Lectures 3

On Wednesday, January 28, in a talk sponsored by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Princeton professor and Hoover fellow Stephen Kotkin discussed his newly published book Stalin, Volume 1: Paradoxes of Power, 1878–1928. Based on extensive research, the book is the first volume of his trilogy on the life and times of the Soviet dictator. Kotkin's biography focuses on Stalin's role in the Russian revolution and his subsequent rise to power within the Bolshevik hierarchy. It also situates Stalin's political career in the wider context of Russian and world history.

Stephen Kotkin Presents New Biography of Stalin

Princeton Russian history professor Stephen Kotkin presents a lecture based on his book Stalin - Paradoxes of Power 1878-1928 at the University of Washington in January 2015. Dr. Kotkin's visit was made possible by the Ellison Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies Center and the Department of History. 

Stephen Kotkin | Stalin: Power, Geopolitics and Ideas (1.22.2015)

Hoover research fellow Stephen Kotkin discusses Conquest’s revelatory work on life behind the Iron Curtain,  noting that Conquest definitively established the colossal scale of Soviet horrors, correctly identified their source in Marxist ideas and practices, and underscored the legions of Western dupes who retailed Soviet lies, beginning when Stalin was alive and decades thereafter.

Stephen Kotkin on Robert Conquest’s Conquering the Former Soviet Union

Stephen Kotkin's masterful biography of Joseph Stalin has a very keen analysis of the outbreak of the First World War.  I discuss some of the relevant points made.  We draw some general conclusions from these lessons.

Rolling The "Iron Dice":  Outbreak Of The First World War

A British Museum/Financial Times public forum, chaired by Zeinab Badawi. The speakers were:

Tom Holland, historian and writer
Roula Khalaf, Deputy Editor of the Financial Times
Daniel Trilling, journalist, author and editor of New Humanist
Ian Goldin, Professor of Globalisation and Development at the University of Oxford

This event took place on 20 June 2016 as part of a series looking at the history of the UK and Europe. Others in the series are Britain begins: the first 11,000 years by Barry Cunliffe, University of Oxford, on Friday 10 June, and The English and their history by Robert Tombs, University of Cambridge, on Monday 13 June.

Crossing borders: European migration throughout history

From Monet, Van Gogh and Degas to Whistler, Warhol and Hockney, Hokusai and his contemporary Japanese artists have had a profound impact on western art.

This panel discussion, chaired by John Reeve, Fellow, Institute of Education London, discusses the phenomenon of Japonisme and its enduring influence in the art world today. It also examines the transactional influence of European art on Hokusai and his contemporaries, in light of the fascinating new discovery of six European-style paintings in Leiden, attributed to Hokusai himself.

Panellists include Matthi Forrer, Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde Leiden, Toshio Watanabe, UAL, Christine Guth, Senior Research Fellow, V&A, and Tim Clark, British Museum.

Friday 2 June 2017,
18.30–20.00 
BP Lecture Theatre, British Museum

The wave that swept the world: Hokusai, Japonisme and the west

In the premier episode of “Constitutional,” we go back in time to that hot Philadelphia summer in 1787 when a group of revolutionary Americans debated, drank and together drafted the U.S. Constitution.

Episode 01: Framed

"Houston We Have a Podcast" Episode 4 features Takiyah Sirmons, Food Scientist at the NASA Johnson Space Center, who talks about space food: what it is, how they make it have a very long shelf life, and what happens to an astronaut’s palate after living in space for several months. This episode was recorded on July 5, 2017.

Houston We Have a Podcast: Space Food

In the wake of the protests by neo-Nazis and white supremacists that turned deadly in Charlottesville, Virginia, President Donald Trump has come under fire for not immediately and clearly condemning American racists. It’s not the first time. Trump and those close to him have often played down the threat of violence committed by white supremacists across the country. 

This week, through interviews with key Trump supporters and advisers, we explore if we should have seen Charlottesville coming and if we should expect more race-based clashes on the way.

Hate on the march: white nationalism in the Trump era

Episode 22 features Dr. Natacha Chough, Flight Surgeon, who talks about what flight surgeons do and how they work with astronauts to monitor their health during spaceflight.  Dr. Chough reveals health concerns that are unique to the space environment. This episode was recorded on November 15, 2017.

Houston We Have a Podcast: Astronaut Health

Episode 23 features Scott Tingle, NASA Astronaut, who talks about his education in mechanical engineering, his time in the Navy as a test pilot, and his astronaut training before his first mission to the International Space Station in December. This episode was recorded on September 25, 2017.

Houston We Have a Podcast: Test Pilot to Astronaut

Episode 33 features Dr. Andrea Hanson, International Space Station Exercise Countermeasures Operations Lead within Human Physiology, Performance Protection and Operations Lab. Hanson gives some exercise tips, but more importantly describes what happens to the human body in microgravity, what NASA is doing to about it, and how we can use this knowledge to go deeper into space. This episode was recorded on February 20, 2018.

Houston We Have a Podcast: The Zero-G Workout

On March 21st, the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School hosted a discussion with Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, authors of How Democracies Die. HKS Academic Dean Archon Fung, Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government, moderated. Scott Mainwaring, Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor for Brazil Studies, provided an introduction.

This conversation was a part of the Ash Center’s Democracy in Hard Places Initiative.

Book Talk: How Democracies Die | AshCast

This seminar was given on Jason Bordoff, Professor of Professional Practice in International and Public Affairs and Founding Director of the Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University. It was part of the Regulatory Policy Program's seminar series and was co-sponsored by the Consortium for Energy Policy Research at Harvard.

Jason Bordoff on the Geopolitics of Energy

Graham Allison, Douglas Dillon Professor of Government at Harvard Kennedy School, asks how America and China can escape future conflict.

Discussed by Roderick MacFarquhar,  Leroy B. Williams Professor of History at Harvard University, and Oriana Skylar Mastro, Assistant Professor of Security Studies at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University.

Chaired by Michael Szonyi, Director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University.

Line-In Record

Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides Trap? With Graham Allison

Some people love going to the gym. Some people hate it. But what if there was a pill that could replace exercise? Today’s future might actually be closer than you think.

Exercise in a Bottle

Speaker(s): Professor Fawaz Gerges | Fawaz Gerges tells us how the clash between pan-Arab nationalism and pan-Islamism has shaped the history of the region from the 1920s to the present. Fawaz Gerges (@FawazGerges) is Professor of International Relations at LSE and author of Making the Arab World: Nasser, Qutb, and the Clash That Shaped the Middle East. John Sidel is the Sir Patrick Gillam Professor of International and Comparative Politics at LSE. The Department of International Relations ( @LSEIRDept) is now in it's 90th year, making it one of the oldest and largest in the world. Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEArabworld

The Struggle for the Arab World [Audio]

Losing Hearts And Minds American - Iranian Relations And International Education During The Cold War

On Thursday, March 19th, the Ash Center and Middle East Initiative at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs hosted a book talk with Mohammed Lakhdar Ghettas, author of Algeria and the Cold War: International Relations and the Struggle for Autonomy. Arne Westad, S.T. Lee Professor of U.S.-Asia Relations, HKS, moderated.

Algeria and the Cold War | AshCast

Dr. Scott Smith, NASA nutritionist and the manager for nutritional biochemistry, discusses some pretty significant differences in the way astronauts have to eat in space versus the way we eat here on Earth.  This episode was recorded on February 16, 2018.

Lectures 3

Vincent Moissac-Vignoux