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October 17-18, 2008
Herbst Theatre, San Francisco |
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How did 13 weak, fragmented, and isolated colonies governed from across the ocean transform themselves into a new kind of society based on pragmatism, optimism, innovation, and cooperation; a society capable not only of defeating a much larger and stronger foe, but also of inventing entirely new forms of self-government that have stood the test of time? Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), during his long and incredibly productive life, epitomized many aspects of the remarkable transformation that eventually led to the establishment of the first modern constitutional state. With his passion for self-improvement and gift for institutional innovation, Franklin constantly reinvented himself: printer's apprentice, successful Philadelphia printer, storekeeper, bookshop owner, journalist, writer of Poor Richard's Almanack and the Autobiography, and social entrepreneur and environmentalist 1731-style. Franklin invented the Franklin stove, swim fins, the glass armonica, and bifocals. He tamed lightning with his kite. He was a politician, diplomat, colonial patriot, ambassador to France, president of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania, signer of the Constitution, and author of an anti-slavery treatise. In one person, Benjamin Franklin helped create the American civil society. He was called, by the time of his death at 84, the "harmonious human multitude."
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February 27-28, 2009
Herbst Theatre, San Francisco |
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India's artists, in pace with their country's rapid modernization, have adopted many contemporary techniques; but past traditions remain strong, and a fruitful creative tension has developed in the interplay of familiar themes and modern modes of expression. Rural village scenes in the novels of R.K. Narayan, or the films of Satyajit Ray, compete with the urban landscapes of Robinton Mistry and Vikram Chandra, with Indian-American cultural fusion in Mira Nair's films, and with the insidious joys of Bollywood. Abstract and surrealist artists incorporate images of legendary gods and heroes in their work, and musicians create exciting new sounds in collaboration with western jazz and classical performers. The result: unique new delights for the eye, the ear, and the spirit.
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April 17-18, 2009
Herbst Theatre, San Francisco |
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The institution-shattering forces unleashed by the French Revolution were successfully refocused upon Europe by Napoleon. The French tide swept over the continent, and even across the Mediterranean, leaving the remnants of many ancien regimes refashioned in its wake. The responses to France's reassertion of cultural preeminence varied from uncritical enthusiasm to repugnance, and from nuanced appreciation to the love-hate affair the Russian aristocracy carried on for the next century. Napoleon invaded Egypt yet crafted enlightened policy sympathetic to Islam, resurrected Roman civil law, inspired Beethoven, challenged Goethe and Tolstoy to think again, and bankrolled a return to grandeur in the fine arts. Only the British successfully resisted both his armies and his cultural influence.
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