Ten admirals and the voyage of character, which was published late last year. Admiral james stavridis. Why do you refer to yourself as the accidental admiral. Guest what a great question. First of all because at a certain level all of our lives are accidents. You can choose to steer a particular course, but the sea will come, the wont will come, youll move ultimately in a different direction. More prosaically it comes from a period in my career when i was a four star admiral, fish issuing the u. S. Sorry command and charge of all military activities south of the out and i was very hopeful of going pacific next as a commander of u. S. Pacific command. Which is a very traditional position for a senior admiral. My boss, wonderful boss, secretary defense robert gates, bob gates, said, stavridis. Were going to send you to nato. I was the first and thus far the only admiral to be spree supreme am lied commander in nato and just an accident of timing and faith and secretary gate decision. So
Our society had trouble with in recent years. That makes us wonder how strong our institutions will prove to be, how we will rise to a challenge like this. You cant help but see it as a time of crisis but because it is the time of testing it is also time to think about what americas strengths are, what we are good at and how we can build on that to address the enormous problems we confront. Host how did we get here . Guest that is an awfully complicated question. Our country has always tried to strike a balance between the dignity and the quality of the individual on the one hand and some form of strength of community on the other. Every free Society Faces that. Our society has in the past century emphasized the individual, emphasize liberty, emphasize freedom and diversity and that has brought some enormous advantages and benefits but there is another side to that coin and the other side look Like Division and fragmentation and isolation, it can look like alienation and loneliness and
Here to talk with us about what we became known 102 years ago as spanish flu is Catherine Arnold who poured over eyewitness accounts of the illness from its early beginnings at places like a military base in kansas to its effects on a number of american writers like John Steinbeck. She read english at the university of cambridge and holds a further degree in psychology and is the author of several books about the history oflondon and her book globe, the world of shakespeares london published by simon and schuster in 2015 and shes joining us today from the uk. Welcome catherine. Thank you for being here with us. In telling the story of this disease you focus on firstperson accounts from doctors, nurses and children all over the world. Did you choose to take such a personal view of the pandemic . I wanted to write a book that people can relate to but theres the story about where people can read it and find characters like themselves. It was almost like a disaster movie. Weve got people o
Critical praise from the washington post, professor in history at Boston College explains the trajectory of conservatism in her book. The most important lyrical part. They underemphasized racism, sexism and inequality in other parts of the country during the civil war, she marshaled a wealth of evidence to support the books provocative title. Conservative cry foul but liberal readers will be persuaded by jeremiah. Im really excited to deacon but first, i want to invite those of you listening to share your questions to heather and do that by typing into the q a box i think you will see at the bottom of your screen, will take as many as we can in the second part will last about an hour. Its my great pleasure to introduce heather, professor of history at Boston College, author of six books about american politics and writer of the popular newsletter, letters from americans. Come, heather. Im trying to unmute myself. I want to think Stroke Society for doing this but also to say to people w
How the south won the civil war oligarchy, democracy, and the continuing fight for the soul of amerca. I am joanne freeman, a professor of history and american studies at yale university, and this afternoon i have the pleasure of being in conversation with heather about her book and other matters political. This program is being produced by the brooklyn Historic Society which is been a cultural hub for civic dialogue and command outreach for over 150 years. Thats some real history. Her book has gotten a lot of critical praise, for example, the Washington Post writes, Heather Cox Richardson a professor of history at Boston College explains goldwater crusade and the trajectory of modern conservatism in her masterful book. I kind of book that sheds light and was perhaps the most important Political Coalition of the 20th century. And Publishers Weekly says richardson and emphasizes the prevalence province of racism and sexism and inequality in other parts of the country during and followin