A Warning to the West: A Conversation with Sergiu Klainerman

Summary

Sergiu Klainerman is the Eugene Higgins Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University. Born in communist Romania, he sees disturbing parallels between life in the Soviet Bloc and the "soft totalitarianism" or "pre-totalitarianism" taking root in America. He joins the show to discuss these parallels and reflect on Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's 1978 speech, "A World Split Apart."

Klainerman's essay "Reflections on Solzhenitsyn’s Harvard Address" is here.

Madison’s Notes is the podcast of Princeton University’s James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions

Your Host

Annika Nordquist

Annika Nordquist is the Communications Coordinator of Princeton University’s James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions and host of the Program’s podcast, Madison’s Notes. She graduated from Stanford University in 2021, where she studied Classics and Linguistics. She was also Editor-in-Chief of the Stanford Review and a member of the varsity fencing team. Previously, she was a Research Assistant in Education Policy at the American Enterprise Institute.

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