August 20, 2009
Rachel Garst will give a program on "Khrushchev in Iowa" at the noon meeting of the Des Moines Rotary Club.
August 7, 2009
Pioneer-Iowa Council for International Understanding International Dialogue Series: Gordon Goldstein on "Cold Warriors: Kennedy and Khrushchev, the Relationship that Defined a Generation," Noon - 1 p.m., Des Moines Public Library
Gordon M. Goldstein is a scholar of international affairs who has served as an international security advisor to the Strategic Planning Unit of the Executive Office of the United Nations Secretary-General and as a Wayland Fellow and guest lecturer at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek, and the Washington Post. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
This event is sponsored by the Iowa Council for International Understanding, Des Moines Public Library, Drake University Center for Global Citizenship, and the National Security Network.
August 4, 2009
Pioneer-Iowa Council for International Understanding International Dialogue Series: "Iowans Remember Khrushchev," Noon - 1 p.m., Des Moines Public Library
A panel discussion reflecting on Iowa's proud tradition of internationalism with the 50th Anniversary of Nikita Khrushchev's historic visit to Iowa. The dialogue will include the personal insights from the 1959 visit as well as historical perspectives. Speakers include:
* Laura Belin, who has a Master's in Russian Studies and a doctorate in Russian politics from Oxford University;
* Harry Bookey, who was present during Khrushchev's visit and has been integrally involved in the revitalization of downtown Des Moines;
* Liz Garst, granddaughter of Roswell Garst who was 8 years old when she met the Khrushchevs at the Garst Farmhouse; and
* Rachel Garst, granddaughter of Roswell Garst who is co-chairing the Khrushchev in Iowa commemoration and is also a journalist, writer, policy researcher, advocate and non-profit executive.
July 29, 2009
Author Peter Carlson will speak at 5:30 p.m. in Coon Rapids.
July 28, 2009
Author Peter Carlson will speak at the Des Moines Public Library at 6:30 pm.
Carlson is a former feature writer and columnist for the Washington Post, where he wrote a weekly column "The Magazine Reader." One recent review from
www.publicaffairsbooks.com said that readers will enjoy this "cantankerous communist's road trip that took place against the backdrop of the fifties in capitalist America, with the shadow of the hydrogen bomb hanging over his visit like the Sword of Damocles. As Khrushchev kept reminding people, he was a hot-tempered man who possessed the power to incinerate America. Khrushchev told jokes, threw tantrums, sparked a riot in a San Francisco supermarket, wowed the coeds in a home economics class in Iowa, and ogled Shirley MacLaine as she filmed a dance scene in Can-Can. He befriended and offended a cast of characters including Nelson Rockefeller, Richard Nixon, Eleanor Roosevelt, Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe."
Peter Carlson, author of "K Blows Top: A Cold War Comic Interlude Starring Nikita Khrushchev, America's Most Unlikely Tourist," will speak at the Prairie Lights Bookstore in Iowa City at 7:00 p/m.
July 11, 2009
The ICIU-Pioneer International Dialogue Series and the Greater Des Moines Partnership held a talk by Drake scholar Kieran Williams on "Multiple Russias/"
April 23 and 24, 2009