The Vault
A selection of lectures and conversations drawn from the New York Institute for the Humanities' forty-year archive. Each episode features archival recordings of talks and discussions with scholars, writers, and artists. The podcast offers a window into the institute's rich intellectual history and diverse public programming.
Episodes
Audio and Ideas Panel #4 with Jody Avirgan, Sara McCrea, Julia Barton, and Caleb Zakarin
This is a special edition of the New York Institute for the Humanities’ Vault podcast. On May 13, 2026, Princeton’s Center for Human Values hosted a day-long conference titled Audio and Ideas: Exploring the Possibilities for Scholarly Podcasting. It was co-sponsored by Princeton’s Journalism program, and the NYU Podcast Initiative. Over the course of four panels, scholars, podcasters, and journali
Audio and Ideas Panel #3 with Allison Carruth and Ellen Horne
This is a special edition of the New York Institute for the Humanities’ Vault podcast. On May 13, 2026, Princeton’s Center for Human Values hosted a day-long conference titled Audio and Ideas: Exploring the Possibilities for Scholarly Podcasting. It was co-sponsored by Princeton’s Journalism program, and the NYU Podcast Initiative. Over the course of four panels, scholars, podcasters, and journali
Audio and Ideas: Exploring the Possibilities for Scholarly Podcasting, Panel #2
This is a special edition of the New York Institute for the Humanities’ Vault podcast. On May 13, 2026, Princeton’s Center for Human Values hosted a day-long conference titled Audio & Ideas: Exploring the Possibilities for Scholarly Podcasting. It was co-sponsored by Princeton’s Journalism program, and the NYU Podcast Initiative. Over the course of four panels, scholars, podcasters, and journa
Audio and Ideas: Exploring the Possibilities for Scholarly Podcasting, Panel #1
This is a special edition of the New York Institute for the Humanities’ Vault podcast. On May 13, 2026, Princeton’s Center for Human Values hosted a day-long conference titled Audio & Ideas: Exploring the Possibilities for Scholarly Podcasting. It was co-sponsored by Princeton’s Journalism program, and the NYU Podcast Initiative. Over the course of four panels, scholars, podcasters, and journa
Italo Calvino on the Written and the Unwritten Word
In this episode of the Vault, we revisit the Italian writer Italo Calvino’s James Lecture, presented at the New York Institute for the Humanities on March 30, 1983.
Italo Calvino was one of the most inventive and widely read Italian authors of the twentieth century. Born in Cuba in 1923 and raised in San Remo, Italy, he began his literary career as a journalist and fiction writer after World War I
Podcast Intellectuals Panel #3 with Joy Connolly, Barry Lam, and Aurora Hutchinson
This is a special edition of the New York Institute for the Humanities’ Vault podcast. On October 10, 2025, NYU’s Journalism Institute hosted a day-long conference titled Podcast Intellectuals: Producing Original Scholarship with Audio. Over the course of three panels, scholars, podcasters, and journalists discuss how academics might employ the techniques of narrative audio as part of their resear
Podcast Intellectuals Panel #2 with Ellen Horne, Chenjerai Kumanyika, Barry Lam, and Julia Barton
This is a special edition of the New York Institute for the Humanities’ Vault podcast. On October 10, 2025, NYU’s Journalism Institute hosted a day-long conference titled Podcast Intellectuals: Producing Original Scholarship with Audio. Over the course of three panels, scholars, podcasters, and journalists discuss how academics might employ the techniques of narrative audio as part of their resear
Podcast Intellectuals Podcast Panel #1 with Benjamen Walker and Fanny Gribenski
This is a special edition of the New York Institute for the Humanities’ Vault podcast. On October 10, 2025, NYU’s Journalism Institute hosted a day-long conference titled Podcast Intellectuals: Producing Original Scholarship with Audio. Over the course of three panels, scholars, podcasters, and journalists discuss how academics might employ the techniques of narrative audio as part of their resear
Nadine Gordimer: “Living in South Africa’s Interregnum” James Lecture, October 14, 1982
In today’s episode from the Vault, we revisit Nadine Gordimer’s James Lecture on the political landscape of South Africa, presented at the New York Institute for the Humanities on October 14, 1982.
In 1982, resistance to South Africa’s apartheid was growing increasingly militant, and the state’s brutal repression heightened this tension.
