Bright Minds: from the John Adams Institute

John Adams Institute
Bright Minds: from the John Adams Institute

John Adams, the first American ambassador to the Netherlands, once said “Let us tenderly and kindly cherish...the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.” The John Adams Institute has brought the best and the brightest of American thinking to Amsterdam for three decades. We have amassed a unique archive of great thinkers, speakers and writers, from Spike Lee to Francis Fukuyama to Al Gore. Now we’re sharing this treasure trove of thought and word with you. We believe John Adams would have wanted it that way. And so, from Amsterdam, this is: Bright Minds: the podcast from the John Adams Institute!

  1. DEC 11

    Francis Fukuyama: The Future of Liberalism

    History is entering a new phase, where old forms and ideas clash with present realities. The John Adams Institute was excited to welcome Francis Fukuyama back to Amsterdam to discuss his findings in his 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. Today, caught u...

    54 min

  2. NOV 13

    Bret Easton Ellis: At the Edge of Fact and Fiction - The Shards

    Bret Easton Ellis took 13 years to write The Shards. It’s a horror novel. Or maybe it’s an autobiography. In fact, it’s both. The Shards is a fictionalized retelling of Mr. Ellis’s 18th year. It tells the story of a group of superficially sophisticated teens have their lives shattered by a series of terrible events. It’s 1981 Los Angeles and a local serial killer known only as The Trawler draws ever closer to Bret and his friends. He taunts them with grotesque threats and acts of v...

    1h 4m

  3. OCT 16

    2024 U.S. Election Special (part 3) with Kim Wehle

    In the third and final episode of the election specials of our podcast Bright Minds, America expert and podcaster Laila Frank talks to law professor, constitutional scholar, commentator and author Kim Wehle. She is an expert on constitutional law and the separation of powers, with particular emphasis on presidential power and administrative agencies. Her latest book Pardon Power - How the Pardon System works – and Why, just dropped. In the run-up to the 2020 U.S. presidential election, she jo...

    31 min

  4. OCT 2

    2024 U.S. Election Special (part 2) with Mark Leibovich

    The current episodes of our podcast Bright Minds are all about the U.S. presidential elections. America journalist Laila Frank, specialized in politics and change in the U.S., will bring you conversations with remarkable American political thinkers about their hopes, fears and expectations for this election cycle.In the second episode of our election specials, Laila Frank talks to author, journalist and political insider Mark Leibovich. What are his hopes, fears and expectations for this elec...

    28 min

  5. SEP 18

    2024 U.S. Election Special (part 1) with Carol Anderson

    The next three episodes of Bright Minds are all about the U.S. presidential elections. America journalist Laila Frank, specialized in politics and change in the U.S., will bring you conversations with remarkable American political thinkers about their hopes, fears and expectations for this election cycle.First up is professor of African-American studies and author Carol Anderson. She is a renowned speaker and has written several books on race, systemic inequality and power structures. All are...

    35 min

  6. JUL 3

    FUTURE 400: Wolves and Kings

    This fourth episode of the Future 400 podcast is all about theater and dance. Battery Dance, New York City's longest running public dance festival, is hosting the Dutch-Turkish choreographer Rutkay Özpinar from Korzo Theater as part of the Future 400 exchange. And the Dutch theater director Ira Kip is working on her new play, Kings… Come Home, a reflection the impact of being uprooted, which will go to the National Black Theater and the Apollo Theater in New York. Both Kip and Özpinar are sea...

    22 min

  7. JUN 19

    FUTURE 400: Finding Family in Fashion

    Design your look, design your life. Rambler Studios is a creative platform for raw talent. It offers young people a safe space where they can discover what they’re good at and find a sense of belonging – and maybe a career in street fashion. Started by Carmen van der Vecht in Amsterdam in 2010, it has branched out to New York’s Lower East Side. It operates there under the wings of the Henry Street Settlement, a philanthropic institution dating back to the late 1800’s. In the same basement in ...

    20 min

  8. JUN 5

    FUTURE 400: From the Streets to the Heart

    This second episode of the Future 400 podcast looks at work by Dutch and American photographers who are part of the annual international photo festival Photoville in Lower Manhattan. Dutch photographer Ernst Coppejans delves deep into the lives of LGBTQIA+ people living on the streets in New York. Kennedi Carter, a young Black photographer from the South, dresses people of color in a combination of garb from colonial times and contemporary streetwear. Photoville’s founder Sam Barzilay says: “...

    19 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4.6
out of 5
9 Ratings

About

John Adams, the first American ambassador to the Netherlands, once said “Let us tenderly and kindly cherish...the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.” The John Adams Institute has brought the best and the brightest of American thinking to Amsterdam for three decades. We have amassed a unique archive of great thinkers, speakers and writers, from Spike Lee to Francis Fukuyama to Al Gore. Now we’re sharing this treasure trove of thought and word with you. We believe John Adams would have wanted it that way. And so, from Amsterdam, this is: Bright Minds: the podcast from the John Adams Institute!

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