The New York Review of Books Podcast
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Literary Journalism: A Discussion
On April 3, 2013 The New York Review and the Cullman Center for Scholars Writers at the New York Public Library presented a panel discussion celebrating the Reviews 50th anniversary and discussing the future of literary journalism. This podcast features excerpts from remarks by Ian Buruma, Joseph Lelyveld, Zoë Heller, Alma Guillermoprieto, and Andrew Delbanco.
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Michael Chabon at Town Hall
On February 5, The New York Review celebrated its 50th anniversary at Town Hall in New York City. In this recording from the event, Michael Chabon reads from his piece about writing his first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh.
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Daniel Mendelsohn at Town Hall
On February 5, The New York Review celebrated its 50th anniversary at Town Hall in New York City. In this recording from the event, Daniel Mendelsohn reads from his 2006 piece, September 11 at the Movies, a review of United 93 by Paul Greengrass and World Trade Center by Oliver Stone.
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Mark Danner at Town Hall
On February 5, The New York Review celebrated its 50th anniversary at Town Hall in New York City. In this recording from the event, Mark Danner discusses his time as an editorial assistant at the Review then contributor from the campaign trail.
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Darryl Pinckney at Town Hall
On February 5, The New York Review celebrated its 50th anniversary at Town Hall in New York City. In this recording from the event, Darryl Pickney discusses his lifelong engagement with the writing of James Baldwin.
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Mary Beard at Town Hall
On February 5, The New York Review celebrated its 50th anniversary at Town Hall in New York City. In this recording from the event, Mary Beard discusses the Review’s coverage of the classics throughout its history.
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John Banville at Town Hall
In this recording from our February 2013 event at Town Hall, John Banville discusses his 1997 review The European Irishman, on the work of Hubert Butler.
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Joan Didion at Town Hall
On February 5, The New York Review celebrated its 50th anniversary at Town Hall in New York City. In this recording from the event, Joan Didion reads from her 1991 essay New York: Sentimental Journeys about the Central Park jogger case.
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Steve Coll on the Killing of Osama bin Laden
Steve Coll addresses the political implications of the mission to kill Osama bin Laden and how the author of No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama bin Laden sidestepped legal issues to publish his book.
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Henri Cole Reads Selected Poems
In this podcast, Henri Cole reads from his recent book of poems, Touch (2011), and talks about his search for what he calls the essentialness of emotion.
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Jonathan Freedland on the Royal Wedding
Jonathan Freedland talks with Emily Greenhouse about gilded-coach celebrity in an era of austerity, the hereditary principle, and why all bets are off when it comes to Wills andKate.
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Andrew Delbanco on Mark Twain
Andrew Delbanco talks with Andrew Martin about the first volume of Mark Twain’s unabridged Autobiography and the distinctive joys and challenges of reading Twain in the twenty-firstcentury.
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Geoffrey OBrien on Duke Ellington
Geoffrey OBrien talks with Chris Carroll about Duke Ellingtons mid-career crisis and stunning comeback, revisiting his often-overlooked albums of the 1960s and1970s.
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Robert Gottlieb on Charles Dickens
Robert Gottlieb speaks to Andrew Martin about Charles Dickenss troubled life, his best and worst novels, and how to read withoutediting.
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Derek Walcott, Two Poems
Derek Walcott recites Fare Well by Walter de la Mare, and reads The Hulls of White Yachts, from his latest collection White Egrets.
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Charles Rosen Plays Chopin
Charles Rosen plays the music of Frdric Chopin and talks to Chris Carroll about the composers surprising radicalism and the critical controversy surrounding his work, the mysterious spianato style, and whether there is a right way to play Chopinsmusic.
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Dan Chiasson on Lydia Davis
Dan Chiasson reads from The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis, which he reviewed in the April 29, 2010 issue of The New York Review, and talks to Gabriel Winslow-Yost about accidental greatness, lonely translators, and reading atstoplights.
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Deborah Eisenberg on Skylark
Deborah Eisenberg reads from Skylark, a Hungarian novel recently republished by NYRB Classics, and talks with Sasha Weiss about why its one of the most perfect novels shesencountered.
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Cathleen Schine on Gail Collins
Cathleen Schine speaks with Sasha Weiss about Gail Collinss book When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, and about the victories and failures of the womensmovement.