In her lecture, Gordimer speaks directly to this political l
Lukas Foss: A "New American Music Series" Gallatin Lecture, April 15, 1982
In today’s episode from the Vault, we revisit a 1982 lecture by the composer Lukas Foss, a leader of the American musical avant garde of the 1960s and 70s. In this lecture, a part of the “New American Music Series” of Gallatin Lectures at NYU, Foss discusses the state of American contemporary music, musical minimalism, and his own approach of combining serial elements with spontaneous composition.
The Epic Story of America's Great Migration: A Talk by Isabel Wilkerson
In 2010, Isabel Wilkerson spoke to the Institute about the fifteen years she spent reporting and writing her book, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration (Knopf, 2010). The book won the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction,In 1994, Wilkerson was the New York Times Chicago Bureau Chief when she won the Pulitzer Prize for her profile of a fourth-grade
On Michael Jackson: A Lecture by Margo Jefferson
In September 2006, Margo Jefferson spoke to the Institute about her book, On Michael Jackson (Vintage, 2007). Jefferson received the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for criticism when she was at the New York Times. Her 2015 book, Negroland: A Memoir, won the National Book Critics Circle Award. And in 2022, she published, Constructing a Nervous System, a memoir in fragments. She has taught at NYU, The New Scho
Christianity and the Transformation of the Book: A Lecture by Anthony Grafton
Anthony Grafton is the Henry Putnam University Professor of History at Princeton, where he has taught since 1975. He is an historian of early modern Europe, and the author and co-author of over a dozen books, including The Footnote: A Curious History (Harvard University Press, 1997), and Inky Fingers: The Making of Books in Early Modern Europe (Harvard University Press, 2020).In November 2006 he s
"America: Now and Here": A Lecture by Artist Eric Fischl
Artist Eric Fischl was born in 1948 in New York City and grew up in the Long Island suburbs. His paintings first received critical attention for depicting the dark, disturbing undercurrents of mainstream American life. In 1972 he received a B.F.A. from the California Institute for the Arts.In February 2012, Fischl spoke to the Institute about his work, and about his project “America: Now and Here,
The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present
Eric Kandel was born in Vienna in 1929. In 1938 he and his family fled to Brooklyn, where he attended the Yeshiva of Flatbush. He studied history and literature at Harvard, and received an MD from NYU. He is a professor of biochemistry at Columbia University, and won the 2000 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his research on memory.In addition to his science textbooks, Kandel has written several books f
Shakespeare in America
James Shapiro spoke at the Institute in 2014 about Shakespeare in America, the anthology he edited for the Library of America. He is the Larry Miller Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.Professor Shapiro is the author of many books on Shakespeare, including Shakespeare in a Divided America, which was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Critics Circle award for
The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover's Secret FBI
In this 2014 episode from the Institute’s Vault, we hear from Betty Medsger. Medsger was a Washington Post reporter in March 1971, and received a cache of stolen FBI files that detailed the elaborate surveillance activities the bureau was using against Vietnam war protesters and others whom J. Edgar Hoover deemed “subversive.“ All Medsger knew about the documents was that they had been stolen by a
Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity
In this episode from the Institute’s Vault we hear from Rebecca Goldstein, an American philosopher, novelist, and public intellectual. She holds a Ph.D. in philosophy of science from Princeton University, and has written ten books, both fiction and non-fiction. Her first book was her 1983 novel, The Mind Body Problem. Goldstein spoke to the Institute in 2006 about her book, Betraying Spinoza: The
Nicholas Lemann, "Transaction Man: The Rise of the Deal and the Decline of the American Dream" (FSG, 2019)
Nicholas Lemann is a staff writer at the New Yorker and a professor of journalism at Columbia. He is the author of four books, the most recent of which is Transaction Man: The Rise of the Deal and the Decline of the American Dream (FSG, 2019). Lemann spoke at the Institute about Transaction Man in 2019.Over the last generation, the United States has undergone seismic changes. Stable institutions h
The Happiness Myth: A Talk by Jennifer Michael Hecht
In 2006, Jennifer Michael Hecht spoke to the Institute about her book, The Happiness Myth: Why What We Think Is Right Is Wrong. Hecht is a poet and historian, who holds a Ph.D. in the history of science/European cultural history from Columbia University. She has published four books of nonfiction and three books of poetry. She has taught in the MFA programs at Columbia University and the New Schoo
