book talk

Most Americans are likely to encounter the effects of government malfeasance or neglect close to home--from their governors, mayors, town councils, school boards, police, and prosecutors. In fact, deals shrouded in darkness are regularly made at the state and local levels, often the result of closed-door discussions between governments and industry without any scrutiny whatsoever […]

Join us for the third installment in our series commemorating the 100th birthday of Malcolm X—activist, orator, and enduring symbol of Black liberation. Titled The Unrelenting Revolutionary: Malcolm X, this event features Baba Lumumba, and Haile Gerima.

Join us for the fourth installment in our series commemorating the 100th birthday of Malcolm X - activist, orator, and enduring symbol of Black liberation - with a special screening of Malcolm X: Make It Plain film, followed by a discussion with Dr. Greg Carr and Haile Gerima.

To mark the paperback release of the New York Times bestseller, Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism, former Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Stephen Breyer offers a provocative analysis of the textualist philosophy of the current Supreme Court’s supermajority and makes the case for a more pragmatic approach of the Constitution. Textualists claim that the right […]

On August 25, 1944, Rose Valland, a woman of quiet daring, found herself in a desperate position. From the windows of her beloved Jeu de Paume museum, where she had worked and ultimately spied, she could see the battle to liberate Paris thundering around her. The Jeu de Paume, co-opted by Nazi leadership, was now […]

At a time when artificial intelligence, climate change, and inequality are raising fundamental questions about the economic system, Capitalism and Its Critics provides a kaleidoscopic history of global capitalism, from the East India Company and Industrial Revolution to the digital revolution. But here John Cassidy, a staff writer at The New Yorker and a Pulitzer Prize finalist, adopts a […]

On Little Great Island, climate change is disrupting both life and love. After offending the powerful pastor of a cult, Mari McGavin has to flee with her six-year-old son. With no money and no place else to go, she returns to the tiny Maine island where she grew up—a place she swore she’d never see […]

With the gravitas of Joan Biskupic and the irreverence of Elie Mystal, Leah Litman brings her signature wit to the question of what's gone wrong at One First Street. In Lawless, she argues that the Supreme Court is no longer practicing law; it's running on vibes. By "vibes," Litman means legal-ish claims that repackage the politics […]

Malcolm X has become as much of an American icon as Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, or Martin Luther King. But when he was murdered in 1965, he was still seen as a dangerous outsider. White America found him alienating, mainstream African Americans found him divisive, and even his admirers found him bravely radical. Although […]

Radical Reality reveals how independent documentary makers around the world produce cinematic stories that speak truth to power-and why nonfiction storytelling matters for social justice. Pushing against increasingly difficult political and economic constraints, these tenacious filmmakers produce artistic nonfiction stories that stand up for freedom of expression, serve as witnesses to conflict and resilience, maintain cultural […]

The Battle for the Black Mind is an explosive historical account of the struggle for educational justice in America. Drawing on over a decade of archival research, personal reflection, and keen sociological insight, this book traces a century of segregated schooling, examining how early efforts to control Black minds through education systems has laid the foundation for […]

In 2014, after losing several friends and relatives to cancer, an unassuming insurance underwriter in Hoosick Falls, New York, began to suspect that the local water supply was polluted. When he tested his tap water, he discovered dangerous levels of forever chemicals. This set off a chain of events that led to 100 million Americans […]

Join us for the sixth installment in our series commemorating the 100th birthday of Malcolm X—Presentations and discussion with Laini Mataka, Nubia Kai, Kenneth Carroll, Kelly Navies and Brian Gilmore!   About Malcolm X   Malcolm X was a minister, civil rights activist, and prominent Black nationalist leader who served as a spokesman for the […]

This event will be in conversation with The Atlantic.  When President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, news spread about his implementation of Project 2025, a nearly 1,000-page document published by the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation. The debates--and anxiety--surrounding this initiative have only increased as authors of the Project assume […]

Join us for the seventh installment in our series commemorating the 100th birthday of Malcolm X—activist, orator, and enduring symbol of Black liberation. Malcolm X and the Arts features a presentation by artists Imar Hutchins and Zoma Walace!   About Malcolm X   Malcolm X was a minister, civil rights activist, and prominent Black nationalist […]

In Freedom Season, acclaimed historian Peniel E. Joseph offers a stirring narrative history of 1963, marking it as the defining year of the Black freedom struggle--a year when America faced a deluge of political strife and violence and emerged transformed. Nineteen sixty-three opened with the centenary of the Emancipation Proclamation and ended with America in a […]

When AI expert and investigative journalist Karen Hao first began covering OpenAI in 2019, she thought they were the good guys. Founded as a nonprofit with safety enshrined as its core mission, the organization was meant, its leader Sam Altman told us, to act as a check against more purely mercantile, and potentially dangerous, forces. […]