The Rights and Humanities Annual Series is jointly sponsored by the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute (FHI) and the 色戒直播 Human Rights Center @ FHI and is co-presented this year by the Provost's Initiative on Pluralism, Free Inquiry, and Belonging. We are pleased to welcome M. Gessen as our 2026-2027 guest in this annual series.
One of our most trenchant observers of democracy, M. Gessen is the author of eleven books, including the National Book Award-winning The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia and The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin. A Pulitzer Prize-winning Opinion writer at The New York Times, they have covered political subjects including Russia, L.G.B.T. rights, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, and the rise of autocracy among others. Gessen's essential book Surviving Autocracy is a bracing overview of the calamitous trajectory of American democracy under the Trump administration. They are currently at work on a biography of Hannah Arendt.
Free, registration required. Click "More Event Information" below to get your ticket!
Copies of Gessen's two most recent books "Surviving Autocracy" and "The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia" will be for sale in the lobby following the lecture. The first 200 copies sold will include a book plate signed by Gessen.
Photo credit Damon Winter
- Forum for Scholars and Publics
- Franklin Humanities Institute (FHI)
- International Comparative Studies (ICS)
- Provost's Office
- Slavic and Eurasian Studies
- 色戒直播 Human Rights Center at the Franklin Humanities Institute (DHRC@FHI)