Ian Buruma on "Year Zero: A History of 1945"
Ian Buruma is the author, co-author and editor of over a dozen books. He has been an editor at the Far Eastern Economic Review and The New York Review of Books. In this talk, he discusses Year Zero: A History of 1945 (Penguin, 2014).Year Zero is a landmark reckoning with the great drama that ensued after war came to an end in 1945. One world had ended and a new, uncertain one was beginning. Regime
The Intellectual Life of Edmund Burke
In April 2014, David Bromwich spoke at the Institute about his forthcoming book, The Intellectual Life of Edmund Burke: From the Sublime and Beautiful to American Independence (Harvard UP, 2014). Bromwich is a professor of English at Yale University, and the author of studies of Hazlitt and Wordsworth.While Edmund Burke is commonly seen as the father of modern conservatism, Bromwich argues that he
Deirdre Bair on Artist Saul Steinberg
In this episode from the Institute’s Vault, we hear a 2011 talk by Deirdre Bair about the artist Saul Steinberg. Bair received the 1978 National Book Award for her biography of Samuel Beckett. Since then, she has written biographies of Simone de Beauvoir, Anais Nin, Carl Jung, and Al Capone. In 2019, she published a memoir, Parisian Lives: Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir, and Me. Bair’s biograp
The End of Books: A Lecture by Robert Coover
Robert Coover spoke at the Institute in the spring of 2006. Coover is the author of over a dozen postmodern novels, including The Public Burning and Pinochio in Venice. He was one of the early supporters of electronic fiction, which he defended in “The End of Books,” a 1992 New York Times essay. Coover established Brown University’s MFA program in Digital Language Arts, and teaches courses on expe
Sennett and Foucault on Sexuality and Solitude (1979)
In 1979, sociologist and NYIH founder Richard Sennett, and philosopher Michel Foucault, discussed the connections between the history of sexuality and self consciousness. In this episode from the Vault, the two discuss their research and, by extension, the underpinnings of the idea of solitude. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and u
Rousseau's Ideas About Censorship in the Arts
In 1982, the Institute held a multi day discussion of censorship. In this session from the Vault, sociologist Richard Sennett talks about Jean Jacques Rousseau’s ideas about censorship in the arts.The discussion is moderated by Aryeh Neier, and includes Sidney Morgenbesser, Susan Sontag, Joseph Brodsky, Richard Gillman, Frances Fitzgerald, Karen Kennerly, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, and Michael Scam
On W. H. Auden
In 1983, ten years after W. H. Auden’s death, the New York Institute for the Humanities organized a series of readings and discussions of his work. In this episode from the Vault, Edward Mendelson, Auden's literary executor, moderates a discussion between Christopher Isherwood and Stephen Spender. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection an
Why are Insects so Scary? On Insects in Films.
This episode from the Vault is a lecture by May Berenbaum about why insects are so scary. Professor Berenbaum is an American entomologist whose research focuses on the chemical interactions between herbivorous insects and their host plants. She teaches entomology at the University of Illinois, and was awarded the National Medal of Science in 2014. She is also the organizer of the annual Insect Fea
Comedies of 'Fair Use': Lewis Hyde on Owning Art and Ideas
In April 2006, The Institute held a two day symposium about copyright and intellectual property, titled Comedies of Fair Use. In this session, Lewis Hyde talks about owning art and ideas.Hyde is a cultural critic and scholar, whose work focuses on the nature of imagination, creativity, and property. He is best known for his books, The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property, and Trickste
Edmund Leach on Roman Jakobson's Contributions to Linguistics
In this episode from the Institute’s Vault, we hear the1982 Gallatin Lecture, in which Sir Edmund Leach discussed the work of Roman Jakobson, who he met in 1960, at Stanford’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.Jakobson was one of the pioneers of structural linguistics, and a major influence on Claude Levi-Strauss and Roland Barthes. He taught at Harvard from 1940 until his retir
"Gone with the Wind" Revisited
In this week’s episode from the Institute’s Vault, Molly Haskell talks about her 2009 book, Frankly, My Dear: "Gone with the Wind" Revisited, published by Yale University Press.Haskell grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and studied at the Sorbonne. She came to New York in the sixties to work for the French Film office, where she wrote a newsletter about French films. She wrote about movies for the Vil