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Charles Wright Reads Selected Sestets and Other Poems
Charles Wright reads from his recent collection, Sestets, and talks to Sasha Weiss about the importance of landscape in his work, his writing process, and how he came to experiment with the six-lineform.
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Andrew OHagan on Samuel Johnson
Andrew OHagan talks to Sasha Weiss about Samuel Johnsons various and contradictory character, how his Rambler essays shaped our notions of literary talent and professional authorship, and why, in his tercentenary year, Johnson remains essentialreading.
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Joost Hiltermann on Iraq on the Edge
Joost Hiltermann speaks with Nathan Thrall about the political crisis facing Iraq as it prepares for parliamentary elections in 2010 and the final withdrawal of all American troops by the end of the followingyear.
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Chris Jordan on Midway Atoll and the Great Pacific...
Photographer and activist Chris Jordan speaks with Eve Bowen about his recent photographs, taken at one of the worlds most remote marine wildlife sanctuaries, of albatross chicks killed by plastic waste that their parents have mistaken forfood.
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Jerome Groopman on the Changing Medical Profession
Jerome Groopman speaks with Andrew Martin about how regulation of shift length, the struggle to control costs, and the rise of evidence-based medicine have changed how doctors learn andpractice.
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James Bamford on the National Security Agency
James Bamford talks to Nathan Thrall about the politics behind the Bush administrations evasion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the technology and scope of the National Security Agencys warrantless wiretappingprogram.
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Frederick Seidel Reads Selected Poems
Frederick Seidel reads selections from the work he has published in the Review, as well as poems from his recent collection, Poems 1959-2009. For more on Seidels work, read Dan Chiassons review of that volume, or Charles Simics blog post about the challenges Seidels work poses for critics andreaders.
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Norman Manea on Herta Mller
Norman Manea speaks with Hugh Eakin about Romanian-born German writer Herta Mller, the 2009 Nobel laureate in literature, and what her life and work reveal about the status of ethnic minorities in her native country. A transcription of highlights of the conversation is available atblogs.nybooks.com.
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Lawrence Weschler on David Hockney
Lawrence Weschler—whose audio slide show about David Hockneys iPhone drawings can be seen here—talks about Hockneys longtime interest in new technology and his recent paintings, which will be on view at PaceWildenstein thisfall.
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David Cole on the Lawyers Who Authorized Torture
David Cole talks to Hugh Eakin about the Bush Administration lawyers who—as recently as 2007—approved illegal CIA interrogations, and why we need a full investigation of theiractions.
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Joyce Carol Oates on Shirley Jackson
Joyce Carol Oates talks to Sasha Weiss about the writer Shirley Jackson—her place in the writing of the 1950s, the renewal of interest in her work, and how she created her tidy, wicked stories in the midst of her chaoticlife.
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Garry Wills on the Death of Conservatism
Garry Wills speaks with Hugh Eakin about the end of the age of Buckley, the rise of right-wing radicalism, and the crisis facing the American conservativemovement.
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James M. McPherson on Abraham Lincoln
Historian James M. McPherson talks to Charles Petersen about the career, worldwide impact, and enduring political legacy of AbrahamLincoln.
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Fintan OToole on Flann OBrien
Sasha Weiss speaks with Fintan OToole, columnist for the Irish Times, about the genius and misfortune of the great Irish novelist FlannOBrien.
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Freeman Dyson on Amateur Scientists and the New Age of...
Freeman Dyson talks to Charles Petersen about Richard Holmess book The Age of Wonder, his own education in chemistry and poetry, and how amateur biotechnology might help solve the problem of globalwarming.
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J.M. Coetzee Reads From Summertime
J.M. Coetzee, the novelist and 2003 Nobel laureate, reads from his new novel, Summertime, forthcoming from Viking in December. Excerpts from the novel appeared in our July 16 and August 13issues.
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Michael Massing on Reinventing the News
Michael Massing talks to Charles Petersen about the rise of blogs and the ascent of onlinejournalism.
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Adam Hochschild in Eastern Congo
Adam Hochschild talks to Hugh Eakin about the epidemic of violence against women in the Democratic Republic ofCongo.
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Ronald Dworkin on Sotomayor and the Roberts Court
Ronald Dworkin talks to Hugh Eakin about Judge Sonia Sotomayors confirmation hearings, the growing conservatism of the Roberts Court, and the myth that judges can decide cases simply by fidelity to thelaw.
