Statue at Iconic Fallingwater House

July 24, 2017

An overflowing stream following heavy rain toppled a large bronze statue at architect Frank Lloyd Wright's iconic Fallingwater house in Pennsylvania....
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What Makes a City Cool?

July 18, 2017

What makes a city cool? A certain threshold of restaurants and bars with exposed brick walls? Pairs of Doc Martens boots per capita? The percentage of residents who subscribe to the “Hipster Chill” playlist on Spotify? I’d like to think the answer is a bit more profound. Here’s a theory: the coolness of a city …...
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Colson Whitehead

The Underground Railroad

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

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

Origin

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

Watch the book trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4brbdYz8qu0...
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Co-Founder of Nextdoor

July 17, 2017

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

July 11, 2017

Former JAI director Russell Shorto wrote an article for The New Yorker on Dutch engineer Jurriaan Ruys, who developed a cheap and easy way to restore vegetation to barren landscapes....
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Weekvlog: Lauren Greenfield

July 11, 2017

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...
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Weekvlog: Thomas Frank

July 11, 2017

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. …...
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Nextdoor: Digital Platform for Neighborhoods

July 11, 2017

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 …...
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Richard Serra – Drawings 2015 – 2017

July 11, 2017

One of the most prominent artists of our time is now on view at museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam: the American artist Richard Serra (San Francisco, 1938)....
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City as Facilitator: Problem Solving from the Bottom Up

July 10, 2017

Every city faces similar social problems. No matter where you go, certain groups or neighborhoods struggle with intergenerational poverty, low educational attainment, poor health, crime, and other issues. National and local policies may reduce the severity of these problems, but there’s a growing recognition that top-down, technocratic approaches to these challenges aren’t doing enough for …...
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Interview with Rina Mae Acosta

July 10, 2017

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

July 9, 2017

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 …...
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Michelle Obama: A Life

July 7, 2017

This week, the Dutch translation of Peter Slevin's Michelle Obama: A Life was published at het Spectrum. In 2015, Amy Chozick reviewed the book for the New York Times: "She also comes across in this thoughtful biography as constantly searching...
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Happiest Kids in the World

Rina Mae Acosta and Michele Hutchison

Sep 18, 2017, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Dutch children are the happiest kids in the world, according to UNICEF studies of child well-being in 2007 and 2013. Why is that? Is the Dutch approach to parenting really that different? In their book The Happiest Kids in the World, American writer Rina Mae Acosta and British writer Michele Hutchison – both married to …...
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Thriving, Affordable, and Inclusive: Can a City Have it All?

July 4, 2017

A challenging side of human nature—we tend to distrust people from other groups. Because of this, diversity and social tension are often interlinked. We don’t need to hold hands and sing Kumbaya, but as American and European societies become increasingly diverse, we’ve got to learn to live with one another. How do we make that …...
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White House Issues New Visa Rules

June 29, 2017

With these new rules, the White House is targeting Muslim immigrants, refugees, and green card holders, writes Slate: "Perhaps the most heartbreaking aspect of the new rules will be their impact on green card lottery winners"....
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If You Build It, Will They Come?

June 26, 2017

Zef Hemel is a man with a plan. A former urban planner for the city of Amsterdam and my colleague at the Amsterdam Economic Board, he has been a vocal proponent of dramatically increasing the population of this city. He envisions a future where Amsterdam is home to 2 million people, more than double the …...
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David Sedaris’ Gestolen voorwerpen

June 25, 2017

This week, Lebowski publishers celebrated the publication and translation of David Sedaris' latest book, Gestolen voorwerpen. ...
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Competition, Supercharged:

Cities, Economic Development and Globalization

June 20, 2017

Talent, investment, and a high quality of life. No pressure, local leaders, but if your city falls short on any of the above, your economy is doomed. Good luck juggling all three things simultaneously—talented people won’t move to your city unless it offers them good employment prospects. Companies won’t invest in your city unless it …...
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Peter Hujar at Fotomuseum Den Haag

June 19, 2017

Until the 15th of October you can visit the exhibition Peter Hujar – Speed of Life at Fotomuseum Den Haag. "Hujar started his career in the 1950s as an assistant to commercial photographers, but became a part of the group of underground artists, poets and musicians who formed the downtown...
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Mohsin Hamid

Exit West

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

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

June 19, 2017

Last week historian Jaap Verheul published his book De Atlantische pelgrim. In this radio interview (in Dutch), Verheul talks about Motley and how he saw the Netherlands as an example for fighting Spain...
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The Dutch Have Solutions to Rising Seas

June 18, 2017

Read this New York Times article on the Dutch, their rising seas and climate change: "In the waterlogged Netherlands, climate change is considered neither a hypothetical nor a drag on the economy. Instead, it’s an opportunity."...
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Naomi Klein on Her New Book and Trump

June 14, 2017

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...
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American Photography in Naarden

June 13, 2017

JAI director Tracy Metz visited Fotofestival Naarden last weekend: "Laura Morton, George Steinmetz and J Henry Fair show us our tech-driven society and our impact on the planet in ways we have never seen before."...
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American Photography in Naarden

June 13, 2017

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 …...
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Who Owns the City?

June 12, 2017

Amsterdam and Venice. Both famous for their picturesque canals and waterways. Both compact, easily walkable, and densely populated. Both overflowing with culture, filled with beautiful architecture, and renowned for offering a high quality of life. There’s only one problem—many parts of both cities are bursting at the seams with tourists. Last weekend, I visited Venice for …...
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Trump is Mirroring Nixon’s Final Days

June 12, 2017

In this Washington Post article, historian David Greenberg explains how president Trump's firing of FBI Director James B. Comey, in its gravity, can be likened to the Watergate scandal and Richard Nixon's serial abuses of executive power....
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The Secrets of Superheroes

June 11, 2017

On June 12th, SPUI25 and the American Book Center will host an evening on Superhero films. Dan Hassler-Forest, former speaker and John Adams Institute moderator, will be one of the ...
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Nicole Krauss

Forest Dark

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

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

June 6, 2017

Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad interviewed former John Adams Institute director Russell Shorto on climate change. According to Shorto, the Netherlands are an example for the way they deal with climate change. Read the full interview (in Dutch) ...
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A Tale of Two Commutes

June 6, 2017

Scenario 1: Biking to work in Washington, D.C. I leave the house, heading west. Soon I encounter Georgia Avenue, one of the highest-capacity roads in Washington D.C. As I wait for the light to change, as many as a hundred cars thunder past me—they’re bumper to bumper, flying by at nearly 40 miles per hour. …...
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I Love Animals: A Book for Children

May 31, 2017

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 …...
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Martin Ford on Robots and Artificial Intelligence

May 30, 2017

Upcoming speaker Martin Ford, author of Rise of the Robots, discusses in this Bloomberg interview the impact of artificial intelligence and robotics on the future....
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Howdy, Neighbor:

Happiness, Public Space, and Community Design

May 30, 2017

Everyone needs a bit of personal space from time to time. But ultimately, we’re social creatures—we thrive when we engage regularly with others, and we’re gloomy when we feel isolated. The design of our neighborhoods exerts a powerful influence on our ability to connect with the people around us. Some approaches facilitate contact and encourage relationships. Others set the stage for separation, anonymity, and even hostility....
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John A. Farrell on Nixon and Trump

May 24, 2017

Upcoming speaker John A. Farrell, author of Richard Nixon: The Life, talks in this CNN video about fair and unfair comparisons between Nixon and Trump....
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Smithsonian Design Museum to Present “Joris Laarman Lab”

May 24, 2017

From 27 September 2017 - 14 January 2018, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City will present “Joris Laarman Lab: Design in the Digital Age", the first U.S. museum exhibition of the experimental Dutch...
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Debate: ‘NATO in the Trump Era’

May 23, 2017

On Tuesday, 23 May, on the eve of the special NATO Summit in Brussels, the Netherlands Atlantic Association and the Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’ organise a debate on ‘NATO in the Trump Era’....
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Amsterdam Then, Amsterdam Now

May 22, 2017

Hello, readers! Welcome to my blog. It’s great to have you here. Seeing as this is my inaugural piece, I figure that an introduction is in order. I am a 28-year-old American, born and raised in the Washington D.C. area. Up until a few months ago, I worked as a researcher at the Brookings Institution, …...
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John A. Farrell

Richard Nixon: The Life

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

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

May 22, 2017

Students in shipping containers, breweries in former animal shelters and hotels in cranes. Is it too soon to discuss living arrangements? Tonight, May 22nd, Locally Speaking takes you on a walk through the rich history of Amsterdam city planning, social housing and vacancy versus gentrification....
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Dutch Design at Ventura New York

May 17, 2017

From May 20-23, 2017 the second edition of Ventura New York will take place at WantedDesign Manhattan during NYCxDESIGN. The group...
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Why Hillary Clinton Lost the Elections

May 17, 2017

Listen Liberal, the 2016 book by past speaker Thomas Frank is an attack on the leadership of the American Democratic Party and a mandatory read for social democrats in Europe, according to De Groene Amsterdammer....
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Cybersecurity in the Netherlands

May 15, 2017

On Tuesday May 16th, de Atlantische Commissie organizes a program on 'Cybersecurity: how can the Netherlands improve?' Four experts will give their recommendations on how to use cybersecurity in a world full of cyber crime and economic espionage. The event starts at 17:30 in de Glazen Zaal, Den Haag....
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Martin Ford at TED2017

May 15, 2017

TEDBlog writes about Martin Ford's TED Talk at TED2017 in Vancouver, Canada: We’ve been concerned about technology displacing humans for a long time, says futurist Martin Ford. And that’s had a strange effect on us....
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Interview Lauren Greenfield

May 15, 2017

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 …...
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Martin Ford

Rise of the Robots

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

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

May 12, 2017

Ready to receive the best and the brightest of American thinking from the fields of literature, politics, history in your mailbox?...
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Lauren Greenfield Interview

May 8, 2017

W Magazine interviews upcoming speaker Lauren Greenfield on her new book Generation Wealth: ''When I go back through and really think about the work, I see that he’s not this new surprising chapter, but really the natural evolution of the values in the culture."...
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American sculptor Joel Morrison at Reflex Gallery

May 8, 2017

Reflex Gallery in Amsterdam runs the first solo show in the Netherlands by American sculptor Joel Morrison. The LA based artist has earned international acclaim for his highly polished composite sculptures cast in stainless steel. The exhibition runs from 6 May until 11 July....
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Chelsea Hotel Art Collection in Auction

April 20, 2017

The legendary Chelsea Hotel in New York was a hotspot for the hip and artistic, many of whom paid their bills with their art. On May 16^th, the collection that owner Stanley Bard accumulated this way will be sold at auction....
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Walt Whitman’s Poetry in Concert

April 18, 2017

Walt Whitman’s poem A Child Said, What Is The Grass from his masterpiece Leaves of Grass is being put to music to be performed by a Dutch amateur brass band and a soprano. To that end the band has started a crowdfunding campaign. The premiere will take place on November 12^th in Enschede....
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Branko Milanovic

Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization

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

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

April 11, 2017

‘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 …...
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Lauren Greenfield

Generation Wealth

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

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

April 3, 2017

American anthropologist Mark Neupert is making an ethnographic documentary on modern life in an old city, ' Cobblestone Stories, A Year of Modern Living in Leiden'....
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FOAM in New York

April 3, 2017

Photography museum Foam brings its first group of 24 artists known as Foam Talents to the United States. The exhibition is displayed at Red Hook Labs in Brooklyn, New York and will run from March 31 till April 16....
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Michael Chabon on Nostalgia

March 29, 2017

Upcoming speaker Michael Chabon discusses his personal attachment to nostalgia and how it affects his writing, most notably in his novel Moonglow....
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Stadsschouwburg Focuses on Tony Kushner

March 27, 2017

On April 8th, the Stadsschouwburg honors playwright and Pulitzer Prize Winner Tony Kushner. Kushner is known for his award-winning play Angels in America and acclaimed for tackling themes of gender, religion, and society....
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Adam Alter

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

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

We spend more time communicating through our smartphones than we spend talking to our partner. New technology has nestled itself in our pockets, our lives, our habits, our dealings with each other and the rest of the world. This addiction is not just a sign of our own weakness: these products are actually designed to get us hooked. Adam Alter of NYU …...
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Amy Webb on What to Do About the Date We Create

March 20, 2017

Former speaker Amy Webb reviews two contrasting books and contributes to the ongoing debate regarding the data humans are creating in The New York Times....
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The Geert Wilders Effect

March 16, 2017

'The Islam-hating provocateur isn't going to be the next prime minister of the Netherlands' writes James Traub for Foreign Policy. 'But he's already won.'...
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Trump’s First 100 Days

With Thomas Frank, Will Englund and Greg Shapiro

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

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

March 13, 2017

EYE and the University of Amsterdam present a series of public lectures about film restoration and heritage. On April 24, American filmmaker Ross Lipman will talk about his film Notfilm (USA, 2015). On May 1, Christopher Kenneally' s Side by Side (USA, 2012) will be shown....
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Lee Bontecou at the Gemeentemuseum

March 8, 2017

The Gemeentemuseum in The Hague hosts a unique exhibition on the work of American artist Lee Bontecou (1931). She is known for her prints and sculptures. The exhibition runs from February 25 till July 2....
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Las Vegas Strip at Pakhuis de Zwijger

March 2, 2017

On March 8, 7:30 p.m., Stefan Al will present his book 'The Strip.' It tells the story of the development of the famous street in Las Vegas not only as a reflection of architecture and urbanism trends, but also as an influence on developments elsewhere. Free entrance, make a reservation here....
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From ‘America First’ to a More Conventional View of U.S. Diplomacy

March 1, 2017

''My job is not to represent the world,'' President Trump declared. ''My job is to represent the United States of America. But we know that America is better off when there is less conflict, not more.''...
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The Best-Picture Mixup: it was ‘La La Land’, until it was ‘Moonlight’

February 27, 2017

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....
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Paul Beatty on Rendering Dissonance From Mind to Page

February 22, 2017

'In a lot of ways, The Sellout – the novel for which Paul Beatty was awarded the 2016 Man Booker Prize – is about dissonance'. Read the interview that Paul Beatty had with The Wire....
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Paul Beatty

The Sellout

Mar 12, 2017, 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm

The Sellout, “a caustic satire on US racial politics that puts him up there with Mark Twain and Jonathan Swift,” according to the Man Booker Prize jury. The Sellout (translated into Dutch as De Verrader by Uitgeverij Prometheus) tells the story of a young black man who tries to reinstate slavery and racial segregation in a …...
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Michael Chabon

Moonglow

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

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

February 13, 2017

Our current director Tracy Metz interviews her predecessor and author Russell Shorto: ”Trump is a fundamental threat to the values of the United States.”...
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Interview with Amy Webb

February 13, 2017

‘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 …...
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Russell Shorto: How the Dutch Made New York

January 31, 2017

On February 2, at 6 p.m., former JAI director Russell Shorto will give a lecture at Amsterdam University College about the Dutch influence on the foundation of New York, and how that helped shape American culture more than is often recognized....
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The Netherlands welcomes Trump

January 30, 2017

Dutch satirical program Zondag met Lubach welcomes Donald Trump in his own words....
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Alex Beyer in New Masters on Tour 2016 | 2017

January 26, 2017

The young American pianist Alex Beyer will perform at the Concertgebouw as part of the 'New Master on Tour' program. He will play Beethoven's variations for piano and the incredibly difficult solo La Valse by Ravel. The concert takes place on February 5, at 2:30 p.m....
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Timothy Snyder: can history save us from ourselves?

January 24, 2017

Eminent historian and professor at Yale University Timothy D. Snyder will discuss what we can expect from the Trump-era. Can we - and do we want- to learn from our past? He will speak at de Balie, on January 26, at 8 p.m....
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Amy Webb

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

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

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

January 23, 2017

Four days after Trump's inauguration, the live talk show Stadsleven (hosted by JAI director Tracy Metz) will discuss what it means to live in 'Trump Town'. Guests will be Maarten van Rossem, Arjen van Veelen, James Kennedy, and others. January 24, at 8 p.m. at de Balie. ...
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Obama says he’ll speak up post-White House if he sees ‘core values’ at risk

January 19, 2017

The Washington Post reports on President Obama's final press conference, in which he defended free press and the last acts of his Presidency....
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Colson Whitehead

January 19, 2017

On January 22, Colson Whitehead will discuss his novel The Underground Railroad, for which he received the this year's National Book Award. Mr. Whitehead will speak at the Bijlmer Parktheater....
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8 years Obama

January 18, 2017

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 …...
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The closing piece

January 18, 2017

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 …...
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Obama and the big exeption

January 18, 2017

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 …...
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Obama and his contagious laugh

January 17, 2017

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 …...
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Joby Warrick

Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS

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

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

January 17, 2017

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 …...
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The First Lady is dancing to her own tune

January 16, 2017

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 …...
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Obama, his view and his longing

January 15, 2017

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. …...
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Obama and the secret of his love

January 14, 2017

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 …...
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How a Sensational, Unvarified Dossier Became a Crisis for Donald Trump

January 12, 2017

The New York Times reports how the unverified stories on Donald J. Trump emerged. A look at the hidden side of campaigns, and their sleuths-for-hire....
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Obama and the flying babies

January 11, 2017

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 …...
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Obama eating a hamburger

January 11, 2017

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, …...
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Obama at work

January 11, 2017

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 …...
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Frascati Producties presents SONTAG

January 11, 2017

Frascati Producties performs the play SONTAG, written by Naomi Velissariou. It features a larger-than-life dream world, inhabited by demons and icons from the work of Susan Sontag, one of the most striking thinkers of the 20th Century. The play runs until Saterday January 15, at Frascati Theater....
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Obama likes to do (most of) the talking

January 11, 2017

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 …...
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8 years Obama in pictures

January 9, 2017

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 …...
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Rogier van Eck & Rob Rombout

Amsterdam Stories

January 8, 2017

Watch the video of our event with Belgian filmmakers Rob Rombout and Rogier van Eck, who spoke with Tracy Metz about their documentary Amsterdam Stories. A roadmovie in which they take you to all American places named Amsterdam....
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Jonathan Safran Foer: technology is diminishing us

January 4, 2017

Friend of the Institute Jonathan Safran Foer argues that technology makes us less susceptible to the miracles of life: ''It’s not an either/or situation – being “anti-technology” is perhaps the only thing more foolish than being unquestioningly “pro-technology” – but a question of balance that our lives hang upon.''...
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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 …...
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‘RACE’ by Het Nationaal Toneel

December 28, 2016

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....
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Obama Bans Drilling in Parts of the Atlantic and the Arctic

December 21, 2016

President Barack Obama has banned drilling in wide areas of the Atlantic and Arctic, a move he said could not be reversed by a successor, writes the New York Times....
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‘Spent’, an exposition by Dove Bradshaw

December 20, 2016

Until January 8, Dove Bradshaw holds an exposition 'Spent' at Zone2Source. Her work shows the workings of atmospheric conditions on different materials, and the relation between nature and culture....
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New Amsterdam Stories: Part Three

By Veronica Baas

December 19, 2016

For this final installment of a three part blog series, The John Adams Institute talked with Ellen Fleurbaay, head of Presentation and Participation at the Stadsarchief Amsterdam, to hear about the Amsterdam side of this project. New Amsterdam Stories is a project carried out by three different partners: the New York City Municipal Archives, the New Netherland …...
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Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors at De Balie

December 16, 2016

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....
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The Perfect Weapon: How Russian Cyberpower Invaded the U.S.

