Videos

From high-profile clemencies to its utilization as a political weapon, the use and abuse of the presidential pardon has sparked debate about justice and accountability since the founding of the republic. Most recently, the cases of Hunter Biden and those who stormed the Capitol on January 6th 2021 have reignited debates about the system of pardons, facing both immense public scrutiny and illustrating the fraught nature of potential executive overreach. The John Adams Institute and the Fulbright Commission the Netherlands welcomed Kim Wehle, legal scholar, media commentator and best-selling author of 'How to Read the Constitution—and Why', for a discussion of her latest book, 'Pardon Power: How the Pardon System Works—and Why'. In this timely work, Wehle explores one of the more contentious tools of executive power in the United States: the presidential pardon. Moderator: Kenneth Manusama. Recorded at the OBA (public library Amsterdam) on 13 March, 2025.

Tim Walz swept onto the national stage in the summer of 2024 as the vice-presidential nominee for the Democratic party. In the wake of Biden’s announcement that he would not seek re-election, and the party closing ranks around Kamala Harris as their new presidential hopeful, the major question became: who will stand beside her and complete the Democratic ticket? Before throwing his hat in the ring during the 2024 presidential elections, Walz was making waves on a state level as Governor of Minnesota. Elected in 2018, the former army veteran and teacher’s kitchen-table politics have made a positive impact in the homes and lives of millions of Americans. From providing free school lunches throughout the state to strengthening public safety and gun control, and from investments in clean energy and technology to university education, he has set Minnesota on a course distinctly at odds with the Executive Branch of American politics. Walz stands at a crossroads. Despite electoral defeat on the national stage, he is back in Saint Paul with a new challenge on his hands: how to serve Minnesotans and navigate his state through the political upheaval coming from the White House? During this conversation with Tim Walz in two parts, highlighted his domestic and personal profile as well as the challenges and opportunities for Minnesota, and for the United States in general. Recorded at Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ in Amsterdam on 18 February, 2025. Moderation by Laila Frank and Anna van Zoest.

The Rijksmuseum and the John Adams Institute welcomed three photographers from the United States whose work is on view in the museum's new major exhibition on American photography. Their collective works invite us to investigate what America is, not only in the present, but also what it has been in pivotal moments since the invention of photography itself. Captured through their lenses, events, individuals and movements of national importance are brought into focus. Following an introduction to the exhibition by curator Hans Rooseboom, photographers Bryan Schutmaat, Sarah Sense and Nina Berman told us more about their work. They explored diverse aspects of the United States in conversation with the audience and moderator Clarice Gargard. This conversation was recorded at the Rijksmuseum om February 9th, 2025.

After his groundbreaking books 'On Tyranny and 'The Road to Unfreedom', historian Timothy Snyder was asked: “What would a better America look like?” This new book, 'On Freedom', is his answer. In America and in much of the West, freedom is a much-vaunted ideal. But what is freedom? Snyder argues that the concept’s definition is often negatively formulated: when freedom is invoked, what we often mean is freedom-from: from occupation, oppression, or even government. That sort of freedom is brittle and incomplete. Snyder posits that true freedom is freedom-to: the freedom to thrive, to take risks for futures we choose by working together. Freedom is the value that makes all other values possible. In his powerful account, Snyder puts this concept—the Great American Commitment—to the test. What results is a thrilling intellectual journey: a political philosophy of abundance, generosity and grace that has its roots in experience. Drawing on the work of philosophers and political dissidents, from contemporary thinkers to poets, this is a bold narrative that enables us to imagine and design a government in which we and future generations can flourish. This event was filmed at the Dominicuskerk in Amsterdam on January 24th, 2025. The interview was moderated by Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal.

On December 12t, 2024, the John Adams Institute and Room for Discussion teamed up to dive headfirst into the implications of a second Trump administration. Themes like “restoring America’s greatness” and “securing our borders” resonated with voters across the country, bringing with them far-reaching implications both at home and abroad. The electorate is clear: it is time for change. They placed trust in the Republican message, which campaigned on withdrawing from foreign wars, bringing down prices at the pump and in the grocery store, and upending the immigration system. How will campaign promises and domestic priorities translate to concrete policy and how might this impact the standing of the United States in the world? In the weeks following the results of 5 November, glimpses of what a second Trump administration may look like are slowly becoming more apparent. One thing, however, is certain: the vision is clearer and the scope more far-reaching than in 2016. With a decisive victory in both the Electoral College and the popular vote, a united Republican party and Trump’s team of advisors are gunning to make their platform a reality. Nevertheless, the country appears more divided than ever, and the questions remain: can the new administration find common ground to bridge divides between Americans? What will this result mean for the fate of Europe, and for us, right here in the Netherlands? And what are your personal hopes, fears, and expectations for America’s future? Our panels of experts delved into these and other pertinent issues at a town-hall style event, where questions are not only welcome, but encouraged.

In her book 'Hate in the Homeland: The New Global Far Right', Cynthia Miller-Idriss demonstrates how the far-right radicals of tomorrow are being recruited in surprising places as well as the effects this has on our democracies. From college campuses to online chatrooms, and from mixed martial arts gyms to the comments sections of YouTube cooking videos, her work examines the paths people—often young and vulnerable—walk as they are drawn deeper into the heart of hateful movements. She joined the ohn Adams Institute to look into the mirror world proposed by far-right groups, where ideology is king, history and nationalism combine to form a bitter potion, and conspiratorial thinking is the norm. It is a world where the problems society faces appear from the outset the same, but the proposed solutions couldn’t be more different. But despite the insidious spread of alt-right movements, Miller-Idriss reveals the innovative strategies that can be employed to combat extremist radicalization around the globe by exposing and interrupting the patterns recruiters use to find their targets. Her proposal? That societies need a robust holistic approach to combatting extremism and radicalization, from preemptive education campaigns to game-style interventions to recognize and counteract hateful propaganda before it takes root. Cynthia Miller-Idriss is the director of Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL) at American University, and professor in the School of Public Affairs and Education in the department of Justice, Law and Criminology. She was joined on stage by Philip Gorski, Frederick and Laura Goff Professor of Sociology at Yale University. This video was recorded on 15 Oct, 2024 at Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam.