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Timothy Snyder on the Holocaust
Timothy Snyder talks to Sasha Weiss about how we can best understand the Holocaust and the mass killings under Stalin as a particularly Eastern Europeanphenomenon.
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Roger Cohen in Tehran
Roger Cohen speaks to Hugh Eakin about the protests that followed Irans June 12 election, the crackdown, and the consequences for the future of the Iranianregime.
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Claire Messud Reads Land Divers
Novelist and critic Claire Messud, author most recently of the novel The Emperors Children, reads her new story Land Divers, from the Reviews Summer Fictionissue.
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Michael Tomasky on Obamas Strategy
Michael Tomasky speaks with Hugh Eakin about public perception of the President and his policies, the thinking behind the administrations ceding of authority to Congress, and the sheer pace of ObamasWashington.
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David Cole on Same-Sex Marriage
David Cole talks to Michael Shae about the history of the legal battle over same-sex marriage, the changing demographics that favor nationwide support, and the legal and political tactics advocates and activists might use to ensure a just future for theinstitution.
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Nicholas Kristof on Darfur
Nicholas Kristof speaks with Sasha Weiss about his experiences reporting in Darfur, the International Criminal Courts indictment of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir on counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and what the Obama administration can do to prevent further escalation of theconflict.
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Ahmed Rashid on Pakistan in Crisis
Ahmed Rashid speaks with Hugh Eakin about the continuing conflict between the Pakistani government and the Taliban, the humanitarian crisis in Swat, and the violence that has spread from the border with Afghanistan to within sixty miles of the capital,Islamabad.
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Helen Epstein on Prison Reform
Helen Epstein talks with Eve Bowen about lawyer Sunny Schwartzs work in the San Francisco county jail system, and her programs potential for transforming the treatment of prisonersnationwide.
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Christopher Ricks on John Keats
Christopher Ricks speaks with Giles Harvey about Posthumous Keats, Stanley Plumlys recent biography of John Keats, and about the poets death and the idealized image that emerged during his immediateafterlife.
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Andrew Delbanco on the Universities in Trouble
Andrew Delbanco, director of American Studies at Columbia University, speaks with Michael Shae about the financial crisis facing American highereducation.
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David Hare Performs Wall
Playwright David Hare reads his monologue Wall, an exploration of the impact—on both Israelis and Palestinians—of the barrier built to divide Israel from the WestBank.
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Tim Parks on Pinocchio
Novelist Tim Parks speaks with Andrew Palmer about Geoffrey Brocks new English translation of Carlo Collodis childrens classic Pinocchio, and the books origins in the political and cultural tumult of 1880sItaly.
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Robert M. Solow on the Economic Crisis
Economist and Nobel laureate Robert M. Solow speaks with Hugh Eakin about the causes of the current crisis, the importance of credit in the functioning of the world financial system, and how new regulation might prevent futuredisasters.
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Orlando Figes on the Politics of Russian History
Historian Orlando Figes speaks with Sasha Weiss about his latest book, The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalins Russia; the recent prosecutors office raid on the Memorial Society, a human rights organization working to preserve memories and documentary evidence of Stalins repression; and the dangers posed by resurgent Stalinism to the accurate telling of Russianhistory.
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Pico Iyer on the Dalai Lama
Drawing on his long personal relationship with the Dalai Lama, Pico Iyer speaks with Hugh Eakin about the Tibetan leaders stark new view of the Chinese regime and the future ofTibet.
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John Ashbery Reads Selected Poems
John Ashbery reads sixteen of his own selections from among the more than forty poems he has published in the Review since the 1970s, and comments on a few of his most obscure film and literary references. 2009 John Ashbery. All rights to this recorded material belong to the author. Used with gracious permission of JohnAshbery.
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Dan Chiasson on John Ashbery
Poet and critic Dan Chiasson speaks with Giles Harvey about John Ashberys life and work, and reflects on the demanding pleasures of reading Ashberyspoetry.
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Jonathan Raban on Wendy and Lucy
Jonathan Raban speaks with Charles Petersen about Kelly Reichardts film Wendy and Lucy and the stories of Jon Raymond, and about how these works illuminate—and are illuminated by—the socioeconomic realities of the PacificNorthwest.