December 15, 2016

'For Russia, with an enfeebled economy and a nuclear arsenal it cannot use short of all-out war, cyberpower proved the perfect weapon: cheap, hard to see coming, hard to trace'....
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New Amsterdam Stories: Part Two

By Veronica Baas

December 12, 2016

For this second installment of a three part blog series, The John Adams Institute talked with Dennis J. Maika, Senior Historian with the New Netherland Institute, who is one of the scholars who guides the project. ‘New Amsterdam Stories’ is a collaboration between the New Netherland Institute, the New York City Municipal Archives and the …...
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‘Daughters of the Dust’ at EYE

December 8, 2016

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. ...
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New Amsterdam Stories: Part One

By Russell Shorto

December 5, 2016

In this first installment of a three part blog series, Russell Shorto writes about his experience with the New Netherland archives. Since the Dutch founded one of the original European colonies in America, and since its capital was none other than a little island called Manhattan, it might be reasonable to suppose that Americans would …...
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A Dutch Architect Offshores the Future of Housing

November 30, 2016

John Adams director Tracy Metz is quoted in the New York Times on Dutch architect Koen Olthuis of Waterstudio.nl: ''He was really one of the first architects who saw that building on water could develop a whole new design language.''...
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‘Looking for America’ at EYE

November 23, 2016

Until December 21, EYE is taking an inquisitive look at the United States, in the aftermath of the Presidential Elections....
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Sacred

November 22, 2016

Academy Award winner Thomas Lennon presents a new documentary on faith, shot by more than 40 filmmaking teams around the world. John Adams Director Tracy Metz will conduct a Q&A after the screening on November 22....
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Thanksgiving with U.S. Consulate Youth Board

November 20, 2016

On the 22nd of November the U.S. Consulate Youth Board organizes a Thanksgiving event full of stories and gratitude. There will be a discussion panel with guest speaker Anne de Graaf, who will talk about indigenous rights in the U.S. Throughout the night there will be music and storytelling....
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Zadie Smith X John Adams Institute X Amsterdam

November 17, 2016

On Medium, Sidney Vollmer writes about Zadie Smith's visit to the John Adams Institute. 'The analogue, the actual human, the offline get-togethers like that one last Friday in De Rode Hoed, seem to be becoming more powerful.'...
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An American Tragedy

November 11, 2016

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....
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The Presidential Podcast

November 9, 2016

Friday November 11, the last of the Presidential Podcasts, made by NRC-correspondent Guus Valk and VPRO presenter Chris Kijne, will be broadcast. They will discuss the spectacular result of this year's election....
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‘Weiner’ at IDFA

November 7, 2016

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....
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Tracy Metz wins Grote Rotterdam-Maaskantprijs

November 7, 2016

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 …...
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The BKB campaign trip – in quotes

October 31, 2016

“ Before bed at night, think about why you get up the next morning. And think about what you eventually want it to say on your tombstone. Nobody says at a funeral: that guy had such a great flatscreen tv. Material possessions are not important. All that matters is how you affect the lives of …...
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The Pieces of Zadie Smith

October 31, 2016

Jeffrey Eugenides interviews Zadie Smith for the New York Times. They talk about writing in the first person, being female, race and of course her new novel: 'Swing Time'. Zadie Smith will be visiting us on November 11. ...
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DE DAG WAAROP ORANJE GROEN WERD

By Selin Kuscu

October 30, 2016

Deze week stond op de website van De Volkskrant een opiniestuk van Haro Kraak, getiteld: Waarom schrijven jullie hier nou nooit over? “Van complotdenkers en bezorgde burgers tot rechtse commentatoren en dwarse mediamakers – haast iedereen houdt ervan om te zeggen dat de media iets negeren. Maar waarom eigenlijk?” Volgens Kraak besteden de mainstream media wel zeker …...
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WAAROM WE MOETEN STOPPEN MET HET ORGANISEREN VAN VERKIEZINGSDEBATTEN

By Joël Serphos

October 29, 2016

Op 6 februari arriveerde ik met de BKB-academie in de Verenigde Staten. We hadden het toetje nog nauwelijks verteerd, of we werden al in de verkiezingsgekte meegesleurd omdat het grote GOP-televisiedebat in New Hampshire begon. Wie teveel last van jetlag had om het debat te kunnen volgen, kon zich gelukkig laten informeren door de vele …...
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DE SCHRIK VAN LINKS AMERIKA

By Roel Maalderink

October 28, 2016

Denktanks spelen een grote rol in het Amerikaanse politieke spel. En zoals zoveel in de Amerikaanse politiek, zijn ook die gelieerd aan een van de twee partijen. Een bezoekje aan de American Enterprise Institute. Het American Enterprise Institute is de schrik van links Amerika. De Conservatieve denktank publiceert aan de lopende band onderzoeken die de …...
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DOE MAAR GEWOON, DAN DOE JE AL GEK GENOEG

By Svenja van Vondelen

October 28, 2016

Fysiek uitgeput, maar mentaal energieker dan ooit blik ik terug op de onvergetelijke academiereis naar Amerika – Boston, Nashua, Washington. Wat hebben wij veel gedaan, gezien en gehoord. Geïnspireerd, opgetogen en verward schrijf ik deze blog. Waar moet ik beginnen? Wat heeft deze reis met mij gedaan? In wat voor wereld leven we eigenlijk? Welke …...
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Todd Weinstein

October 28, 2016

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. ...
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THE HEROIN APOCALYPSE

By Shantih van Hoog

October 27, 2016

“It’s time we recognize that our state and federal prisons, where 65 percent of inmates meet medical criteria for substance use disorders, are no substitute for proper treatment — and reform our criminal justice system.” – Hillary Clinton ISIS, veiligheid, wapens, economische ongelijkheid en immigratie zijn leidende thema’s tijdens de debatten en rally’s van de …...
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EMILY’S LIST – LIKEABLE AND STRONG!

By Erkan Ergün

October 26, 2016

“Hoeveel procent van jullie volksvertegenwoordigers is een vrouw?” met deze vraag begon Denise Feriozzi, Deputy Executive Director van Emily’s List, het gesprek. Het exacte antwoord moesten wij haar op dat moment verschuldigd blijven, al maakte haar dat niet veel uit. Het punt dat ze wilde maken is dat vrouwelijke vertegenwoordiging in andere landen nog altijd …...
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Michael Moore in Trumpland

October 26, 2016

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. ...
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ALGORITMES MET MACHT

By Jeroen van Baar

October 25, 2016

Een van onze laatste sessies tijdens de Amerikareis, gistermiddag, vond plaats bij Google in Washington D.C. We bezochten het internetbedrijf vanwege zijn hart voor democratie. Google probeert sinds enkele jaren om informatie over verkiezingen en verkiezingskandidaten te verspreiden en resultaten inzichtelijk te maken, in landen als India, Duitsland en de VS. De search tools van het bedrijf …...
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Uitslagenavond: een dollemansrit naar Warren Road, Concor

By Daniël van Duijn

October 24, 2016

Het is net na achten wanneer de langverwachte verkiezingsresultaten van de presidentiële voorverkiezing binnendruppelen. Nieuwsstation ABC roept Bernie Sanders uit tot winnaar van The Granite State, ongewoon vroeg omdat pas twintig procent van de stemmen is geteld. Mijn hart gaat sneller bonzen en ik weet dat ik maar op één plek wil zijn als de …...
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Fulbright-NNCR Student Scholar Research Grant

October 24, 2016

The New Netherland Research Center (NNRC) offers a joint Student Scholar Research Grant with the Fulbright Center of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Deadline to apply: November 1, 2016. ...
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LOCAL, GLOBAL: DE RALLY VAN TED CRUZ IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

By Joël Serphos

October 23, 2016

Before bed at night, think about why you get up the next morning. And think about what you eventually want it to say on your tombstone. Nobody says at a funeral: that guy had such a great flatscreen tv. Material possessions are not important. All that matters is how you affect the lives of others. …...
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SNEEUW, VLAGGEN EN D.G.G.C.

By Devika Partiman

October 22, 2016

We zijn er: de Verenigde Staten! Om precies te zijn in Boston, Massachusetts. Na een 8-urige vlucht vol films (Clueless!), halfbakken pogingen tot slapen en slap ouwehoeren lopen we de gate uit, recht tegen de eerste Amerikaanse vlag aan. Die blijkt alom aanwezig: hij hangt op het vliegveld, pronkt bovenop gebouwen en wappert in voortuinen …...
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Impakt Festival

October 20, 2016

Originality and authenticity may seem like tidy concepts with fixed borders, but these borders are slowly dissolving. Impakt Festival 2016: Authenticity? will look into these issues with a programme of lectures, screenings and exhibitions, - including several American artists - which will take place at various locations in Utrecht from 26 until 30 October. ...
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Interview Steve McCurry

October 19, 2016

‘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 …...
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National Park Roads at Architectuur Centrum Amsterdam

October 17, 2016

Timothy Davis, historian with the U.S. National Park Service, will talk about the essential role of roads in the experience and history of National Parks. The lecture will be held on October 20. ...
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NYT reviews Jonathan Safran Foer’s ‘Here I Am’

October 12, 2016

The New York Times calls Jonathan Safran Foer's first novel in 11 years a 'tale of a fracturing family'. ...
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Election Night

Presidential Elections 2016

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

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

October 3, 2016

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'. ...
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NRC interviews Joseph Stiglitz

October 3, 2016

Joseph Stiglitz (in Dutch): 'De euro is het probleem van Europa'. ...
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Mary Norris

Between You & Me

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

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

September 28, 2016

Ciconia Consort presents a diverse program of American music. Maarten van Rossem will connect the various musical pieces to the political climate of their time. ...
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U.S. Undergraduate Fair in Amsterdam

September 27, 2016

The Ivy Circle organizes their annual U.S. Undergraduate Fair. The fair will be held at the International School of Amsterdam in Amstelveen on September 29, from 7:00-9:00 P.M....
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Steve McCurry

On Reading

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

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

The Glass Menagerie as Memory Play

Sep 22, 2016, 7:30 pm - 11:00 pm

In this collaboration with Toneelgroep Amsterdam, we paid attention to their performance of Tennessee Williams’ legendary play The Glass Menagerie (Glazen Speelgoed). This is the first play directed outside America by rising star Sam Gold. The Glass Menagerie, one of the most powerful plays of the 20th century, is a tale of love, loss and the disparate …...
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Hanya Yanagihara’s ‘A little life’ book of the month

September 22, 2016

Hanya Yanagihara's book A little life was chosen to be the 'book of the month' at De Wereld Draait Door....
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Zadie Smith

Swing Time

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

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

September 19, 2016

Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal interviews our former guest George Packer in De Volkskrant: ''More liberty ánd more inequality.''...
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Interview Lera Boroditsky

September 19, 2016

‘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 …...
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Two American authors nominated for Man Booker Prize

September 19, 2016

The American authors Ottessa Moshfegh and Paul Beatty are among the six finalists for the Man Booker Prize. The winner will be announced on 25 October....
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‘Theatre of Politics’ at Noorderlicht

September 15, 2016

During the run-up to the American Presidential elections, Noorderlicht gallery in Groningen will show four projects that each have a different take on this political process....
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The Washington Post reviews ‘Bright, Precious Days’

September 9, 2016

The Washington Post reviews ‘Bright, Precious Days’ by upcoming speaker Jay McInerney: “You can’t say he didn’t warn us. Jay McInerney’s new novel is bright and precious”....
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Interview Jay McInerney

September 1, 2016

‘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’ …...
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“Amsterdam, Revisited” – by Russell Shorto

August 31, 2016

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....
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StandUp Filosophy at Nieuwe Poort

August 24, 2016

Following the comedy show by Boom Chicago, JAI Director Tracy Metz will be on a panel at De Nieuwe Poort to discuss several themes of the U.S. Presidential Elections. ...
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Toneelgroep Amsterdam provides English surtitles for all her performances

August 17, 2016

This month, Toneelgroep Amsterdam provides English surtitles for all her performances in the Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam....
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The Wall Street Journal reviews ‘A Little Life’

August 15, 2016

The WSJ reviews 'A Little Life' by upcoming guest Hanya Yanagihara: "Here is an epic study of trauma and friendship written with such intelligence and depth of perception that it will be one of the benchmarks against which all other novels that broach those subjects (and they are legion) will be measured."...
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Ambacht in Beeld Festival goes New York

August 10, 2016

The annual Craft in Focus Festival spotlights master craftsmanship. The fourth edition in the Netherlands will take place in Amsterdam from 23 to 25 September 2016, and the first NY edition of the Craft in Focus Festival will take place from 11 to 13 November 2016, in Industry City, Brooklyn....
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Republican Evan McMullin to launch presidential run against Trump

August 9, 2016

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....
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Detroit: ruin porn or architecture?

August 8, 2016

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. …...
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Jon Stewart returning to TV before Election

August 2, 2016

Jon Stewart could return to television before this year’s presidential election, HBO programming chief Casey Bloys revealed this weekend at the Television Critics Association summer press tour. Bloys told reporters that Stewarts new show will be an “animated parody of a cable news network”....
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FiveThirtyEight 2016 Election Forecast

July 27, 2016

Political website FiveThirtyEight’s current projection of the 2016 presidential election gives Donald Trump a 55.0 percent chance of winning the White House if the election were held today....
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The Art of Flying by Jan van IJken

July 21, 2016

On July 29, the Dutch documentary short "The Art of Flying" of Jan van IJken will be screened at the opening night of the Rural Route Films Festival at the Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm....
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Interview Jim Yong Kim in NRC

July 18, 2016

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”. ...
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Jonathan Safran Foer

Here I Am

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

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

July 11, 2016

In the Aftermath of the Dallas shooting, The Atlantic explores Dallas: “The City is not a hot bed of racial tension. It is a culturally relevant urban center with innovative policing—and other cities should learn from it.” ...
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Joseph Stiglitz

The Euro

Sep 30, 2016, 8:30 pm - 10:00 pm

Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize-winner and one of the most influential economists in the world today, returned to the John Adams to speak about his new book The Euro: How a Common Currency Threatens the Future of Europe. As recent events in the U.K. have shown, unity within the EU has been replaced by dissent. Stiglitz …...
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What Design Can Do Refugee Challenge 2016

July 4, 2016

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 …...
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‘Amsterdam to succeed London in Brexit’

July 2, 2016

Amsterdam is tipped to be "the new London" by James Stewart, author and business columnist at the New York Times, because of its beautiful architecture, excellent schools and good night life....
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De Correspondent reviews ‘A Little Life’

June 27, 2016

De Correspondent reviews Hanya Yanagihara's latest novel 'A Little Life': "Yanagihare bezorgt je kippenvel, rillingen, luidruchtige huilbuien, een gebroken, geheeld, en nog harder gebroken hart"....
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Hanya Yanagihara

A Little Life

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

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

June 23, 2016

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"....
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Obama: Dream & Legacy

Guus Valk and Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal

Sep 05, 2016, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

What have eight years of Barack Obama brought the U.S.? Was the change he promised America for better or worse? Two top Dutch experts on changing American society took the stage at the John Adams Institute to explore topics such as the vanishing middle class, immigration and inequality, the decline of many important American institutions, …...
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Jay McInerney

Bright, Precious Days

Sep 13, 2016, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

One of the finest chroniclers of the city of New York returned to Amsterdam to speak at the John Adams. McInerney was also one of the institute’s first speakers. It is almost three decades since his coming-of-age classic Bright Lights, Big City, brought him fame and fortune. This account of greed and excess in 1980’s …...
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“Obama’s Unexpected Legacy”

June 20, 2016

Upcoming guest Mark Landler on Obama's unexpected legacy: "President Obama came into office pledging to end the wars of his predecessor. Now he has been at war longer than Mr. Bush, or any other American president."...
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Stephen Shore – Retrospective

June 20, 2016

From June 10 until September 10 the work of American photographer Stephen Shore is on display at Huis Marseille in Amsterdam. ...
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Hamilton Musical wins 11 Tony Awards

June 14, 2016

The hit show about the life of one of America’s founding fathers has led the Tony Awards in New York, winning 11 including best musical and lead actor....
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Andrew Keen FD Lecture

June 13, 2016

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 …...
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The Schwob Book Club Festival

June 9, 2016

On Sunday June 19th the Schwob book club festival will take place in Utrecht. One of the classic novels you can pick is ‘A lesson before dying’ by Ernest J. Gaines. The work refers to segregated America of the 40s....
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Clinton Claims Nomination Victory

June 8, 2016

Hillary Clinton celebrated her status as the first woman to win a major party’s presidential nomination on Tuesday evening in Brooklyn....
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AAA ‘pop-art’: Son Lux, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest

June 3, 2016

As part of the Holland Festival, American pop artist Son Lux will perform together with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra on June 16 and 17. ...
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Lera Boroditsky 

How Language Shapes the Way we Think

Oct 01, 2016, 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm

In cooperation with the DRONGO language festival, the John Adams presented Lera Boroditsky as a keynote speaker. Lera Boroditsky is an Associate Professor at the department of Cognitive Science of the University of California, San Diego. Her research into language and cognition focusses on the theory of Linguistic Relativity, the idea that the way people experience the …...
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Disfarmer – The Vintage Prints

May 31, 2016

Between 1915 and 1959, American studio photographer Mike Disfarmer (1884-1959) made portraits of the residents of Heber Springs, a small town in rural Arkansas. Foam is staging a major retrospective, with 182 vintage photographs until June 5....
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“Dutch Firm Trains Eagles to Take Down Drones”

May 29, 2016

According to the NY Times, "hunting birds are being trained to harness their instincts to help combat the security threats stemming from the proliferation of drones. The initiative is timely, given the number of drone incidents in Europe''....
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“How Donald Trump is winning over the white working class”

May 26, 2016

Former guest George Packer writes on Donald Trump’s appeal to the economic anxieties and social resentments of white Americans....
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Symposium: Legal Diversity

May 25, 2016

McGill University’s Faculty of Law and the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, Leiden University, host a one-day Symposium on the theme of legal diversity and the theory and practice of contemporary international law on June 2....
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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 …...
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The Travels of Kaufmann’s Office

May 23, 2016

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 …...
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Benjamin Barber at ‘European Culture Forum’

May 21, 2016

Renowned political theorist Benjamin Barber will speak at the 2016 Forum on European Culture on Wednesday 1 June 20:00 in Het Concertgebouw....
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Interview with Timothy Prescott and Andy Tanenbaum

May 21, 2016

‘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 …...
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Martin Scorsese linked with Washington biopic

May 20, 2016

Martin Scorsese is reportedly circling a new biopic of George Washington. The General tells the "gritty" story of General George Washington's struggle to fend off a band of mercenaries with his dying army during the Revolutionary War....
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Jeb Bush at ‘Democracy Today in the USA’

May 15, 2016

Jeb Bush will speak at the symposium Democracy Today in the USA on May 21. It will be his first public appearance since the end of his presidential campaign....
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DoubleDutch American Elections Podcast

May 11, 2016

DoubleDutch is a weekly Dutch podcast about the American elections. This week: Trump is the Republican presidential candidate. Can he really win?...
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UBIK Futurosity

May 10, 2016

UBIK Futurosity, an Intergalactic Scifi Bizarro Festival, takes place on May 18-19 and June 9-12, 2016. Highlights include world-renowned US avant-garde act Matmos and award winning US Sci-Fi Bizarro writer, Kevin L Donihe....
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NRC on Trump’s ‘Team of Rivals’

May 6, 2016

According to NRC, Donald Trump is a candidate without an ideology. Trump is advised by people who want to make him presidential, but they feed him with ideas which are often contradictory....
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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 …...
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Philip Glass

Words Without Music

Aug 20, 2016, 8:30 pm - 10:00 pm

We were honored to have one of the most influential composers of the 20th century on the John Adams program. Philip Glass is the first composer to win a wide, multi-generational audience not only in the opera house and the concert hall, but also in the dance world, in film and in popular music – …...
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Income Tax Seminar for Individuals

April 26, 2016

How do you manage the burden of meeting your US income tax filing obligations? Limes International offers an income tax seminar to ease the burden of working and living outside the US....
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Introdans: Absolute America

April 25, 2016

Absolute America features four American dance creators, composers and designers, each with a completely individual style, from punk to acrobatically muscled....
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Interview Lynda Waggoner

April 21, 2016

‘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. …...
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Amerikanistendag 2016

April 20, 2016

On Friday, June 10, 2016, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam will host the 22nd Amerikanistendag, the annual student conference of the Netherlands American Studies Association. ...
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How Data Will Determine The Next President

Timothy Prescott & Andy Tanenbaum

May 26, 2016, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

As the United States ramped up for the Presidential election, big data and social data to play an increasingly important role. Social data drove the 2008 presidential election and big data drove the 2012 election. Together with data-analyst Timothy Prescott and computer scientist Andy Tanenbaum we discussed the influence of data analytics on the 2016 …...
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The New Yorker: ‘Sanders’s Forty-Year-Old Idea’

April 18, 2016

According to former JAI director Russell Shorto, Bernie Sanders is Europe's last Social Democrat....
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Holland Festival

April 13, 2016

On 4 June 2016, the 69th Holland Festival will open at the Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg. The festival features various American artists....
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Lynda Waggoner

Fallingwater

May 12, 2016, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Frank Lloyd Wright is regarded by the American Institute of Architects as the greatest American architects of all time, and they voted his masterwork Fallingwater “the best all-time work of American architecture”. Designed in 1935, the house in southwestern Pennsylvania is hailed as a marvel of innovation and daring design that appears to float over …...
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Interview Glen Kendall

April 5, 2016

‘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 …...
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Marilynne Robinson wins Library of Congress Prize

March 31, 2016

Friend of the Institute Marilynne Robinson is this year's winner of the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, a lifetime achievement honor....
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Skid Row by photographer Désirée van Hoek

March 29, 2016

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....
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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 …...
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Design & The City – Knowledge Mile Amsterdam

March 17, 2016

Design & The City, partner of the JAI, explores citizen-centered design approaches for the smart city from April 19 until April 22....
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Game of Thrones

Designing the Seven Kingdoms with William Simpson

Apr 24, 2016, 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm

Today’s most popular television series is without a doubt Game of Thrones, in which kings and queens, knights and renegades all battle to conquer the Iron Throne. There are numerous blogs devoted to the series, there are viewing parties in bars and restaurants and it’s the most (illegally) downloaded program. On the day of the …...
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Interview Kate Andersen Brower

March 14, 2016

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 …...
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Appel in New York

March 9, 2016

The Amsterdam City Archives present an exhibition about a less-known part of Dutch artist Karl Appel's life – his time in New York in the 1960s....
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NY Times reviews ‘Requiem for the American Dream’

March 7, 2016

'Requiem for the American Dream' is honored with a NY Times Critics pick. The Noam Chomsky documentary is coming to the John Adams Institute on April 6....
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Pippin comes to Amsterdam

March 1, 2016

The Broadway musical PIPPIN, winner of 4 Tony Awards® in 2013, is coming to Amsterdam in March and April 2016. ...
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An Irish Songbook 1916

February 25, 2016

On March 19, Paul McNamara and Hans Eijsackers will explore how Irish literary giants such as W.B. Yeats, James Joyce and Thomas Moore saw the relationship between the arts and social and political upheaval in Ireland....
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Interview Michael Pollan in NRC

February 24, 2016

Former guest of the Institute Michael Pollan discusses his Netflix docu-series with foodwriter Dorien Knockaert: "We intimideren onszelf met onze idealen over eten.'' ...
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Walter Russell Mead on Buitenhof

February 23, 2016

Walter Russell Mead, one of America’s leading experts on foreign policy, discusses the rising tensions in Syria and Turkey on Buitenhof....
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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 …...
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The Washington Post reviews ‘The Residence’

