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Free online lectures: Explore a world of ideas

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Boston Athenaeum

The Boston Athenaeum, one of the oldest and most distinguished independent libraries in the United States, was founded in 1807 by members of the Anthology Society, a group of fourteen Boston gentlemen who had joined together in 1805 to edit The Monthly Anthology and Boston Review. Their purpose was to form "an establishment similar to that of the Athenaeum and Lyceum of Liverpool in Great Britain; combining the advantages of a public library [and] containing the great works of learning and science in all languages." The library and Art Gallery, established in 1827, were soon flourishing, and grew rapidly, both by purchase of books and art and by frequent gifts. For nearly half a century the Athenaeum was the unchallenged center of intellectual life in Boston, and by 1851 had become one of the five largest libraries in the United States. Today its collections comprise over half a million volumes, with particular strengths in Boston history, New England state and local history, biography, English and American literature, and the fine and decorative arts. The Athenaeum supports a dynamic art gallery, and sponsors a lively variety of events such as lectures and concerts. It also serves as a stimulating center for discussions among scholars, bibliophiles, and a variety of community interest groups.break

http://www.bostonathenaeum.org

  • Timoleon Vieta Come Home: A Sentimental Journey

    Wed, Sep 15, 2004
    Fiction writer Dan Rhodes discusses his new novel, *Timoleon Vieta Come Home*. Rattling around his dilapidated farmhouse in the Italian countryside, faded composer and socialite Cockroft has only one constant companion: Timoleon Vieta, a loyal mongrel with beautiful eyes. When a handsome but surly individual arrives on the scene, Cockroft is forced to choose between his dog and the new arrival. He abandons Timoleon outside Rome's Coliseum, where the dog begins a long journey home. **Dan Rhodes** has published two collections of short fiction: *Anthropology: and a Hundred Other Stories* (2000), which contains short, darkly humorous stories about romantic relationships, and *Don't Tell Me the Truth About Love* (2001), which consists of seven longer stories on a similar theme. Rhodes also was recently named by *Granta* one of 20 "Best Young British Novelists." *Timoleon Vieta Come Home* is his first novel.
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  • Esmeralda Santiago: The Turkish Lover

    Thu, Oct 21, 2004
    Esmeralda Santiago discusses her new book, *The Turkish Lover*, in which she describes finally breaking out of a monumental struggle with her powerful mother, only to come under the thrall of "the Turk" and discover that romantic passion, too, can become a prison. Esmeralda's journey of self-liberation and self-discovery is a daring one, candidly and zestfully recounted, and that leads, most improbably, to her triumphant graduation from Harvard University.
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  • Bush, Blair, and Iraq: The Making of a Catastrophe

    Fri, Nov 5, 2004
    Simon Jenkins argues that, though much has been made of the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom and of the personal relationship between George Bush and Tony Blair, the war in Iraq has strained these public and private ties.
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  • Colossus of New York: City in 13 Parts

    Thu, Oct 14, 2004
    Colson Whitehead re-creates the exuberance, the chaos, the promise, and heartbreak of New York. *The Colossus of New York* captures the city's inner and outer landscapes in a series of vignettes, meditations, and personal memories. Conveying the feelings and thoughts of longtime residents and of newcomers who dream of making the city their home, of those who have conquered its challenges, and of those who struggle against its cruelties, *Colossus* is a portrait of life in the big city.
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  • Presidential Health: Bloodletting to Ballistics

    Thu, Oct 28, 2004
    Kevin R. Loughlin traces events involving the health of presidents from George Washington to the present day. He reviews the impairments of Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and John Kennedy that were hidden from the public, and describes the gory circumstances of Washington's demise (he was essentially bled to death). Loughlin also discusses the cardiac history of Dwight Eisenhower, which was misdiagnosed as indigestion by his well-meaning personal physician and friend; a president who underwent secret surgery aboard a yacht in the East River; and some of the medical aspects of the presidential assassinations. Loughlin concludes with an analysis of how presidential health is currently monitored and offers recommendations for the future. **Kevin R. Loughlin** has been on the faculty of Harvard Medical School for over two decades, where he is currently professor of surgery. Throughout his surgical career, he has had an interest in medical history and has written and lectured on this area numerous times. He has had a particular interest in the health of US presidents and the impact of their illnesses on history.
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  • Favorite English Country Houses

