MPR broadcasts David Brooks lecture at St. Olaf
Minnesota Public Radio will air the keynote address that David Brooks gave on campus this week to launch the St. Olaf College Institute for Freedom and Community’s fall lecture series on Patriotism, Nationalism, and the Idea of America.
The “MPR News Presents” program will broadcast the lecture September 26 at noon and 9 p.m. Listeners can hear the broadcast live or listen to the archive on the MPR News broadcast web page.
Brooks is a bi-weekly columnist for the New York Times and a regular political analyst on PBS NewsHour and National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. His most recent books include The Road to Character and The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement.
In summarizing his lecture at St. Olaf, MPR notes that “Brooks called for an increase in social trust, better human relationships, and basic decency toward one another. He called this ‘radical mutuality.'”
He also described this as “building a new ethos, a renegotiation of power, and a knitting together of institutions.”
Established at St. Olaf in 2014, the Institute for Freedom and Community encourages free inquiry and meaningful debate of important political and social issues. Through its range of programming for students, faculty, and the general public, the Institute offers a distinctive opportunity to cultivate civil discourse within the context of the liberal arts.
The Institute’s fall series will explore the meaning of America in 2018 from a variety of different perspectives. What kind of role should America be playing on the world stage? What kinds of values and experiences can unite Americans from all different backgrounds? What do American citizens owe to themselves, to their families, and to other Americans? Answers to these questions are neither simple nor easy, but they form the foundation on which we build our shared political life.
Please visit the Institute’s website for the full list of fall speakers, and sign up for the quarterly newsletter to receive regular updates and information about Institute programming.