February 15, 2016

Krissah Thompson reviews Kate Andersen Brower's new book ‘The Residence': "These kinds of stories have rarely been told.''...
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Washington post on the NH Primary Election Results

February 10, 2016

The Washington Post offers a look at votes cast in New Hampshire....
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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 …...
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NY Times on next week’s primary in New Hampshire

February 3, 2016

According to The New York Times, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders intensify efforts in New Hampshire after Iowa standoff. "The absence of a clear political triumph in Iowa put both Democratic candidates in unexpected positions coming into New Hampshire''....
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Lecture by Photojournalist Lynsey Addario

February 2, 2016

American photojournalist Lynsey Addario wil give a lecture about her work at Pakhuis de Zwijger on February 9. ...
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About Edgar A. Poe

Lecture at Boekhandel van Rossum

Feb 11, 2016, 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm

American writer Edgar A. Poe is famous for his literary qualities, however this lecture sheds a different light on Poe: as a foremost man of science. Even though he is admired all over the world nowadays, Poe’s reputation is still scarred by the attacks of his enemies of long ago: Had other circumstances favored, it …...
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Moby-Dick

White Whales: American fictions of monomania, failure, and finitude

Mar 23, 2016, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute presented a two day course at Boekhandel Van Rossum on Herman Melville’s famous novel Moby-Dick, taught by George Blaustein, associate professor at the University of Amsterdam. Grand, strange, sometimes nonsensical, occasionally prophetic, and funnier than you expect, Moby-Dick is as subtle as a sledgehammer and yet as elusive as vapor. Why …...
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DoubleDutch American Elections Podcast

January 25, 2016

DoubleDutch is a weekly Dutch podcast about the American elections by US correspondent Freke Vuijst and BNR correspondent Reinout van Wagtendonk....
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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 …...
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Submarine Services of the Netherlands

January 23, 2016

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....
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The American ambassador to the Netherlands is returning to the US

January 20, 2016

We are very sorry to hear that the American ambassador Timothy Broas is returning to the US next month (Source: DutchNews)....
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US Embassy in The Hague May Become Museum

January 18, 2016

The American embassy in The Hague may be turned into a hotel and a museum for artist MC Escher. The embassy’s new location in Wassenaar will open in 2017 and the current building will become vacant (Source: DutchNews.nl)....
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‘Presidential’ by the Washington Post

January 13, 2016

The Washington Post explores the character and legacy of each of the American presidents, in 44 episodes leading up to Election Day 2016....
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Joe Alper – Folk and Jazz during the Civil Rights Movement

January 11, 2016

This exhibition presents an overview of the work of American music photographer Joe Alper (1925 - 1968), who became a part of the Freedom Movement. ...
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Special program for International Audiences

January 8, 2016

Toneelgroep Amsterdam, the biggest theatre company in the Netherlands, is organizing a program prior to The Hidden force (De Stille Kracht) on January 11. ...
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John Irving Interview

January 6, 2016

In the interview, Irving gives us a glimpse into the creative process that propels his bestselling narratives including his latest book "Avenue of Mysteries."...
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In Search of Thomas Pynchon

January 6, 2016

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....
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Interview Dave Eggers

January 4, 2016

American author Dave Eggers discusses his latest novel 'The Circle' with correspondent Roel Verrycken. In the interview, Eggers explains how technology and privacy inspired 'The Circle'....
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Wassup?

January 4, 2016

Jan. 4th, 2016 Well, this was quite a year! We here at the John Adams Institute have a lot to look back on and even more to look forward to. Let me bring you up to speed. We hosted twenty-one of the best and brightest from the United States in 2015, including such luminaries as …...
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John Irving

Avenue of Mysteries

Jan 23, 2016, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

The John Adams Institute proudly presented an evening with widely acclaimed American novelist John Irving, who returned to the institute to discuss his fourteenth novel Avenue of Mysteries. This novel spins two remarkable tales – both about the central character Juan Diego, a successful 54-year-old international novelist who is embarking on a trip to the Philippines. …...
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Garth Risk Hallberg

City on Fire

Jan 18, 2016, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

The buzz around City on Fire started already two years ago, when Garth Risk Hallberg sold the manuscript for two million dollars. Readers were not disappointed: in a brisk and superb narrative, Hallberg subjects a group of characters living in gritty New York in 1977 to an intimate examination, revolving around the shooting of a …...
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Print Books Are On The Rise Again In The US

December 22, 2015

In the US, sales of physical books have experienced a renewed surge of interest. ...
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The Top Books of 2015 according to the NY Times

December 15, 2015

The New York Times on the year's best books, as chosen by their three daily book critics. Upcoming JAI guest Garth Risk Hallberg's 'City On Fire' and former guest T. C. Boyle's 'The Harder They Come' made the list....
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President’s Night 2016

December 15, 2015

For the fourth time in a row BKB and Melkweg are organising a grand event around the American presidential elections. ...
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Karl F. Winkler

December 14, 2015

The War at Home The dawn after the Presidential election in 1968 I was waiting for a med-evac flight in the San Antonio, Texas, Air Force flight service center. I was in my Army greens and captain’s bars with combat tabs. My journey was to Montgomery, Alabama to see my parents before getting orders to …...
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Getronics

December 13, 2015

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Tracy Metz – What Design Can Do

December 12, 2015

JAI director Tracy Metz’s lecture for ‘What Design Can Do’ in São Paulo, Brazil can be read on design and architecture blog Dezeen. ”Architects and urban designers are finally responding to the threat of rising sea levels by welcoming water into cities”....
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Garry Kasparov

Winter is Coming

Dec 12, 2015, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

The growing rift between Russia and the West represents a conflict between modernity and the past, according to chess grand master-turned human rights activist Garry Kasparov. For over a decade Kasparov has been an outspoken opponent of Vladimir Putin’s growing authoritarianism, but he has also been equally critical of the US and its allies for …...
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Opening of New York Film Academy Cafe

December 3, 2015

On December 16, the New York Film Academy Cafe will officially open in Beurs van Berlage. The Cafe is inspired by New York and Amsterdam in the roaring twenties.The Cafe will also accommodate the New York Film Academy school, to be launched early 2016....
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Public Insight – Against a Perfect Sky

November 30, 2015

On December 16, film producer Jasper Henderson will discuss his travel to Abruzzi and his love for Fante with We Are Public-editor Daniël van der Meer. ...
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Robert Putnam interview in FD

November 28, 2015

FD Editor in Chief Cees van Lotringen interviews former guest of the Institute Robert Putnam. According to Putnam, the American belief in progress is threatened due to social, economic, and technological developments....
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Jeff Kinney – Wimpy Kid World Tour

November 26, 2015

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. ...
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‘Requiem For The American Dream’ at IDfA

November 24, 2015

As part of the IDFA program, 'Requiem For The American Dream', in which Noah Chomsky explores the growing inequality in the U.S., will be screened at Tuschinski Theater today. ...
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Casper Thomas interviews Robert Putnam

November 13, 2015

Former JAI guest Robert Putnam talks about his new book 'Our Kids' with Casper Thomas. Thomas was also the moderator for our event with Robert Putnam....
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‘This Changes Everything’ at IDfA

November 12, 2015

The documentary 'This Changes Everything’ by former guest of the John Adams Institute Naomi Klein will be screened during the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. ...
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Bret Easton Ellis interviews Quentin Tarantino

November 12, 2015

JAI friend Bret Easton Ellis meets filmmaker Quentin Tarantino to talk about their shared love of cinema....
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The Weather Diaries

November 4, 2015

CODA Museum presents The Weather Diaries, an exhibition by American-Austrian artists Sarah Cooper and Nina Gorfer. ...
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Robert Putnam Interview

November 2, 2015

NRC correspondent Guus Valk interviews social critic Robert Putnam. According to Putnam, the American Dream does not exist anymore....
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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 …...
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Marilynne Robinson

Lila - SOLD OUT

Nov 15, 2015, 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm

One of the most prominent novelists of her generation came to the John Adams Institute to talk about her new novel Lila, the third and final part of her Gilead trilogy. Readers all over the world had anxiously been awaiting it, among them President Obama who identifies her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Gilead as one of …...
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Laird Hunt

Neverhome

Nov 13, 2015, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Lucky Laird Hunt, to get praise like this from his famous fellow author Paul Auster for his novel Neverhome: “This is a spare, beautiful novel, so deeply about America and the language of America that its sentences seem to rise up from the earth itself. Magnificent.” Neverhome is the story of Constance Thompson, a woman …...
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The Wall Street Journal reviews ‘The Givenness of Things’

October 31, 2015

Barton Swaim reviews Marilynne Robinson's new book of essays, 'The Givenness of Things', in the Wall Street Journal....
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Buffy Wicks

Insights to the US Presidential Campaign

Nov 10, 2015, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

What are the odds of Hillary Clinton becoming the next president of the United States, and becoming the most powerful woman in the world? At least she is the favorite candidate in the Democratic primary. But how does the presidential campaign really work? Exactly one year before Election Day, Buffy Wicks, an insider of the …...
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Russell Shorto- You say you want a revolution?

October 17, 2015

On November 6, former John Adams Institute director Russell Shorto will talk about the elites and masses in the American Revolution at the Martinikerk in Groningen. ...
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President Obama interviews writer Marilynne Robinson

October 14, 2015

President Obama and his favorite author Marilynne Robinson discuss faith, politics, and communities. Marilynne Robinson will speak at the John Adams Institute on November 15....
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Toneelgroep Amsterdam – Special program for international audiences

October 14, 2015

Toneelgroep Amsterdam, the biggest theatre company in the Netherlands, is organizing a program for international audiences in the Netherlands on October 18. During this event you will be introduced to the Dutch theatre practice, theatre history and themes of the play in a playful way. ...
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The New York Times reviews ‘Steve Jobs’

October 10, 2015

Anthony Scott, film critic for the New York Times, reviews the movie 'Steve Jobs'. The credited source of the film is the biography of Jobs written by former JAI guest Walter Isaacson. ...
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American artist Rasheedah Phillips at Afrofuturism

October 9, 2015

From 14 to October 18, WORM Rotterdam hosts a 5 day festival of modern-day Afrofuturism in the heart of Rotterdam. WORM has invited one of America’s foremost Afrofuturist artists, activists and thinkers, Rasheedah Phillips to co-curate this unique event....
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Marieke Berkers – The Park as Emancipation Machine

October 6, 2015

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)....
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Larry Schaaf on William Henry Fox Talbot & the Invention of Photography

October 5, 2015

On October 6, professor dr. Larry J. Schaaf will give a lecture about one of the inventors of photography: William Henry Fox Talbot. The lecture also includes the unique opportunity for the public to view vintage prints by Talbot. ...
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Notturno Americano (shadows speak softly about the sun) – Emidio Clementi

September 30, 2015

Notturno Americano is a trip to America of the early 20th century through the visionary look of Emanuel Carnevali, the writer who more than anybody else deeply plunged into the obscure areas of the glittering overseas cities....
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VPRO Tegenlicht: TTIP

September 29, 2015

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....
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Financial Times reviews ‘Neverhome’

September 25, 2015

Alexander Gilmour reviews 'Neverhome' by Laird Hunt. According to Gilmour, 'Neverhome' is an exceptional novel that “might also have been dropped off God’s clouds. It is a remarkable achievement''....
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Noah Charney

The Art of Forgery. The Minds, Motives and Methods of Master Forgers

Sep 24, 2015, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Art forgery has an intriguing place in the world of crime. No violence, no victims and forgers are often seen as cheeky practical jokers. Who doesn’t remember Han van Meegeren, who tricked Herman Göring into buying a fake Vermeer? Also, the benefits for art criminals outweigh the risks they have to take, according to art …...
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Kenneth Cukier

Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think

Nov 06, 2015, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

The huge amounts of data (this event is part of our technology series) we produce are transforming the world and our daily lives fundamentally. Kenneth Cukier, data-editor at The Economist and co-author of the successful book Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think, compares the impact of big data …...
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NRC reviews ‘Purity’

September 19, 2015

Pieter Steinz reviews ‘Purity’ by Jonathan Franzen. Read the review (in Dutch) here. In his review, Steinz highlights the controversy surrounding the writer who has been accused of being arrogant and grumpy. ...
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Screening of ‘This Changes Everything’

September 17, 2015

On September 26, documentary ‘This Changes Everything’ will be screened at the Hemweg coal power station in Amsterdam. The documentary is based on the newest book of journalist, publicist, activist and former guest of the John Adams Institute Naomi Klein. ...
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NRC reviews ‘The Art of Forgery’

September 12, 2015

Pieter van Os reviews ‘The Art of Forgery’ by Noah Charney. Read the review (in Dutch) here. Van Os was also the moderator for our event with Noah Charney on September 24....
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Jimmy Wales on ‘Wikipedia and Governance’

September 10, 2015

On November 25, the Erasmus Prize 2015 -that is awarded annually to a person or institution that has made an exceptional contribution to culture, society or social science, in Europe and beyond- will be awarded to Wikipedia at Paradiso....
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AEGON

September 10, 2015

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CSC

September 10, 2015

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US Embassy The Hague

September 10, 2015

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Holland America Friendship Foundation

September 10, 2015

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Joseph Montgomery – Rules for Coyote

September 3, 2015

Dürst Britt & Mayhew present American artist Joseph Montgomery's first solo exhibition at their gallery from 12 September - 31 October. Montgomery’s work has the structure and syntax of sculpture, but it simultaneously has all the trappings of painting....
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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 …...
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Best of Fringe New York

September 2, 2015

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....
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Noah Charney: How to achieve more in less time

August 31, 2015

American writer Noah Charney gives four tips on how to achieve more in less time. Read the article (Dutch) in 360 Magazine here....
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NRC reviews ‘The Harder They Come’

August 24, 2015

Pieter Steinz, literary critic and editor for NRC, reviews T. C. Boyle’s new novel, ‘The Harder They Come’....
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Wassup?

August 21, 2015

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, …...
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The Washington Post review of ‘The Art of Forgery’

August 20, 2015

Adrian Higgins reviews 'The Art of Forgery’ by Noah Charney. According to Higgins, the book offers “a fascinating account of avarice and hubris.''...
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‘Magnum Contact Sheets’ at FOAM

August 13, 2015

From September 11 to December 9, Foam presents 'Magnum Contact Sheets' which shows the magic surrounding the all-encompassing “decisive moment'' and how iconic images come to exist. ...
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NY Times reviews ‘The Harder They Come’

August 6, 2015

According to Michiko Kakutani, literary critic for The New York Times, “´The Harder They Come´ is a masterly — and arresting — piece of storytelling, arguably Mr. Boyle’s most powerful, kinetic novel yet''....
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36.5 / A Durational Performance With The Sea

August 3, 2015

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. ...
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T.C. Boyle

The Harder They Come

Sep 05, 2015, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

After two decades, one of the paragons of American literature, T.C. Boyle, returns to the John Adams. His newest novel, The Harder They Come, recounts the miseries of a troubled father and son in a resonant meditation on the American frontier ethos. “From the novel’s thrilling set piece of a start … to its pensive conclusion,” The New York Times wrote “The Harder They Come is a masterly — and arresting — piece of storytelling, arguably Mr. Boyle’s most powerful, kinetic novel...
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Jonathan Franzen

Purity

Oct 19, 2015, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Jonathan Franzen has returned to the John Adams Institute with an impressive new novel about youthful idealism, fidelity, identity and secrets. Purity (in publisher Prometheus’ Dutch translation: Zuiverheid) is the story of a young girl named Pip (born Purity) Tyler who goes in search of her unknown father. Written with “conversational, enormously intelligent prose that …...
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‘The Hand of Man’ – Photographs by J Henry Fair

August 1, 2015

From June 13 to August 1, Eduard Planting Gallery in Amsterdam presents an exhibition of American photographer and environmental activist J Henry Fair. His work 'The Hand of Man' ironically shows the magic and beauty of environmental pollution. ...
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Woody and the Big Apple

Aug 22, 2015, 4:30 pm - 11:00 pm

This summer EYE was showing ‘The Comedies of Woody Allen . On August 22th, EYE and the John Adams collaborated on a special screening of three Woody Allen films in which New York plays an important role. John Adams-director Tracy Metz gave an introduction on the role the city plays in Allen’s films; sociologist Jan …...
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Anne Wertheim on her work for the John Adams Institute

July 16, 2015

This Saturday, the first director of the John Adams Institute, Anne Wertheim, will feature as a guest on the Dutch morning Radio 4 show ‘Een Goedemorgen Met…’. She will talk about her work for the John Adams Institute, in particular Wertheim will speak about the events with Russian poet Joseph Brodksy and with novelist Siri Hustvedt. ...
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NY Times reviews ‘Go Set a Watchman’

July 12, 2015

Michiko Kakutani reviews Harper Lee’s (photo) highly anticipated second novel 'Go Set a Watchman'. ...
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God and Marriage Equality

June 28, 2015

After the Supreme Court's landmark ruling on gay marriage, the New Yorker reflects on the role of religious arguments in Obergefell v. Hodges and its 1960's analog Loving v. Virginia: "God may reign, but He (or She) doesn’t legislate."...
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Nina Siegal

The Anatomy Lesson (Invitation Only)

Jun 23, 2015, 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

The John Adams Institute and AEGON organized a special event at the Mauritshuis in The Hague. We hosted American author Nina Siegal, author of the novel The Anatomy Lesson (published in translation by The House of Books as Tulpen en Terpentijn), based on the famous painting by Rembrandt. Siegal was joined by a panel of experts including Emilie …...
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Michelle Miller

The Underwriting: New Concepts in Publishing

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

Sex scandals, power plays, shady trading, and even murder. This is the cluster of elements underpinning Michelle Miller´s corporate thriller The Underwriting, which brings together the different cultures of Wall Street and California in a story about a successful startup in Silicon Valley. The Underwriting, translated into Dutch by LS Publishers under the title De …...
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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 …...
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‘Citizenfour’ at Spui25

June 8, 2015

On June 17th, Spui25 will host an evening around Laura Poitras' documentary 'Citizenfour', about whistle-blower Edward Snowden. The evening will include a screening of the documentary, followed by a panel discussion on surveillance, security, and privacy....
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The Bizarre Struggle for a Place in the Ivy League

June 8, 2015

Following our event with Jerome Karabel and Alexander Rinnooy Kan on May 28th, Ronald van de Krol of the FD wrote an article (in Dutch) on the admissions process at Ivy League universities: "It's become almost impossible to be accepted to a top university in the US. The strict and subjective selections lead to a race between 18-year-olds, in which brawn beats brains."...
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Leslie Jamison

The Empathy Exams

Jun 02, 2015, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Beginning with her experience as a medical actor, paid to act out symptoms for medical students to diagnose, Leslie Jamison’s visceral and revealing essays ask essential questions about our basic understanding of others: How should we care about one another? How can we feel another’s pain, especially when pain can be assumed, distorted, or performed? …...
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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 …...
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Surviving College Admissions Madness

May 27, 2015

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.”...
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Hudson’s “Halve Maen” in Hoorn

May 24, 2015

From May 30th on, a replica of the VOC ship "Halve Maen," on which Henry Hudson discovered the island of Manhattan in 1609, will be on public display at the Westfries Museum in Hoorn....
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Laszlo Bock

Work Rules! Insights from Inside Google that Will Transform How You Live and Lead

May 21, 2015, 8:00 pm - 9:15 pm

Each year, Google receives more than two million job applications from around the world. The company has been rated the #1 Best Company to Work For in the United States and 16 other countries, the 1# top Diversity Employer, and the best company for women in technology. But what makes Google such a widely praised …...
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21 Years of Mockery at Boom Chicago

May 20, 2015

On Sunday May 24th, Boom Chicago, the Amsterdam-based creative group best known for its live comedy shows, presents its show "21 Years of Mockey." The show is a mix of improvisations and scenes looking at the culture clash that happens when American comedians set down roots in Amsterdam....
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Harvard accused of discrimination

May 18, 2015

This week, more than 60 Asian American organizations filed a complaint with the federal government alleging that Harvard University discriminates against Asian Americans in their admissions process....
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Would Thomas Jefferson Work At GoogleX?

