The Death of Caesar: The Story of History's Most Famous Assassination

The assassination of Julius Caesar marked the end of the Roman Republic and changed the course of Western Civilization. 

"In this story of the most famous assassination in history, “the last bloody day of the [Roman] Republic has never been painted so brilliantly” (The Wall Street Journal).

""[A] compelling, clarifying account of one of history's most dramatic assassinations. . . . [Strauss] conveys the complexity of late republican Roman politics while keeping up a lively pace." (Lev Grossman Time)

“[A] page-turner. . . . Detail after detail clothes the familiar facts of Caesar’s seemingly inevitable murder with fresh images. . . . The last bloody day of the Republic has never been painted so brilliantly." (Greg Woolf The Wall Street Journal)

“This history of Caesar by the American academic Barry Strauss is a romp, yes, but a glorious one, through the final months of Rome’s most famous ruler. . . . One of the most riveting hour-by-hour accounts of Caesar’s final day I have read. . . . An absolutely marvelous read.” (Catherine Nixey The Times (London))

"This stupendous book has all the pace and action of a top-quality thriller—murder, lust, betrayal and high politics—yet it's all true, and comes from the pen of the world's senior academic expert in the field. A lifetime's study of the ancient sources has gone into Barry Strauss's utterly gripping account of the day that the course of human history radically changed. Superbly researched, wittily written, but above all driven by a truly exciting narrative that never lets up, this is history-writing at its best. Our understanding of what happened on the Ides of March and its chaotic, bloody aftermath is forever changed, and this will be the standard work for decades to come." (Andrew Roberts, author of NAPOLEON: A Life )

“You say you want a Revolution” -- America in the 1960s

Arguably the most tumultuous decade of social change since the Civil War, the Sixties transformed and divided American society – civil rights struggles, a unprecedented militancy and engagement across the spectrum of social and political issues, a war on poverty and inner city blight, an exponential expansion in environmental awareness, space exploration and exploration of the inner self, revolutionary new music and other cultural expression, a sharpening of the Cold War and the nuclear arms race - and a redefinition of how nations and peoples fought “hot” wars. If you look at America in 1959 and jump ahead to 1969, it seems everything changed.

We will revisit this decade with Frye Gaillard as our guide through his masterful storytelling in A Hard Rain, winner of the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Literary Prize and one of NPR’s Great Reads of 2018. Gaillard weaves together the stories of the protest movements: Civil Rights from non-violent marches to Black Power and urban riots; SDS and the YAF (Young Americans for Freedom); the Free Speech Movement that spread from one college campus to another; the anti-war movement and the pro-war counter-movement; women’s right and the embryonic gay rights movement. At the same time, he tells the stories of political, cultural and social changes from George Wallace to Robert Kennedy, from music to fashion, from changing sexual attitudes to hippies and the drug culture. Gaillard melds multiple themes to present a comprehensive account of this watershed period in modern American history.

Four Women who won the Nobel Prize for Literature

Of the 119 Nobel prizes for literature that have been given between 1900 and 2022 only 17 have been given to women .  We will be reading four women who wrote in English:  NADINE GORDIMER 1991, TONI MORRISON 1993,  DORIS LESSING  2007, and ALICE MUNRO 2013.  

Together their lives  and work stretch over a century.  Their styles are different but their writings reflect the time and place they come from.  Each of these brilliant women wrote insightful fiction about people's lives, family issues, problems, joys, life and death.  Whether the characters live in China, London, South Africa or Ohio--their issues are about staying alive through relationships, wars and drought that change their lives.

In 1991, Nadine Gordimer won the Nobel Prize in Literature for her writing of numerous  books and stories about life in South Africa in her beautiful poetic language.   

In 1993 Toni Morrison became the first African American to win the Nobel for her novels about the black experience in America.

Doris Lessing wrote bluntly and brilliantly all her long life about women's lives and their relationships with men  but did not win the Nobel until she was 88 in 2007. 

Canadian Alice Munro has also continuously presented the twists and turns of girls' and women's lives throughout the social changes of the 20th century.  She developed her own thoughtful rendition of the long, short story for which she received the Nobel Prize in 2013.

Why the West Rules for Now: Updated

In 2010, Ian Morris published his highly acclaimed study, Why the West Rules for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Tell Us About the Future. As his title suggests, Morris both looks backwards to explain the reasons for the West’s dominance in the 20th century, but also looks forward as to whether China will end that dominance in the 21st century.

Morris argues that the answer to the West’s superiority lies not in any cultural or racial superiority, but in how it was able to shape its physical, economic, social and intellectual environments. He first considers biological and sociological factors which he believes tend to be common to both East and West, and then turns to geographical differences over time. He analyzes how these factors have affected the East and West since the end of the great ice age around 15,000 years ago and how they may affect both the West and the rising powers of Asia in the future.

