The John Adams Institute is Amsterdam's home for independent American thought. John Adams himself said, "Let us tenderly and kindly cherish... the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write." For four decades, we have amassed a unique archive of great thinkers, speakers and writers, from Toni Morrison to Timothy Snyder, and from Jane Fonda to Jill Lepore. It has been our pleasure to share this treasure trove of thought and word with you. 

In this exclusive miniseries, we're sitting down with a few prominent voices from both sides of the Atlantic to take stock of the United States, two hundred and fifty years into its experiment in self-governance. Across these conversations, you'll hear from Ada Limón, former U.S. Poet Laureate, on art, identity, and the burden of speaking for a country; Nancy Pelosi, Speaker Emerita of the House, on the founding promise of American democracy and the gap between promise and practice; and Edward Luce of the Financial Times, on America as a creedal nation—the fragile idea holding it together at home, and what its fracturing means for its place in the world. 

We believe John Adams would have wanted it that way—in fact, he explained as much in a letter to his wife, Abigail, on 3 July 1776: 

"I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival." 

And so, from Amsterdam, it's Bright Minds; Out of Many, One?—the podcast from the John Adams Institute. 

If you're a friend of free thinking and the communities that support it, please become a member. Our independence is something we cherish, and it comes with a cost. The John Adams Institute is an independent foundation without structural subsidy, and there's always room at our table for more. 

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Alice Walker is an internationally celebrated author, poet and activist whose books included novels, collections of short stories, children’s books, and volumes of essays and poetry. Her best known novel, The Color Purple, was adapted by Steven Spielberg into  a major motion picture. In 1992 she spoke at the John Adams Institute about her novel Possessing the Secret of Joy, about the devastating effects of female genital mutilation. The evening was mostly devoted to Ms. Walker’s readings, followed by a Q&A with the audience that unfortunately did not survive the recording. But the sound of her voice, her reading and her work are still very powerful.

This event took place on October 23, 1992 at the Aula of the UvA in Amsterdam.

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Kim Stanley Robinson is the author of 22 novels of speculative and science fiction. The Ministry for the Future is set in the near future in which the world is suffering the disastrous consequences of climate change. But it also details the steps humanity takes to mitigate them. It is ultimately an optimistic story about technological and political innovation.

The Ministry for the Future reaffirms Robinson’s unique ability to weave science and storytelling into a compelling tool, offering thought-provoking solutions that often get lost amidst the highly polarized debate about how to best tackle this life-threatening problem.
 
This interview was moderated by Wouter van Noort and recorded at The Duif in Amsterdam on November 8, 2023. Co-speakers: Lisa Doeland and prof. Dr. Heleen de Conink.

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In South Carolina in the 1850s, an enslaved woman named Rose gives a simple cotton bag to her daughter Ashley. Ashley is about to be separated from her mother, sold as chattel to the highest bidder. The bag contains all her worldly possessions, and precious reminders about her family.

From Harvard historian and National Book Award-winning author Tiya Miles comes All That She Carried. Blending first-class historical research and literary creativity, Miles' book traces Ashley’s Sack through the ages, and with it, the story of a Black family during slavery, and of a people and a nation.

This conversation took place at Het Scheepvaartmuseum in Amsterdam om June 17, 2024. Moderation by Jennifer Tosch.

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In 2018, the tech and democracy activist Yaël Eisenstat joined Facebook as the head of Global Elections Integrity for political ads. Six months later, she left. She was disappointed and disillusioned at how Facebook financially profits from voter manipulation. This, of course, was years before Mark Zuckerberg's recent announcement that Facebook’s parent company, Meta, would get rid of all its fact checkers.

Before joining Facebook, she had worked for years to strengthen and defend democracy—as an intelligence officer at the CIA, a diplomat at the State Department and a White House advisor. These days Eisenstat is a Senior Fellow at Cybersecurity for Democracy, working on policy solutions for how social media, AI-powered algorithms and generative AI affect political discourse, polarization and democracy.