May 15, 2015

With less than a week to go before our event with Google's Laszlo Bock, we share this Daily Beast article on how the tech world stole America’s biggest thinkers. "For many of our best and brightest, government these days feels obsolete."...
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Tracy Metz lecture on Woody Allen

May 13, 2015

On May 19th, JAI director Tracy Metz will give a lecture about New York City in the films of Woody Allen. The event is a prelude to the EYE film museum's summer program about Allen's work, which will kick off in July....
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Laszlo Bock Featured in 360 Magazine

May 11, 2015

In an interview (in Dutch) in 360 Magazine, upcoming JAI guest Laszlo Bock explains Google's hiring strategies, and why his managers aren't allowed to decide who is hired and who is not....
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T.C. Boyle wins Robert Kirsch Award

May 7, 2015

At the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, upcoming JAI guest T.C. Boyle won the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement. Boyle won the award for his entire oeuvre, which includes fourteen novels and over a hundred short stories....
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Jess Walter at Book Store Zwart op Wit

May 6, 2015

On May 12th, American author Jess Walter will pay a visit to book store Zwart op Wit in Amsterdam. Walter is the recipient of the Edgar Allan Poe Award, among others, and was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2006....
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Over 200 writers object to Charlie Hebo Award

May 4, 2015

Former JAI director Russell Shorto and friend of the institute Michael Cunningham are among the 204 writers who object to the PEN Freedom of Expression award for Charlie Hebdo....
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Books That Will Save Your Life

May 4, 2015

On May 7th, Spui25, Athenaeum, and study association Etcetera will organize the second edition of Etcetera's English Literary Festival. Featuring authors, scholars and journalists, the festival celebrates seven decades of English literature since the 1940's....
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“RACE” – Urban Theater at De Balie

April 24, 2015

On May 6, 7, 9 and 10, De Balie presents John Leerdam's Dutch adaptation of David Mamet's play RACE, which premiered on Broadway in 2009. The play explores the complex dyanmics of sexual intimidation, power and justice surrounding the highly charged trial of a white man charged with raping a black woman....
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“Guantánamo Diary” and the American Slave Narrative

April 20, 2015

To complement this year's Quincy Club’s theme of slavery through the ages, we share an article in The New Yorker comparing Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s recent “Guantánamo Diary” with the traditional American Slave Narrative....
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The Great Poetry Workshop 2015

April 17, 2015

On April 25 and 26, the Amsterdam Writing Workshops is organizing The Great Poetry Workshop 2015: For Poets & Writers of Prose. Focusing on both poetry and prose, the workshop is centered around the question: What, in these times, can poetry teach us?...
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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 …...
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Round Table Conference on Transatlantic Relations

April 15, 2015

On April 17, the Netherlands Atlantic Commission will organize a round table conference on transatlantic relations under the spell of the Ukraine and Middle East crises. A panel of experts will discuss European and American handling of crises in Russia and the Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, and IS. ...
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Lincoln lecture and screening at FLOOR

April 13, 2015

On April 15th, FLOOR is organizing a lecture and film screening to mark the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Dr. George Blaustein will speak on the myth surrounding the president, followed by a screening of Steven Spielberg's 2012 film Lincoln....
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Hillary is Ready

April 13, 2015

After Hillary Clinton's long-awaited announcement of her presidential candidacy this weekend, The New Yorker looks ahead at her campaign. "Who is Hillary? She has a team, a smile, a grandchild, and a campaign office in Brooklyn, and she is ready."...
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“Love & Lust” at Centraal Museum

April 9, 2015

The Centraal Museum in Utrecht currently houses the first monographic exhibition of the work of Golden Age Dutch painter Joachim Wtewael. The exhibition consists of forty paintings and ten drawings from several European and American collections, on view together for the first time. ...
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Anthony Doerr

All the Light We Cannot See

Apr 07, 2015, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

“Masterpiece. Tremendous. Wow. Overwhelming”. Just a few characterizations by readers of Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See. And the literary critics were also unanimous: Anthony Doerr has an immense talent for storytelling. His masterful and moving novel about two young people during World War II rapidly became a #1 New York Times bestseller and …...
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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on “Apollo”

April 7, 2015

This week, The New Yorker published a new short story, "Apollo", by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who visited our institute last year. In an interview with the magazine, Adichie explains about her inspiration, Bruce Lee, and the story behind the title....
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Invisible City/ Night Walk Photography exhibit

March 31, 2015

On April 3th, Noorderlicht Fotogalerie will launch the exhibition "Invisible City/Night Walk 1983-1989" by Ken Schles. The exihibit offers a ragged and compelling view of New York's Lower East Side during the nineteen-eighties. ...
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Letter from Amsterdam

March 29, 2015

Friend of the institute dr. George Blaustein offers his view of the revolution currently taking place at the University of Amsterdam. "Is all this just a tempest in a Dutch teapot? Or are our grievances and our actions significant abroad? I think they are significant, otherwise I would not be writing this."...
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Changing Media Landscapes at Amsterdam Academy

March 29, 2015

On March 31, Amsterdam Academy will host a lecture that takes a broad view of changes in the media landscape. Taking the US and the Netherlands as test cases, the discussion will have a particular focus on the rise of online television through Netflix, Amazon, and Youtube....
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SLAA Presents Jenny Offill

March 25, 2015

This Friday, SLAA presents an exclusive evening with American writer Jenny Offill in the Tolhuistuin. Offill's second novel "Dept. of Speculation," published last year, was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2014 by the New York Times Book Review....
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“Under Construction” in New York

March 16, 2015

The FOAM exhibition 'Under Construction – New Positions in American Photography,' which the John Adams and FOAM co-presented last fall at photo fair Unseen, opened this week at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn....
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David Byrne: “An Amsterdam Discussion”

March 9, 2015

David Byrne wrote a wonderful article as a follow-up to his event with the John Adams last October. In his expanded lecture, Byrne takes a gloomy view on artist revenues in the age of Pirate Bay, Spotify, and Youtube....
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“Porgy & Bess” at the Amsterdam RAI

March 9, 2015

Currently playing at the Amsterdam RAI Theater; George Gershwin's groundbreaking folk opera "Porgy & Bess," featuring an entirely American cast and soloists from the New York Metropolitan Opera....
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“Made in the USA” by The Hague Philharmonic

March 4, 2015

On March 6 and 8, The Hague Philharmonic will present their program "Made in the USA". Featuring works by Bernstein, Bartók and Dvorák, "Made in the USA" highlights the work of European composers in a world of Indians, skyscrapers and nostalgia for a destroyed homeland....
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The New Yorker reviews “House of Cards”

March 4, 2015

The new season of "House of Cards" feels like an extended epilogue, which is perhaps exactly what we - along with Frank Underwood - deserve. The New Yorker reviews the third season of "House of Cards."...
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Assasination of Boris Nemtsov

March 2, 2015

The assassination of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov on Friday has added a chilling sense of actuality to our event with Bill Browder on Thursday. "I find it hard to think Putin would actually order Nemtsov killed, not because Putin is a pacifist but because I see no real advantage."...
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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 …...
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NRC review of ‘Red Notice’

February 23, 2015

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."...
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Oscar Night at De Balie

February 22, 2015

On Sunday February 22, De Balie and Cineville will co-host a festive, night-filling program surrounding the 2015 Academy Awards. The evening will include an advance screening of the nominated film "Still Alice", a film quiz and an expert panel discussion on the nominees, losers and winners. ...
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Interview Bill Browder in FD

February 12, 2015

An interview (in Dutch) with our upcoming speaker Bill Browder (February 26) in FD. "The West has a completely false picture of Russia (...) we think that they think and act like us. But they do just the opposite."...
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“Selma” Premiering in Dutch cinemas

February 11, 2015

On February 19, Ava DuVernay’s lauded film "Selma" hit Dutch cinemas. Set in 1965, the film is a chronicle of Martin Luther King's campaign to secure equal voting rights for black Americans through an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama....
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Theo Padnos: prisoner of Al-Qaeda

February 9, 2015

On February 19 at De Balie, American journalist Theo Padnos will be interviewed about his experience of being kidnapped, tortured and eventually released by Al-Nusra Front, a group tied to Al-Qaeda. He was held prisoner for 22 months and wrote about his time in captivity in an article for the New York Times....
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Michiel de Ruyter Screening at EYE

February 7, 2015

On February 9, the EYE film museum will host a special English-subtitled screening of the Dutch film "Michiel de Ruyter"....
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The Frick Collection at the Mauritshuis

February 4, 2015

The Mauritshuis in The Hague is currently host to a large number of masterpieces from The Frick Collection in New York. The exhibition includes work by artists otherwise not or barely represented in Dutch museum collections, such as Cimabue, Van Eyck, Gainsborough, Constable and Ingres....
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Harper Lee’s second novel

February 4, 2015

Fifty years after her famed only novel, Harper Lee is set to release her second book, written before "To Kill a Mockingbird" but never published. "Go Set a Watchman" a sequel of sorts to "Mockingbird", centers around the adult Scout, and is to be published this summer....
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Russell Shorto: “On Slavery’s Doorstep in Ghana”

January 31, 2015

Former JAI director Russell Shorto wrote a travel story about Ghana and slavery in this weekend's edition of the New York Times....
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John C. Hulsman: “Twilight of the Gods”

January 26, 2015

On Tuesday, 3 February the Netherlands Atlantic Association hosts a program entitled ‘Twilight of the Gods: The End of the Obama Era & the Future of American Foreign Policy’ with John C. Hulsman, President of John C. Hulsman Enterprises and an expert on American politics and foreign policy....
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The State of the Union 2015

January 21, 2015

President Barack Obama laid out an aggressive agenda for his final two years in office during his State of the Union address Tuesday, assuring Americans that the “shadow of crisis has passed” and that, with the economy improving, it was time to “turn the page.” Politico looks back at last night’s State of the Union. …...
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De Balie: Guantanamo Diary

January 20, 2015

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....
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‘Dear White People’ at De Balie

January 14, 2015

From January 15-21, the film Dear White People will be showing at De Balie. Winner at the 2014 Sundance Festival for Breakthrough Talent, this satirical drama follows a group of African American students as they navigate life at a predominantly white university....
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Jennifer Lawless

The US midterm elections: Where do we go from here?

Jan 14, 2015, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

The event was the first in our ongoing 2016 Election Series. Other events in the series are George Packer, Senator George Mitchell, and Buffy Wicks. The midterm elections revealed the deep divisions within American society. With a Republican majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, Obama has a tough last two years ahead …...
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Teju Cole: “Unmournable Bodies”

January 12, 2015

“We mourn with France. We ought to. But it is also true that violence from ‘our’ side continues unabated. By this time next month, in all likelihood, many more ‘young men of military age’ and many others, neither young nor male, will have been killed by U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan and elsewhere.” Read the …...
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Martin Luther King Day

January 12, 2015

On January 18, 2015 Humanity in Action will organize a Martin Luther King Day in collaboration with De Balie. Since 1986 the United States has celebrated the birthday of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with a public holiday....
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Cities step up to the climate challenge

An interview with Joan Fitzgerald, author of "Emerald Cities"

January 12, 2015

Given the lack of national policy on climate change, cities have stepped into vacuum and are developing strategies of their own. Good for the climate, good for the economy, says urban planning professor Joan Fitzgerald. By Tracy Metz Emerald City – that was where Dorothy met the Wizard of Oz, after a long and …...
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David Allen: Getting Things Done

January 8, 2015

American productivity consultant, writer and creator of the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology David Allen is coming to Amsterdam on Tuesday February 17th, 2015 for a special event....
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Twelve Lessons for 2015

January 5, 2015

Click here to read what The New Yorker columnist John Cassidy has to say about 2014, and what that means for 2015....
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Live at the Met: The Merry Widow

December 22, 2014

On January 17, the great Renée Fleming stars as the beguiling femme fatale who captivates all Paris in Lehár’s enchanting operetta, seen in a new staging by Broadway virtuoso director and choreographer Susan Stroman (The Producers, Oklahoma!, Contact)....
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David Oyelowo and Lupita Nyong’o in ‘Americanah’

December 17, 2014

‘Interstellar’ actor David Oyelowo will appear alongside Lupita Nyong’o in the film adaptation of ‘Americanah’. Based on the Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie novel—the same novel that brought Adichie to the JAI earlier this year—the story follows a pair of young Nigerian immigrants who face a lifetime of struggle while their relationship endures. Brad Pitt has been announced …...
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Big Brother Awards 2014

December 8, 2014

On December 16, the tenth edition of the Big Brother Awards will take place at the Stasschouwburg. The night will include live music, art, discussion and talks from inspiring speakers, including keynote speaker Aral Balkan....
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Washington Post praises the Dutch drug policy

December 4, 2014

Washington Post journalist Christopher Ingraham praises the current drug warnings in Amsterdam and the notable lack of moral judgment in the language used. Read the article here....
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Netherlands Chamber Orchestra: Born in the USA

December 1, 2014

On December 11 at the TAQA Theater De Vest and on December 12 at Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra will give a concert that showcases the wonderful variety in the first generation of American composers....
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What the PvdA can learn from nemesis Ayn Rand

November 27, 2014

The PvdA published a report that suggests they are losing contact with their supporters – not a first for the party. Jurriën Hamer explains why the party should seek advice from its archenemy, philosopher and author Ayn Rand. Read the article here (in Dutch). ...
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James Wood: “Serious Noticing: Life, Death and Detail”

November 24, 2014

On Dec. 11, James Wood, author of How Fiction Works (2008), will give a lecture for the fourth edition of Gidslezing in the Rode Hoed. Wood is one of the most prominent literary critics in the English-speaking world....
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A New Holiday Tradition for the Dutch: Arguing About Blackface

November 17, 2014

Hundreds of Dutch citizens gathered this weekend to watch the parades in honor of St. Nicholas, who according to local lore is accompanied by a dark-skinned helper know as Zwarte Piet, or Black Pete. This tradition has sparked controversy and The New York Times looks at both sides of the debate. Read the article here....
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A Nation Torn

November 12, 2014

The midterm elections revealed the deep divisions within the US political system. With a Republican majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, Obama has a tough last two years ahead of him. In a short series of blogs, a number of America-watchers will reflect on the question: where do we go from here?...
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Anthony McCall at EYE

November 9, 2014

From 28 September to 30 November EYE presents the first solo exhibition in the Netherlands by New York-based British artist Anthony McCall. ...
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Report Back

November 4, 2014

I spent my time at the five-day long Impakt Festival watching screenings, listening to talks, interacting with artworks and making plenty of connections with both new and old friends. I’m still digesting the deluge of aesthetic approaches, subjective responses and formal interpretations of the theme of the festival, “Soft Machines: Where the Optimized Human Meets …...
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Opening Night

October 31, 2014

The Impakt Festival officially kicked off this Wednesday evening, and the first event was the exhibition opening at Foto Dok, curated by Alexander Benenson. The works in the show circled around the theme of Soft Machines, which Impakt describes as “Where the Optimized Human Meets Artificial Empathy”. Of the many powerful works in the …...
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Introducing EquityBot

October 29, 2014

During my time at Impakt as an artist-in-residence, I have been working on a new project called EquityBot, which is an online commission from Impakt. It fits well into the Soft Machines theme of the festival: where machines integrate with the soft, emotional world. EquityBot exists entirely as a networked art or “net art” project, …...
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David Byrne’s history lesson at the Rijksmuseum

October 29, 2014

David Byrne spent the morning before his JAI discussion on October 18, 2014 exploring the Rijksmuseum. He has now written a piece about the collection, but also about Dutch colonial history. “How do these immigrant folks who visit the museum react to seeing room after room of the triumphant Dutch dominating their former homelands…and the Dutch wealth …...
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John Adams at IDFA

The Female Gaze

Nov 20, 2014, 11:30 am - 1:30 pm

The John Adams Institute collaborated with the International Documentary Film Festival this year on the theme ‘The Female Gaze’. IDFA invited fifteen leading female directors from various countries to present three documentaries each: one directed by themselves, one directed by a woman who has inspired them, and one by an up-and-coming female talent. The John …...
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Soft Machines and Deception

October 26, 2014

The Impakt Festival officially begins next Wednesday, but in the weeks prior to the event, Impakt has been hosting numerous talks, dinners and also a weekly “Movie Club,” which has been a social anchor for my time in Utrecht. Every Tuesday, after a pizza dinner and drinks, an expert in the field of new media …...
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Naomi Klein in cooperation with IDFA

This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate

Nov 25, 2014, 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Naomi Klein, author and one of the key figures in the ‘alter-globalization movement’, sees climate change as a catalyst for change and a better world. With her new book This Changes Everything, Naomi Klein opens her readers’ eyes – as she did in her bestsellers No Logo and The Shock Doctrine – with a merciless …...
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5 Questions for Christopher Payne

October 23, 2014

The photography exhibit ‘One Steinway Place’ by Christopher Payne is on show until November 9th at the Temporary art space in Amsterdam Noord. ...
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The Impakt Festival

October 22, 2014

The city of Utrecht, which is embellished by functioning canals and an old city center is just a 30 minute train ride from Amsterdam and 45 minutes from Rotterdam. Every year in the fall, the Impakt organization holds a media arts festival, called appropriately: Impakt Festival. The first festival was in 1988, which is ancient …...
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Christopher Payne – One Steinway Place

October 19, 2014

‘Christopher Payne – One Steinway Place’ exhibition is on view from October 17 to November 9 at the Temporary art space Amsterdam Noord. The American photographer Christopher Payne specializes in the documentation of America’s vanishing architecture and industrial landscape. Trained as an architect, he is fascinated by how things are purposefully designed and constructed and …...
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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....
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‘Dark Knees’ – Mark Cohen

October 13, 2014

‘Dark Knees’ exhibition by street photographer Mark Cohen is currently showing at Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam until January 11, 2015. The American photographer Mark Cohen (1943) is still relatively unknown to the general public, but fits seamlessly into the tradition of the major street photographers such as Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Lisette Model and Helen …...
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Hello PLASTIC

October 7, 2014

On October 23, Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam will host Hello PLASTIC, an evening about the historical origin and cultural significance of plastic, and an inspiring glimpse into the future. The main speaker of the evening is Susan Freinkel, author of Plastic, a Toxic Love Story, and other guests include Maurizio Montalti, Perpetual Plastic Project and Tal Erez. …...
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The Guardian review of “How Music Works”

October 3, 2014

David Byrne’s reflections in his new book How Music Works intrigue The Guardian’s Michel Faber, who sees the book as “disarmingly frank, a fresh perspective from a down-to-earth mind”. Read the review and discover Byrne’s secret to sell here. ...
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David Byrne & Michel Lambot

Are Musicians an Endangered Species in the Digital World?

Oct 18, 2014, 8:15 pm - 10:00 pm

The John Adams Instiute presented an evening with Michel Lambot who had a conversation with David Byrne, Oscar- and Golden Globe-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, cofounder of Talking Heads and author of How Music Works. In How Music Works, David Byrne explores the fundamentals of making music and analyses how profoundly music is shaped by its …...
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Daniel Gordon at Foam Museum

September 24, 2014

From September 12 to November 2, 2014, Foam presents the exhibition “Shadows, Patterns, Pears” by the American artist Daniel Gordon (b. 1980 Boston, USA). Gordon was chosen as the winner of the Foam Paul Huf Award 2014. This prize is organised by Foam and awarded annually to a young, promising international photographer under 35. The exhibition features …...
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Dr. Earle Havens: “History, Fantasy and Falsification”

September 22, 2014

On September 23, 2014, from 16:00 to 17:30, Dr Earle Havens (John Hopkins University) will give a lecture, “History, Fantasy, and Falsification: 2,500 years of Fakes, Lies and Forgeries” at Universiteit van Amsterdam (Singel 425, Belle van Zuylenzaal). In 2011, Johns Hopkins University acquired the world’s most comprehensive collection of rare books and manuscripts on …...
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Interdependence Day 2014: Benjamin Barber

September 20, 2014

This weekend at Pakhuis de Zwijger, the 12th annual Interdependence Day Forum will take place. Founded by Professor Benjamin Barber, the Interdependence Day Forum is an annual gathering of distinguished international speakers including leaders in culture, politics, education and faith all of whom believe in the need for an interdependent world and their responsibility to …...
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Francis Fukuyama: America in Decay

September 18, 2014

Francis Fukuyama writes for Foreign Affairs about the “steady deterioration in the overall quality of American government” that has been documented by public administration specialists for more than a generation. “Federal employees appear to be more motivated by compensation than mission, ensnared in careers that cannot compete with business and nonprofits, troubled by the lack …...
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Foam Under Construction – New Positions in American Photography

September 15, 2014

This week, Foam presents ‘Under Construction – New Positions in American Photography’, a group exhibition featuring the work of nine young American and Canadian artists: Sara VanDerBeek, Lucas Blalock, Joshua Citarella, Jessica Eaton, Daniel Gordon, Owen Kydd, Matt Lipps, Matthew Porter and Kate Steciw. Even though the results of the artists’ individual artistic practices are very …...
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Howard Greenberg Collection in Amsterdam

September 9, 2014

From September 11, 2014 – January 11, 2015, the exhibition Masterpieces from the Howard Greenberg Collection will be showing at the Jewish Historical Museum. Already achieving great success in Lausanne, Paris and Budapest, this private collection of the New York photography gallerist and curator now makes its way to Amsterdam. Read more here. Sacha de …...
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The Source of New York’s Greatness

September 8, 2014

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....
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Teju Cole rereads James Baldwin

September 7, 2014

In an essay for The New Yorker, Teju Cole, a friend of the institute who visited in 2012, rereads James Baldwin’s “Stranger in the Village” with the tragedies of Ferguson in mind. This essay was also published in Dutch in the De Groene Amsterdammer on September 4. A revised version of Teju Cole’s Every Day is …...
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Water Republic 2025: Rebuild by Dutch Design

September 2, 2014

Tonight, Sept. 8, winners from the Rebuild by Dutch Design competition will be presenting their plans for protecting New York from water disasters at the Pakhuis de Zwijger. Henk Ovink, Principal Rebuild by Dutch Design, and our director Tracy Metz will also be among the speakers of the evening. Please note that the event will …...
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Amy Tan interview

September 1, 2014

In this video George Stroumboulopoulos interviews former JAI guest Amy Tan, who speaks about her work, the Valley of Amazement. ...
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From Guggenheim to Cobra: until Aug. 31

August 21, 2014

From the Guggenheim Collection: International Abstraction 1949-1960, as the title suggests, showcases a selection of works from the collection of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. For the very first time, works from the core collection of mid-twentieth century art from this world-renowned institution are on view in the Netherlands. The exhibition focuses on the years …...
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Lydia Davis live at De Balie

August 11, 2014

Lydia Davis is known as the queen of the short story, and also of a genre she herself created: the ultra-short story. Such as ‘Bloomington’ from her new collection Can’t and Won’t. The story in its entirety reads as follows: “Now that I have been here for a little while, I can say with confidence …...
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Amsterdam’s Weird Culture War

