With historian and co-author Timothy Snyder
In conversation with book critic Jonathan Kirsch
What is the power of historical perspective? How can we learn from the past to reform our society of the future? The late historian Tony Judt reframed the history of the European continent after WWII in his book Postwar. A luminous thinker, he clarified the power of historical perspective for living even ordinary lives. In this final book, written with Timothy Snyder, he traverses the complexities of the twentieth century and guides us through the great debates that made our world.
Tony Judt is the author or editor of fifteen books, including The Memory Chalet and Postwar, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He was University Professor and New York University and the founder of the Remarque Institute. He died in August 2010 at the age of sixty-two.
Timothy Snyder is Professor of History at Yale University. His most recent book, Bloodlands, was selected as a best book of the year by The Economist, The New Republic, and The Guardian. Four of his previous books have received awards, including the George Louis Beer Prize for The Reconstruction of Nations and the Pro Historia Polonorum for Sketches from a Secret War.
Jonathan Kirsch is the author of 13 books, including The Grand Inquisitor’s Manual: A History of Terror in the Name of God; God Against the Gods: The History of the War Between Monotheism and Polytheism; and The Harlot by the Side of the Road: Forbidden Tales of the Bible. His next book, The Exterminating Angel, a biography of a crucial but often overlooked figure in the Jewish resistance to Nazi Germany, will be published in 2012. Kirsch is the book editor of The Jewish Journal, an adjunct professor on the faculty of the Professional Publishing Institute at New York University, and a three-time president of PEN U.S.A.
Photo: The Big Three at Yalta Conference, Crimea. Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin.
ALOUD is one of the many free programs the Library Foundation makes possible at the Los Angeles Public Library. Most ALOUD author programs are followed by book signings. To help sustain this valuable cultural exchange, at least one copy of the author’s featured book must be purchased from the Library Store if you wish to participate in the post-program book signing. Other non-featured books by the author may be eligible for the signing without having been purchased at the Library Store. Proceeds support the Los Angeles Public Library. Library Foundation members receive a 15% discount on all Library Store purchases.
Unless otherwise indicated, ALOUD programs take place at the Los Angeles Central Library's Mark Taper Auditorium, 630 W. Fifth Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071.
"Arguing the World" - interview with Timothy Snyder, from tabletmag.com
Still Life: A Short Film About Tony Judt
shared by MoveForALS