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Mark Danner on the ICRC Report on US Torture
Mark Danner talks to Hugh Eakin about the confidential International Committee of the Red Cross report on the CIAs secret prisons and reads excerpts from detainee Abu Zubaydahs firsthand account oftorture.
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Anita Desai on Azar Nafisi
Novelist Anita Desai speaks with Eve Bowen about Things Ive Been Silent About, Iranian expatriate Azar Nafisis newmemoir.
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Lorrie Moore on Donald Barthelme
Lorrie Moore speaks with Andrew Palmer about Hiding Man, Tracy Daughertys new biography of DonaldBarthelme.
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J. Michael Lennon on Norman Mailers Letters
J. Michael Lennon, who is at work on an authorized biography of Norman Mailer, speaks with Sasha Weiss about Mailers letters and what they reveal about his ambitions, his relationships with other writers, and his enduringobsessions.
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Hilton Als on Gus Van Sants Milk
Critic Hilton Als speaks with Michael Shae about Van Sants film in light of Harvey Milks experiences as a gay man in the 1950s and 1960s, and about Milks personal and politicallegacy.
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Tim Flannery on The Superorganism
Tim Flannery speaks with Eve Bowen about E. O. Wilson and Bert Hlldoblers The Superorganism, a new book on insect societies, and its implications for understandinghumanity.
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Alison Lurie on John Updike
Alison Lurie speaks with Giles Harvey about John Updikes life, his work, and his place in American literaryhistory.
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Robert Malley on Gaza
Robert Malley speaks with Hugh Eakin about the war in Gaza, its political implications for the region, and the steps the Obama administration might take towards achieving peace between Israelis andPalestinians.
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Darryl Pinckney and Mark Danner on Obamas Inauguration
Frequent Review contributors Darryl Pinckney and Mark Danner speak with Sasha Weiss about Barack Obamas inauguration ceremony, his first few days in office, and the promise of hispresidency.
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William Dalrymple on Pakistan
William Dalrymple speaks with Sasha Weiss about the spread of radical Islam in Central and South Asia since September 11, 2001, and its implications for Pakistansfuture.
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Barry Goldensohn Reads Selected Poems
Poet Barry Goldensohn reads The Hundred Yard Dash Man, Back Roads, and Driving Westward to San Diego, and speaks with Jana Prikryl about his life andwork.
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Elizabeth Drew on the President-Elect
Veteran Washington observer and regular Review contributor Elizabeth Drew talks to Hugh Eakin about Obamas transition strategy, his cabinet picks, and the new style ofgovernance.
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Sue Halpern on Reportage from Iraq and Afghanistan
Frequent Review contributor Sue Halpern speaks with Eve Bowen about several recent films and books that reveal the realities of the war on terror, about which most Americans remainignorant.
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William Easterly on Foreign Aid Militarization
Economist William Easterly speaks with Hugh Eakin about the recent militarization of Western foreign aid policy, the dangers of this new aid imperialism, and the role economists have played in itsdevelopment.
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Daniel Mendelsohn on Constantine Cavafy
Frequent Review contributor Daniel Mendelsohn speaks with Sasha Weiss about the poet-historian Constantine Cavafy. Mendelsohns new translation of Cavafys Collected Poems will be published in the spring of 2009, along with an accompanying volume of thirty unfinished poems that have never before been translated intoEnglish.
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What Happens Now? A Conversation on the 2008 Election
On November 10, in a conversation moderated by Robert Silvers, Andrew Delbanco, Joan Didion, Jeff Madrick, Darryl Pinckney, Michael Tomasky, and Garry Wills discussed the implications of Barack Obamas election and the likely direction of his administration. Hosted by the New York Public Librarys Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers and copresented with LIVE from the NYPL, the event celebrated the 45th anniversary of theReview.
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Martin Filler on Frank Lloyd Wright
Longtime Review contributor Martin Filler talks to Deirdre Foley-Mendelssohn about Frank Lloyd Wrights uniquely Americanarchitecture.
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Helen Vendler on Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell
Poetry critic and frequent Review contributor Helen Vendler speaks with Sasha Weiss about the correspondence of Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell, and reads some of the poems that were inspired by the poets lifelongfriendship.
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The Election Issues Tour: Cambridge, Massachusetts
In a series of panels cosponsored by the Review and Guardian America, contributors and editors for both publications discuss the issues shaping the 2008 election campaigns and the challenges and opportunities that will face the new administration: Hosted by the Harvard Book Store, and held at the Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, Massachusetts, October 15,2008.