Historian Laurence Stone on the Role and Revival of Narrative in History
In this week’s episode from the Institute’s Vault, we hear a lecture on the revival of narrative in history by Laurence Stone. Professor Stone taught at Princeton from 1963 to 1990. He died in 1991. He is best known for his books The Crisis of the Aristocracy, 1558-1641, The Causes of the English Revolution, 1529-1642, and Family, Sex and Marriage in England 1500-1800.Since 1977, the New York Inst
Second Thoughts on Consistency: A Lecture by Hans Magnus Enzensberger
In October 1981, Hans Magnus Enzensberger gave the Institute’s James lecture, titled “Second Thoughts on Consistency.” Enzensberger, who died in November, 2022, at the age of 93, was a German translator, editor, author, and poet. He was born in Bavaria, and was just 15 years old when the Third Reich collapsed. After studying literature and philosophy in university, he earned a doctorate at the Sor
Leonardo da Vinci and Vassari’s "Lives of the Painters"
In this episode of the Vault, we hear Harry Berger’s talk about Leonardo da Vinci and Vassari’s "Lives of the Painters." Harry Berger was a scholar of Renaissance English literature who wrote books about art history, anthropology, and philosophy. He taught at UC Santa Cruz, where he was an emeritus professor until he died in 2021, at age 96.Since 1977, the New York Institute for the Humanities has
Eric Hobsbawm on "Literacy and the Tower of Babel"
In this episode from the Vault, we hear from historian Eric Hobsbawm, a frequent visitor at the New York Institute for the Humanities. His talk, Literacy and the Tower of Babel, took place in November 1984. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Clothes in Literature: A Talk by Anne Hollander
In this 2008 episode from the Vault we hear from fashion historian Anne Hollander, a longtime member of the Institute, and former president of the PEN American Center. Hollander was the author of Seeing Through Clothes, Moving Pictures, and Sex and Suits: The Evolution of Modern Dress. At the time of her death, in 2014, she was working on a book about clothes in literature, which is the subject of
Tod Gitlin on the Recovery of American Ideals
In this episode from the Institute’s Vault, we hear from Tod Gitlin. Gitlin was president of the Students for a Democratic Society, and went on to become a sociologist, political activist, and journalist, teaching at Berkeley, NYU and Columbia. He wrote sixteen books, and spoke at the Institute in 2007 about his book, The Bulldozer and the Big Tent: Blind Republicans, Lame Democrats, and the Recov
Greil Marcus on the Death of His Father
In this 2008 episode of The Vault, Greil Marcus reads from a Three Penny Review essay about the death of his father, who went down with the USS Hull in 1944, six months before Marcus was born. Marcus is a music journalist and cultural critic. His books include Mystery Train, Lipstick Traces, and Invisible Republic. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about
His Sister, Her Monologue: A Discussion with Hilton Als
In this 2011 episode from The Vault, Hilton Als reads from, and discusses, His Sister, Her Monologue, a novella he published in Mcsweeney's #35. Als is a staff writer at the New Yorker, and his theater criticism was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2017. He is the author of two books. The Women, published in 1996., and White Girls, which came out in 2014. "A Pryor Love," His New Yorker profile of Richa
Samantha Power on Hannah Arendt and Human Rights
In this episode from the Institute’s Vault, Samantha Power describes how Hannah Arendt influenced her thinking about politics and human rights. Power spoke during a two day symposium-- “Hannah Arendt Right Now”--which explored the philosopher’s impact on the 21st Century. The 2006 event was held on the hundredth anniversary of Arendt’s birth.Samantha Power was Barack Obama’s human rights adviser,
Learning to Drive: A Talk by Katha Pollitt
A longtime Institute member, Katha Pollitt is an American poet, essayist and critic. She is the author of four essay collections and two books of poetry. Her column for The Nation magazine, “Subject to Debate” won a National Magazine Award in 2003.In this episode from the Institute’s Vault, Pollitt talks about her 2007 book, Learning to Drive: And Other Life Stories, a collection of personal essay
On Hannah Arendt and Humanitarianism
From the Institute’s Vault, we have an excerpt from a two day symposium--“Hannah Arendt Right Now”--which explored the philosopher’s impact on the 21st Century. The 2006 event was held on the hundredth anniversary of Arendt’s birth.In this episode, Dr. Rony Brauman describes how Arendt influenced his thinking about the politics of humanitarian aid. Brauman was president of Doctors without Borders
On Hannah Arendt's "Eichmann in Jerusalem"