The John Adams Institute was honored to welcome Native American novelist Tommy Orange back to Amsterdam for his highly anticipated second book, 'Wandering Stars'. Orange broke onto the American literary scene with his award-winning novel 'There There' in 2018, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. In addition to continuing his literary career, he has become a teacher at the Institute of American Indian Arts. 'Wandering Stars' is a hard read. Orange tells the story of the fictional Star family through the ages, providing an aerial view of the most important moments of Native American history. The subject matter, though dramatized, is confronting. Through a series of snapshots, we get to know the Star’s, their history and their ancestors. This video was recorded on 26 September, 2024 in Amsterdam (Vondelkerk).

In Washington D.C. this July, NATO celebrated its 75th anniversary. With war raging on its Eastern front since 2022, and a potential conflict with China in the Indo-Pacific, NATO faces immense challenges. But these tribulations – looming conflict, a polluted global information ecosystem, threats posed by terrorism and even climate change – are also opportunities for the world’s longest-lasting alliance. Where is NATO headed, and how will U.S. politics shape America’s future role in the alliance, especially if Donald Trump—if elected—refuses to uphold NATO’s Article 5? In order to understand new developments in transatlantic security, the John Adams Institute and the Netherlands Atlantic Association welcomed Ivo Daalder, CEO of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. From 2009 to 2013, Daalder was the permanent U.S. representative to NATO under President Barack Obama, he has served in the United States Security Council during the Clinton administration and was foreign policy advisor for Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. The stakes for NATO have never been higher, as the idea of the West, and maybe even liberal democracy itself, hangs in the balance. Elections in the United States and throughout Europe and the Western world have recently undergone a shift toward populist, strong-man politics: a form that is distinctly at odds with the consensus-based spirit of NATO. What the future holds is anyone’s guess, but on the fate of NATO and the hundreds of millions of citizens the alliance protects, Daalder shared his insights and wisdom with a live audience. Moderated by Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal. This event took place at the Dominicuskerk in Amsterdam on 16 September, 2024: https://www.john-adams.nl/ivo-daalder-on-75-years-of-nato-and-the-transatlantic-bond/. In collaboration with the Netherlands Atlantic Association.

In South Carolina in the 1850s, an enslaved woman named Rose gives a simple cotton bag to her daughter Ashley. Ashley is about to be separated from her mother, sold as chattel to the highest bidder. The bag contains all her worldly possessions, and precious reminders about her family. From Harvard historian and National Book Award-winning author Tiya Miles comes 'All That She Carried'. Blending first-class historical research and literary creativity, Miles traces Ashley’s Sack through the ages, and with it, the story of a Black family during slavery, and of a people and a nation. She not only delves into the historical archive, but also imagines the journey of Ashley’s Sack when the trail seemingly runs cold, writing Ashley and her descendants back into history as an act of justice. The result is a powerful narrative where Ashley’s Sack becomes more than an object alone: it is transformed into an embodied memoir of Black women travelling from slavery to freedom, from South to North, carrying relics and hopes as they seek new lives. On 17 June, 2024, Tiya Miles joined us on stage to look deep into African American history through the eyes of one family and to discuss the importance of storytelling and resilience.

In 70 poems Terrance Hayes explores the meanings of America, of assassin, and of love in the sonnet form. Written during the first two hundred days of Donald Trump’s presidency, the poems are haunted by the country’s past and future errors, as well as its dreams and nightmares. Hayes’ brilliant turns of phrase have earned him a National Book Award for his 2010 work 'Lighthead' (2010), as well as a coveted Guggenheim Fellowship and a MacArthur genius grant. In the time since publishing 'American Sonnets for my Past and Future Assassin' the bundle has only become more relevant. The poems are by turns inventive, compassionate, hilarious, melancholic, and bewildering—exactly like the past eight years in American life. Hayes approaches them with disarming humor and tenderness, championing everyday realities that too often go unexamined and unsung.

In her latest novel, 'Mania', iconoclastic author Lionel Shriver investigates the fallout around the fictional 2011 “Mental Parity Movement” in the United States in an alternative yet all too recognizable near past. Dubbed the “last great Civil Rights fight” by its progenitors, Americans now embrace the sacred, universal truth that there is no such thing as variable human intelligence: or, that there is no such thing as stupidity. Gone are the days of university entrance exams, standardized testing and IQ, as well as the satisfaction of rising to the top of one’s field. Instead, children are expelled from primary school for using the “D-word” (dumb), and colleges, companies and government institutions have wholeheartedly embraced the broad cultural pivot to mediocrity. The narrative centers around a rebellious and subversive college English instructor, Pearson Converse, and the lives of her family. Averse to dogma of all kinds after fleeing a restrictive childhood as a Jehovah’s Witness, Pearson is primed like no other to oppose the new cultural regime sweeping the nation. Made impotent in her own university classroom, she’s enraged by how the new system crushes ingenuity, creativity and intelligence. Lionel Shriver is the award-winning author of 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' (watch the trailer of the film adaption below) and numerous other works. She is also an outspoken commentator who has gained notoriety in recent years as she takes on the Culture Wars with her own pugnacious brand of contrarianism. But at the end of the day, Shriver believes that fiction is the best avenue to explore extremes, providing clarity on the world around us for better and worse, and is hailed as a master of her genre. 'Mania' is a sharp, acerbic and ruthlessly funny book about the road to a delusional, self-destructive egalitarianism. The John Adams Institute welcomed Shriver to delve into the dangers of elitism, polarization and the challenge of listening to diverging perspectives in a world where saying the wrong thing can have grave consequences.

