Rob Riemen

discusses

To Fight Against This Age:
On Fascism and Humanism

in conversation with CHRISTOPHER LYDON

This event includes a book signing

Date

Jan
30
Tuesday
January 30, 2018
7:00 PM ET

Location

Harvard Book Store
1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138

Tickets

This event is free; no tickets are required.

Harvard Book Store, WBUR, and Mass Humanities welcome writer and cultural philosopher ROB RIEMEN―founder of the Nexus Institute―for a discussion of his latest book, To Fight Against This Age: On Fascism and Humanism. He will be joined in conversation by CHRISTOPHER LYDON, host of WBUR's radio program Open Source.

About To Fight Against This Age

 An international bestseller, To Fight Against This Age consists of two beautifully written, cogent, and urgent essays about the rise of fascism and the ways in which we can combat it.

In “The Eternal Return of Fascism,” Rob Riemen explores the theoretical weakness of fascism, which depends on a politics of resentment, the incitement of anger and fear, xenophobia, the need for scapegoats, and its hatred of the life of the mind. He draws on history and philosophy as well as the essays and novels of Thomas Mann and Albert Camus to explain the global resurgence of fascism, often disguised by its false promises of ushering in freedom and greatness.

Riemen’s own response to what he sees as the spiritual crisis of our age is articulated in “The Return of Europa,” a moving story about the meaning of European humanism with its universal values of truth, beauty, justice, and love for life―values that are the origin and basis of a democratic civilization.

To Fight Against This Age is as timely as it is timeless, to be read by those who want to understand and change the world in which they live.

Praise

“This is a book for people who want the West to regain its moral high ground, and who want to think hard about how to help achieve that.” ―Anne Applebaum

“This is a bold, courageous, original, and provocative meditation. It challenges many trendy diagnoses of the present crisis of western civilization by offering some very surprising and unexpected perspectives.” —Amos Oz

“Rob Riemen is one of the great modern champions of the Enlightenment and the best of its legacy.” —Sean Wilentz

“From Thomas Mann’s warning, ‘If ever Fascism should come to America, it will come in the name of freedom,’ to an elderly Czech poet’s cautious optimism about the future of Europe, these essays make a passionate case for values that are not so much ancient as ageless.” —Ingrid Rowland

Christopher Lydon
Christopher Lydon

Christopher Lydon

Christopher Lydon is the host of Open Source, a conversation on arts, ideas and politics – both online and on public radio.  An unconventional voice in print, television and radio journalism, Chris Lydon is an Internet pioneer, credited with doing the first (and now the longest-running) “podcast” with the proto-blogger Dave Winer in 2003 from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard. 

Photo Credit: Michael J. Lutch

Rob Riemen
Rob Riemen

Rob Riemen

Rob Riemen is the author of Nobility of Spirit: A Forgotten Ideal (2008), which was translated into eighteen languages and published in America by Yale University Press. A philosopher and cultural critic, Riemen is also the founder and president of the Nexus Institute, an international center dedicated to philosophical debate and intellectual discourse. He lives in the Netherlands. 

Harvard Book Store
1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138

Walking from the Harvard Square T station: 2 minutes

As you exit the station, reverse your direction and walk east along Mass. Ave. in front of the Cambridge Savings Bank. Cross Dunster St. and proceed along Mass. Ave for three more blocks. You will pass Au Bon Pain, JP Licks, and TD Bank. Harvard Book Store is located at the corner of Mass. Ave. and Plympton St.

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Co-Sponsored by WBUR

90.9 WBUR-FM is Boston’s NPR news station and the home of nationally syndicated programs, providing listeners with thorough coverage of local, national and international news from NPR, Public Radio International and the BBC, in addition to its own locally produced content. Learn more at wbur.org/.

Co-Sponsored by Mass Humanities

Mass Humanities

 

Mass Humanities creates opportunities for the people of Massachusetts to transform their lives and build a more equitable Commonwealth through the humanities. Learn more at masshumanities.org.

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