In his new book, Reclaiming Patriotism in an Age of Extremes, Steven Smith seeks to defend patriotism from critics on the left and right. Patriotism, Smith argues, is rightly understood as both a matter of the head and the heart; a commitment to one’s country that rejects both the “us vs. them” worldview of crude nationalism and the cosmopolitan ethic that views nationality as morally irrelevant.

Join us for a conversation between Steven Smith and the Elm Institute’s Scholar-in-Residence, Peter Wicks.

To register for this online event, click the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_psg83YBHSl2G_lR79BFfJA

In their new book, Why We Are Restless, Benjamin and Jenna Storey seek to understand the sense of restlessness that pervades modern life and the reasons why our pursuit of happiness often ends in frustration and disappointment. Drawing on the insights of Montaigne, Pascal, Rousseau, and Tocqueville they argue that at the root of much modern restlessness is a faulty conception of happiness. We must challenge prevailing assumptions about the nature of happiness if we are to achieve true contentment.

Join us for a conversation between Benjamin and Jenna Storey and the Elm Institute’s Scholar-in-Residence, Peter Wicks.

To register for this online event, click the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dNUUWJxYQraw-tPtndv0qg

Many wonder what will come of the deep divisions in American society. What lessons do the Civil War and other historic periods of conflict offer for our own divided time? How can we use history well to understand the present? Join us for a conversation with Allen Guelzo and James Hankins, two of America’s greatest historians, who will reflect on these conversations in light of the Civil War and the Italian Renaissance.

Allen Guelzo is Senior Research Scholar in the Council of the Humanities at Princeton University. James Hankins is a Professor of History at Harvard University.

Click here to register for this event.

In Lost in Thought Zena Hitz wrote about the hidden pleasures of an intellectual life and paid homage to the varied and sometimes surprising places in which the passionate pursuit of inquiry can be found. But what of the university? As institutions dedicated to research and teaching, one might expect them to be bastions of intellectual life and yet they are often not experienced that way. Is there an inevitable tension between the spirit of inquiry and the institutional nature of the modern university?

Join us for a conversation between Zena Hitz and the Elm Institute’s Scholar-in-Residence, Peter Wicks.

To register for this event, click the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_knQltkSdTk6rrsAuy6Tn7w

Can a liberal education prepare you for a career in finance?
What does it take to thrive in venture capital?
What is the true nature of success?

A workshop with Stephen Schmalhofer ‘08 about the practical realities of venture investing, the ways in which the liberal arts can prepare us to be a successful investor, and how to do good work without letting work crowd out the other parts of a good life.

Stephen Schmalhofer is a partner at Teamworthy Ventures. His writing has appeared in The New Criterion, First Things, City Journal, and The New York Post. A collection of his essays, Delightful People, was published by Cluny Media in September.

Open to current students. Register here.

In Atomic Doctors, James L. Nolan, Jr. looks at the moral dilemmas faced by his grandfather, a medical doctor in the Manhattan Project. Dr. Nolan cared for scientists on the project, organized safety and evacuation plans for the Trinity test at Alamogordo, escorted the “Little Boy” bomb from Los Alamos to the Pacific Islands, and was one of the first Americans to enter the irradiated ruins of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Participation on the Manhattan Project challenged the instincts of Dr. Nolan and the other doctors involved in the project as they found themselves torn between their duty and desire to win the war and their oaths to protect life and called upon to guard against the harmful effects of radiation while also downplaying its hazards. Atomic Doctors tells the story of medical professionals struggling with the ethics of ending the deadliest of all wars using the most lethal of all weapons.

James L. Nolan, Jr. is Washington Gladden 1859 Professor of Sociology at Williams College.

Open to everyone; click here to register.

Co-sponsored with the Abigail Adams Institute and Harvard University Press.

In his new book, James Murphy (Professor of Government, Dartmouth College) challenges the widely shared assumptions in Western thought that divide human lives into the discrete stages of childhood, adulthood, and old age. He offers an alternative view in which we are always growing and declining, always learning and forgetting, and always living and dying, and finds that only in relation to one's whole life does the passing of time obtain meaning.

Join us for a conversation between Professor Murphy and the Elm Institute’s Scholar-in-Residence, Dr. Peter Wicks.

Click here to register.

An online webinar about what it means to flourish during a time of pandemic. Featuring:

• Tyler VanderWeele (Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health)

• Kristin Collier (University of Michigan Medical School)

• Benjamin Miller (Well Being Trust)

This event is cosponsored with the Beatrice Institute (Pittsburgh, PA). Click here to register.