In 2018, Yaël Eisenstat joined Facebook as the head of Global Elections Integrity for political ads. Six months later, she left, disappointed and disillusioned, exposing how Facebook profits financially from voter manipulation. In her talk at the John Adams Institute, she will be addressing the outsized and worrisome role that social media and artificial intelligence play in politics, both in the United States and around the world. Before joining Facebook, she had worked for years to strengthen and defend democracy—as an intelligence officer at the CIA, a diplomat at the State Department and a White House advisor. Eisenstat is now a Senior Fellow at Cybersecurity for Democracy, working on policy solutions for how social media, AI-powered algorithms and generative AI affect political discourse, polarization and democracy. She has worked at the Anti-Defamation League as their Director of the Center for Tech and Society, published at the world’s most established media outlets, and delivered TedTalks and keynotes across the globe. Yaël Eisenstat describes herself as someone who goes into the belly of the beast seeking to initiate lasting change. While that change is sometimes slow to come, Eisenstat remains hopeful, if wary. She shared her insights into how she combines her professional positions with being an outspoken advocate for the state of democracy: both on and offline. This year, more than half the world’s population heads to the ballot box in democratic elections, providing the perfect opportunity to examine how we could change the cybersphere to benefit, rather than hinder, the democratic process. Eisenstat was joined on stage by the artistic duo Jakob Ganslmeier and Ana Zibelnik who presented part of their art work visualizing the dangerous and intricate landscape of radicalization within the online realm (not in the video on request of the artists).

Gun sellers aren’t just merchants of guns but are also agents of conservative politics and ideals. That’s because gun sales in America aren’t only an economic exchange, but also a cultural one, with serious implications for society at large. In 'Merchants of the Right: Gun Sellers and the Crisis of American Democracy,' Jennifer Carlson’s warning is clear: armed conservatives are working toward a democracy not of the ballot, but of the bullet. But these dynamics go beyond the political divide that courses through American society. That’s because guns and politics mix in unpredictable ways, regardless of the party gun sellers and purchasers support. Red or Blue, guns bring uncertainty into neighborhoods and fear into schools, and Americans are arming themselves more than ever before. Drawing on a wealth of interviews conducted with gun sellers across the United States, Carlson presents a view of gun sales and ownership through the lens of 2020-21: the political unrest leading up to January 6th, pandemic insecurities and the resulting dramatic increase in gun sales—not just to existing conservative gun owners, but to new gun owners from every demographic background. Carlson’s social analysis presents a nuanced portrait of the relationship between conservative gun culture, armed individualism, conspiracism, partisanship and the knife’s edge American democracy teeters on. Jennifer Carlson, (PhD) is Professor of Sociology at Arizona State University, where she directs the Center for the Study of Guns in Society. In 2022 she was awarded a MacArthur Genius grant for her research into how guns shape American life in a multitude of ways. She is known for her non-fiction books Policing the Second Amendment and Citizen-Protectors. Her most recent book is Merchants of the Right'' , which explores the surge of gun sales during the pandemic and the 2020 election. She visited the John Adams Institute on March 28, 2024 (Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam)

A compilation of our high school lectures 2020 and 2021 about the presidential elections and Silicon Valley. For the full video's, click here for the election event: https://youtu.be/4qSRwYDp02o and here for the one on Silicon Valley: https://youtu.be/Wf3pibJks2E

On Super Tuesday, the most important day of the American primaries, the John Adams dove dive into the weaknesses and instabilities of America’s democratic system. As the 2024 presidential elections loom, legal, racial, and religious controversies are already stretching the country to a breaking point. In his new book, 'Democratie van het Wilde Westen' Kenneth Manusama does just that. He investigates how the Trump era painfully exposed the structural vulnerabilities in America’s democratic system. And he shows that the problems in American democracy did not start with Trump, neither did they end with his defeat in 2020, nor were they unique in American history. After his talk, he was joined by Dr. Markha Valenta (President of the Netherlands American Studies Association and Assistant Professor University College Utrecht) and Manon Portos Minetti (historian, lecturer and curator, specializing in colonial violence in the Americas and Caribbean) for a panel discussion. We closed the evening with a preview of Boom Chicago’s comedy show, Politically Incorrect featuring Greg Shapiro. Recorded at the Rode Hoed in Amsterdam on March 5th, 2024.

