Boston Book Festival

Constitutional law scholar Lawrence Lessig believes that the effort to overthrow the results of the 2020 election employed the “dumbest possible strategy.” In How to Steal a Presidential Election, Lessig lays out seven far more plausible ways that the vote could be overturned. If the Republicans lose the 2024 election, they may make use of loopholes in the Constitution that you could drive a truck through, most of them by way of statehouses and governors’ mansions. Can these efforts be foiled? Renée DiResta, in Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality, refers to an “asymmetry of passion” on social media which leads to small, rabidly dedicated groups having outsize influence on public discourse, causing a “crisis of social consensus.” This has been especially true of the COVID-19 deniers, election deniers, and anti-vaxxers. The algorithms behind the social media platforms exaggerate and amplify the views of these right-wing influencers. Learn about these very real threats to democracy and how they can be countered in this important session moderated by Adam Reilly, GBH political reporter and host of Talking Politics.

The First Amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy, and yet free speech has become a contentious issue. Are there, or should there be, limits to free speech? Who decides? Renowned legal scholar Cass R. Sunstein, in Campus Free Speech: A Pocket Guide, tackles the complicated issue of free speech on college campuses with a case-by-case guide to solving the dilemma of when regulating free speech is permissible. Throughout his career, former Columbia University president Lee C. Bollinger has written and spoken about global free speech, free press, and academic freedom. His latest work, In Search of an Open Mind: Speeches and Writings, offers a selection of his speeches and articles on these and other topics that are central to our civic and political life. This not-to-be-missed session with some of the leading thinkers of our time will be moderated by psychiatrist, philosopher, and proponent of academic freedom, Omar Sultan Haque.

We are delighted to welcome Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic, Sebastian Smee, for a presentation and interview about Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism, which Kirkus Reviews called a “deft, vibrant cultural history.” Smee describes in vivid language how the Impressionist movement was born against a backdrop of violence, civil war, and political intrigue that followed the French defeat by the Germans and the rise of a radical, breakaway Commune in 1870-71. Central to the story is the love affair between Édouard Manet and the woman who was at the heart of the movement, Berthe Morisot. The upheaval around these artists gave them a keen sense of the impermanence and transience of all things, which was reflected in their groundbreaking art. Sebastian Smee will be joined by Jared Bowen, host of Open Studio on GBH. This session is sponsored through the generosity of Ann and Graham Gund.

History is made by people, and the two memoirs covered here tell the story of an era through the personalities involved. Doris Kearns Goodwin’s husband, Richard Goodwin, was a White House aide and speechwriter to JFK and RFK, deputy assistant secretary of state, and director of the International Peace Corps during the turbulent 60’s. The author herself worked with Lyndon Johnson on writing his memoirs. The hope and idealism of the period, the shattered dreams and lives, the turmoil, and the love story of the author and her beloved husband, are encapsulated in her bestselling memoir, An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960’s. Journalist Charles Trueheart relates the story of the rupture between two diplomats, one his father and the other his godfather, who were both present at a pivotal moment in the diplomatic history of the Vietnam War, in Diplomats at War: Friendship and Betrayal on the Brink of the Vietnam Conflict, which the Washington Post calls both “riveting and revelatory.” The discussion will be moderated by Linda Henry, co-owner and CEO of Boston Globe Media.