August 5, 2014

The Atlantic’s Citylab explores some of the debate sparked by Rijksmuseum director Wim Pijbes’ open letter published last weekend in the NRC. In his letter, Pijbes stated that Amsterdam is “dirty, filthy and too full” and that “the charm and spirit of Amsterdam has long since faded”. Read CityLab’s take on the debate here....
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Malaysia Flight 17: The Unique Way the Dutch Mourn

July 29, 2014

Former JAI director Russell Shorto in Time Magazine on how the Dutch, with their innate distrust of ideology, are strikingly different from Americans in their gut reactions. Read the article here....
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B.J. Novak’s “The Book With No Pictures”

July 7, 2014

B.J. Novak, former guest of the John Adams Institute, has also written a children’s book, “The Book With No Pictures”, which will appear in September. “I wanted to write a book,” he said, “that would introduce the youngest of kids to the idea that words can be their allies — that the right words can …...
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Relics of the Cold War

July 4, 2014

Martin Roemers atmospheric study of the Relics of the Cold War is being exhibited at Anastasia Photo Gallery at 166 Orchard Street in New York, NY from 12 July until 14 September 2014. This autumn marks twenty-five years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. In honor of this anniversary, Anastasia Photo is pleased to present Relics of the Cold War, Martin Roemers’ second solo exhibition …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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VPRO series: My America

June 27, 2014

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....
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Clive Thompson

Smarter Than You Think

Jun 26, 2014, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Technology Series Internet is altering our minds in subtle and profound ways. But how? Does the web dumb us down or are new technologies boosting our abilities? Clive Thompson is one of today’s most prominent technology thinkers and writes for The New York Times Magazine and Wired. In his new book Smarter Than You Think (We Worden Steeds Slimmer in …...
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Ayn Rand

The Fountainhead

Sep 01, 2014, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Ayn Rand (1905-1982), the author of the bestsellers Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, is probably one of America’s most controversial political thinkers. With the rise of the Tea Party, her fierce defense of the individual versus the collective is once again at the forefront of American politics. Her opinions have always had less traction in …...
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The Metropolitan Opera: showing at Pathé

June 25, 2014

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). ...
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Russell Shorto: Watermanagement in the US

June 25, 2014

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....
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Al Gore’s new hope for the climate

June 23, 2014

“In the struggle to solve the climate crisis, a powerful, largely unnoticed shift is taking place. The forward journey for human civilization will be difficult and dangerous, but it is now clear that we will ultimately prevail.” Writing for the Rolling Stone, friend of the Institute and former US Vice President Al Gore shares a …...
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Clive Thompson teaser

June 18, 2014

Yvonne Zonderop, former moderator for our event with Clive Thompson, actually interviewed Thompson earlier this year in January. Read more here (in Dutch)....
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Elizabeth Warren: America’s heroine

June 14, 2014

Former John Adams Institute Board Member Chris Kijne hails Elizabeth Warren – a US Senator from Massachusetts who has been making headlines due to her efforts in combatting student debt and taking on Wall Street – as America’s new heroine. Read more here (in Dutch)....
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American artist Matthew Barney at EYE

June 12, 2014

American artist Matthew Barney’s film River of Fundament will make its Dutch premiere at EYE film museum as a part of Holland Festival. A collaboration between Barney and American composer Jonathan Bepler, ‘the film was conceived of as a contemporary opera that combines documentary footage of three live acts performed in outdoor environments in Los Angeles, Detroit, and New …...
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Bookstores of New York

June 12, 2014

The New Yorker asked the cartoonist Bob Eckstein to walk around New York City and draw his favorite bookstores. This is what he sent them....
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Amanda Gefter

Trespassing on Einstein's Lawn

Jun 12, 2014, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The year was 1995 and Amanda Gefter was having dinner with her father in a Chinese restaurant when he asked her: ‘How would you define nothing?’ That was the beginning of her quest to discover…the meaning of nothing. It led her to physics and cosmology, to neuroscience and philosophy, and to conferences that she gatecrashed …...
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The Diary: Teju Cole

June 9, 2014

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....
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‘MaddAddam’ Book Trilogy Adapted As HBO Series

June 5, 2014

HBO has started the development of the drama series ‘MaddAddam’, based on the trilogy of friend of the institute Margaret Atwood. Produced by Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, Noah). Read more here....
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Robert Reich: Freedom Summer II

June 4, 2014

Friend of the institute Robert Reich says that the movement of low-wage workers for decent pay and working conditions in the U.S. is the civil rights struggle of our time. Read his post on his website here....
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Unseen Photo Fair

Under Construction in collaboration with John Adams Institute

Sep 19, 2014, 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm

Programme with talks and round table discussion related to the exhibition Under Construction – New Positions in American Photography which opens in Foam on September 17. An exhibition that explores the latest developments towards the use of the photographic image, its complexity and its meaning in the current stream of digitalization. Often there exists an …...
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The Rise of the Global Capital

June 3, 2014

Simon Kuper in the Financial Times on why Amsterdam is slipping into the global second division. Read here....
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Russell Shorto lecture June 5th

June 2, 2014

Russell Shorto, the previous director of the John Adams Institute and the author of Amsterdam: A History of the World’s Most Liberal City, is giving the 19th Mandeville lecture at the Erasmus University on Thursday June 5th. The title of his lecture is ‘The Advantage of Threat: Water, Commerce and the Dutch’. Every year the …...
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Another prize for Andrew Solomon

May 30, 2014

“Figuring out how to love someone who seems unlovable is very familiar to me,” says Andrew Solomon, author of Far From the Tree. Solomon visited the John Adams Institute in February and meanwhile he has won yet another prize, the Wellcome book prize which is awarded for excellent works of non-fiction or fiction that are centered …...
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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 …...
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Amy Tan

The Valley of Amazement

Sep 10, 2014, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

One of the great storytellers of American literature, Amy Tan, returns to the John Adams Institute after her first visit in 1996 with a sprawling epic of mother-daughter relationship, abandonment, love and betrayal. Since her debut in 1989, The Joy Luck Club, her novels have all been New York Times bestsellers, as well as the …...
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B.J. Novak

One More Thing

Aug 30, 2014, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

With One More Thing, author, actor and comedian B.J. Novak brings you a hilarious collection of bizarre and short stories. Most people know him as the character Ryan from the television series The Office U.S., on which he was also one of the writers. With a background in stand-up comedy, Novak’s stories are quick and …...
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Amy Bloom

Lucky Us

Aug 27, 2014, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

With her new novel Lucky Us, Amy Bloom, a finalist for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, proves again that she is one of America’s most gifted literary voices. Set in the decade of world War II, in the years between 1939 and 1949, the novel moves from past …...
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Karin Slaughter

Cop Town

May 26, 2014, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Karin Slaughter’s nickname says it all: she is the Queen of Suspense. She is one of crime fiction’s most celebrated award-winning writers. In the Netherlands alone she has sold more than two million copies of her books, and she is the only author ever with eight titles on the Dutch bestseller list at the same …...
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Wharton’s World

May 21, 2014

On May 27, our good friends of the Stichting Literaire Activiteiten Amsterdam (SLAA) will organize an evening dedicated to the grande dame of literature, Edith Wharton at 8pm in the Tolhuistuin. More info here....
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Glenn Greenwald

No Place to Hide

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

The journalist Glenn Greenwald broke the biggest news of 2013: in The Guardian he reported on the surveillance by the American National Security Agency brought to light by Edward Snowden’s leaked documents. His stories triggered a fierce debate over national security, the amount of big data government gathers on citizens without their knowledge or consent and the …...
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Rachel Kushner

The Flamethrowers

Apr 16, 2014, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Rachel Kushner has risen rapidly through the ranks of American literature. Her widely praised debut novel, Telex from Cuba, was already a finalist for the National Book Award in 2008, and she did it again with her new novel The Flamethrowers. In beautiful prose, Kushner weaves two stories together — one begins in Italy in …...
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Margaret Bourke-White Exhibition

April 14, 2014

Moments in History 1930 – 1945: The Hague Museum of Photography is hosting an exhibition, open until June 29, 2014 on American photographer Margaret Bourke-White that comprises over 180 original vintage photographs taken in the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Germany, England and Italy in the 1930s and 40s....
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Michael Cunningham

The Snow Queen

Jun 07, 2014, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Two brothers, Barrett and Tyler. As they grapple with aging and loss, the one turns to religion after seeing a nighttime vision in Central Park, the other to drugs. They are the focal point around which Michael Cunningham’s haunting new novel The Snow Queen revolves. This is the sixth book by Pulitzer Prize-winner Cunningham, who …...
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Upcoming events: EYE and Concertgebouw

March 3, 2014

EYE commemorates the centenary of the First World War (1914-1918) with a number of activities. The programme features the celebrated American classic All Quiet on the Western Front (Lewis Milestone, 1930). For screening dates click here. American pianist/composer Conrad Tao (winner of numerous international prizes and holder of a Presidential Scholarship, winner of various ASCAP Awards and …...
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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Americanah

Feb 21, 2014, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams institute proudly hosted an event with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. An “immensely talented author”, according to Janet Maslin of The New York Times, Adichie also figured on the The New Yorker’s prestigious ‘20 Under 40’ list. Her fame skyrocketed with her widely acclaimed debut novel Purple Hibiscus, only to top this with her Orange Prize winning …...
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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, …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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Featured Text Box 3

Branko Milanovic

January 21, 2014

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

Inferno

Jan 07, 2014, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Ten years ago, a mystery-detective novel suddenly rose to the top of the bestseller lists. That book was The Da Vinci Code, the fourth novel of an, until then, unknown novelist named Dan Brown. We all know what happened next: this ”riddle-filled, code-breaking, exhilaratingly brainy thriller,” as Janet Maslin described it, turned into one of the …...
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James Boyle, Paul Goldstein & Bernt Hugenholtz

A Discussion about Copyright

Dec 08, 2013, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Technology Series Does copyright protect and encourage creativity? Can you own an idea? Does the concept of copyright slow down innovation? These are some of the many questions surrounding copyright law and policy – questions already raised by Thomas Jefferson in 1813. The John Adams Institute partnered with Google and Wolters Kluwer to explore this …...
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1963

By Barbara Kellerman

November 22, 2013

The nation is awash right now in tributes marking the 50th anniversary of the death of John Kennedy. Some are focused on the man himself, others on his presidency, and still others on his assassination. The half century mark marks a moment to dream of the man who would be king, to reassess his short …...
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The Kennedy Brand

By Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal

November 21, 2013

Thirteen years after, I was born, in 1976. The myth was then already debunked, and thus the Kennedy saga unfolded to me in a different order than to the generation of my parents: not the dream first and then the wake-up call, but vice versa. The Kennedy I got to know was a wandering opportunist …...
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The Fall

By James Kennedy

November 20, 2013

I was born on the last summer day of John F. Kennedy’s presidency, at least as Americans might count it. I was born on Labor Day Monday 1963, a holiday that marks the end of summer with family get-togethers. That’s how the other Kennedys – no relations of mine – spent their own Labor Day …...
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A Legacy through Television

By Ruth Oldenziel

November 19, 2013

The image of JFK’s shooting is like a hall of mirrors. You can’t trust anything you see through the layers of mythmaking about the man, his presidency, his assassination. True, much of his legacy has been revised by historians (on Cuba, Vietnam, civil rights), but one piece of it remains largely undisputed. From the election …...
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JFK’s Pool

By Twan Huys

November 18, 2013

Each correspondent in WashingtonDC is surprised by the weird little space that passes for the Briefing Room, the press room at the White House. Here, the President or his spokesman is questioned about wars, revolutions, legislative issues or sexual escapes with trainees. Few people know that this claustrophobic space served an entirely different purpose forty …...
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The Day the Sixties Started

By Frans Verhagen

November 17, 2013

I used to think of the inauguration of John F. Kennedy as a major turning point. The speech, this young man with no overcoat, his clear voice and his inspiring rhetoric, the glamor of Jackie: it had all the appearance of a new era. That is how it probably felt in 1961. I was too …...
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Is Obama the JFK of our time?

By Bertine Moenaff

November 16, 2013

I was born twenty years after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, so I can’t really tell what impact the death of this iconic American President had on me personally. But an icon he was. Listening to Dutch people remembering JFK in Coen Verbraak’s documentary ‘De Dag dat Kennedy werd vermoord’ (The Day Kennedy was …...
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The Memory of a Little Boy

By Russell Shorto

November 15, 2013

I “remember” very well where I was when JFK was assassinated. The quotation marks, of course, mean that I have no idea whether it is in fact a memory or an image that my mind created after the fact. I was with my mother shopping in the local department store in Pennsylvania. We had just …...
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A Comparison with Leaders in the 21st Century

By Marc Chavannes

November 14, 2013

It was in the days before the cellphone. Somehow the news percolated into our science class at high school. President Kennedy had been fatally shot. We were pretty well versed in the ballistics of William Tell’s experiment with the apple, but this morning doom descended – with no other than a vertical path.Foreign leaders don’t …...
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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 …...
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Philipp Meyer

The Son

Oct 23, 2013, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Elemental America is Philipp Meyer’s subject matter, both in his earlier, highly acclaimed novel American Rust, which was set in a Pennsylvania rust belt town, and his shimmering new work. The Son is a saga of the American West. It flickers with suggestions of earlier writers who laid claims to the Great American Novel epithet – …...
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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 …...
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Kent Larson

Technology and the Future of the City

Sep 23, 2013, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Technology Series Will you soon be driving a folding car? Will your apartment be tricked out with robotic walls, converting your dining room into a yoga studio and then a bedroom? The world is changing even faster than we think. In this century 90% of population growth will be in cities, meaning that we have …...
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Margaret Atwood

MaddAddam

Sep 04, 2013, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Margaret Atwood is one of the world’s best-loved writers. Her output extends to more than fifty volumes. While she is probably best known for her novels, she has also written poetry, nonfiction, and children’s literature. Dystopia is one of her fictional preoccupations, and in her novel, MaddAddam, Atwood is at her very best: as Booklist says, “from her …...
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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 …...
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Kim Ghattas

The Secretary: A Journey with Hillary Clinton from Beirut to the Heart of American Power

Jun 11, 2013, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Kim Ghattas, who has covered the U.S. State Department for the BBC since 2008, has written a gracious, nuanced book about Hillary Clinton’s years as Secretary of State. Ghattas logged 300,000 miles as she traveled with Clinton to 40 countries. In that time, she conducted 18 interviews with Clinton. The result is a portrait that …...
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Michael Pollan

Cooked: a Natural History of Transformation

Jun 03, 2013, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Michael Pollan, America’s favorite writer about the business and science of food, is back. Cooked is a personal story, one that most of us enact every day. We cook. We use fire, water, air, plants and animals. But what are we really doing? We are making a primal connection. The cook, Pollan discovers, connects his or …...
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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 …...
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Mohsin Hamid

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia

Mar 28, 2013, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

A poor boy from an unnamed village somewhere in the Third World wants to succeed in life. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia is a kind of self-help book for this character in Mohsin Hamid’s new novel, a character who might be said to represent hundreds of millions of people today. Hamid himself is a …...
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Dan Hassler-Forest

Capitalist Superheroes: Caped Crusaders in the Neoliberal Age

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

In 2002 the editors of Der Spiegel depicted then-president George W. Bush as a comic book superhero on their cover. They expected outrage from the White House. Instead, Bush ordered 33 posters of the image. In his new book, Dan Hassler-Forest, a professor of media studies at the University of Amsterdam, sees the Hollywood films …...
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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 …...
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Tracy Metz

Sweet & Salt: Water and the Dutch

Dec 12, 2012, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Hurricane Sandy reawakened America, and the world, to what we already knew: our coasts are under threat. In Sweet & Salt, Tracy Metz lays out the special relationship that the Dutch have with the sea–how thoroughly water management is rooted in the culture – and she offers potential solutions for places around the world that are …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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Day 5, No Enthusiasm or Craziness on Election Day

October 31, 2012

Long lines of voters, cheering Obama supporters along roads and many happy Americans that say they have made history. Shortly, this was the spirit that made Election Day 2008 a historical day for the United States and the world. How different is it now, four years later. Today Chicago was a dull and grey city, …...
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Day 4, Obama: “get out and vote!”

October 30, 2012

An old African American woman is leaning against a fence and holding a blue sign with ‘Forward’ in her hand. She is surrounded by others who stand shoulder to shoulder in the burning Florida sun. All of them are accompanied by thousands of people. They all are here for one thing: to support President Barack …...
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Chris Zook

Repeatability: Build Enduring Businesses for a World of Constant Change

Oct 30, 2012, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

In a rapidly changing world, companies believe they have to constantly reinvent themselves to stay profitable. But authors Zook and James Allen argue pretty much the opposite. The companies that succeed – from Nike to Apple to Ikea – stick to their formula. They create a “repeatable” business model, and continually adapt it to changing …...
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Day 3, Paul Ryan: “we need a high turnout in Florida”

October 29, 2012

One who drives through Bay County, Florida, is confronted with Romney-Ryan signs along the road everywhere. Anti-Obama signs, such as ‘Obama isn’t working’ and ‘defeat Obama’, are also very popular over here. This is an average country in the pan handle, a piece of Florida with an overall Republican base. It is in this area …...
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Day 2, Driving long to meet Paul Ryan

October 28, 2012

Swing state Florida is definitely one of the most interesting places to visit during election time. During the last couple of months both candidates and their running mates hold many rallies at places such as Palm Beach and Jacksonville. The grand finale was this week, when Michelle Obama and former president Bill Clinton held five …...
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Day 1, Stereotypes in the Sunshine State

October 27, 2012

Palm trees, beaches, beautiful woman, amusement parks, senior citizens and Miami Vice are a few of the many stereotypes that I have about Florida, the so called sunshine state that lies at the northern edge of the Caribbean. Another stereotype is the one of the all time swing state, where the counting of voting ballots …...
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Shane Jett & Gary Nordlinger

Debate: Obama versus Romney

Oct 11, 2012, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

All-American debate that preceded the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election. For the Republicans: Shane Jett is a former Oklahoma state legislator, a member of the Cherokee Nation, and director of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s Community Development Corporation, which provides loans to Native American-owned businesses. For the Democrats: Gary Nordlinger is president of Nordlinger Associates, a political …...
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Jeff Kinney

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Oct 07, 2012, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

When Jeff Kinney was a kid in Fort Washington, Maryland, he wanted to be a cartoonist, but he couldn’t get his cartoons syndicated. In 1998 he started writing a fictional diary of a boy named Greg Heffley. In 2004, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid first appeared on the game site FunBrain. Finally, in 2007, he published it …...
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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 …...
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Peter Bergen

Manhunt

Sep 11, 2012, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Peter Bergen is one of America’s foremost national security experts. His books have all been about Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden, whom Bergen interviewed for CNN. Bergen then focused all of that experience into a riveting account of the long hunt for Bin Laden. While the book Manhunt often reads like a thriller, it also …...
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David Henry Hwang

A Multicultural Dialogue Through Theater

Sep 06, 2012, 9:00 pm - 10:00 pm

David Henry Hwang is one of America’s top playwrights, and one of its most incisive chroniclers of the immigrant experience in America: or better said, the post-immigrant experience. Hwang was born in Los Angeles to Chinese parents, and grew up as a “real” American. He later said that as a boy he considered his Chinese …...
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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 …...
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Stanley Kubrick Remembered

Retrospective

Jun 22, 2012, 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Stanley Kubrick was one of the greatest American filmmakers ever. His range was incredibly broad: from Lolita to 2001: A Space Odyssey, from the horror of The Shining to the dystopia of A Clockwork Orange to the antiwar intensity of Full Metal Jacket. The John Adams Institute and EYE presented a special event dedicated to the master. Kubrick’s widow, Christiane Kubrick, and …...
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Martha Nussbaum

Creating Capabilities

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

Martha Nussbaum, professor of law and ethics at the University of Chicago, is one of the world’s foremost philosophers. Her book, the culmination of a career dedicated to social justice issues, highlights one of the conundrums of western societies. As she says, “Leaders of countries often focus on national economic growth alone, but their people, …...
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Teju Cole

Open City

May 29, 2012, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Teju Cole is rapidly becoming a new literary sensation in America. His novel Open City – which won the 2012 Pen/Hemingway Award and the New York City Book Award – is unlike anything you’ve ever read. The narrator, Julius, is a Nigerian psychiatry student who lives in Manhattan and likes to walk in the city. …...
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David Mark

Inside the U.S. Presidential Election: A Discussion with POLITICO editor David Mark

May 21, 2012, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

However the Republican race is decided, the fall presidential campaign promises to be extraordinarily combative. Republicans are vehement in their belief that President Obama has used the economic crisis as an excuse to pull the U.S.toward what many of them feel is “socialism.” Democrats believe Obama has done his best to rescue the country from …...
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Patrick deWitt

The Sisters Brothers

Apr 24, 2012, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

The Sisters Brothers is a black-comic western that is hilarious, hair-raising, and completely absorbing. Its story involves two brothers – last name, Sisters – who are hired killers. Their new job is to ride from the Oregon Territory into California Gold Rush country and gun down a man. But there are problems: Eli, who is …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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Chad Harbach

The Art of Fielding

Jan 19, 2012, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Once in a great while, a debut novel appears that causes critics to declare an instant classic. Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding is such a book. The New York Times listed it as one of the 10 best books of 2011, and Amazon named it the best book of the year. It is set at a midwestern college, and it’s …...
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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 …...
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Jeffrey Eugenides