From author and The Atlantic staff writer Franklin Foer comes a gripping biography of Joe Biden, following his first term in office: The Last Politician. With unequaled access to inner circle advisors who have surrounded Biden for decades, Foer crafts a high-definition portrait of a presidency 50 years in the making at a critical moment in America’s history. From the January 6th Capitol attack to Covid-19, Biden had his work cut out for him from the get-go. With a keen eye for the challenges ahead, he proposed the most ambitious domestic spending bills since the 1960s and reoriented the United States on the world stage toward the looming conflict with China. But American democracy itself remains imperiled. The forces that whisked former president Trump to the Oval Office are not, despite Biden’s best efforts, in the rearview mirror. Facing real threats at home and abroad, pundits and polls suggest that the odds are stacked against him in 2024. But is that really the case? Foer analyzes the triumphs and failures of Biden’s leadership from the 2022 “midterm miracle” to the power of the Inflation Reduction Act. He also examines the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan as well as the American response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, all with an eye to what this will mean for the upcoming presidential elections in 2024, the outcome of which is far from being decided. Filmed at the Posthoornkerk, Amsterdam on Jan 1st, 2024 by Laurens Geerlings.

Miriam Toews is the award-winning author of nine books, including 'Women Talking', which won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay at the 2023 Academy Awards, and 'All My Puny Sorrows' . Known for her light, oftentimes humorous touch, Toews finds moments of brightness and humanity in even the darkest of narratives. Her latest novel, 'Fight Night', is a tribute to perseverance and love in an intergenerational family of headstrong women. Her authorial credits are bolstered by recent film adaptations of her work, chief among them 'Women Talking', directed by Sarah Polley. The Oscar-winning film follows the lives of women in a remote English-speaking Mennonite community in Bolivia as they contemplate their futures amidst the horrors of their surroundings, and atrocities committed against them by the men who would control them. Toews spoke at the John Adams on her latest work, her literary career, and what it’s like to have her novels adapted for the big screen. This event was recorded at De Brakke Grond on Nov 28, 2023 by Laurens Geerlings

Isaacson’s latest inside story is filled with tales of triumph and turmoil, and addresses the question: are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress? Isaacson cuts through the noise as he examines Musk’s origins and rise to fame. His psychic scars and epic sense of mission have ensured he’s rarely out of the spotlight: from celebrity cage fighting matches with billionaire rivals to his creation of some of today’s most influential companies, Musk has developed a roguish persona that is by turns invigorating and infuriating. But are we willing to accept Elon Musk’s brand of innovation at any cost? He wields immense power with governments and businesses alike, influencing everything from the U.S. Government’s space exploration missions with reusable SpaceX rockets, to the communications strategies of the Ukrainian armed forces as they fight off the Russian invasion with the help of Starlink satellites. The recently renamed X (previously Twitter) has been his personal playground, affecting not only free speech, but also the work of journalists around the world, and Tesla has nearly single handedly stimulated the transition to electric vehicles in the West. All this at the hands of a man who Isaacson describes as having Jekyll and Hyde like mood swings, and a tumultuous past. Shadowing Musk for two years, Isaacson attended board meetings and visited factories, spending hours interviewing Musk, his family members, coworkers and adversaries to capture this intimate inside story. This video was recorded on Nov 24th, 2023 at the Dominicuskerk in Amsterdam (by Peter Gielissen).

Uniting science and politics, and giving voice to our most ardent hopes and our worst fears, American climate fiction pioneer Kim Stanley Robinson’s book 'The Ministry for the Future' is a gripping portrayal of a world grappling with the devastating consequences of climate change and the urgent actions needed to forge a sustainable future. In a world that is rapidly warming and where the conversation has already moved from mitigation to adaptation, where climate protestors are treated as security threats and global corporations continue to pollute the planet, discourses on our common future tend toward the apocalyptic. Under such circumstances, imagining the future is a daunting task. Yet 'The Ministry for the Future' reaffirms Robinson’s unique ability to weave science and storytelling into a compelling imaginative tool, offering thought-provoking solutions that often get lost amidst the highly polarized debate about how to best tackle this life-threatening problem. This video was recorded on Nov 8th, 2023 in De Duif, Amsterdam

Note: the trailer and clips from 'Stamped from the Beginning' mentioned in this video cannot be shown due to copyright. The full documentary is available on Netflix. In his book 'Stamped from the Beginning', the Black academic Ibram X. Kendi chronicles the story of racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history. Racist thinking does not arise from ignorance or hate, he argues, but rather have been used to defend discriminatory policies and to rationalize the nation’s racial inequalities from wealth to health, and everything in between. His narrative offers a window on to the contentious debates raging on this issue in the United States and was awarded the National Book Award. Now, his book has been turned into a Netflix documentary by the Academy Award-winning director Roger Ross Williams. It will premiere at IDFA later in the week. After hearing from Kendi about his work and its impact, Roger Ross Williams and Mara Brock Akil, the executive producer of the documentary, will join the conversation. This video was recorded at the OBA on Nov 13, 2023.

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 others. Join us for a trip around the world with the man who gave us 'The Great Railway Bazaar', 'The Old Patagonian Express', 'To the Ends of the Earth', and other classics of the genre. Support our Bright Minds podcast on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1GkgmYj... -- Want to find out more about the John Adams Institute? Check out our socials: Website - https://www.john-adams.nl/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnadamsnl... Twitter - https://twitter.com/JohnAdamsNL Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JohnAdamsIns... LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/john...

Living with history: A people’s journey, a nation’s story Lonnie G. Bunch III is the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the highest position of leadership within the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex. He is the first historian and the first African American to hold this position. Previously, he became the first director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. A widely published author, Secretary Bunch has written on topics including the Black military experience, the American presidency, African American history in California, diversity in museum management and the impact of funding and politics on American museums. His most recent book, 'A Fool’s Errand: Creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the Age of Bush, Obama, and Trump', chronicles the making of the museum that would become one of the most popular destinations in Washington. The Netherlands has much to learn from his expertise. Secretary Bunch – a historian and educator – participated in a public event hosted by the John Adams Institute, organized in collaboration with Black Achievement Month and the U.S. Embassy in The Hague. He was joined by Head of the History Department of the Rijksmuseum Valika Smeulders and NiNsee chair Linda Nooitmeer to discuss how to do the work of memory in a time when looking to the past through a diversity of lenses matters more than ever.

