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  • What We Do
    • Portland Arts & Lectures
    • Youth Programs
    • Oregon Book Awards & Fellowships
    • Delve Readers Seminar
    • Portland Book Festival
    • Writing Classes
    • The Archive Project
    • Event Calendar
  • Who We Are
    • Our Staff
    • Contact Us
    • Our History
    • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
    • Supporters
    • What Writers Say
    • Open Positions
    • Brian Booth Writers’ Fund
  • Blog
  • Donate
  • Tickets & Class Registration
https://media.blubrry.com/the_archive_project/p/media.blubrry.com/litarchiveproject/p/content.blubrry.com/litarchiveproject/TAP_Archive_Project_602_George_Packer_PODCAST.mp3

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https://media.blubrry.com/the_archive_project/p/media.blubrry.com/litarchiveproject/p/content.blubrry.com/litarchiveproject/TAP_Archive_Project_602_George_Packer_PODCAST.mp3

Podcast (literary-arts-archive): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS

Facebook

SHARE

Twitter

TWEET

Thanks to our Supporters

J.W. & H.M. Goodman Family Foundation

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Thank you to Emancipator for donating their music to The Archive Project. Learn more about them at www.emancipatormusic.com.

 

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George Packer

The Atlantic staff writer George Packer shares from and discusses his recent biography, Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century.

October 24th, 2019

2019-20

Portland, Oregon

Topic:

  • American Politics
  • Craft & Writing
  • Current Events
  • History
  • World Politics

Tone:

  • Historical
  • Humorous
  • Political
  • Reading (of own work)

Genre:

  • Biography
  • Nonfiction

In this episode, The Atlantic staff writer George Packer discusses his recent biography, Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century. Richard Holbrooke, a diplomat and activist who served under numerous American presidents, has been described as a brilliant, utterly self-absorbed almost-great man who possessed almost inhumane energy and appetites. In this lecture, Packer details his process of writing the biography and provides the audience with insights into this complicated and contradictory man’s life while more broadly exploring the nature of power and the lives of those who hold it. It’s a keen look at the arc of our country’s recent political history that sheds important light on where we find ourselves today.

 

The more I thought about it, the more I realized: This is what I need. I need to write a book that doesn’t sound like a biography. I need to write a book that sounds like a novel… I thought of this book like a yarn, like a long night’s yarn in which you sit down with the narrator and he tells you the story of Holbrooke.

 George Packer is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America, which was a New York Times best seller and winner of the 2013 National Book Award. His other nonfiction books include The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq, a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize, and Blood of the Liberals, winner of the 2001 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. He is also the author of two novels and a play, Betrayed, winner of the 2008 Lucille Lortel Award, and the editor of a two-volume edition of the essays of George Orwell.

https://media.blubrry.com/the_archive_project/p/media.blubrry.com/litarchiveproject/p/content.blubrry.com/litarchiveproject/TAP_Archive_Project_602_George_Packer_PODCAST.mp3

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The Archive Project

A retrospective of some of the most engaging talks from the world’s best writers from over 30 years of Literary Arts in Portland. The Archive Project features the most sought-after talks from our Portland Arts & Lectures series and special events. Each week, we publish new lectures available for streaming on this website for free. With over 250 original lectures by the most creative and articulate minds of our generation, these discussions offer special moments between world-famous authors and our local literary community. Select episodes of The Archive Project air every Wednesday at 10:00 p.m. on OPB radio. Click here to visit the show’s homepage on opb.org. Episodes released on our website and on OPB Radio are available for download on iTunes in the podcast section under "Literary Arts." Click here to visit The Archive Project on iTunes.

Also from this season:

  • Amor Towles

    November 14th, 2019

  • Ta-Nehisi Coates

    October 21st, 2019

  • Margaret Atwood

    September 25th, 2019

  • Lauren Groff & Rachel Kushner

    November 10th, 2018

  • Trevino L. Brings Plenty, Laura Da’, Layli Long Soldier & Heid E. Erdrich

    November 10th, 2018

  • Abbi Jacobson

    November 10th, 2018

  • Lit Crawl 2018

    November 9th, 2018

  • Chef Edward Lee

    November 10th, 2018

  • Tom Hanks

    November 10th, 2018

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The Moth Mainstage in Portland

The Moth Mainstage in Portland

December 10, 2019

The Moth returns to Portland this December! This extraordinary performance will sell…

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Slamlandia: December

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Collisions: Short Story Workshop

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January 14–February 18, 2020 Tuesdays, 7:00–9:00 p.m. (six sessions) Instructor: Josha Nathan…

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Everybody Reads 2020: Tommy Orange

March 5, 2020

Literary Arts is proud to host an evening with award-winning author Tommy…

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2020 Verselandia!

April 30, 2020

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by Michael Porwoll, 2019-2020 @ LA Events Intern              American music is inseparable from American history. And music, especially that which proves most socially impactful, is often inseparable from the painful experience of suffering (and triumphing) our nation at its…

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2019 #PDXBookFest Quick Reference Guide: Poetry

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Amor Towles

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Amor Towles discusses his celebrated second novel, A Gentleman in Moscow, with this lecture that explores the historical inspiration for the story and setting.

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