The Joanna Jackson Goldman Memorial Lectures on American Civilization and Government

The Goldman Memorial Lecture series is made possible by a gift from the estate of the late Eric F. Goldman, to honor the memory of his wife. Each year an individual is selected on the basis of his or her high achievement and literary skill to deliver a lecture at the New York Public Library on a significant issue facing American democracy. The series is intended to foster consideration of American culture and customs, economic and social issues, international relations, and government and public policy.

Below are the in-print works in this collection. Sort by title, author, format, publication date, or price »

Cover: Temptations of a Superpower

Temptations of a Superpower

Steel, Ronald

One of our most eloquent and incisive foreign policy analysts offers a devastating critique of a high-stakes game of foreign policy played by rules that no longer apply, and then proposes a more realistic—and pragmatic—view of the world and our place in it.

Cover: The One and the Many: America’s Struggle for the Common Good

The One and the Many: America’s Struggle for the Common Good

Marty, Martin E.

A world-renowned authority on religion and ethics in America, Martin Marty here gives a judicious account of how the body politic has been torn between the imperative of one people, one voice, and the separate urgings of distinct identities--racial, ethnic, religious, gendered, ideological, economic.

Cover: What the People Know: Freedom and the Press

What the People Know: Freedom and the Press

Reeves, Richard

Reeves tells the story of a tribe that lost its way. From the Pony Express to the Internet, he chronicles what happened to the press as America accelerated into uncertainty, arguing that to survive, the press must go back to doing what it was hired to do long ago: stand as outsiders watching government and politics on behalf of a free people.

Cover: Surprise, Security, and the American Experience

Surprise, Security, and the American Experience

Gaddis, John Lewis

September 11, 2001 was not the first time a surprise attack shattered American assumptions about national security and reshaped U.S. grand strategy. How successful our current strategies will be in the face of 21st-century challenges is the question now confronting us. Here, a major scholar of international relations attempts to provide an answer.

Political Disappointment: A Cultural History from Reconstruction to the AIDS Crisis, by Sara Marcus, from Harvard University Press

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Jacket: Iron and Blood: A Military History of the German-Speaking Peoples since 1500, by Peter Wilson, from Harvard University Press

A Lesson in German Military History with Peter Wilson

In his landmark book Iron and Blood: A Military History of the German-Speaking Peoples since 1500, acclaimed historian Peter H. Wilson offers a masterful reappraisal of German militarism and warfighting over the last five centuries, leading to the rise of Prussia and the world wars. Below, Wilson answers our questions about this complex history,