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 of supercapitalism has meant fantastically increased choices for consumer goods but also decimated public services, an end to job security and looming environmental catastrophe. The U.S. leads in this dark trend, Reich argues, but Europe is right behind, and the only solution is to renew civic participation: to turn consumers back into citizens. The evening – produced in cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Business Contact Publishers – was moderated by Alexander Rinnooy Kan, Chairman of the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands, and included Maria van der Hoeven, Minister of Economic Affairs. Support our Bright Minds podcast on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1GkgmYj... -- Want to find out more about the John Adams Institute? Check out our socials: Website - https://www.john-adams.nl/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnadamsnl... Twitter - https://twitter.com/JohnAdamsNL Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JohnAdamsIns... LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/john...

The divide between the psychic hinterlands and a setting we might call normal is permeable, a fact that is both haunting and promising. It’s startling to realize how narrowly we avoid, or miss, living radically different lives.” How do we understand ourselves in periods of crisis and distress? Such moments – familiar to any life – often create tension between our own sense of self and how the rest of the world sees us. New Yorker staff writer Rachel Aviv, author of 'Strangers to Ourselves', had her first brush with how people perceive mental health and wellbeing when she was diagnosed with anorexia as a young child. This is the point of departure for her meticulously researched non-fiction narrative that leaves no stone unturned, as she examines not only her own experience, but that of a variety of people around the world, each shedding light on a different aspect of mental wellbeing and illness. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, societies around the world are more primed than ever to openly discuss mental health. But despite this and recent breakthroughs in medical science, psychiatry is a relatively new field, and the mind remains largely uncharted territory. 'Strangers to Ourselves' is both an autobiographic and journalistic account, providing windows onto that experience in a book that is curious, transformative, and above all, deeply human. Rachel Aviv is a staff writer at the New Yorker. ‘Strangers to Ourselves’ is her debut book and was named by the New York Times as one of the 10 best books of 2022. The book was also a finalist for the 2023 National Book Critics Circle award in criticism. This video was recorded at Pakhuis de Zwijger on September 18, 2023

Teju Cole's 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. As he does, he has encounters. Most are small. He watches children playing in a park. He discovers that the woman next door died recently, and is quietly devastated, though he hardly knew her. The novel’s blended texture reminds you of something: real life. You get a sense of this man and this city, but also of how we construct ourselves. The Seattle Times called it “Magnificent and shattering. A remarkably resonant feat of prose.” Support our Bright Minds podcast on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1GkgmYj... -- Want to find out more about the John Adams Institute? Check out our socials: Website - https://www.john-adams.nl/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnadamsnl... Twitter - https://twitter.com/JohnAdamsNL Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JohnAdamsIns... LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/john...

New York City, 1741: Fires break out throughout the city. Public and private property is set ablaze, and the ruling elite is nervous. There are whispers of a coup, or worse, an outright rebellion. But the perpetrators of the crimes lurk in the shadows, and so, fueled by the paranoia that accompanies hearsay, the authorities find a convenient scapegoat on which to pin the crimes: enslaved Black people and poor white settlers. But after a witch-hunt-like series of trials and vigilante justice, no specific plot was ever uncovered. In her critically acclaimed book, Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore revisits the spring and summer of 1741 to confront a sticky contradiction at the heart of American history and society: the dual relationship between slavery and liberty. She argues that these two categories cannot be separated from each other, that America’s emphasis on personal independence and liberty must be understood together with its (now historical) practice of human bondage. By reconstructing the New York of the mid-eighteenth century, Lepore expertly brings us closer to the city, as well as to the national and global networks in which it has always been embedded. The John Adams Institute is thrilled to invite Professor Lepore back to Amsterdam for the Dutch release of her book, shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize in 2005, and in light of the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Rickey Jackson was sentenced to 39 years in prison for crimes he didn’t commit. Innocent, and unjustly convicted of murder and robbery, his is the longest wrongful imprisonment in US history. The John Adams Institute was honored to host Rickey, who shared the lessons he learned about freedom and forgiveness. The sole evidence against Rickey was the false, coerced eyewitness testimony of a 12-year-old boy. The boy later tried to back out of the lie, but the police told him it was too late to change his story. In 2011, attorneys with the Ohio Innocence Project filed a petition for a new trial, and three years later the charges against Rickey were dismissed. Support our Bright Minds podcast on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1GkgmYj... -- Want to find out more about the John Adams Institute? Check out our socials: Website - https://www.john-adams.nl/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnadamsnl... Twitter - https://twitter.com/JohnAdamsNL Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JohnAdamsIns... LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/john...

Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones has devoted her career to exposing systemic and institutional racism in the United States. Chief among her work is the seminal 1619 Project published in the New York Times Magazine—and now a successful podcast and television series— which holds the year 1619 as an essential touchstone for understanding and interpreting America both historically and in the present. Why 1619? That was the year when an English ship carrying enslaved Africans and flying the Dutch flag appeared on the horizon of Point Comfort, Virginia. It ushered in the beginning of slavery in what would become the continental U.S., bringing unprecedented anguish and hardship in the generations that followed. The crux of the project? That no aspect of the country has been untouched by the centuries of slavery that ensued. From the contemporary economy to American popular music, 1619 implores us to radically rethink America as we know it. And, though celebrated by many, Hannah-Jones’ work has not been without controversy, sparking both academic debate and extremist backlash. Regardless of the perspective taken, projects like 1619 force reckonings with our shared past: often uncomfortable, but always necessary. The John Adams Institute was thrilled to invite Nikole Hannah-Jones to discuss the politics of remembering. In cooperation with Lilith Agency and Are We Europe. This event took place at the Rode Hoed in Amsterdam on June 28th, 2023. Video by Peter Gielissen of LezenTV. Poetry and music by Babs Gons and Bahghi.