And, as she told our Amsterdam audience on Apri 23, 2024 at Pakhuis de Zwijger, she’s hopeful that change will come one day. But it will be slow. Very slow.

The evening was hosted by the chair of the Foundation for Democracy and Media, Yvonne Zonderop. Click here for the video of the event.

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A gem rescued from the archives! We are re-releasing the Toni Morrison episode after cleaning up the audio.

Toni Morrison writes about history, slavery, racism, resilience and survival with an unflinching voice. Her novels, once a staple of every American school bookshelf, are now the targets of politically motivated reviews and book bannings.

Despite this, there is no getting around the fact that she was one of America’s greatest writers. Before her death in 2019, her oeuvre stretched out over almost four decades. Her debut novel, The Bluest Eye, in 1970, already showed her ear for dialogue, and richly expressive depictions of African American struggles. In 2009, she came to Amsterdam on the strength of her book, A Mercy, which made the New York Times Book Review Top Ten of 2008.

She read a passage for us from “A Mercy”. Although physically frail, her mind was sharp during her conversation with the Dutch novelist, playwright and translator, Bas Heine (May 20th, 2009 at the Aula of the UvA in Amsterdam).

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Ivo Daalder is a Dutch born American citizen, who became  the U.S. representative to NATO from 2009 to 2013 under President Barack Obama and was a foreign policy advisor for his 2008 presidential campaign. He also served in the United States Security Council during the Clinton administration. He’s now the CEO of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

The John Adams Institute and the Netherlands Atlantic Association welcomed Ivo Daalder back to the land of his birth in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the North American Treaty Organization, or NATO.

The world has changed immensely since the end of the cold war it was created to fight. There’s war on its Eastern front and a potential conflict with China. And Donald Trump, ever suspicious of NATO,  is president again. Indeed, governments all over the western world have made a significant populist rightward shift. In this conversation moderated by Dutch journalist Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal, Mr. Daalder says the stakes for NATO have never been higher, and that maybe even liberal democracy itself  hangs in the balance.

Recorded on September 16, 2024 at the Dominicuskerk in Amsterdam. Click here for the video, or visit our digital library and scroll through our rich archive.

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Super Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020. Professor of law, a constitutional scholar, commentator and author Kim Wehle joined the John Adams to lay out exactly what was at stake in the election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The constitutional issues were, and still are, enormous.  

In her book How to Read the Constitution – and Why Kim Wehle describes in clear language what is actually in the Constitution, and most importantly, what it means today. She also describes how the Constitution’s protections are eroding and why every American needs to heed this “red flag” moment in our democracy back in 2020 and right now. The book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the constantly breaking news about the backbone of  American government.   

This conversation took place at the Aula in Amsterdam and was moderated by the Dutch journalist and John Adams regular Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal.

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It’s April 14th, 1865. The actor John Wilkes Booth pulls a gun and assassinates President Lincoln who is sitting in a balcony of the Ford Theatre in Washington DC. Booth becomes one of the most infamous men in American history. But what about his family? Who were they? What did they believe? Did they have any role in the killing?

These are questions author and Man Booker finalist Karen Joy Fowler discusses in her epic book, Booth.

Booth is a sweeping American saga that charts the rising fame of the Booth family from humble beginnings to their fame as the nation’s most famous family of actors. And, of course, it looks at their fates after the event that made them the nation’s most infamous family of actors.

This conversation was recorded on 15 Sept, 2022 at the OBA Public Library in Amsterdam and was presented by the University of Amsterdam Professor, Katy Hull.

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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 up in the maelstrom of political ideologies and cultural realities, where can people take ideological and organizational refuge? How can we not only survive, but thrive together in a world whose present is dominated by immense challenges and an uncertain future? Fukuyama’s return to one of his most iconic topics is not only timely and insightful, but also cements his reputation as one of today’s most engaging thinkers.

This conversation was recorded on 3 October, 2022 at the Aula (Uva) in Amsterdam.

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