In this episode from the Institute’s Vault, we have an excerpt from a two day symposium--“Hannah Arendt Right Now”--which explored the philosopher’s impact on the 21st Century. The 2006 event was held on the hundredth anniversary of Arendt’s birth.The focus of this episode is Arendt’s 1963 book, Eichmann in Jerusalem. The session begins with historian Anthony Grafton, whose father, a journalist, o
Azar Nafisi and Ladan Boroumand on Arendt and Iran
In this episode from the Institute’s Vault, we have an excerpt from a two day symposium--“Hannah Arendt Right Now”--which explored the philosopher’s impact on the 21st Century. The 2006 event was held on the hundredth anniversary of Arendt’s birth. In this session, Azar Nafisi and Ladan Boroumand talk about how Arendt’s work on totalitarianism helped them understand the Islamic Revolution in Iran,
Kanan Makiya and Jonathan Schell on Hannah Arendt, Iraq, Vietnam, and Totalitarianism
In this episode from the Institute’s Vault, we have an excerpt from a two day symposium--“Hannah Arendt Right Now”--which explored the philosopher’s impact on the 21st Century. The 2006 event was held on the hundredth anniversary of Arendt’s birth. In this session, Kanan Makiya discusses Arendt’s influence on his thinking with Jonathan Schell. Makiya was born in Baghdad and educated at MIT. His bo
Jonathan Schell and Elisabeth Young-Bruehl on Arendt and the Nuclear Question
In this episode from the Institute’s Vault, we have an excerpt from a two day symposium--“Hannah Arendt Right Now”--which explored the philosopher’s impact on the 21st Century. The 2006 event was held on the hundredth anniversary of Arendt’s birth. In the opening session, Jonathan Schell and Elisabeth Young-Bruehl discuss Arendt’s thoughts on the nuclear question. Schell, who died in 2014, was a w
Timothy Snyder on Tony Judt
In this week’s episode from the Vault, we revisit a 2013 presentation by the Yale historian, Timothy Snyder, about the book he wrote with the historian, Tony Judt.Judt was diagnosed with ALS in 2008 and died in 2010. He spent those two years writing books and lecturing, as well as holding weekly conversations with Snyder. The result was Thinking the Twentieth Century, which was published in 2012.
Fair Use and Documentary Film
In April 2006, the Institute held a symposium about copyright and intellectual property, titled Comedies of Fair Use. This panel is about documentary film, and was moderated by Duke professor law James Boyle. It begins with Amy Sewell, whose 2005 documentary, Mad Hot Ballroom looks at the lives of New York City public school kids, as they prepare for a citywide ballroom dancing competition. Charle
Masha Gessen and David Remnick on Putin
Institute fellow, and New Yorker staff writer, Masha Gessen is one of the foremost critics of Vladimir Putin. In 2014, Gessen spoke at the Institute with New Yorker editor David Remnick about Gessen's book, Words Will Break Cement, about Pussy Riot. Much of the conversation focused on Putin's ambitions for an imperial Russia. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for inform
Lawrence Lessig on Fair Use
In April 2006, the Institute held a two day symposium about copyright and intellectual property, titled Comedies of Fair Use. The event began with a keynote address by Lawrence Lessig, who currently teaches at Harvard Law School. Lessig is the author of twelve books, and his work has had an enormous impact on discussions of intellectual property and, more recently, the challenge institutional corr
Jonathan Lethem on Fair Use
In April 2006, The Institute held a two day symposium about copyright and intellectual property, titled Comedies of Fair Use. At it, the novelist Jonathan Lethem made a presentation on his essay-in-progress, the final version of which would be published as The Ecstasy of Influence, in the February 2007 issue of Harper’s magazine. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for in
Should You Ever Happen to Find Yourself in Solitary (11): Scarlet Kim
In 2012, the Institute held a day long symposium, “Should you ever happen to find yourself in solitary: Wry Fancies and Stark Realities.” This episode features ACLU lawyer Scarlet Kim. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Should You Ever Happen to Find Yourself in Solitary (12): Discussion
In 2012, the Institute held a day long symposium, “Should you ever happen to find yourself in solitary: Wry Fancies and Stark Realities.” In this final episode, Lawrence Weschler leads a discussion about what society should do about solitary confinement with Scarlet Kim, Juan Mendez, Robert King, and members of the audience. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for informa
Should You Ever Happen to Find Yourself in Solitary (10): Juan Mendez
In 2012, the Institute held a day long symposium, “Should you ever happen to find yourself in solitary: Wry Fancies and Stark Realities.” This episode features Juan Mendez, the UN's Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for adver
Should You Ever Happen to Find Yourself in Solitary (9): Lisa Guenther.
