Accessibility statement

You're viewing an archived page from a previous Festival of Ideas. See this year's festival »

The US and the Rest of Us
Peter Conrad

How the World Was Won

Accessibility

Wheelchair accessible.

Event details

A review of America’s influence in the world since 1945. Did the US change from a saviour to an imperial bully, then dwindle into a mere entertainer, an exporter of kitsch? And are we all Americans now? The discussion will range from politics to culture, and touch on movie and music as well as food and clothes, and will conclude by looking ahead to a world that may perhaps be ‘de-Americanized’.

Speaker biography

Peter Conrad was born in Australia and went to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. After being elected a Fellow of All Souls College in 1970, he then taught English literature at Christ Church, Oxford, until 2011. He has published more than twenty books, and is a regular contributor to The Observer and many other publications. Last year he presented a series of 15 ‘Modern Mythologies’ on BBC Radio 4.

Tickets

Festival tweets