NYIH Conversations

In the nineteen-seventies, New York Review of Books editor Ian Buruma lived in Japan, where he explored its film, literature, and theater. In this interview with Robert Boynton, Ian discusses his memoir, A Tokyo Romance, in which he reflects on these formative years.

The Trump White House is a place where a powder-keg masculinity is on dangerous display, ready to explode at any moment. Since his arrival in Washington, Rhonda Garelick’s cultural criticism has brilliantly argued that to understand the man and his administration, you have to pay attention to the women. At a time when the political dynamics around gender are especially volatile, Garelick, a professor at the University of Nebraska and an institute fellow since 2016, has become one of our most original observers, combining her celebrated scholarly work on the history of design, fashion, literature, and performance with a shrewd eye on the intersection of power, gender, and high-stakes theatricality.

NYU philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah talks with Robert Boynton about his book The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity. In it, Appiah explores how racial essentialism and our inadequate understanding of history distorts our conception of culture and identity.

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