Pulitzer Prize winning sociologist Matthew Desmond’s work on evictions in the United States openened our eyes to life’s daily horrors for many Americans living at or below the poverty line when he visited the John Adams in 2018. Now, with his trademark blend of investigative journalism and academic rigor, Desmond turns to a much broader topic related to his previous work: poverty. In his latest book 'Poverty, by America,' Desmond encourages us all to be poverty abolitionists: to actively support and encourage policies, programs and mindsets that diminish poverty in the United States. This is no easy task, and requires updating not only government agencies and funding more equitable poverty-reduction programs, but more profoundly, begs us to take a long look in the mirror.

The latest massacres in Bucha and Mariupol have shown that Vladimir Putin has no regard for human life – he only cares about power and money. In Putin’s eyes, money is power, and vice versa. That’s why freezing the assets of Russians tied to Putin’s regime is so important. Between 1996 and 2005, American investor Bill Browder ran the largest foreign investment firm in Russia, until he was declared ‘a threat to Russian national security’ and got kicked out of the country. Browder has spent the last 14 years trying to understand the dark money flowing out of Russia. In his book ''Freezing Order Browder tells the story of his quest to establish a global regime for imposing sanctions on Russians involved in corruption and criminality. Support our Bright Minds podcast on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1GkgmYj... -- Want to find out more about the John Adams Institute? Check out our socials: Website - https://www.john-adams.nl/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnadamsnl... Twitter - https://twitter.com/JohnAdamsNL Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JohnAdamsIns... LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/john...

What makes up the immigrant experience? What are its contours, challenges and realities? And what gets lost, altered, or edited in the transition between leaving one’s birth country and arriving in a new one? The John Adams Institute presented an evening that weaved arts and academics, traversed national boundaries, and crossed oceans, in partnership with the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies, the Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam, Polish Culture NL, the Embassy of the Polish Republic and Buda Staging Performance Foundation. This ‘evening in two parts’ on April 24rd, 2023, included a performance of Polish playwright Slawomir Mrozek’s play 'The Emigrants'. We were then joined by Dr. Nancy Foner of CUNY for a discussion of her latest book, 'One Quarter of the Nation: Immigration and the Transformation of America'. (Graphics: BasiaOntwerpt.nl)

For years, fringe ideologues were able to use Facebook undisturbed to promote their extreme ideologies and conspiracies. In 'An Ugly Truth', New York Times tech reporters Cecilia Kang and Sheera Frenkel reveal how Facebook’s algorithms sacrificed everything for user engagement and profit, while creating a misinformation epicenter and violating the privacy of its users. Through deep investigatory work, Kang and Frenkel came to a shocking conclusion: the missteps of the social media platform were not an anomaly but an inevitability—this is how Facebook was built to perform. Support our Bright Minds podcast on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1GkgmYj... -- Want to find out more about the John Adams Institute? Check out our socials: Website - https://www.john-adams.nl/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnadamsnl... Twitter - https://twitter.com/JohnAdamsNL Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JohnAdamsIns... LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/john...

In his second nonfiction blockbuster 'Thank You for Your Servitude: Donald Trump’s Washington and the Price of Submission', journalist and political commentator Mark Leibovich sketches the political landscape of Washington during the Trump presidency. Against the backdrop of steak dinners and chants to “drain the swamp”, Leibovich describes the rapid change of the Republican party under its former president. From announcing his candidacy in 2015 to the moment he left the Oval Office in 2021, Donald Trump left an indelible mark on American politics. But instead of focusing on the former President, Leibovich centers his narrative on the people and mechanisms that enabled his meteoric rise to power. - Want to find out more about the John Adams Institute? Check out our socials: Website - https://www.john-adams.nl/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnadamsnl... Twitter - https://twitter.com/JohnAdamsNL Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JohnAdamsIns... LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/john...

On paper, every American has the right to vote and – thanks to the Second Amendment – to bear arms. But in reality, says Carol Anderson, both these rights are undermined by the racism which is so deeply rooted in American society. And that, in turn, undermines democracy. Anderson is a professor of African-American studies at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and an influential voice on civil and voting rights in the U.S. She joined us in 2022 to talk about her two most recent books, 'The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America' and 'One Person, No Vote'. The Second Amendment, she contends, is not about guns, but about anti-Blackness. And the Fifteenth Amendment, which gave every American the right to vote no matter their “race, color or previous condition of servitude”, is under assault. As a historian, educator and author, Anderson has dedicated her career to revealing the impact of racism and inequality on the making, and unmaking, of policy. “The most dangerous adversary of American democracy is white supremacy”, she says. “Racism lies around like a loaded weapon.” Support our Bright Minds podcast on Spotify for more episodes - https://open.spotify.com/show/1GkgmYj... -- Want to find out more about the John Adams Institute? Check out our socials: Website - https://www.john-adams.nl/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnadamsnl... Twitter - https://twitter.com/JohnAdamsNL Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JohnAdamsIns... LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/john...