The Marriage Plot

Dec 15, 2011, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Jeffrey Eugenides is one of America’s greatest living novelists. If that isn’t so apparent, it may be because he only produces a new book every nine years. His first novel, The Virgin Suicides, about five girls who commit suicide in the suburbs of Detroit, electrified critics and readers alike. His second, Middlesex, about the travails …...
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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 …...
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James Gleick

The Information

Nov 01, 2011, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

We live in the “information age” – but what is information, actually? In human terms, one might say information is the food that nourishes the mind. But how is it prepared and consumed? James Gleick has been called one of the greatest science writers of all time. Of his previous books, Chaos introduced a new science …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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Marvin Hamlisch

The Maestro of American Music

Sep 19, 2011, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute, in cooperation with AEGON, was honored to host composer Marvin Hamlish for a second time. Marvin Hamlisch was the maestro of American music, and one of the most celebrated composers of our time. He won three Oscars, four Grammys, four Emmys, a Tony and three Golden Globe awards. His Broadway credits include A …...
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Joshua Foer

Moonwalking with Einstein

Aug 31, 2011, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

What did you have for dinner last Tuesday? What was your family’s telephone number when you were eight years old? Human memory has a long history, but, ironically, we have forgotten most of it. We all know that before moveable type people relied on memorization. With the advent of the book – and the internet …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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Nicholas Carr

The Shallows: How the Internet is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember

Mar 02, 2011, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Nicholas Carr’s 2008 essay “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” opened a new chapter in our relationship to digital technology. In his book, Carr–who was previously editor of the Harvard Business Review–explores how the internet is changing our very brains: how we think, read and remember. As The Wall Street Journal put it, “We all joke about how the …...
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Kelly Nyks

Split: A Divided America

Feb 17, 2011, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Dutch politics is all about consensus–which is one reason Dutch people find American politics so bizarre. The shooting in Arizona of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords last month–in which 6 people were murdered–brought new attention to the crisis underlying American politics. A special screening of a documentary that explores the great political divide that threatens to pull …...
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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: …...
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Spike Lee

Doing the Right Thing

Dec 14, 2010, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

America has the Tea Party movement. Europe has its anti-immigrant movement. How should a society balance the rights of citizens with the needs of newcomers? How do we ensure that government treats everyone equally? How do we respond when it doesn’t? And how can individuals, especially young people, find their place and make their voices …...
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Lionel Shriver

So Much for That

Dec 01, 2010, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Lionel Shriver’s novel, So Much for That, has just been nominated for the 2010 National Book Award. Shriver follows a distinctly American tradition of exploring difficult material with elegant language. Her 2003 novel, We Need to Talk About Kevin, became a bestseller despite, or perhaps because of, its hard look at the aftermath of a mass killing …...
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Lang Lang

A Conversation, with Music

Nov 18, 2010, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

“The hottest artist on the classical music planet” (in the words of the New York Times) also has a remarkable life story. He grew up in northeastern China, won his first piano competition at age 5, and has played in virtually every major concert hall in the world. His performance at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 …...
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Michael Cunningham

By Nightfall

Nov 02, 2010, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

By Nightfall, the sixth novel by Michael Cunningham, brings us into the world of a successful New York couple whose elegant urban lives begin to unravel with the appearance of a chance visitor. Cunningham–who won the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for his 1998 novel The Hours–proves himself once again a master both of the …...
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Jonathan Franzen

Freedom

Oct 21, 2010, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The New York Times Book Review calls Jonathan Franzen’s novel, Freedom, “a masterpiece of American fiction.” Time Magazine actually put Franzen on its cover with the title “Great American Novelist.” The accolades are coming nonstop. Franzen’s novel spans the 9/11 decade. In following a single family, Franzen creates a vast meditation on a continent and a country; ultimately it …...
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Richard Russo

That Old Cape Magic

Sep 27, 2010, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Where Richard Russo’s recent novels Empire Falls and Bridge of Sighswere epic in scale, his eighth book, That Old Cape Magic is smaller: a warmly comic portrait of a man in midlife crisis. While suffering through his present-day anguish, the hero, Jack Griffin, is carrying the ashes of his father in the trunk of his car: literal baggage of his past. …...
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Bret Easton Ellis

Imperial Bedrooms

Sep 17, 2010, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Bret Easton Ellis became a celebrity novelist in 1985, at the age of 21, when Less Than Zero was published. Since then, his work has both built upon and mocked the themes that made him famous, including drug use, designer labels and generally amoral behavior. In his novel Imperial Bedrooms, he returns to the characters of his …...
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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, …...
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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. …...
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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 …...
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E. Benjamin Skinner

A Crime So Monstrous

Apr 21, 2010, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

There are more slaves in the world now than at any other time in history. E. Benjamin Skinner’s A Crime So Monstrous is an in-depth, ground-level account of slavery today. Skinner’s important book names, takes us down alleys and into buildings where human beings are bought and sold, and exposes the whole trade. Supporters of the book …...
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John Irving

Last Night in Twisted River

Mar 19, 2010, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

John Irving burst onto the American literary scene in 1980 with the publication of The World According to Garp. Since then, through 12 novels, he has become a fixture and a rarity: a writer both critically acclaimed and popularly beloved. His awards are numerous and quixotic: he has received a National Book Award and an Oscar …...
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Ron Rash

Serena

Mar 10, 2010, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Ron Rash writes poetry, short stories and novels. He is a Southerner, a crafter of finely wrought literature. His work is only now getting wide exposure in the U.S.–he has quietly become a bestseller–and the attention is long past due. Listening to “the elegantly fine-tuned voice of this Appalachian poet and storyteller,” as the New York Times has it, …...
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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 …...
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James Ellroy

Blood's a Rover

Jan 24, 2010, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Let him say it himself: “I am the greatest crime writer who ever lived.” James Ellroy writes tough, intense fiction. He has ego and style. Much of his oeuvre is set in Los Angeles in the 1950s, a hot landscape peopled by cops and bad deeds. His book, Blood’s a Rover, is the third of a …...
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Jonathan Safran Foer

Eating Animals

Jan 14, 2010, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Brilliant, thrilling, genius, breathtaking: such are the adjectives that have routinely been applied to Jonathan Safran Foer’s two award-winning novels. At 32, a married man with small children, Foer turned his attention to nonfiction, and to the food we eat.  Eating Animals is not an appeal for vegetarianism, but a sustained, at times brutal look at the …...
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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 …...
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Marvin Hamlisch

Composer and Musical Director

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

Marvin Hamlisch was the maestro of American music. As composer, he scored everything from Woody Allen films to James Bond movies to A Chorus Line and The Sting. With 3 Oscar awards, 4 Grammy awards, 4 Emmys, 3 Golden Globes, a Tony and a Pulitzer Prize, Hamlisch was a highly acclaimed composer. He was also an accomplished pianist and …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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David Simon

The Wire

Sep 30, 2009, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

More than a few critics have called The Wire, the hit U.S. series about crime in Baltimore, the best TV show of the year. David Simon, its creator, began his career as a crime reporter for The Baltimore Sun, where he gleaned details of the city’s seamy side. Using this material, he produced a series of bestselling books–including Homicide, …...
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David Leavitt

The Indian Clerk

Jun 16, 2009, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Born in Pittsburgh, educated at Yale, David Leavitt has been grouped with the likes of Edmund White as a writer who has “made art out of previously repressed and unnarrated areas of homoerotic experience.”  He is also drawn to history. The Indian Clerk takes place in the early 20th century, and revolves around the relationship between the brilliant …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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Joseph O’Neill

Netherland

Mar 13, 2009, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

This is the first event in our New America Series, sponsored by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Joseph O’Neill was born in Ireland, raised in the Netherlands, educated in England, and lives in New York. His award-winning novel, Netherland, reflects his background, as well as his passion for cricket. Its hero is a Dutchman who immerses …...
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Michael Pollan

In Defense of Food

Feb 11, 2009, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Never has so much attention been paid to what we eat. It’s strange, then, that a lot of what we eat is not actually food but, according to Michael Pollan, “edible food like substances are no longer the products of nature but of food science.” The irony, which Pollan details in his book, In Defense of …...
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Stewart O’Nan

Snow Angels

Feb 10, 2009, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Winter is cold in Butler, Pennsylvania. The characters in O’Nan’s atmospheric novel interact like snowflakes: in a swirl of love and pain and coincidence. At the center is a boy named Arthur, whose parents’ marriage is collapsing and whose former babysitter is murdered. Last year the book became a Hollywood film starring Sam Rockwell and …...
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Malcolm Gladwell

Outliers: The Story of Success

Jan 30, 2009, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

What if the Beatles had never gone to Hamburg in 1960? Would they have become a sensation? What if Bill Gates had been born five years later? Would he have revolutionalized the world? Excellence, we often think, comes from practice. But Malcolm Gladwell, staff writer for The New Yorker and bestselling author of The Tipping Point and Blink, took the …...
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Chip Taylor

Songs from a Dutch Tour

Dec 14, 2008, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Singer-songwriter Chip Taylor took the John Adams Institute stage to talk about his special bond with The Netherlands, but also to play some of his famous songs. Taylor is the man behind such classics as Wild Thing (The Troggs), Try Just a Little Bit Harder (Janis Joplin) and Angel of the Morning (Juice Newton), and is considered one of the great …...
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Dexter Filkins

The Forever War

Nov 20, 2008, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

In The Forever War, Dexter Filkins – one of America’s top war correspondents – has produced a book of scintillating beauty, if one can apply such a term to the nightmare that has unfolded in Afghanistan and Iraq. How to sort through the lies, the bombs, the billions of dollars, the thousands of deaths? Filkins stays …...
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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 …...
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David Sedaris

When You Are Engulfed in Flames

Sep 23, 2008, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The humorist and author of Me Talk Pretty One Day and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim brings his entourage to Amsterdam for the Dutch publication of his latest collection of wisdom, When You Are Engulfed in Flames. Sedaris instructed the John Adams audience on how to buy drugs in a North Carolina trailer and …...
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Martin Amis

The Second Plane

Sep 09, 2008, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Britain’s greatest living author came to the John Adams Institute podium on the occasion of the Dutch publication of his new collection of essays about the post-9/11 world, The Second Plane. After spending his early career on the political left, Martin Amis lived for two years in Uruguay and returned to find that, as he later …...
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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 …...
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Paul Auster

Man in the Dark

Jun 10, 2008, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute presented an evening with Paul Auster, marking his third visit after his visits in 1990 and 2004. Paul Auster was born in New Jersey, but is most associated with Brooklyn (where he has long lived) and Paris (where he worked as a translator of French literature). He is a writer like no other, …...
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Michael Oreskes

In conversation with Twan Huys

May 13, 2008, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

13 May 2008 The intense interest in 2008’s American presidential election has a flipside: the reason all campaigns had the mantra of “change” is that no one was pleased with the country’s recent leadership. The U.S. prides itself on its democracy, and above all on its Constitution. How has the American government strayed so far …...
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Ben Katchor

On Comics

Apr 27, 2008, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

27 April 2008 The John Adams Institute was proud to present Ben Katchor, the first comic strip artist ever to win a McArthur Foundation “genius grant.” Katchor has been called “the most poetic, deeply layered artist ever to draw a comic strip.” Katchor started out as a contributor to Art Spiegelman’s legendary cutting edge graphics …...
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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 …...
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Amy Bloom

Away

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

The John Adams Institute presented a lecture with Amy Bloom. She might be trained as a psychotherapist, but her prose is anything but analytical. Her sensitive exploration of human interactions, expressed in a style that is luminous yet engagingly direct, has won her many fans and awards. Her novel, Away, tells the picaresque story of a Russian Jew …...
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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 …...
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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. – …...
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Steve Earle

in conversation with Chris Kijne

Jan 31, 2008, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Steve Earle -“the hardcore troubadour”- is a legend in rock and country music circles, and nearly as renowned for his politics as for his music. His 2002 album, Jerusalem, was a reaction to President George W. Bush’s “war on terrorism.” The song “John Walker’s Blues,” about the captured American Taliban John Walker Lindh, provoked headlines around …...
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Robert B Reich

Supercapitalism

Jan 14, 2008, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

President Bill Clinton’s former Secretary of Labor argues in his important book that in the last thirty years capitalism has flourished at the expense of democracy. Robert Reich – one of America’s most renowned economists – says people now see themselves as buyers and sellers first and citizens only later, if at all. The rise …...
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Nigella Lawson

Nigella Express

Dec 06, 2007, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute proudly presented an evening around the multi-talented author, journalist and TV personality Nigella Lawson. According to Salman Rushdie she is one of the most original and funny literary food writers. Nigella is an interesting personality in her own right. She has written extensively about the loss to cancer of two loved …...
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Dana Thomas

Deluxe: How Luxury Lost its Lustre

Nov 20, 2007, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The topic of luxury today is all about globalization, capitalization, class and culture. Dana Thomas explores with a blend of history, culture and investigative journalism the whole of today’s high-end shopping experience. Thomas answers some pressing questions in her book Deluxe: How Luxury Lost its Lustre: What happened to brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Yves Saint …...
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Stedman Graham

Diversity: Leaders Not Labels

Oct 16, 2007, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Stedman Graham demonstrates in his book Diversity: Leaders not Labels – a New Plan for the 21st Century, that cultural diversity is changing the face of nations across the world. Either embrace diversity or get left behind. In an inspiring talk he showed the great variety of opportunities cultural diversity has to offer by focusing …...
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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 …...
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William Easterly

The White Man's Burden

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

New York University Professor and former World Bank economist William Easterly joined us for a discussion on why the 100 billion USD the rich world yearly dedicates to end poverty in the developing world is for a big part wasted. The Millennium Development Goals, an initiative of the UN directed by Jeffrey Sachs, are the …...
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John Adams & Peter Sellars

Dr. Atomic Revisited

Jun 11, 2007, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Composer John Adams and theater director Peter Sellars joined us us for a joint interview to mark the Dutch premiere of their opera Dr. Atomic. Following the success of the opera Nixon in China, Dr Atomic once again explores a politically current theme with great artistic flair, which Sellars, who wrote the libretto, skilfully links …...
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Miranda July

No One Belongs Here More Than You

Jun 07, 2007, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Filmmaker, performing artist and writer Miranda July joined us to discuss her work and her new collection of short stories, No One Belongs Here More Than You. After writing, directing and starring in the feature film Me and You and Everyone We Know, which won the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, she turned …...
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Nathan Englander

The Ministry of Special Cases

May 31, 2007, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Author Nathan Englander joined us to discuss his work and his long awaited novel The Ministry of Special Cases. The novel is set in 1976 in Buenos Aires during Argentina’s “dirty war.” Its a timeless story of fathers and sons and the search for the ‘desaparecidos’. In a world turned upside down, where the past …...
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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 …...
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Michelle Goldberg

Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism

May 14, 2007, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Investigative journalist Michelle Goldberg joined us to discuss her ideas on the influence of Christian Evangelical organizations on politics, the educational system and the legal system. In her book Kingdom Coming, Goldberg traces the financial and ideological ties of these groups with the Republican Party and how educational programs in many states in the US …...
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Antoine van Agtmael

Emerging Markets - The Challenge for Western Companies and the Strategies They Should Be Aware Of!

Apr 17, 2007, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

As part of the Dutch-American Friendship Day, we invited the brilliant author Antoine van Agtmael to talk about the topic for the afternoon: Emerging Markets – The Challenge for Western Companies and the Strategies They Should Be Aware Of! In his keynote speech Van Agtmael demonstrated how a new breed of world-class companies is taking …...
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Ariel Levy

Female Chauvinist Pigs

Apr 12, 2007, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Author Ariel Levy and staff writer at The New Yorker joined us for a lecture on her book, Female Chauvinist Pigs. A bold, piercing examination of how twenty-first century American society perceives sex and women. The book cleverly leads us to explore the role models women aspire to emulate. Levy argues that rather than pursuing the …...
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Daniel Mason

A Far Country

Apr 02, 2007, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Author of the bestseller The Piano Tuner, joined us for a lecture of his highly anticipated novel, A Far Country. Relating the story of a teenage girl’s search for her beloved older brother in a Third World country, A Far Country is a vivid, uncompromising portrayal of poverty and desperation and a universal tale about …...
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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 …...
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Harold McGee

On Food & Cooking

Dec 12, 2006, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute proudly presented an evening with Harold McGee, food author. He spoke about his book On Food & Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, which has just been translated in Dutch by Nieuw Amsterdam Publishers with the title Over Eten en Koken. Harold McGee writes about the science and chemistry behind cooking, …...
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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. …...
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Marisha Pessl

Special Topics in Calamity Physics

Nov 02, 2006, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Fresh new literary voice Marisha Pessl joined us to discuss her debut novel, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, one of the most vibrant and acclaimed books published this fall. Describing the relationship between a daughter and an ‘incredibly narcissistic, amoral, controlling and very charming’ political science professor father, Special Topics in Calamity Physics is a literary …...
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Al Gore

An Inconvenient Truth

Oct 06, 2006, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

United International Pictures (UIP) and The John Adams Institute are proud to present Al Gore at the preview premiere of the film An Inconvenient Truth. Chris Kijne (VPRO broadcaster) presented the evening. Al Gore’s groundbreaking book, An Inconvenient Truth, brings together leading-edge research from top scientists around the world, as well as photographs, charts, and other …...
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Philip Glass

Waiting for the Barbarians

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

Philip Glass is one of the late 20th century’s most influential composers and a founder of American Minimalism. His distinctive style – incorporating elements of ethnic and rock music – has been brought to bear on symphonies based on the works of David Bowie and Brian Eno. Waiting for the Barbarians premiered in September 2005 …...
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Jonathan Franzen

The Discomfort Zone

Sep 28, 2006, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Bestseller and National Book Award winner Jonathan Franzen joined us to discuss his memoir. The Discomfort Zone: A Personal History takes an intimate and humorous look at his own adolescence, his mother’s death and America during the sometimes tumultuous 1960s-70s. Franzen is a Fulbright scholar, a Guggenheim fellow and one of The New Yorker’s ’20 Writers …...
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John Irving

Until I Find You

Jun 24, 2006, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

One of America’s most popular and respected writers, John Irving returned to the Netherlands to discuss his career and his latest novel, Until I Find You. Irving published his first novel at the age of twenty-six, but it was 1978’s The World According to Garp that truly made him a household name. Since then, everything he …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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A. M. Homes

This Book Will Save Your Life

May 23, 2006, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Award-winning novelist and short story writer A.M. Homes visited Amsterdam to discuss her new novel This Book Will Save Your Life. It is a portrait of estrangement in the surreal netherworld of contemporary Los Angeles. Her work has been called “provocative” and “dangerous”, and specializes in bringing dark impulses and twisted tendencies to the surface. A.M. …...
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Irene Dische

International Literature Festival - More than Words

May 20, 2006

20 May 2006 Literaire Podia Amsterdam (LPA) presents: International Literature Festival Amsterdam 2006 MORE THAN WORDS The John Adams contribution: Irene Dische 20 may 2006 – 8pm in de Balie Organisations: SLAA, Cinema De Balie, Goethe-Institut, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, John Adams Instituut, Maison Descartes, Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam, Perdu, School der Poezie, Stichting GRAP....
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Marc Chavannes

On the Axis of Good and Evil

May 06, 2006, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Marc Chavannes, former Washington correspondent and journalism professor, joined the John Adams Institute to discuss his new book On the Axis of Good and Evil (Op de As van Goed en Kwaad – Amerika achter de schermen). Chavannes spent five years at the Washington desk reporting for NRC Handelsblad. In his book, he goes behind …...
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James Salter

Last Night

Apr 26, 2006, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Award-winning novelist and short story writer James Salter visited Amsterdam to discuss his latest work. His book, a collection of ten exceptional short stories entitled Last Night, has recently been translated and published in Dutch. Salter is widely regarded as one of the finest living practitioners of his craft by readers, critics and fellow writers. A …...
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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 …...
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Jay McInerney

The Good Life

Mar 10, 2006, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute proudly presented an evening with ‘brat pack’ novelist Jay McInerney. McInerney’s first novel – Bright Lights, Big City – was an instant classic and a Hollywood hit, capturing the cocaine-fueled excess of 1980’s Manhattan like few others. Then, as he told The New York Times recently, he became one of the decadent …...
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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 …...
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Lewis H. Lapham

Power Talk

Nov 30, 2005, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

30 November 2005 A meeting with the influential American essayist Lewis H. Lapham. Co-presented by IDFA, ISHSS/University of Amsterdam, and the John Adams Institute. Lewis H. Lapham editor of Harper’s Magazine, and star and writer in the film The American Ruling Class (which sees its European premiere at IDFA) shared his views on propaganda, the media, …...
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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 …...
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Karin Slaughter

Faithless

Nov 09, 2005, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with bestselling author Karin Slaughter. She visited the Institute to speak about her new book Faithless (published in Dutch as Trouweloos). In the latest installment of her popular Grant County series, medical examiner Sara Linton returns to solve another mysterious small-town death in America’s deep south. “Brilliant plotting, relentless suspense,” …...
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Brian Greene

The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time and Texture of Reality Creation Story

Nov 02, 2005, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

02 November 2005 Brian Greene has been called ‘the closest thing physics has to a pop star’. The university professor and Rhodes scholar is one of the world’s foremost exponents of Superstring Theory. In the U.S., he is a frequent guest on science documentaries, late night talk shows and even a Hollywood film. Greene’s newest …...
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Mark Z. Danielewski

The Fifty Year Sword

Oct 31, 2005, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

31 October 2005 The Fifty Year Sword is the much awaited successor to Danielewski’s unconventionel debut novel House of Leaves, a complex and experimental horror story packed with anagrams, puzzles, teasing typography and hidden meanings. The event coincided with the worldwide launch of this book The Fifty Year Sword (Het Vijftig Jaars Zwaard), a wicked and witty ghost story …...
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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 …...
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Tom Wolfe

