Louis Menand and the Backstory of Ideas

By Sarah Ledbetter

Memphis, TN – American policy during the Cold War has helped shaped our culture in surprising, and sometimes insidious, ways. Louis Menand, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Metaphysical Club and American Studies, is here at the University of Memphis this week to delve into the subject with a talk on Art and Ideas in the Cold War. He spoke with Sarah Ledbetter about his inspiration for the talk, which explores questions he's been researching for over a decade, and about the origins of our most persuasive ideas. Was Jackson Pollock a weapon in the Cold War? Listen and find out.

Menand's talk, part of a University sponsored series featuring Stars of American Studies, will take place Thursday April 5th at 6:30 P.M. in the University of Memphis' Panhellenic Ballroom. The event is free and open to the public. There will be a reception for the speaker at 6:00, and a book signing will follow the lecture.

For more information, please contact Dr. Barbara Ching at (901) 678-4586 or email baching@memphis.edu.

Or for a link to Louis Menand's webpage at Harvard: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~amciv/faculty/menand.shtml