In 2012, the Institute held a day long symposium, “Should you ever happen to find yourself in solitary: Wry Fancies and Stark Realities.” This episode features philosopher Lisa Guenther. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Should You Ever Happen to Find Yourself in Solitary (7): Shane Bauer and Robert King
In 2012, the Institute held a day long symposium, “Should you ever happen to find yourself in solitary: Wry Fancies and Stark Realities.” This episode features journalist Shane Bauer and prison activist Robert King. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Should You Ever Happen to Find Yourself in Solitary (6): Breyten Breytenbach
In 2012, the Institute held a day long symposium, “Should you ever happen to find yourself in solitary: Wry Fancies and Stark Realities.” This episode features the poet, artist and novelist Breyten Breytenbach. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Should You Ever Happen to Find Yourself in Solitary (5): Mike Daisy
In 2012, the Institute held a day long symposium, “Should you ever happen to find yourself in solitary: Wry Fancies and Stark Realities.” This episode features monologist Mike Daisy. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Should You Ever Happen to Find Yourself in Solitary (4): The Yes Men and Samantha Holmes
In 2012, the Institute held a day long symposium, “Should you ever happen to find yourself in solitary: Wry Fancies and Stark Realities.” The first presentation is by Jacques Servin and Mary Notari, members of The Yes Men, a performance activist group. Then we hear from avant garde artist and mosaicist Samantha Holmes. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information a
Should You Ever Happen to Find Yourself in Solitary (2): Joshua Foer and Stuart Firestein
In 2012, the Institute held a day long symposium, “Should you ever happen to find yourself in solitary: Wry Fancies and Stark Realities.” This episode features Joshua Foer, the 2006 USA Memory Champion, and Stuart Firestein, Columbia University chair of Biology. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertisi
Should You Ever Happen to Find Yourself in Solitary (3): Catherine Chalmers, Carl Skelton, Walter Murch
In 2012, the Institute held a day long symposium, “Should you ever happen to find yourself in solitary.” In this episode, we hear from insect photographer Catherine Chalmers, media critic Carl Skelton, and sound editor Walter Murch. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Should You Ever Happen to Find Yourself in Solitary (1): Lawrence Weschler, Tony Kushner, and Alastair Reid
In 2012, the Institute held a day long symposium, “Should you ever happen to find yourself in solitary: Wry Fancies and Stark Realities.” In this episode, Lawrence Weschler talks with playwright Tony Kushner. It concludes with a poetry reading by Alastair Reid Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising
Distracted: Attention in the Digital Age
Never before has attention been such a precious resource. So on May 19, 2015, the New York Institute for the Humanities held a discussion titled, Distracted: Attention in the Digital Age. Moderated by Virginia Heffernan, the panelists were Winifred Gallagher, David Mikics, Mark Edmundson, and Matthew B. Crawford. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about o
Legal Scholar Derrick Bell on Racial Libel as American Ritual
In 1995, legal scholar Derrick Bell spoke to the Institute about Racial Libel as American Ritual. Professor Bell was one of the founders of critical race studies. He taught at Harvard Law School until 1990, when he left to protest the school's lack of female African American faculty. He taught at NYU Law School until his death in 2011. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com
Steve Wasserman Remembers Christopher Hitchens
In 2012, editor and literary agent Steve Wasserman spoke about his friend Christopher Hitchens, who died in 2011. Wasserman has been the editorial director of New Republic Books, Hill & Wang, Times Books and, most recently, Heyday, an independent publisher in Berkeley. He was also the editor of the LA Times Sunday Book Review, and an editor-at-large for Yale University Press. Hosted by Simple
William Finnegan on "Cold New World: Growing Up in a Harder Country"
William Finnegan, a New Yorker staff writer, and Pulitzer prize winner, talks about his work-in-progress, Cold New World: Growing Up in a Harder Country, which was published in 1998. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Ben Moser on Susan Sontag
Biographer Benjamin Moser talks about his 2019 biography of Susan Sontag, which won the Pulitzer Prize. Moser’s previous book, a biography of the Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Art Spiegelman on the Memory Industry