I Am Charlotte Simmons

Oct 07, 2006, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with journalist and writer Tom Wolfe, who spoke about his novel I Am Charlotte Simmons. In the novel, Charlotte Simmons attends the fictional Dupont University. It is there that she loses her innocence as she discovers the only way to survive at university is through sex. She tries to …...
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Eric Schlosser

Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market

Oct 06, 2005, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

06 October 2005 An award-winning journalist, Schlosser’s first book – Fast Food Nation:The Dark Side of the All-American Meal – is a devastating exposé that spent more than a year on the New York Times bestseller list. His publication – Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market – delves into three key components of America’s underground …...
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Michael Cunningham

Specimen Days

Sep 29, 2005, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Cunningham’s The Hours won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, as well as the prestigious PEN/Faulkner award, and went on to become an Academy Award-winning film starring Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, and Meryl Streep. An earlier novel, A Home at the End of the World, was recently made into a film starring Sissy Spacek and Colin …...
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Jeremy Rifkin

The European Dream

Sep 22, 2005, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with Jeremy Rifkin. As director of the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington D.C., he is one of the 150 most influential people in the United States capital. He has written seventeen books on the impact of technological changes on the economy and the community. Within his foundation …...
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Lisa See

Snow Flowers and the Secret Fan

Sep 06, 2005, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Lisa See’s novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a brilliantly realistic journey into to a world that is as deeply moving as it is sorrowful. ‘It is achingly beautiful,’ raves best-selling author Amy Tan. ‘A marvel of imagination of a real and secret world that has only recently disappeared.’ Set in 19th century China, …...
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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 …...
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Jonathan Safran Foer

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close: A Novel

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

The John Adams Institute hosted author Jonathan Safran Foer, who spoke about his novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. The evening was moderated by Pieter Steinz, and included Q&A with the audience. Jonathan Safran Foer is the author of the bestseller Everything Is Illuminated, named Book of the Year by the Los Angeles Times and the …...
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Tom Regan

The Case for Animal Rights

May 20, 2005, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, Tom Regan has published more than 20 books and is widely regarded as the intellectual leader of the animal rights movement. His seminal work – The Case for Animal Rights – provides the philosophical underpinning for this ongoing debate. Regan is emeritus professor of philosophy at North Carolina State …...
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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 …...
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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, …...
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An American Evening

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

In the presence of Her Majesty the Queen, the John Adams Institute proudly presented: An American Evening at the Concertgebouw In honor of the 225th anniversary of John Adams’ arrival in this country, Dutch and American musicians will perform works by Copland, Dvorak and the premiere of: John Adams in Amsterdam “A song for Abigail”, work …...
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Martha Nussbaum

Upheavals of Thought - The Intelligence of Emotions

Mar 22, 2005, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

22 March 2005 For everybody who thinks that philosophy is a stuffy dull science, practiced by unworldly absent-minded professors: Martha Nussbaum isn’t an abstract scientist who occupies herself with the universe and metaphysics. She is in touch with daily life. The underlying assumption of her ideas is based on human emotions. According to Nussbaum emotions are …...
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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 …...
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Barbara Ehrenreich

Nickel and Dimed - On (not) getting by in America

Jan 31, 2005, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Millions of Americans work full time and more, often juggling two jobs, yet still fall below the poverty line. In Nickel and Dimed: On (not) Getting by in America, journalist and social critic Barbara Ehrenreich goes undercover in low-wage America to experience the grinding treadmill of the ‘working poor’, and discover how they keep body, …...
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John Adams Year 2005 Celebration

Jan 01, 2005, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

At the John Adams Institute, we’ve designated 2005 as “John Adams Year”, to mark the 225th anniversary of our honorable namesake’s arrival as America’s first envoy to the Netherlands. 20 september 2004 Unveiling of the memorial plaque on the façade of Keizersgracht 529, the canal side house where John Adams lived in 1781-1782. Official unveiling by Amsterdam …...
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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 …...
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Louis de Bernières

Birds Without Wings

Nov 07, 2004, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Novelist Louis de Bernières was born in London in 1954. He joined the army at 18 but left after spending four months at Sandhurst. After graduating from the Victoria University of Manchester, he took a postgraduate certificate in Education at Leicester Polytechnic and obtained his MA at the University of London. Before writing full-time, he …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia

A Supreme Court Justice's view on the Netherlands

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

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

The Confessions of Max Tivoli

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

The Confessions of Max Tivoli tells in retrospect the wondrous life story of Max Tivoli, from 1930 backwards to 1871. Max is born with the body of a septuagenarian. As time passes, his body develops from old to young, so that at the end of his life he looks like a small boy. His mind, though, …...
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Paul Auster

Oracle Night

May 13, 2004, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Oracle Night, Auster’s 11th novel, is a book about the power of words. It explores the typical Auster themes: fiction and reality, time and dreams, premonitions and foreboding, as well as randomness and free will. The book is narrated by writer Sydney Orr, who recounts a writing craze that overcame him twenty years ago after …...
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Siri Hustvedt

What I Loved

May 12, 2004, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

What I Loved is the diary-like biography of art historian Leo Herzberg. It chronicles twenty-five years of his life as a participant and observer of the New York art world. In 1975, he discovers an extraordinary painting by an unknown artist in a Soho gallery. He buys the work and tracks down the artist, Bill Wechsler. …...
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Adrian Nicole LeBlanc

Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble and Coming of Age in the Bronx

Apr 28, 2004, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

A frequent contributor to The New York Times Magazine and other journals, LeBlanc joined us to discuss her bestselling first book, Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx. Publishing house Arbeiderspers has recently released a Dutch translation of the book, Zomaar familie. Prof. Ruth Oldenziel, who acted as moderator, received her …...
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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 …...
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Ivo Daalder

America Unbound

Mar 10, 2004, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute was proud to present Ivo H. Daalder, senior research fellow at The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. and member of the U.S. National Security Council during the Clinton Administration. Publishing house Het Spectrum brought out a Dutch translation of his latest book, America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy (Amerika ontketend), …...
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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 …...
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Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Foreign Fruit

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

Aimee Nezhukumatathil is a young poet in whose work food and the pleasure of eating have found a special place. Her elegant and comical, sensual and delicate style creates poems like Are you making Dump Cake, Cheese Curds, The First Time and Fruit Cocktail Tree. They are part of her latest collection of poems Miracle Fruit (2003) and received the …...
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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 …...
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Michael Ignatieff

In the Flames

Nov 25, 2003, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute welcomed well-known essayist and novelist Michael Ignatieff, who talked about two of his recently published books Charlie Johnson in the Flames and Empire Lite (Charlie Johnsons laatste woord en Afgedwongen vrijheid). Paul Scheffer introduced Michael Ignatieff, conducted the interview as well as moderated questions from the audience. Charlie Johnson in the Flames covers the breakdown of …...
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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 …...
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Philip Kotler

Selling Amsterdam

Nov 05, 2003, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute proudly welcomed marketing expert Philip Kotler, whose textbooks are hailed worldwide as marketing ‘bibles’. Peter Jurgens, senior consultant for strategic communication at Boer & Croon , moderated a discussion about City Marketing Amsterdam between Professor Philip Kotler and Amsterdam’s Vice Mayor, Geert Dales and conducted the questions from the audience. Philip …...
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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 …...
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Michael Connelly

Lost Light

Sep 29, 2003, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute, in co-operation with Publishing House De Boekerij, presented Michael Connelly, who spoke about his latest Harry Bosch novel Lost Light (Verloren Licht). Arno Ruitenbeek, crime reporter of the Noord Hollands Dagblad, introduced Michael Connelly and conducted the interview with him, as well as moderated questions from the audience. In Lost Light Harry Bosch is fifty-two years …...
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Candace Bushnell

Trading Up

Aug 20, 2003, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute, in cooperation with Publishing House Vassallucci, invited Candace Bushnell for a unique performance in the music temple Paradiso. The author introduced her recently published – first – novel Trading Up. Heleen van Royen interviewed Miss Bushnell; the public was invited to ask questions. After the booksigning, Candace Bushnell joined the crowd for …...
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Paul Krugman

Has the Eagle Landed?

May 20, 2003, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Paul Krugman spoke about the latest developments in macro-economics and commented on America’s current economic policy and on the consequences of America being the only superpower in the world. Sweder van Wijnbergen introduceded Paul Krugman and debated with him and the audience on several global and economic issues. Krugman joined The New York Times in …...
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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 …...
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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, …...
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Gary Shteyngart

The Russian Debutante's Handbook

Apr 26, 2003, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute, in co-operation with Prometheus Publishing House, proudly presented Gary Shteyngart, the author of The Russian Debutante’s Handbook (published by Riverhead Books), translated into Dutch under the title Handboek voor de Russische Debutante. Herman Stevens, novelist and literary critic for HP De Tijd, introduced Gary Shteyngart and interviewed him following his reading. …...
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Neal Pollack

Neal Pollack's Eternal Love For the Good People of Holland (and Belgium)

Jan 30, 2003, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute proudly announced Neal Pollack as our guest at the National Poetry Day Amsterdam, on January 30, 2003. He also performed as a special guest with the Boom Chicago crew on January 31, 2003. Neal Pollack has worked as a journalist for the ‘Chicago Reader’. He gave it all up and started …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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Jeffrey Eugenides

Middlesex

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

Jeffrey Eugenides (Detroit, 1960) spoke about his latest novel, Middlesex. Middlesex, translated in Dutch by Contact Publishers, is Eugenides’ long-awaited second novel, following his sensational debut The Virgin Suicides (1993). Stacey Knecht (New York, 1957), literary translator and staff member at the Fonds voor de Letteren (Foundation for Dutch Literature), introduced Eugenides and interviewed him …...
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Atul Gawande

Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science

Nov 07, 2002, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute proudly presented an additional lecture to its schedule of events with writer-physician Atul Gawande (1965). His book Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science was recently translated into Dutch under the title Complicaties by Dutch publishing house De Arbeiderspers. Louise Gunning, Dean of the Medical Faculty of the University of Amsterdam …...
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Wayne Johnston

Baltimore's Mansion

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

The John Adams Institute welcomed Canadian author Wayne Johnston next month to talk about his first work of non-fiction, Baltimore’s Mansion, which is published in Dutch by De Geus Publishing House as Het Huis van Baltimore. A beguiling blend of family history and autobiography, Johnston’s book was awarded the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction. Jan Donkers, …...
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Arthur C. Danto

Beauty and Politics

Oct 22, 2002, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute, in co-operation with the Historische Uitgeverij, proudly presented Arthur C. Danto in the Van Gogh Museum. The Historische Uitgeverij had recently published a collection of Danto’s most important essays, titled De komedie van de overeenkomsten. Danto was a renowned philosopher and art critic. His theory on the end of art is as …...
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Mark Hertsgaard

The Eagle's Shadow

Sep 10, 2002, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute, in co-operation with Cossee Publishing House and the University of Amsterdam presented an evening with Mark Hertsgaard. Hertsgaard talked about his book, The Eagle’s Shadow: Why America Fascinates and Infuriates the World. Professor Maarten Brands participated in a discussion with Mark Hertsgaard, giving his views on America and America’s relationship with …...
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George Plimpton

Zelda, Scott and Ernest: A Theatrical Adaptation

Jun 26, 2002, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute was pleased to present a unique performance of the works of Ernest Hemingway and Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Written by George Plimpton and Terry Quinn, Zelda, Scott and Ernest: A Theatrical Adaptation, was performed by Norman Mailer, Norris Church Mailer and George Plimpton on June 26 in the Stadsschouwburg, Leidseplein 26 …...
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Barbara Kingsolver

Prodigal Summer

Jun 11, 2002, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute welcomed American best-selling author Barbara Kingsolver to speak about her novel Prodigal Summer (2000), that had been published by Prometheus as Zomer van overvloed. Jan Donkers, writer and journalist, introduced Barbara Kingsolver and moderated the discussion with the audience. Prodigal Summer weaves together three stories of human love within a larger …...
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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 …...
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John Irving

In Retrospective

Apr 15, 2002, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute proudly presented an evening with widely acclaimed American novelist, John Irving, on Monday 15 April 2002. Following his earlier visits to the Institute in 1991 and 1994, John Irving returned to discuss his work in retrospective. Dutch journalist and literary critic for NRC Handelsblad, Pieter Steinz, introduced Mr. Irving and moderated questions …...
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Joseph E. Stiglitz

Globalization and its Discontents

Apr 17, 2002, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

The John Adams Institute hosted Joseph E. Stiglitz, former advisor to President Clinton. The winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics gave frank and controversial talk about his book Globalization and its Discontents and spoke openly about his tenure at the World Bank. During his time in Washington D.C., he was the never shy of critiquing …...
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Chang-rae Lee

Native Speaker

Feb 28, 2002, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute, in co-operation with Ambo Anthos Publishing House, was delighted to present an evening with Korean-born, U.S. raised Chang-rae Lee. He spoke about his first novel Native Speaker, which appeared in Dutch translation in February of that year. Native Speaker (Moedertaal) received five major awards, including the Hemingway Foundation/PEN and the American …...
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Jonathan Franzen

The Corrections

Jan 10, 2002, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute, in co-operation with Prometheus Publishing House, proudly presented an evening with Jonathan Franzen, winner of the National Book Award 2001. Franzen will discuss his latest novel The Corrections, which has been translated into Dutch under the title De Correcties. Michaël Zeeman, renowned literary critic for the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant, introduced Franzen …...
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Deborah Tannen

I Only Say This Because I Love You

Dec 13, 2001, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute, in cooperation with the Universiteit van Amsterdam, presented a lecture by Deborah Tannen, Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. Following her visit to the Institute in 1995, Dr. Tannen returned to discuss her latest book, I only Say This Because I Love You (Ik zeg dit alleen omdat …...
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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, …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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David Sedaris

Naked

Sep 26, 2001, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

David Sedaris came to the John Adams Institute to discuss his work Naked and Me Talk Pretty One Day. In America, Sedaris is seen as the modern master of the short story. This genre was shocked into new popularity with his collections Barrel Fever, Holiday on Ice, Naked and Me Talk Pretty One Day. Sedaris …...
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Michael Chabon

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

Sep 05, 2001, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Mr. Chabon visited the John Adams Institute to talk about his novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (De wonderlijke avonturen van Kavalier & Clay). Chabon’s third novel celebrates the golden age of the adventure comic book, the ‘great, mad and new American art form,’ which spanned the years between the late 1930’s and the …...
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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 …...
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Lorrie Moore

Birds of America

Jun 14, 2001, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Lorrie Moore visited the John Adams Institute to discuss her work Birds of America, a collection of short stories, published by Atlas in Dutch, Vogels van Amerika. Startingly brilliant portraits of the young, the hip, the lost, and the unsettled of modern-day America, Birds of America is concerned with the small triumphs and the large despairs of …...
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L. Paul Bremer III

The Changing Threat of International Terrorism

Apr 25, 2001, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute presented an evening with L. Paul Bremer III, former U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands. Bremer gave a lecture on the changing threat of international terrorism. According to Bremer, there is a serious need for continued sanctions in states of terror. Bremer is known for leading the occupational authority of Iraq after …...
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Julia Alvarez

In the Name of Salomé

Apr 18, 2001, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute presented an evening with Dominican-American author, Julia Alvarez. An esteemed Latina novelist and poet, Ms. Alvarez discussed her latest work, In the Name of Salomé, which portrays the life of a recently retired librarian whose view of life is invigorated by memories brought forth by the recent rise to power of …...
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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 …...
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Bill Schneider

The Clinton Legacy

Jan 09, 2001, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute presented an evening with highly respected journalist and senior CNN political analyst Bill Schneider. Although he guided the United States into a period of exceptional prosperity and global political domination, President Clinton left office as one of the most controversial presidents of the 20th century. He survived a Republican house revolt …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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John Gray

Practical Miracles for Mars and Venus

Oct 27, 2000, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute presented a lecture by psychologist and author John Gray, who spoke about his life’s work and his latest book, Practical Miracles for Mars and Venus (Praktische Levenslessen). Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus is the almost proverbial title of the best-seller which launched Mr. Gray’s successful series of books …...
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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 …...
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Wally Lamb

She's Come Undone

Sep 13, 2000, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

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 …...
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Jane Urquhart

Canadian Literature Today

May 10, 2000, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

In honor of the 55th anniversary of Holland’s liberation by Canada’s troops during WWII, the John Adams Institute hosted Canadian author Jane Urquhart. She spoke on her own work, and the state of Canadian literature today, including authors such as Carol Shields, Margaret Atwood and Douglas Coupland. Jane Urquhart is the author of seven internationally …...
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David Grossman

Be My Knife

Apr 11, 2000, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

The John Adams institute hosted Israeli novelist David Grossman, who spoke on his novel Be My Knife. Be My Knife is the fifth novel by the highly acclaimed novelist, in which he explores the perennial dilemma of unrequited love. According to The Independent, it is “a head-spinning, breathtaking journey … a celebration of the transformative power of language”. …...
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Paul Theroux

Fresh Air Fiend

Mar 15, 2000, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Renowned travel writer Paul Theroux joined the John Adams Institute to talk about his book Fresh Air Fiend. It is his first collection of essays and articles devoted entirely to travel writing, Fresh Air Fiend touches down on five continents and floats through most seas in between to deliver a literary adventure of the first …...
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Rick Moody

Purple America

Feb 24, 2000, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

American Novelist Rick Moody took the stage to talk about his novel Purple America, in which he chronicles the meltdown in a single evening of a well-to-do Connecticut family. Booklist stated: “Closely interknitting his narrative with the lyrical, soaring monologues of all the key players, Moody effortlessly moves from one striking passage to the next….it’s …...
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Scott Turow

Personal Injuries

Feb 02, 2000, 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

The John Adams Institute presented an evening with author and lawyer Scott Turow. He is the author of nine best-selling works of fiction, including his first novel Presumed Innocent (1987) and its sequel, Innocent (May 4, 2010). His works of non-fiction include One L (1977) about his experience as a law student, and Ultimate Punishment …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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Annie Proulx

Close Range, Wyoming Stories

Oct 24, 1999, 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm

The John Adams Institute presented internationally acclaimed novelist, Annie Proulx, at the American Literature Today series on 24 October, 1999 to talk about her collection of short stories, Close Range, Wyoming Stories (De gouverneurs van Wyoming, De Geus). Pieter Steinz, literary critic and NRC Handelsblad journalist, introduced and interviewed Ms. Proulx. With Close Range, Annie …...
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Peter Matthiessen

Bone by Bone

Sep 29, 1999, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute presented Peter Matthiesen for the second time, marking the publication of his novel, Bone by Bone. This book is the capstone of Matthiesen’s Everglades trilogy, and is preceded by Killing Mister Watson and Lost Man’s River. In the first two volumes others reconstructed the history of Edgar Watson. In Bone by …...
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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 …...
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David Yallop

How They Stole the Game

Mar 07, 1999, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

March 7, 1999 The John Adams Institute welcomed the British investigative journalist David A. Yallop, who spoke about his work and his book How They Stole the Game, an expose of the world of soccer with its chicanery, commercialization and pursuit of prestige. The tale of corruption that unfolds is an indictment of how the …...
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Bret Easton Ellis

Glamorama

Mar 02, 1999, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute welcomed American novelist Bret Easton Ellis, who talked about his work and his novel Glamorama, in which male model Victor Ward constructs his own life on the superficial images of the entertainment industry out of his obsession with the glitter of New York fashion. The novel takes a surprising turn with …...
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg

An Overview of Court Review for Constitutionality in the US

Feb 04, 1999, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

In celebration of 150 years of Dutch constitutional law, the John Adams Institute welcomed the Honorable Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. During her lecture, Justice Ginsburg discussed the role of the courts in monitoring legislative and executive acts for consistency with the Constitution. Herman Tjeenk Willink …...
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Dorothy Allison

Cavedweller

Feb 24, 1999, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute welcomed American novelist, short story write and essayist Dorothy Allison , who spoke about her work and her novel Cavedweller. Regarded as Allison’s most optimistic work, Cavedweller is a tale of strength, will and redemption. The novel is about Delia Byrd, an alcoholic rock singer who quites her troubled career to …...
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Mordecai Richler

The Literary Life

Nov 25, 1998, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute presented a special Canadian guest, Mordecai Richler, who discussed his novel Barney’s Vision. In Barney’s Vision, the main character, Barney Panovsky, is forced to write his memoirs when a sworn enemy threatens to publish a biography riddled with accusations, including murder. In a racy voice, Barney vents his gall about feminists, …...
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Pearl Abraham

Giving Up America

Nov 04, 1998, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

To mark the publication of both the original and the Dutch translation of her novel, Giving Up America, Pearl Abraham visited the John Adams Institute. Giving Up America is the story of a young couple, Deena and Daniel, who have their roots in different Jewish traditions. The reader follows their lives for the period of …...
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Colum McCann

This Side of Brightness

Sep 30, 1998, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute welcomed Irish author, Colum McCann, who spoke about his daring and atmospheric novel, This Side of Brightness. The book spans seventy years from the days when men dug beneath the East River to build the subways of New York to a time when those very tunnels became home to the city’s …...
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Bill Viola

Conversation with Peter Sellars

Sep 13, 1998, 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm

On the occasion of the 25 year retrospective of Bill Viola’s work at the Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum, the American video artist discussed his work with renowned opera and theater director, Peter Sellars. Viola and Sellars, who are longtime friends, discussed Viola’s work and his contributions to the art world. Bill Viola began working with video …...
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Redmond O’Hanlon