American literary star Lauren Groff’s most recent novel inhabits the borderlands between myth and history. Set in the early Middle Ages, Matrix is a mystical exploration of the raw power of female creativity in a corrupt and dangerous world. In this fictional biography of poet and mystic Marie de France, Groff explores the rich possibilities of this community of sisters, delving into questions of power, sexuality, and what makes a visionary. Nearly dreamlike throughout its narrative, Matrix is governed by a complex mixture of consuming passion, aberrant faith, sensuality, and religious ecstasy. We will also be joined by the Medieval musical stylings of Annette Kruisbrink and Franka van Essen, a guitar and vocal duo who have set the poems of Marie de France to music. -- Want to find out more about the John Adams Institute? Check out our socials: Website - https://www.john-adams.nl/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnadamsnl... Twitter - https://twitter.com/JohnAdamsNL Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JohnAdamsIns... LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/john...

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 heard? Spike Lee is one of America’s most respected filmmakers and one of its most outspoken voices. His project If God Is Willing and da Creek Don’t Rise, is a documentary about the disaster and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He is also the director of Malcolm X, Do the Right Thing, Bamboozled, Summer of Sam, and many other award-winning films. Support our Bright Minds podcast on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1GkgmYjJ1FgxCZA10tMTta -- Want to find out more about the John Adams Institute? Check out our socials: Website - https://www.john-adams.nl/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnadamsnl/?hl=en Twitter - https://twitter.com/JohnAdamsNL Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JohnAdamsInstitute/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/john-adams-amsterdam/

In his latest novel, 'The Shards', Bret Easton Ellis confronts a story that had been running around his mind for decades. It centers around what happened to him and a group of friends at the end of high school, in the height of their teenage years. A group of superficially sophisticated children not yet baptized in the ‘real world’, the lives of Bret and his friends were shattered by a series of terrible events. In Los Angeles in the autumn of 1981, a local serial killer known only as The Trawler draws ever closer to Bret and his friends, seemingly taunting them with grotesque threats and acts of violence. As Bret’s obsession with the killer grows, he spirals into paranoia and isolation. Filtered through the imagination of a teenager gifted in constructing narratives from the threads of his own life, this mesmerizing novel is a vivid and nostalgic fusing of fact and fiction at the borderlands between the real and the imagined. Bret Easton Ellis visited the John Adams Institute on 30 January, 2023. - Want to find out more about the John Adams Institute? Check out our socials: Website - https://www.john-adams.nl/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnadamsnl... Twitter - https://twitter.com/JohnAdamsNL Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JohnAdamsIns... LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/john...

On 24 June 2022, the Supreme Court made the shocking decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Responses ranged from despairing to triumphant. For decades, Roe v. Wade had guaranteed the constitutional rights of women to get safe abortions. It was a landmark court case that many thought had decisively put the topic of a woman’s right to choose to bed. Moreover, Roe v. Wade would come to form the legal backbone of some of American’s most progressive constitutional decisions, including same-sex marriage. In the newest season of Slate’s acclaimed podcast series Slow Burn, host Susan Matthews guides us through the historical landscape of the 1970s in pre-Roe v. Wade America. Matthews sketches the political and social repercussions of a woman’s right to choose, speaking not only with women who underwent abortions but also with doctors, attorneys, judges, and law enforcement officials. At this moment, Slow Burn’s investigation is more important than ever before. With the specter of an America that is more hostile to women’s rights looming on the horizon, Susan Matthews delves into the past to provide a roadmap for understanding the present. She joined us for an exclusive online event on 15 December to discuss the making of the series, to dig deeper into the question just how historical today’s Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade really is, and what it means for future generations.

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 book, 'Sane New World', based on personal experience, achieves the rare feat of addressing mental illness while being readable and funny at the same time. If you don’t know Ruby Wax’s name, that’s because, even though she’s American, her career has been largely in the UK. But you may be aware of a little show called 'Absolutely Fabulous' in which she both acted and served as the script editor. Despite her success, she’s been open about her struggles with depression. She even dropped comedy for a while to get a degree from Oxford on mindfulness through cognitive behavioral therapy. Hence, 'Sane New World. The book is based on personal experience and achieves the rare feat of addressing mental illness while being both readable and funny. Support and rate our Bright Minds podcast on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1GkgmYjJ1FgxCZA10tMTta -- Want to find out more about the John Adams Institute? Check out our socials: Website - https://www.john-adams.nl/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnadamsnl/?hl=en Twitter - https://twitter.com/JohnAdamsNL Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JohnAdamsInstitute/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/john-adams-amsterdam/

People are passionate about Anthony Doerr. And why not, he’s one of America’s great novelists and storytellers. He was at the John Adams Institute in 2015 on the back of his book, 'All the Light We Cannot See', a masterful and moving novel about two young people during World War II, which rapidly became a New York Times #1 bestseller. Support and rate our Bright Minds podcast on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1GkgmYjJ1FgxCZA10tMTta -- Want to find out more about the John Adams Institute? Check out our socials: Website - https://www.john-adams.nl/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnadamsnl/?hl=en Twitter - https://twitter.com/JohnAdamsNL Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JohnAdamsInstitute/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/john-adams-amsterdam/

2024 is a year that looms large on any American calendar. But given the political system in the United States, spectators know that November 2022, will be as important for determining the future fate of America as the next presidential election. At stake? Two competing visions of the United States, each one a different ongoing experiment vying for control of the future. Ever-growing divisions in society have led to increasing social unrest: how to address the (inter)national impacts of Black Lives Matters, and Roe vs. Wade? And what about the undeniable impact of populism on the US political system, or the position the United States takes on the global stage? On November 10th, 2022, the John Adams hosted a town hall in collaboration with the Rode Hoed, De Groene Amsterdammer and the Financieele Dagblad to analyze the 2022 Midterm elections with a rolling panel of experts.

