Ever since the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, the risk of nuclear war seems to many to be rising. James Blight and janet Lang, two of the world’s foremost scholars of the Cuban missile crisis, will discuss how the reality of October 1962 can inform our evaluation of Donald Trump’s barrage of nuclear threats. They will draw on their forthcoming book, Dark Beyond Darkness: The Cuban Missile Crisis as History, Warning and Catalyst, which is based on more than thirty years researching the crisis. Jim and janet will be joined on stage by Matthew Heys, who wrote the foreword to Dark Beyond Darkness, and who is one of North America’s most creative teachers of issues connected to the threat of nuclear war. They will address: (1) History. The proximity to Armageddon was so close you could almost touch it in October 1962, and was avoided primarily by luck. (2) Warning. The threat of Armageddon remains real today, and is probably growing in highly unstable regions of the world (as can be seen from a glance at the daily international news). And (3), Catalyst. We can’t alter human nature. Instead, we must abolish the nukes before they abolish all of us. Join Jim, janet and Matt for a discussion meant to enlighten, perhaps frighten, but ultimately lighten the load we all feel when we agonize about the unthinkable: a nuclear Armageddon that can end human civilization forever.
Agenda:
7:00pm – 7:15pm – Registration and light refreshments
7:15pm – 8:00pm – Lecture and website
8:00pm – 8:25pm – Q&A
8:25pm – 8:30pm – Closing comments
8:30pm – Event ends
