Annual Bennett Lecture in Judaic Studies

Fairfield University’s Bennett Center for Judaic Studies is proud to welcome Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, journalist, and geopolitical commentator Anne Applebaum as the keynote speaker for the annual Bennett Lecture in Judaic Studies. The event will take place on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, at 7:30 p.m. at the Quick Center for the Arts. This event is open to the public and is sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Fairfield County.

Applebaum’s lecture will explore the challenges and opportunities presented by global political and economic change, drawing on world history and contemporary political landscapes. With expertise in European affairs and years of international reporting, she will provide critical insights into today’s most pressing global issues. Applebaum will also examine the impact of misinformation, propaganda, and media manipulation by authoritarian governments, shedding light on how these forces shape political discourse and global affairs. Her discussion will address topics ranging from the Syrian refugee crisis and Russian disinformation campaigns, to the European financial crisis and political populism. Through her incisive analysis, Applebaum will offer background and up-to-date perspectives on the risks and opportunities shaping today’s geopolitical and economic climate.

Applebaum is the author of several award-winning books, including Gulag: A History, which won the Pulitzer Prize, Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine, Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1946, and Between East and West: Across the Borderlands of Europe. Her latest book, Autocracy, Inc: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World, was published in 2024 by Penguin. A New York Times bestselling author, her work has been recognized with the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the International Center for Journalists’ Excellence in International Reporting Award, and the Francisco Cerecedo Journalism Award. She is a Senior Fellow at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and has contributed to The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, The New Republic, and The New York Review of Books.

Tickets are now on sale on quickcenter.com for $20. For more information, contact the Quick Center Box Office at 203-254-4010, Monday through Friday, from 12 to 5 p.m. or visit the event page.

Vol. 56, #139

Fairfield University is a modern, Jesuit Catholic University, rooted in one of the world’s oldest intellectual and spiritual traditions. More than 6,000 undergraduate and graduate students from 44 states, including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and 46 countries, are enrolled in the University’s five schools. In the spirit of rigorous and sympathetic inquiry into all dimensions of human experience, Fairfield welcomes students from diverse backgrounds to share ideas and engage in open conversations. The University is located in the heart of a region where the future takes shape, on a stunning campus on the Connecticut coast just an hour from New York City.