MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2016

Smuggler's Blues: A True Story of the Hippie Mafia with Richard Stratton, the author of the underground cult classic novel, Smack Goddess, and an award-winning writer and filmmaker.

This illustrated lecture is a psychedelic road trip through international drug smuggling, the hippie underground, and the war on weed.

TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2016

Bus on Jaffa Road: A Story of Middle East Terrorism and the Search for Justice with Mike Kelly, a journalist and author of two books as well as numerous prize-winning newspaper projects and columns for The Bergen Record.

This lecture takes the audience on a horrifying trip through the sad events of February 25, 1996 and their aftermath. When a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest on the No. 18 bus in Jerusalem, the lives of the terrorists and victims intersected It looks at both the personal and political aspects of the event, providing some insight into the difficult situation in the Middle East today.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 2016

Convicting the Innocent: Death Row and America's Broken System of Justice with Stanley Cohen, a veteran award-winning newspaper and magazine journalist.

This illustrated lecture explores our justice system that has delivered the ultimate punishment nearly one thousand times since 1976, though it cannot guarantee accurate convictions.

THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016

Hidden Waters of New York City with Sergey Kadinsky, a staffer for the New York City Parks Department and an adjunct professor of history at Touro College.

This illustrated lecture offers a glimpse at the big city’s forgotten past and ever-changing present, including: Minetta Brook, which ran through today's Greenwich Village; Collect Pond in the Financial District, the city's first water source; Newtown Creek, separating Brooklyn and Queens; and Bronx River, still a hotspot for urban canoeing and hiking.

TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2016

Playing Against the House: The Dramatic World of an Undercover Union Organizer with James D. Walsh, journalist.

This lecture highlights the author's experience when he went undercover posing as a buffet server and attempted to organize a labor union at a Florida casino. It explores the trials of day-to-day life for the working poor, labor organizing's effects on the middle class and the face of twenty-first century union busting. His investigation sheds light on the inner-workings of the casino industry, as well as the fight for labor rights in the growing service sector of the economy.

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2016

Camus: A Stranger in New York, with historian Robert Zaretsky, author of Albert Camus: Elements of a Life and Camus: A Life Worth Living in conversation with writer and essayist Adam Gopnik, author of Paris to the Moon.

On the occasion of Camus: A Stranger in the City, a festival celebrating the 70th anniversary of Albert Camus' one and only visit to New York, historian Robert Zaretsky and writer and essayist Adam Gopnik discuss the relevance of Camus’ work in the contemporary era.

Fifty-six years after his tragic death in a car crash, French writer Albert Camus remains a colossal intellectual figure. His reflections on the search for meaning in life preoccupy readers from all over the world. His views on violence and counter-violence as well as justice and freedom continue to stimulate discussion and provoke debate.

TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2016

The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time with Maria Konnikova, bestselling author of Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, and a contributing writer for The New Yorker.

This talk features the art of persuasion—and deception. It explores and explains the psychological principles that make swindling so easy and provides an investigation into the minds, motives, and methods of con artists. In her entertaining and insightful talk, she tells the fascinating stories about some of the most seductive impostors in history, taking us into the world of the con to examine not only why we believe in confidence artists, but how our sense of truth can be manipulated by those around us.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2016

Harlem Supers: The Social Life of a Community in Transition

Terry Williams, a Professor of Sociology at the New School for Social Research, considers the large role that superintendents play in forming relationships and networks within their neighborhood.

THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2016

Footprints in New York: Tracing The Lives of Four Centuries of New Yorkers with James and Michelle Nevius, New York City experts.

This illustrated lecture explores the lives of two dozen iconic New Yorkers, including Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, Central Park architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, business titan JP Morgan, and music legend Bob Dylan.

TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2016

Love and Science: A Memoir

Jan Vilcek, Research Professor, Department of Microbiology at New York University's Langone Medical Center, tells two intertwined stories—one personal, one professional—about how the enormous obstacles he faced went hand in hand with a charmed life of scientific discovery.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 2016

The Disaster Profiteers: How Natural Disasters Make the Rich Richer and the Poor Poorer with Dr. John C. Mutter, Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Department of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University.