Congo

Jun 03, 1998, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute invited renowned British travel writer Redmon O’Hanlon to be its guest and speak about his book No Mercy: A Journey to the Heart of the Congo, which tells the story of O’Hanlon’s most daring jungle jaunt to date: an expedition into the swamp forest of the Congo in search of a …...
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Don DeLillo

Underworld

May 27, 1998, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute welcomed the award-winning author Don DeLillo, who enjoyed glorious reviews for his masterpiece Underworld. This mesmerizing novel opens up with a legendary baseball game played in New York City in 1951, follows an obsessive search for the winning baseball, and covers five decades of American social history against the background of …...
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James Ellroy

My Dark Places

May 26, 1998, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Thriller writer James Ellroy came to the John Adams Institute to speak about his autobiography My Dark Places, a memoir about the search for the murderer of his mother who was killed when Ellroy was 10 years old. Ellroy has written over 20 books, including Blood on the Moon, American Tabloid and tetralogy L.A. Quartet. …...
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Anna Quindlen

Black and Blue

Apr 21, 1998, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

To coincide with the Dutch translation of her new novel Black and Blue, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author Anna Quindlen gave a lecture in the American Literature Today series on 21 April, 1998. After graduating from Barnard, Anna Quindlen (b. 1952) became a general assignment reporter on The New York Times at age …...
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Richard Meier

Making Architecture

Mar 11, 1998, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The internationally renowned American architect and member of the ‘New York Five’, Richard Meier, spoke at the John Adams Institute in a building designed by the architect himself, The Hague City Hall. The evening formed part of the festive program celebrating the 750th anniversary of The Hague and was opened by Wim Deetman. The Hague …...
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Naomi Wolf

Promiscuities: A Secret Struggle for Womanhood

Feb 24, 1998, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Controversial American feminist Naomi Wolf came to the John Adams Institute in honor of the Dutch translation of her book, Promiscuities: A Secret Struggle for Womanhood. Wolf caused considerable commotion on both sides of the Atlantic with her first international bestseller, The Beauty Myth, in which she criticized the extent to which women remain enslaved …...
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Siri Hustvedt

The Enchantment of Lily Dahl

Feb 11, 1998, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Celebrated novelist Siri Hustvedt came to the John Adams Insitute to give a lecture about the concept of enchantment and her novel, The Enchantment of Lily Dahl. She first received much critical acclaim with her debut novel The Blindfold (1992). In The Enchantment of Lily Dahl, Hustvedt creates an intriguing, atmospheric world in which she …...
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Paul Volcker

The EMU and World Finance

Dec 12, 1997, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute was honored to host a lecture by Paul Volcker. After serving as President of the Federal Reserve of New York for many years, Paul Volcker was named Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System by President Jimmy Carter in 1979. He held this position until 1987, when …...
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Stephen Toulmin

The Importance of Dissent

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

Born in England, Stephen Toulmin studied Mathemathics and Physics at Cambridge University where he obtained a doctorate in philosophy with a dissertation on Ludwig Wittgenstein. His career encompasses an almost boundless range of activities. He has worked in the fields of linguistic philosphy, the philosophy of science and the history of science. He spent many …...
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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 …...
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Edmund White

The Farewell Symphony

Oct 08, 1997, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

In the wake of the publication of his novel The Farewell Symphony, Edmund White spoke at the John Adams Institute. The Farewell Symphony, named after Haydn’s orchestral work in which all the instrumentalists abandon the ensemble in turn until the last violinist is left playing solo, is the story of a gay man who has …...
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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 …...
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Philip Margolin

The Burning Man

May 29, 1997, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Upon the Dutch translation of his fifth book, best-selling author Phillip Margolin lectured at the John Adams Institute. Margolin, who grew up in New York, is a famous criminal lawyer from Portland, Oregon, where he practices together with his wife. He has argued before the Supreme Court and defended 30 people charged with homicide, several …...
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Deirdre McCloskey

The Vices of Economists

May 13, 1997, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with Professor Deirdre McCloskey. In 1985, her remarkable book The Rhetoric of Economics, was published under the name Donald McCloskey. According to McCloskey, economics is an exact science, but also and essentially argumental. Within a few years, she generated a notable reputation and created her own field: rhetorical economics. …...
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Carol Shields

Happenstance

Apr 09, 1997, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with Pulitzer Prize winning author, Carol Shields, who made her literary debut at 40 with Small Ceremonies (1975). She has written more than 10 award-winning books since, including Swann, The Republic of Love and Various Miracles. Shield’s highly unorthodox novel, The Stone Diaries, made her famous. It is …...
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Malcolm Bradbury

Dangerous Pilgrimages

Mar 19, 1997, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute invited the renowned British professor of American Studies and scholar of American Literature Malcolm Bradbury, who spoke about the American Novel and its origin. Bradbury not only has a reputation as an eloquent writer and a feared critic, he is also known as a television dramatist and gifted speaker. Malcolm Bradbury …...
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Amy Bloom

Love Invents Us

Feb 26, 1997, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with the American writer and psychotherapist Amy Bloom. In the lecture series American Literature Today, she introduced her long-awaited novel Love Invents Us. The Dutch translation, Liefde maakt ons, was published by Nijgh & Van Ditmar in February 1997. In 1994, Bloom (1953) impressed the literary world with …...
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Alan Isler

Kraven Images

Jan 29, 1997, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with the British-born American author, Alan Isler. Appearing in the lecture series American Literature Today, Isler introduced his novel Kraven Images – a pun on the biblical “graven images”, or idols – which had been recently published in Dutch as De Beelden van Nicholas Kraven. Born in London, …...
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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 …...
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Stephen Jay Gould

Full House

Nov 14, 1996, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with Stephen Jay Gould, professor of zoology and geology at Harvard University. An outstanding and outspoken paleontologist and evolutionary biologist, Gould succeeded in bridging the gap between science and literature. The long list of Gould’s best-sellers includes The Panda’s Thumb, Wonderful Life, and Bully for Brontosaurus. In his …...
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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 …...
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Jack Miles

God: a Biography

Oct 13, 1996, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute hosted an afternoon with Jack Miles, the theologist who caused a sensation by doing what no one had dared to do before: write a biography of God. Miles’ God: A Biography has been awared the 1996 Pulitzer Prize. As Miles himself has said, ‘Religion may be seen as literature that has …...
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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 …...
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Annie Proulx

Postcards

Jun 03, 1996, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with the American novelist Annie Proulx (1935), who caused a literary sensation with her first novel Postcards (1992). She continued to surprise readers and critics alike with her second novel, The Shipping News (1993), for which she won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Everything …...
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Joan Brady

Death Comes for Peter Pan

Apr 10, 1996, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with Joan Brady, the American-British novelist whose highly acclaimed novel, Theory of War, won her the Whitebread Book of the Year Award. In her novels, Brady does not shy away from controversial topics. Especially Theory of War, dealing with white slavery, evoked harsh criticism. In her novel Death …...
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Ariel Dorfman

Konfidenz

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

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with the author and scholar Ariel Dorfman, who introduced his novel Konfidenz. Dorfman achieved international fame when his 1992 Broadway play Death and the Maiden, starring Glenn Close and Gene Hackman, was made into a movie by Roman Polanski. Born in Argentina in 1942, Dorfman spent his childhood …...
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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 …...
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John Kenneth Galbraith

A Journey Through Economic Time and Where We've Come

Feb 15, 1996, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with legendary American political economist John Kenneth Galbraith, who has become one of the most influential scholars in American politics, not only as professor of economics at Harvard but also as a presidential advisor and political leader. Always unorthodox and controversial, John Kenneth Galbraith has challenged traditional economic …...
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Amy Tan

The Hundred Secret Senses

Jan 31, 1996, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

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 …...
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T.C. Boyle

The Tortilla Curtain

Nov 11, 1995, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

T. Coraghessen Boyle visited the John Adams Institute to speak about his novel The Tortilla Curtain, a controversial tale about political correctness, hypocrisy and American attitudes. A liberal pilgrim to California is confronted with his own ideals when they are put to the test due to an accidental meeting with illegal Mexicans living, practically, in …...
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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. …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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Robert Olen Butler

A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain

May 02, 1995, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On May 2, 1995, the John Adams Institute hosted an event with Pulitzer Prize winning author Robert Olen Butler. He spoke about his book  A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain. The evening was moderated by Dutch writer Stephen Sanders. Robert Olen Butler became a writer after he had served with the U.S. Army as a linguist …...
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Joseph Heller

Closing Time

Mar 16, 1995, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On March 16, 1995, the John Adams Institute hosted best-selling author Joseph Heller. He spoke about his novel Closing Time, the sequel to Catch 22. The evening was moderated by British author Anthony Paul. In 1961, Joseph Heller published his first, best-selling novel, and unique war satire, Catch 22. Although he has since published many other works, including …...
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Seamus Heaney

An Evening with Irish Poet

Jan 26, 1995, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On January 26, 1995, The John Adams Institute, The British Council and The Cultural Relations Committee of Ireland hosted an evening with the poet Seamus Heaney. Often called ‘the greatest Irish poet since Yeats’, Seamus Heaney’s standing is universally acknowledged. Starting with his debut collection Death of a Naturalist, followed by another fifteen-odd titles including …...
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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 …...
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Alice Hoffman

Second Nature

Oct 13, 1994, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On October 18, 1994, the John Adams Institute hosted author Alice Hoffman, who spoke on her novel Second Nature (translated in Dutch as De Wolveman). The evening was moderated by journalist J.J. Peereboom. Following her debut with Turtle Moon (Het uur van de schildpad) in 1972, Alice Hoffman wrote five novels before achieving major breakthrough with Illumination …...
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John Irving

A Son of the Circus

Oct 04, 1994, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On October 12th, 1994, the John Adams Institute hosted author John Irving for a second time. He spoke about his novel A Son of The Circus, and read aloud from his own work. The evening was moderated by journalist Hans Bouman, and included Q&A with the audience. John Winslow Irving grew up in Exeter, New Hampshire, and …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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Stone Roberts

The Ambiguous World of Stone Roberts

May 09, 1994, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On May 9th, 1994, the John Adams Institute hosted an evening with the American realist painter Stone Roberts. He was interviewed by Jorge Guillermo, who authored an essay on Roberts’ work, and by Dutch art historian Stefan van Raay. Examples of Roberts’ work were present during the event. It took five years after finishing his …...
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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 …...
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Robert Bly

Meditations on Iron John

Apr 16, 1994, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On April 16th, 1994, the John Adams Institute hosted an evening with poet Robert Bly. He spoke on his work Iron John: A Book about Men. The evening was moderated by Ton van der Kroon. Robert Bly has been hailed as one of the key liberators of American poetry. In his creative work, as well as …...
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Margaret Atwood

The Robber Bride

Mar 29, 1994, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On March 29th, 1994, the John Adams Institute hosted author Margaret Atwood, who spoke about her novel The Robber Bride. The evening was moderated by Dutch author Nelleke Noordervliet, and included an interview afterwards. Margaret Atwood has often been called “the ambassador of Canadian literature”. In addition to her seven novels including best-sellers like The Handmaid’s …...
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Marilyn French

Our Father

Feb 15, 1994, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On February 15th, 1994, the John Adams Institute hosted author Marilyn French, who spoke about her novel Our Father (translated in Dutch as Onze Vader). Cynthia Bunton moderated the evening, which included Q&A with the audience, and a book signing. Marilyn French was born in New York in 1929 and has devoted most of her writing career …...
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Michael Tolkin

Among the Dead

Nov 30, 1993, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On November 30th, 1993, the John Adams Institute hosted author Michael Tolkin. He spoke on is novel Among the Dead, which was translated in Dutch as Onder de Doden. Dutch writer and journalist Jan Donkers moderated the evening. A native of New York and a graduate of Middlebury College, Michael Tolkin wrote feature articles for The Village Voice …...
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Derek Walcott

May 12, 1993, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On May 12th, 1993, the John Adams Institute hosted poet Derek Walcott. He is a Saint Lucian poet and playwright who won the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature in 1992, making him the first Caribbean author to receive this honor. His major works include Omeros, Dream on Monkey Mountain and White Egrets. He lectured on …...
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Donna Tartt

The Secret History

Mar 14, 1993, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On March 14th, 1993, American author Donna Tartt visited the John Adams Institute to speak about her bestselling novel The Secret History, which has been translated into 24 languages. The Secret History takes places at a fictional college where a close-knit group of six students embark upon a secretive plan to stage a bacchanal, a …...
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Douglas Coupland

Burning Down the Mall

Feb 17, 1993, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On February 17th, 1993, the John Adams Insitute hosted Canadian novelist Douglas Coupland. He is best known for his first novel and international bestseller Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. He lectured on his debut and his second novel Shampoo Planet. He read aloud from his third novel, that had not been published at that …...
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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 …...
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Gloria Naylor

Black Women in America: Fact and Fiction

Oct 26, 1993, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On October 26th, 1993, the John Adams Institute hosted author Gloria Naylor, who lectured on the facts and fiction of black women in America. Since Gloria Naylor began publishing in the early 1980s, she has written five novels including The Women of Brewster Place (1982), Linden Hills (1985) and Bailey’s Cafe (1992). The Women of …...
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Susan Sontag

The Volcano Lover

Nov 02, 1993, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On November 2, 1993, the John Adams Institute hosted author Susan Sontag, who spoke about her novel The Volcano Lover. Dutch essayist and sociologist Abram de Swaan moderated the evening. Susan Sontag was an American writer and filmmaker, teacher and political activist. Her best known works include On Photography, Against Interpretation, Styles of Radical Will, The …...
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Alice Walker

Possessing the Secret of Joy

Oct 23, 1992, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On October 23th, 1992, the John Adams Institute hosted author Alice Walker for the second time. She spoke about her then newly translated novel Possessing the Secret of Joy (translated in Dutch as Het Geheim van de Vreugde), and female genital mutilation. The evening was moderated by Astrid Roemer. Alice Walker is an internationally celebrated author, poet …...
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Charles Johnson

The Black Identity in America

Apr 03, 1992, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On April 3rd, the John Adams Institute hosted an evening with author Charles Johnson. He is an American author of novels, short stories, screen-and-teleplays, and essays, mostly focused on philosophy. Johnson has addressed the issues of black life in America in novels such as Dreamer and Middle Passage, which won the U.S. National Book Award …...
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David Leavitt

on His Works

Dec 09, 1992, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On December 9th, 1992, the John Adams Institute hosted author David Leavitt for the first time. He lectured on his novel While England Sleeps, and spoke about The Penguin Book of Gay Short Stories, which he co-edited with Mark Mitchell. The evening was moderated by Bas Heijne, and included Q&A with the audience. “For most of my …...
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Gore Vidal

Author, Politician and Unmatched Maker of Enemies

Feb 19, 1992, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On February 19th, 1992, writer and politician Gore Vidal visited the John Adams Institute. He was an American writer known for his essays, novels, screenplays, and Broadway plays. A lifelong Democrat, Gore ran for political office twice and was a seasoned political commentator. As well known for his essays as his novels, Vidal wrote for …...
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Marsha Hunt

Nov 18, 1992, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On November 18th, 1992, the John Adams Institute hosted actress and novelist Marsha Hunt. She spoke about her novels Joy and Free and read aloud from them to the audience. The evening was moderated by Dutch actress Jenny Mijnhijmer Marsha Hunt is an American actress, musician, model and novelist. She wrote her first novel, Joy, in 1990 …...
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Michael Cunningham

The Impulse to Create

May 08, 1992, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On May 8th, 1992, the John Adams Institute hosted author Michael Cunningham. Michael Cunningham is the author of the novels A Home at the End of the World, Flesh and Blood, The Hours (winner of the Pen/Faulkner Award & Pulitzer Prize), Specimen Days, and By Nightfall, as well as the non-fiction book, Land’s End: A …...
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Nicholson Baker

Reading Aloud

Mar 05, 1992, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On March 5th, 1992, the John Adams Institute hosted American author Nicholson Baker. Baker writes both fiction and non-fiction and his works include Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper, The Mezzanine and The Fermata. In 1999, Baker established a non-profit corporation, the American Newspaper Repository, to rescue old newspapers from destruction by libraries. …...
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Richard Powers

The Creative Misunderstanding

Jan 29, 1992, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On January 29th, 1992, the John Adams Institute hosted an evening with novelist Richard Powers. Powers’ books apply the techniques of post-modernist fiction to more traditional narratives of character and idea, creating hybrid forms that explore the nature of consciousness, history and moral obligation. His novels are built of polyphonic, densely textured multiple frame stories …...
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William H. Calvin

The Cerebral Symphony

Oct 10, 1992, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On October 10th, 1992, the John Adams Institute hosted Professor William H. Calvin. He spoke about his book The Cerebral Symphony, in which he discusses different theories on consciousness and how the conscious and the brain work together. The evening was moderated by astronomer Dr. Frank Israëls. William H. Calvin is a theoretical neurobiologist, Affiliate Professor of …...
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Joseph Brodsky

A Poet in Exile

Dec 15, 1991, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

December 15, 1991 In the lecture series American Literature Today, the John Adams Instituut presented an afternoon and an evening with the Russian/American poet and author Joseph Brodsky. Joseph Brodsky, one of the greatest Russian poets of our time and winner of the 1987 Nobel Prize for Literature, was born in Leningrad in 1940. He …...
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Homero Aridjis

1492 and the Drama of American Conquista

Nov 16, 1991, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

In the lecture series American Literature Today, the John Adams Institute will present an evening with the Mexican author and poet Homero Aridjis. Homero Aridjis (1940) studied philosophy and literature in Mexico City and was professor of Mexican Literature at the University of Indiana and at New York Univeristy. He is generally considered to be …...
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Craig Strete

The Writer as Shaman

Oct 30, 1991, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

October 30, 1991 The Cherokee Indian writer Craig Strete visited the Netherlands to attend the fifteenth anniversary of In de Knipscheer Publishers, where he made his literary debut in 1976 with a volume of short stories called If All Else Fails. During his visit Craig Strete gave a lecture in Amsterdam, organized by the John …...
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Jay McInerney

The City as a Hero

Mar 07, 1990, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Jay McInerney is an American author and food critic. On March 7th, 1990, he visited the John Adams Institute for the first time. He lectured on city-wide violence and the extremities of living in the big city. His lecture was introduced by writer and journalist Graa Boomsma, who also interviewed McInerney afterward and moderated the …...
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Jerzy Kosinski

The "Autofiction" of Jerzy Kosinski

Sep 27, 1990, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Jerzy Kosinski was an award-winning Polish-American novelist who wrote primarily in English. He visited the John Adams Institute on September 27th, 1990. He spoke on autofiction, a literary genre that allows the author to take on the shape of his fictional protagonist. Born in Poland, he survived World War II and as a young man …...
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Bob Shacochis

The Literature of Political Experience

Mar 13, 1991, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On March 13th, 1991, the John Adams Institute hosted an evening with acclaimed American novelist, short story writer, and literary journalist Bob Shacochis. Moderater Graa Boomsma spoke with Shacochis about politics in literature. Shacochis sees himself as a writer with a political message. He wonders why so many of his fellow American writers shy away …...
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Bruce Duffy

Apr 17, 1991, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On Wednesday April 17th, 1991, the John Adams Institute hosted an evening with American author Bruce Duffy. He is best known for his novel The World As I Found It. In his remarkable first novel, Ludwig Wittgenstein calls the Tune. This time, the most significant, poetical, and imaginative thinker of this centiury meets Bertrand Russel …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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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 …...
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John Irving

The World According to the Author

Oct 16, 1990, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On October 16th, 1990, author John Irving visited the John Adams Institute. He spoke about his work as an author. The evening was moderated by Theo d’Haen (professor of British and American Literature at the Universiteit Leiden) and Hans Bertens (professor of American Studies at the Universiteit Utrecht). John Irving’s first novel, Setting Free The …...
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Lisa Alther

on "Bedrock"

Oct 06, 1990, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

Author Lisa Alther visited the John Adams Institute on October 30th, 1990. She spoke about her then newly translated novel Bedrock (published in Dutch as Een vrouw van vlees en bloed). The evening was moderated by Dutch writer Hannes Meinkema. From her own page: Lise Alther was born in 1944 in Kingsport, Tennessee and graduated from …...
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Saul Bellow

"Could I Be Anything But a Non-Conformist?" - An Evening With Saul Bellow

May 06, 1990, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On May 6th, 1990, author Saul Bellow visited the John Adams Institute to lecture on his work. Saul Bellow was born in Lachine, Quebec, and was raised in Chicago. He attended the University of Chicago, received his Bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University in 1937, with honors in sociology and anthropology, did graduate work at the …...
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Thomas McGuane

America at Large: The World of Thomas McGuane

Apr 06, 1990, 12:00 am - 12:00 am

On April 6th, 1990, author Thomas McGuane visited the John Adams Institute. At the age of ten, McGuane knew he wanted to be a writer. His career spans over 50 years and includes Ninety-two in the Shade, The Bushwhacked Piano and Nothing But Blue Skies. His novels embody a romantic ‘western’ view on life, embodied by the cowboy/tough …...
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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 …...
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Jamaica Kincaid

October 6, 1989

1989 Jamaica Kincaid was born in 1949 as Elaine Potter Richardson on the island of Antigua. She lived with her stepfather, a carpenter, and her mother until 1965 when she was sent to Westchester, New York to work as an au pair. In Antigua, she completed her secondary education under the British system due to …...
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