David Frum is a Canadian-American political commentator who is currently a senior editor at The Atlantic as well as an MSNBC contributor' and author, of 'Trumpocalypse’. In Trumpocalypse, Frum digs deep into the causes of America’s tragic national fragmentation. And he urges the GOP to rethink its future, saying that “no two-party system can remain a democracy unless both parties adhere to democratic values, not just one”. His talk is also a testament to how quickly circumstances can change that would rewrite the political landscape in America and abroad. There was, for example, no way to know about the January 6th insurrection or about the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the time of this talk. This is also a testament to how things stay the same. Like the fact that, even though we know that Trump lost the 2020 election, Trump’s voters, and the forces that made him politically viable, are still with us today. Support and rate our Bright Minds podcast on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1GkgmYjJ1FgxCZA10tMTta -- Want to find out more about the John Adams Institute? Check out our socials: Website - https://www.john-adams.nl/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnadamsnl/?hl=en Twitter - https://twitter.com/JohnAdamsNL Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JohnAdamsInstitute/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/john-adams-amsterdam/

History has not ended. In fact, it is entering yet another phase, where old forms and ideas clash with present realities. The John Adams Institute is excited to welcome Francis Fukuyama back to Amsterdam to discuss his findings in his newest book, ' Liberalism and Its Discontents'. In this rigorous and trim volume, Fukuyama returns to liberalism, arguing that it cannot grow complacent. Liberalism—despite its flaws—appears to be the only system adaptable enough to accommodate the myriad challenges the future holds. This video was recorded on October 5th, 2022. - Want to find out more about the John Adams Institute? Check out our socials: Website - https://www.john-adams.nl/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnadamsnl... Twitter - https://twitter.com/JohnAdamsNL Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JohnAdamsIns... LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/john...

The late, great Christopher Hitchens came to Amsterdam in 2008 touring his book: 'God is Not Great'. Hitchens excelled at polemics. He considered himself to be politically liberal and yet expressed his full throated support for the war in Iraq and called Hillary Clinton “an aging and resentful female”. And then there were the blistering attacks on religion and religious belief. He also details how religion is a worse than any totalitarian regime, why science and religion are fundamentally incompatible, and why it’s a bad time for secularism in politics. Somehow, despite this talk being 13 years old now, his remarks seem as relevant as ever. Support and rate our Bright Minds podcast on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1GkgmYjJ1FgxCZA10tMTta -- Want to find out more about the John Adams Institute? Check out our socials: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnadamsnl/?hl=en Twitter - https://twitter.com/JohnAdamsNL Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JohnAdamsInstitute/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/john-adams-amsterdam/

A gem from our archive! Way back on March 14, 1993, the then fresh new Southern author, Donna Tartt, visited the John Adams hot on the heels of her massive bestseller 'The Secret History', currently translated into 24 languages and counting. 'The Secret History' takes place at a fictional college where a close-knit group of six students embark upon a secretive plan to stage a bacchanal, a plan that ultimately leads to a death. Tartt has subsequently written 'The Little Friend' and 'The Goldfinch, the latter of which became a bestseller, a film and a Book of the Year by numerous publications including, New York Times Book Review, the Economist and NPR. 'The Goldfinch' even won the Pulitzer Prize. Support and rate our Bright Minds podcast on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1GkgmYjJ1FgxCZA10tMTta -- Want to find out more about the John Adams Institute? Check out our socials: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnadamsnl/?hl=en Twitter - https://twitter.com/JohnAdamsNL Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JohnAdamsInstitute/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/john-adams-amsterdam/

Rickey Jackson was sentenced to 39 years in prison for crimes he didn’t commit. Innocent, and unjustly convicted of murder and robbery, his is the longest wrongful imprisonment in US history. The John Adams Institute was honored to host Rickey, who shared the lessons he learned about freedom and forgiveness. He was accompanied by Mark Godsey, director of the Ohio Innocence Project, to discuss how wrongful convictions devastate lives and families, and how Black people are disproportionately criminalized in the US penal system. With special thanks to our sponsor Wolters Kluwer. This event was recorded on 14 June, 2022. Moderated by Laila Frank.

How do democracies die? Not at the hands of generals, but of elected leaders – presidents or prime ministers who subvert the very process that brought them to power. That is the unsettling conclusion of Harvard professor Daniel Ziblatt’s highly praised book 'How Democracies Die'. Ziblatt and his co-author Steven Levitsky have analyzed the collapse of various democracies in recent history, and compare them to the state of the US government today. Is our democracy in danger? Yes, says Ziblatt. He warns us against politicians who reject the democratic rules of the game; who deny the legitimacy of opponents; who tolerate or encourage violence; and who indicate a willingness to curtail the civil liberties of opponents, including the media. Support and rate our Bright Minds podcast on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1GkgmYjJ1FgxCZA10tMTta -- Want to find out more about the John Adams Institute? Check out our socials: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnadamsnl/?hl=en Twitter - https://twitter.com/JohnAdamsNL Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JohnAdamsInstitute/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/john-adams-amsterdam/

This clip shows some of the highlights of our event with Bill Browder, author of Freezing Order and one of Putin’s personal enemies, who tells the story of his quest to establish a global regime for imposing sanctions on Russians involved in corruption and criminality.