Europe’s Past and Future with Timothy Garton Ash

A conversation with Timothy Garton Ash and Thomas Dodman at the American Library in Paris. Filmed on 24/01/2024 with a live audience both in person and on Zoom. In recent years, populist and authoritarian regimes have gained momentum across Europe, and democratic norms have shown signs of erosion. How can we understand the tectonic shifts that have shaped contemporary Europe? What lessons can Europe learn from its own recent past? With his new book, Homelands: A Personal History of Europe, Timothy Garton Ash braids personal memoir together with political analysis to produce a sweeping account of Europe in the last half-century. Drawing from his extensive experience as a journalist and a historian, Garton Ash expertly guides his readers through the various political transformations that have unfolded in Europe over the course of his own lifetime. This event was moderated by historian and writer Thomas Dodman. About the speakers: Timothy Garton Ash is a political writer and Professor of European Studies at the University of Oxford. He is a longtime proponent of free speech, an advocate for liberal democracy, and an expert in international relations. He has written eleven books, most of which examine the contemporary history of Europe and European politics. His latest book, Homelands: A Personal History of Europe (2023) is set to be translated into nineteen languages. His journalism has appeared in The Guardian, The New York Review of Books, Prospect Magazine, and more. Thomas Dodman is Associate Professor in the Department of French at Columbia University and director of the History & Literature program at Columbia’s Global Center in Paris. He is the author of What Nostalgia Was: War, Empire and the Time of a Deadly Emotion (Chicago) and he coedits the journal Sensibilités (Anamosa), whose latest issue is Race, l’ombre portée. He is currently a fellow at the Institute for Ideas & Imagination at Reid Hall. Evenings with an Author is generously sponsored by GRoW @ Annenberg.