AHI FREE CONTINUING EDUCATION COURSES
AHI is pleased to announce the creation of FOUR new reading clusters for the fall semester, 2021.
John Adams
Weekly, Tuesday, September 7 through Tuesday, December 7, 7-8:15 p.m. (EST) with AHI Resident Fellow Dr. David Frisk. To sign up or for additional information, please contact Dr. Frisk at dfrisk@theahi.org or 202-999-5751.
The remarkably candid, courageous, and stubborn Adams was at least as interesting and admirable as any other American founder—and he played roles in our history that were as varied as those of any of his peers. Our focus will be David McCullough’s classic biography, titled simply John Adams. It tells the full story—from his role as a key advocate of American independence, to his significance as a political thinker who differed from Jefferson, Hamilton, and Madison on significant points, to his important diplomacy in Europe and then in Britain during and after the Revolutionary War, through his vice presidency under Washington and his troubled presidency, and continuing well into the 19th century, with his famous reconciliation with Jefferson. Because Adams and others in his family wrote so many letters, McCullough tells much of the story in his, and their, own words.
We ask participants to buy McCullough biography, which is available inexpensively in paperback. In cases of hardship, AHI will purchase the book for the committed participant. In addition to about 35 assigned pages a week from John Adams, members of the group will be e-mailed a variety of optional short readings that provide additional perspectives.
David Frisk, who holds a Ph.D. in political science from Claremont Graduate University, has taught continuing education courses in history, political science, and political thought at the AHI since 2013. In the past year, he has led four other reading groups for the AHI, on biographies of Alexander Hamilton and Winston Churchill, Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, and Richard Hofstadter’s classic The American Political Tradition. MORE INFO >>
The Cold War and Its Warriors
Weekly, Thursday, September 9 through Thursday, December 9, 7-8:15 p.m. (EST) with AHI Resident Fellow Dr. David Frisk. To sign up or for additional information, please contact Dr. Frisk at dfrisk@theahi.org or 202-999-5751. Advanced sign-up is strongly encouraged.
The conflict between free Western societies—led by the United States—and international communism, led by the Soviet Union, dominated world affairs in the second half of the 20th century. Although it generally wasn’t a ‘hot’ or shooting war, it lasted far longer than any international conflict in our history. It involved deep, extensive, vigorously debated, sometimes completely new questions of political philosophy, global strategy, diplomacy, national spirit and character, military leadership and technology, and defense policy—and, of course, in the nuclear age, mankind’s survival. We will cover the Cold War from its beginnings in 1944-1947 through its aftermath in the 1990s, following the fall of Soviet and Eastern European communism.
The group will begin each week with an informal lecture and continue with a discussion. Class members will read selections from a diverse range of thoughtful books and articles on many aspects of the Cold War—including several international crises, the Vietnam War, nuclear deterrence and negotiations, espionage, Western and Soviet power (both military and political) in important regions, human rights issues, and various forms of leadership by key individuals in the conflict. The readings, approximately 30 pages per week, will be e-mailed to participants. MORE INFO >>
Essays for the Ages
Weekly, Wednesday, September 15 to Wednesday, December 1 (September 29 excepted), 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. (EST) with Lauren Weiner. To sign up or for additional information, please contact Lauren Weiner at lweiner6@gmail.com. Advanced sign-up is strongly encouraged.
The essay that combines perception with entertainment, argument with art, is the essay one wants to read, and maybe even reread. Political, literary, and historical essays from the 18th century to our own time will be the subject of this cluster. Though we will stick to authors who write in English, variety will be our watchword, since essays come in so many different shapes and sizes. Some will be of the “manners and morals” type, others will be journalism, and others literary or film reviews. Tentative list of authors: Samuel Johnson, Benjamin Franklin, Henry James, Virginia Woolf, George Orwell, James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, Flannery O’Connor, Joan Didion, Christopher Hitchens, Bell Hooks.
A technical element will enter in, as we discuss what makes for excellence in authorship. We’ll try to pin down something elusive: the secret of writing with verve and persuasiveness, which may well help participants improve their own writing. Electronic copies or links will be provided to the essays.
Lauren Weiner’s writing life has taken her to jobs as an editor, reporter, Capitol Hill staffer, and Pentagon speechwriter. She wrote speeches for former Senator Jon Kyl (R-Arizona) and spent three years as a speechwriter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Her articles and reviews have appeared in many publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Commentary, TheFederalist.com, the Weekly Standard, AmericanPurpose.com, the New Criterion, the Washington Times, and the Baltimore Sun. MORE INFO >>
Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women
Weekly, Sunday, September 5 to Sunday December 5, (September 19 and November 28 excepted), 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. (EST) with Claudia Nelson. To sign up or for additional information, please contact Claudia Nelson at claudia_nelson@tamu.edu. Advanced sign-up is strongly encouraged.
Although disproportionately read by a female public, Little Women is an American classic that may be enjoyed from a wide variety of perspectives, drawing as it does on the remarkable richness of its author’s life, earlier texts such as Pilgrim’s Progress, expectations regarding gender and family, and ideas about the nature of creativity in the second half of the nineteenth century. This novel has had a lasting impact on American culture and has inspired numerous adaptations and imitations at home and abroad.
We ask participants to buy Anne Hiebert Alton’s Broadview Press edition of the book, which provides extensive historical context and is available inexpensively in paperback. AHI will purchase the volume for anyone who may be in a situation of financial hardship. The first two meetings of the reading group will assume knowledge only of Part One; as of September 26, we will expand our discussion to include the 1869 continuation of the original 1868 novel.
Dr. Nelson is Professor Emerita at Texas A&M University and an internationally renowned authority on nineteenth-century children’s literature in English. A former president of the Children’s Literature Association (ChLA) and a former editor of the ChLA Quarterly, she is the author of six award-winning monographs on children’s literature and/or nineteenth-century literature and culture and has edited or co-edited an additional six book-length works. MORE INFO >>
Video of Past Lecture Series – Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan: The Making of an American Century
This course focused on each president separately, giving approximately equal attention to their domestic policy and foreign policy achievements. Each class session will begin with a lecture and proceed to a discussion. Dr. Frisk: “As always in our classes, no particular viewpoint will be pushed and major controversies about the subject matter will be duly considered. Discussion in our classes is always lively, diverse, and informative—just as we want it.” MORE INFO >>
