You are looking at some of the images from the 1884 president ial election and listening to songs in support of the republican candidate, james g. Blaine. We are live from the blaine house. We are here with the sitting governor. This house is filled with blaine memorabilia. Do you have a sense of the man while you are here . Absolutely. Welcome to the house. Mr. Blaine is here every day and we hear his spirit every evening. The house was built many years ago. And what have you come to learn about the man by living in his house . He not only was a very strong supporter and founder of the Republican Party in maine, but also a National Leader and he started maine on its course to where we are now. He was very influential in the State Government and federal government. He was a powerhouse. A big tank powerhouse on a massive scale. A bigtime power house. I am very honored to be a stored of the house. You probably have the best commute in america because this is right across the street from
Distinguished professor of history at North Carolina university. Hes the author of six bucks, editor of four. Others his latest book in the reason that we are here this evening is ulysses s. Grant, the buck will be available for sale and signing outside of the conference room. Hes the founder and society of the his story guilt in this era, hes held several research grants, we are thrilled to have him here tonight, and of the year all in for a great presentation. Thank you on behalf of the smithsonian for joining us. We welcome you to the stage. Good evening. Thank you very much elizabeth for that introduction. As all of this with said, i have spoken here, before my wife and i have attended many all the events here. I find a lot of these audiences are intelligent, curious, enthusiastic, and have Attention Spans of more than 140 characters. Speaking of technology this is actually the first presentation ive given with powerpoint, i know what shocked you but it happens to be true. So any g
Enormously exciting era, advances in genetics and neuroscience are giving us new tools that will enable us to take giant strides in understanding human behavior, human societies, policies, and economies. We are like physicists, i like to say at the outset of the 19th century poised at a moment in history that would produce faradays in md is in the coming years. People need and dalton ought to be excited and in our case i think we both are but a lot of social scientists arent. Why . Because for almost a century now the social sciences have been in the grip of an orthodoxy that is scared stiff of biology. At the moment it takes the form of three widely and loudly proclaimed truths, gender is a social construct, race is a social construct, class is a function of privilege. I have stated those tenants very boldly. If you go to a University Campus and chat privately with faculty members Whose Research touches on these issues you will find many of them have a much more nuanced view than that
Professor conways job is to point the conversation in any direction he wants and will take it from there in the discussion. I wanted to write human diversity for many reasons but at the center is this fact, we are on the cusp of an enormously exciting era. Advances in genetics and neuroscience are giving us new tools that will enable us to take giant strides in understanding human behavior, human apolicies and economies. We are like physicists, i like to say at the outset of the 19th century poised at a moment in history that would produce a apeople like me and dalton ought to be excited but a lot of social scientists are like, why . Because for almost a century now the social sciences have been in the grip of the orthodoxies scared stiff of biology. At the moment it takes the form of three widely and loudly proclaimed truths, gender is a social construct, race is a social construct. Class is a function of privilege. I stated those tenets very boldly. If you go to University Campus and
Less familiar with the general society and how many of you here this evening with this be your first visit . Okay. A warm welcome and of course, welcome back to previous attendees. The general society was founded in 1785 by 22 artisans. Today our 234yearold organization continues to serve the peopleof the city of new york. We do this through our cultural and education programs. They include our lecture series which tonights lecture is part of, our general Society Library which will will be celebrating 200 years. Our tuition free Mechanics Institute and the john and mossman lot collection which you are welcome to visit after our talk this evening and that is upstairs. You will find more information on the blue and white postcard on your seats. We have such a wonderful start to this years lectures season and we have the pleasure of welcoming critically acclaimed biographer susan ronald who will discuss her biography of conde nast, the publishing legend of vogue and vanity fair and other