    Thu, Nov 4, 2004
    Sir Simon Jenkins explores the eclectic range of English properties among his own personal favorites. England retains far more great houses with their contents intact and on display than any other country in the world, with houses of interest ranging from Cornwall in the south to Cumbria in the far north. He looks beyond the architecture to focus on the often fascinating and sometimes amusing personal histories of the owners. Included are such properties as Bodiam, Hardwick, Kingston Lacy, Chastleton, Castle Drogo, Cothele, and Lanhydrock.
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  • Seen But Not Heard: Images of Children in American Art

    Tue, Nov 30, 2004
    In conjunction with the Fall 2004 exhibition "Seen But Not Heard: Images of Children from the Collection of the Boston Athenaeum", David Dearinger surveys the manner in which children were depicted in 19th and early 20th century American art. Artists such as Winslow Homer, Lily Martin Spencer, George Caleb Bingham, J. G. Brown, Mary Cassatt, and Robert Henri are discussed in this illustrated lecture.
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  • French Negotiating Behavior: Dealing with La Grande Nation

    Tue, Dec 7, 2004
    Lecturing from his book French Negotiating Behavior, Charles Cogan explores the cultural and historical factors that have shaped the French approach and then dissects their key elements. He postulates that French negotiators often seem more interested in asserting their country's "universal" mission than in reaching an agreement, and he uses three recent case studies to illustrate this uniquely French mélange. Cogan also offers practical suggestions for making negotiations more cooperative and productive.
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  • Amy Lowell: Selected Poems

    Tue, Jan 25, 2005
    Honor Moore, editor for poet Amy Lowell, discusses the impact of Lowell's work. A cigar-smoking proponent of free-verse modernism in open rebellion against her distinguished Boston lineage, Amy Lowell cut an indelible public figure. But in the words of Moore, "what strikes the modern reader is not the sophistication of Lowell's feminist or anti-war stances, but the bald audacity of her eroticism." Lowell was at the center of a group of pioneering modernists who, in an era convulsed by change, rejected musty Victorian standards and wrote poems of bracing immediacy. This new selection captures her formal range: the "cadenced verse" of her Imagist masterpieces, her experiments in "polyphonic prose," her narrative poetry, and her adaptations from the classical Chinese. It gives a fresh sense of the passion and energy of her work. **Honor Moore** is the author of *The White Blackbird: A Life of the Painter Margarett Sargent by Her Granddaughter*, a *New York Times* Notable Book in 1996, and of three volumes of poems: *Memoir*, *Darling*, and *Red Shoes*. Her work has appeared in *The New Yorker*, *The NewYork Times*, *The Nation*, *The New Republic*, *The Paris Review*, and *The American Scholar*.
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  • Nature of Sacrifice: Biography of Charles Russell Lowell Jr.

    Tue, Mar 22, 2005
    The world advances by impossibilities achieved, Charles Lowell insisted in 1854 when, as valedictorian, he spoke at his Harvard graduation just two weeks after Boston had enforced the Fugitive Slave Law, returning Anthony Burns into slavery. Lowell argued that in the great march of mankind toward a greater humanity it was precisely those idealistic dreams of young men that marked human progress. His photographic memory and brilliant mind made him the brightest man of his generation. Spurning the advice of Ralph Waldo Emerson to become a "mystic," Lowell began a career at the cutting edge of industrial innovation under the mentorship of the New York iron magnate Abram Hewitt. But the impossibility Lowell had in mind was not the miracle of industrial advancement that was sweeping the nation, but the abolition of slavery. Lowell volunteered in the Union Cavalry and in 1862 served on General McClellan's staff. In 1864 he joined the Cavalry Corps under Sheridan, commanding the Reserve Brigade. Carol Bundy's account of Lowell's war years, shadowed by the deaths of his brother, cousins, and friends, is unsparing in its depiction of his work in helping to form the fabled 54th Regiment of black volunteers, fighting Colonel Mosby's guerillas, implementing Grant's orders to destroy the Shenandoah Valley, and participating in the notorious Front Royal Affair, when Confederate prisoners were tortured and executed. Bundy's vivid biography, based on rich public archives and a wealth of family papers, shows in persuasive detail the antebellum Boston of Lowell's privileged childhood transformed by his father's unexpected bankruptcy and by the national controversy over slavery. An Athenaeum proprietor, Carol Bundy has written for film and art publications in both the UK and the US. She has two sons and lives in Cambridge. Bundy became interested in her great-great-great uncle, Charles Russell Lowell, when his worn saddle bags, rusted sword, and spurs turned up after her grandmother's death in 1983. Listen to a complementary [interview with Carol Bundy](http://thoughtcast.org/casts/carol-bundy-civil-war-biographer) on Thoughtcast.org, a podcast and public radio interview program on authors, academics and intellectuals.
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