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The Election Issues Tour: Washington, DC
In a series of panels cosponsored by the Review and Guardian America, contributors and editors for both publications discuss the issues shaping the 2008 election campaigns and the challenges and opportunities that will face the new administration: Politics Prose Bookstore, Washington, DC, on October 16,2008
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The Election Issues Tour: San Francisco
In a series of panels cosponsored by the Review and Guardian America, contributors and editors for both publications discuss the issues shaping the 2008 election campaigns and the challenges and opportunities that will face the new administration: The Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, on October 27,2008
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Michael Massing in Ohio
Frequent Review contributor Michael Massing uncovers a surprising trend in Ohio voters preferences in the final weeks of the presidentialcampaign.
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Charles Simic Reads Selected Poems
Former poet laureate Charles Simic, a longtime Review contributor, reads work from his two most recent collections, Sixty Poems and That Little Something.
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Jeff Madrick on the Economic Crisis
Hugh Eakin speaks with economics writer and frequent Review contributor Jeff Madrick about the US policies that led to the international financial crisis, and about the problems that still lieahead.
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Reading in a World of Images
As part of the New York Public Librarys Live from the NYPL series, Daniel Mendelsohn, Pico Iyer, and James Wood met on September 17 to discuss the place of criticism in a world increasingly dominated by film, television, and new mediaforms.
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Reading Burma
On September 23, at Cooper Unions Great Hall, PEN American Center, the Open Society Institutes Burma Project, and the Review cosponsored an evening of readings and conversations, hosted by Salman Rushdie. The event, benefiting the International Burmese Monks Organization, commemorated the 2007 protests against Burmas junta, and called attention to the continuing efforts to assist survivors of CycloneNargis.
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The Consequences to Come
Review contributors Darryl Pinckney, Ronald Dworkin, Joan Didion, and Mark Danner assess the 2008 presidential contest and the issues that will define the next administration. Introduced by Robert Silvers, editor of the Review. From a panel discussion at the Brooklyn Book Festival, September 14,2008.
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Samantha Power on National Security and the Election
Samantha Power talks to Hugh Eakin about the foreign policy implications of the 2008 Presidentialcontest.
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Oliver Sacks on Mania, Memoir, and Music
Oliver Sacks speaks with Eve Bowen about Michael Greenbergs new memoir, the work of Kay Redfield Jamison, and music and madness in Musicophilia.
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Edward Mendelson on Frank OHara
Edward Mendelson talks with Sasha Weiss about Frank OHara the moralist.
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Joseph Lelyveld at the 2008 Republican National...
Palins enthusiasm for oil, McCains silence on Iraq, and the character issues that have energized the Republicanbase.
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Michael Chabon at the 2008 Democratic National...
Obamas stadium performance, Bill Clintons comeback, and the nomination of SarahPalin.
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Joseph Lelyveld at the 2008 Republican National...
The Palin nomination and what the new Republican platform means forMcCain.
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Michael Chabon at the 2008 Democratic National...
Hillary Clinton, the new face of the Democratic party, and the mood inDenver.
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Vanessa Redgrave and David Hare
On August 10, as part of the 2008 Salzburg Global Seminar, The New York Review of Books cosponsored a panel discussion on art and politics featuring actor Vanessa Redgrave and playwright David Hare, who directed Redgrave in Joan Didions The Year of Magical Thinking at this years Salzburg Festival. The conversation was moderated by Salzburg senior vice president and chief program officer Edward Mortimer. The panel was introduced by Review editor RobertSilvers.
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Vanessa Redgrave and David Hare Audience Question and...
Following their panel discussion on art and politics at the 2008 Salzburg Global Seminar, Vanessa Redgrave and playwright David Hare, (who directed Redgrave in Joan Didions The Year of Magical Thinking) answered audiencequestions.
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Michael Massing on Iraq
Hugh Eakin speaks with Michael Massing about Iraqs precarious future.
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Mary Beard on Jokes
Classicist Mary Beard in conversation with Sasha Weiss about what made the Romans laugh.
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Edmund White on Marguerite Duras
Sasha Weiss speaks with Edmund White about Durass Paris.
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Robert Barnett on China, Tibet, and the Olympics
Tibetologist Robert Barnett discusses the changing face of Tibet with HughEakin
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