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About Renee Garfinkel
Renee Garfinkel, Ph.D. is a psychologist, writer, Middle East television commentator and host of The New Books Network’s Van Leer Jerusalem Series on Ideas. Write her at r.garfinkel@yahoo.com.
NBN Episodes hosted by Renee:
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
March 1, 2021
Heirlooms
Memory and Cherished Objects
J. Jay Garfinkel
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Everyone will lose someone they love at some point in their life; a spouse, a parent, or a child. Having to deal with the clothes or personal effects that remain …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
February 8, 2021
Harpoon
Inside the Covert War Against Terrorism's Money Masters
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner and Samuel M. Katz
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Covid-19 is the global threat that owns today’s headlines, but the threat of international and domestic terrorism is still very much with us. Specifically, the widespread upheaval, uncertainty and global …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
January 19, 2021
The Last Million
Europe's Displaced Persons from World War to Cold War
David Nasaw
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
In May 1945, German forces surrendered to the Allied powers, putting an end to World War II in Europe. But the aftershocks of global military conflict did not cease with …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
January 8, 2021
The Tyranny of Merit
What's Become of the Common Good?
Michael J. Sandel
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
These are dangerous times for democracy. We live in an age of winners and losers, where the odds are stacked in favor of the already fortunate. Stalled social mobility and …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
January 4, 2021
Till We Have Built Jerusalem
Architects of a New City
Adina Hoffman
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
A remarkable view of one of the world's most beloved and troubled cities, Adina Hoffman's Till We Have Built Jerusalem: Architects of a New City (FSG, 2017) is a gripping …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
December 18, 2020
The Human Planet
How We Created the Anthropocene
Simon L. Lewis and Mark A. Maslin
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Meteorites, mega-volcanoes, and plate tectonics--the old forces of nature--have transformed Earth for millions of years. They are now joined by a new geological force--humans. Our actions have driven Earth into …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
December 4, 2020
Ladders to Heaven
How Figs Shaped our History, Fed our Imaginations, and can Enrich our Future
Mike Shanahan
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
They are trees of life and trees of knowledge. They are wish-fulfillers … rainforest royalty … more precious than gold. They are the fig trees, and they have affected humanity …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
November 23, 2020
History and Collective Memory in South Asia, 1200-2000
Sumit Guha
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
In this far-ranging and erudite exploration of the South Asian past, Sumit Guha discusses the shaping of social and historical memory in world-historical context. He presents memory as the result …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
November 9, 2020
The Fascination with Death in Contemporary French Thought
A Longing for the Abyss
Betty Rojtman
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
The Fascination with Death in Contemporary French Thought: A Longing for the Abyss (Palgrave MacMillan, 2020) analyses a cultural phenomenon that goes to the very roots of Western civilization: the …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
October 22, 2020
Blueprint
How DNA Makes Us Who We Are
Robert Plomin
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Have you ever felt, “Oh my God, I’m turning into my mother (or father)!” ? Robert Plomin explains why that happens in Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
October 14, 2020
Kinship, Law and Politics
An Anatomy of Belonging
Joseph E. David
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Why are we so concerned with belonging? In what ways does our belonging constitute our identity? Is belonging a universal concept or a culturally dependent value? How does belonging situate …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
October 7, 2020
The Geography of Genius
Lessons from the World’s Most Creative Places
Eric Weiner
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Living, as we do, in a time in which a U.S. president anoints himself “a very stable genius”, we are particularly appreciative of Eric Weiner, a former foreign correspondent for …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
October 2, 2020
What Black and White America Must Do Now
A Prescription to Move Beyond Race
Armstrong Williams
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
What Black and White America Must Do Now: A Prescription to Move Beyond Race (Hot Books, 2020) explores the complexity of race and culture in the United States. In his …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
September 21, 2020
Hidden Valley Road
Inside the Mind of An American Family
Robert Kolker
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of An American Family (Doubleday, 2020) is the story of a midcentury American family with twelve children, six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, that …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
September 9, 2020
The Invention of Jewish Theocracy
The Struggle for Legal Authority in Modern Israel
Alexander Kaye
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
The tension between secular politics and religious fundamentalism is a problem shared by many modern states. This is certainly true of the State of Israel, where the religious-secular schism provokes …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
August 31, 2020
The Jews Should Keep Quiet
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, and the Holocaust
Rafael Medoff
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Like so many Americans, American Jews supported President Roosevelt. They adored him. They believed in him. They idolized him. Perhaps they shouldn’t have. Based on recently discovered documents, The Jews …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
August 6, 2020
The War of Return
How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace
Adi Schwartz and Einat Wilf
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Two prominent Israeli liberals argue that for the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians to end with peace, Palestinians must come to terms with the fact that there will be …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
July 31, 2020
When Christians Were Jews
The First Generation
Paula Fredriksen
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
How did a group of charismatic, apocalyptic Jewish missionaries, working to prepare their world for the impending realization of God's promises to Israel, end up inaugurating a movement that would …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
July 14, 2020
A Biography of Loneliness
The History of an Emotion
Fay Bound Alberti
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Before the global pandemic of Covid-19 arrived, public health experts in the U.S. and U.K. were warning of the epidemic of loneliness. Loneliness steals more years of life than obesity …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
July 6, 2020
The Good Assassin
How A Mossad Agent and a Band of Survivors Hunted Down The Butcher of Latvia
Stephan Talty
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
History that reads like a thriller; The Good Assassin: How A Mossad Agent and a Band of Survivors Hunted Down The Butcher of Latvia (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020) by Stephan …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
June 25, 2020
Attachment in Religion and Spirituality
A Wider View
Pehr Granqvist
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Attachment theory is a popular lens through which psychologists have examined human development and interpersonal dynamics. In Attachment in Religion and Spirituality: A Wider View (Guilford Press, 2020), Pehr Granqvist …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
May 20, 2020
The Misinformation Age
How False Beliefs Spread
Cailin O’Connor
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
The social dynamics of “alternative facts”: why what you believe depends on who you know Why should we care about having true beliefs? And why do demonstrably false beliefs persist …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
May 4, 2020
Why Nationalism?
Yael Tamir
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Around the world today, nationalism is back—and it’s often deeply troubling. Populist politicians exploit nationalism for authoritarian, chauvinistic, racist, and xenophobic purposes, reinforcing the view that it is fundamentally reactionary …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel
April 21, 2020
Posttraumatic Growth
Theory, Research and Applications
Richard G. Tedeschi
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
During this global pandemic, many of us will experience trauma, which the authors define as a severely stressful life-altering event. A traumatic event is like an earthquake, shattering an individual’s …
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