Art Spiegelman, whose graphic novel Maus won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992, took part in the 2011 New York Institute for the Humanities symposium, “Second Thoughts on the Memory Industry.” Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Censorship and Writing: With Joseph Brodsky and Susan Sontag
The opening session of the NYIH 1980 conference on Censorship and Writing, moderated by NYRB editor Robert Silvers, with a presentation by Aryeh Neier, and comments by Joseph Brodsky and Susan Sontag. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Francine Prose on Anne Frank
Francine Prose talks about Anne Frank, the subject of her 2009 book, at the 2011 New York Institute for the Humanities symposium, “Second Thoughts on the Memory Industry.” Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Eric Hobsbawm on History in the Post Cold War World
In October, 1995, the great intellectual historian Eric Hobsbawm visited the Institute to give a talk entitled, "Inventing Your Own History," on the new challenges to how history is told in the post Cold War world. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Elisabeth Young-Bruehl on "Childism: Confronting Prejudice Against Children"
In this Vault episode from 2011, Elisabeth Young-Bruehl talks about her book, Childism: Confronting Prejudice Against Children. The author of landmark biographies of Hannah Arendt and Anna Freud, Young-Bruehl was a long time member of the Institute. She died of a pulmonary embolism two weeks after this talk. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our co
Alfred Kazin on American Literature
In 1984, the scholar and critic Alfred Kazin visited the institute to talk about the long shadow Emerson cast over American (and international) literature. In this episode of The Vault, he discusses and defends his views of a writer who was critical to his sense of what American literature might embody. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collect
Philip Gourevitch: Black and White and Gray All Over--Some Thoughts on the Problems and Politics of Journalistic Evenhandedness
In 2000, writer Philip Gourevitch lectured on the problem of point of view in political coverage. In this episode of The Vault, he discusses “Black and White and Gray All Over: Some Thoughts on the Problems and Politics of Journalistic Evenhandedness.” Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Philip Glass on "Satyagraha" and "Koyaanisqatsi"
In 1982, the composer Philip Glass presented the NYIH Gallatin Lecture at NYU. In this episode of The Vault, he discusses his relationship to theater and his turn to working with texts--particularly his work on the opera Satyagraha and his then-forthcoming composition for the film Koyaanisqatsi Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and u
Charles Rosen: Memory in Romantic Song Cycles
The writer and pianist Charles Rosen combined musicianship and critical acuity to a degree of accomplishment matched by few figures in the twentieth century. In this episode, we revisit Rosen’s 1978 lecture at the institute, on stage and at the keyboard, titled “Memory in Romantic Song Cycles.” Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and u
Ryszard Kapuscinski: Herodotus
In 2004, journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski gave a luncheon lecture about the Greek historian Herodotus. He described Herodotus as the “first reporter,” a globalist who traveled to the edges of the known world to learn about how people other than the Greeks lived. In Herodotus’s Histories Kapuscinski finds the origins of modern reportage itself. An expanded version of the lecture was published in 2007
Susan Sontag: Illness as Metaphor
In October of 1977, Susan Sontag delivered one of the institute’s five James Lectures for that year. Her topic was “Illness as Metaphor”. She explored the truth that it was no longer possible, as she wrote, “to take up one’s residence in the kingdom of the ill unprejudiced by the lurid metaphors with which it has been landscaped.” Though she did not directly reference it, she herself was being tre
Christopher Hitchens and James Fenton: Hitch-22
At a luncheon of institute fellows in May of 2010, Christopher Hitchens and James Fenton sat down for a conversation about Hitchens’s forthcoming memoir, Hitch 22. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
V. S. Naipaul (part 2): A Bend in the River
The work of V. S. Naipaul, who died in August 2018 at age 85, provided an excoriating examination of what it means to be a colonial and postcolonial subject. In 1979, the novelist paid a visit to NYU in order to deliver the James Lectures at the New York Institute for the Humanities. In the second of two archival episodes, Naipaul reads an excerpt from his 1971 novel In a Free State and a passage