Critics have commented on Morris’ keen research and insightful arguments, looking back at fifteen thousand years of history and bringing together the latest findings across disciplines—from archeology and ancient history to information technology and neuroscience. However, his work is not without critics, particularly of his neglect of cultural and racial factors. Our SDG promises to be informative, thought-provoking and even controversial. Toward the end of our SDG, we will also consider how Morris’s analysis and predictions have worn after thirteen years.

The Decline and Fall of the Soviet Union in Seven Crime Novels

In a society where truth is hidden, a good place to search is works of fiction.  This SDG covers the history for the Soviet Union from "The Holy Thief" set in 1936 Stalinist Russia, to "Snowdrops" set in the Go-Go Moscow of the early 2000's.  Through these seven crime novels we can see the reflection of Soviet law and life in the 20th century.

Evolution Continues: A Human-Computer Partnership

Human evolution has always been driven by our tools, and computer technology is the most impactful tool humans have ever invented. Today, digital technology drives everything from PCs to mobile phones, from thermostats to automobiles. We search the Web for a wide variety of information, entertainment, and services. Rapidly growing computer power drives breakthrough technology such as Artificial Intelligence, with more to come.

That increasing power has created a resulting trend of connecting with computers using human language--"talking to computers"--with smartphone "personal assistants" leading this trend. This conversational connection to growing computer power will accelerate a human-computer partnership that could even impact what it means to be human. This SDG examines the full impact of these trends, including computers essentially becoming workers supporting a growing population beyond retirement age.

The World According to Beijing

What does China want? Is it about Beijing’s bid to become the world’s foremost technological powerhouse? Is it about economic development and trade? Is it about ensuring that the relative weight of China’s influence within the existing international system is adequately represented? Or is it about recasting the norms and values of the current global order to align more closely with its political system?

While it is difficult to fathom Beijing’s aims, what we do observe is China President Xi Jinping’s exhortation for “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” and building leverage in realms such as territorial claims, cyberspace, global supply chains, and international organizations like the UN.

Last month (October 2022), emerging from the ruling Communist Party’s 20th Congress with a norm-breaking third five-year term, Xi amassed more power than ever. The seven-person Politburo Standing Committee, the apex of China’s power elite, was stacked with Xi’s staunch allies. To an extent unseen in decades, China’s trajectory could be shaped by the vision and ambition of one man. What Xi and his loyalist inner circle decide to do – and how they go about doing it – will profoundly impact regional security, economic and technological competition, and world order.

Given these stakes, a deeper understanding of “what Beijing envisions the world to be like” – the underlying strategic objectives that motivate Xi and the Chinese Communist Party’s global ambitions – is a matter of great relevance. This is where this SDG comes in: to understand the fundamental aims motivating China’s pursuits in the Xi Jinping era.

To embark on this endeavor, we will use Bates Gill’s timely new book, “Daring to Struggle: China’s Global Ambitions under Xi Jinping” (2022), released 6-weeks ago. By examining official Chinese discourse and China’s wide-ranging undertaking, Gill offers insights into the motivations driving China’s changing and risk-taking approach to the world under Xi. Gill, a distinguished scholar of China, has spent over 40 years watching Beijing while based at Australia’s Macquarie University and at think tanks around the world. He has been recently appointed as Executive Director of the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis.

In addition to using “Daring to Struggle” as our core book, up-to-date scholarly articles from journals and think tanks will also be supplemented by the Coordinator.

The Gershwin Brothers: Their Lives and Their Music

“Rhapsody in Blue,” “An American in Paris,” “Porgy and Bess,” were some of over 500 compositions created by George Gershwin (1896 – 1937) during his very brief life. What was his path from New York city song plugger to Hollywood composer of film scores? His older brother Ira (1896 – 1983) collaborated with him to write the lyrics for songs like, “I Got Rhythm, “Embraceable You,” and “Someone to Watch Over Me.” The last song they wrote together, "Our Love is Here to Stay," is perhaps symbolic of their partnership. Ira continued his lyricist journey after the death of his brother with composers like Jerome Kern and Harold Arlen. What motivated two Brooklyn born brothers with Russian Jewish heritage to compose such innovative music? The core book, The Gershwin Years: George and Ira, is both the definitive biography of the Gershwin brothers and a lavishly illustrated chronicle of the American era their music and lyrics embodied. With the help of YouTube, we will be enjoying many of their musical works each week.

Cuba: An American History

This SDG seeks to examine the history of Cuba and its relationship to the United States. The core book is Ada Ferrer's Cuba: An American History which was awarded the  Pulitzer Prize for History and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in History. Ada Ferrer is the  Julius Silver Professor of History and Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University. She was born in Cuba and raised in the United States. The  book provides a sweeping account of Cuba over 500 years from before Columbus arrived to after the death of Fidel Castro. This history details conquest, colonization, slavery, freedom, independence, and revolutions made and unmade. It  is more than a history of Cuba but also a history of Cuba in relation to the United States, a history of the sometimes intimate, sometimes explosive, always uneven relationship between the two countries. Ferrer  spent decades researching Cuba and draws on her own family’s history, allowing readers to see their own country refracted through the eyes of another. She delivers a stunning and monumental account.