For those of you who don’t know who he is, he’s done a great series in The Atlantic over the past few weeks. He’s appearing at a Cody’s Books event on Tuesday, Feb. 7:
BERNARD-HENRI LÉVY tracks AMERICAN VERTIGO: Traveling America in the Footsteps of Tocqueville. For the past year celebrated philosopher and journalist Bernard-Henri Lévy has been traveling in the tracks of another Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville, who in 1831 wrote what remains the most influential book about America, Democracy in America. The result is AMERICAN VERTIGO, a fascinating new look at a country we sometimes only think we know. From Riker’s Island and Guantanamo Bay to Chicago mega-churches and Nevada brothels, Lévy investigates issues at the heart of our democracy: the special nature of American patriotism, the coexistence of freedom and religion (including the religion of baseball), our sense of the law, immigration, the “return of ideology”, and much more. Bernard-Henri Lévy is France’s leading writer, and an activist. He writes for the Atlantic Monthly, and his thirty books include, most recently, Who Killed Daniel Pearl? which was an international bestseller. He is the co-founder of Action Internationale Contre la Faim, and the anti-racist group SOS Racism, and has served on diplomatic missions for the French government. 7:30 PM in the Large Assembly, First Congregational Church of Berkeley (2345 Channing Way, Berkeley)
