The Bryan Series®

2010-11 Bryan Series is Sold Out on a Subscription Basis

The 2010-11 Bryan Series is sold out on a subscription basis.

Single-event tickets are on sale for President Bill Clinton's talk Nov. 30. Lower-level and upper-level seating is available with tiered pricing. Purchase tickets online, by calling 1-800-745-3000 or at the Greensboro Coliseum Advance Box Office. The event will be in the Greensboro Coliseum arena, in a 4,200-seat configuration.

Availability of single-event tickets for the other four programs will be determined approximately three weeks prior to each event.

Contact Suzanne Sullivan at thebryanseries@guilford.edu or by calling 336-316-2852 with any questions.

100th Episode of Bourdain's No Reservations Show Airs Sept. 6

The 100th episode of Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" airs Monday, Sept. 6, at 10 p.m. on the Travel Channel.  The show focuses on one of the world's culinary hot spots, Paris.

Bourdain, who spoke in a Bryan Series bonus event in Durham, N.C., in February 2009, has hosted the popular show for five years.  He travels around the globe exploring the people and cuisine of many different countries.

In advance of the milestone show, the Travel Channel will air a "No Reservations" marathon beginning at 9 a.m., Sunday, Sept. 5, and a look back at the past five years Monday at 9 p.m.

If you missed Bourdain's sold-out Bryan Series show, he is returning to the Triangle Saturday, Nov. 13, at Memorial Auditorium in Raleigh.

Jeannette Walls' Half Broke Horses out in Paperback Sept. 7

Jeannette Walls' latest book, Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel, will be available in paperback Sept. 7.

Half Broke Horses is the follow up to Walls' best-selling novel The Glass Castle, and is story of Lily Casey Smith, her no-nonsense, resourceful, and spectacularly compelling grandmother.

Rosemary Smith Walls always told her daughter Jeannette that she was like her grandmother, and in this true-life novel, the author channels that kindred spirit

New York Times Book Review named Half Broke Horses one of the 10 best books of 2009.  It was released in hardcover last October.

Walls speaks in the Bryan Series Feb. 10.

Tom Ricks: Trudeau Deserves Pulitzer Prize for Iraq War Coverage

Author Tom Ricks, in an interview on NPR's Talk of the Nation Sept. 1, said former Bryan Series speaker Garry Trudeau should win a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the war in Iraq.

In an interview with Neal Conan about the best books written about the war, Ricks said, "If I were in the Pulitzer committee, I would give Garry Trudeau a special Pulitzer for his coverage of the war. Much more, I think, than most journalism, he has captured the feel of this war."

He added, laughing, "And specifically, I remember one (Doonesbury) strip about a guy coming back from a firefight and getting e-mailed by his wife. "You know: How come you didn't tell me you were in a firefight? I saw you on TV.' And he just starts banging his head on the desk."

On his blog last November Ricks said Trudeau's Pulitzer for war coverage was "overdue."

Ricks is a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, D.C., and author of The Gamble and Fiasco.

Trudeau gave a rare lecture to open last season's Bryan Series.

Hosseini Talks about Afghanistan Experience at Aspen Summer Celebration

Khaled Hosseini, who opened the Bryan Series 2008-09 season, talked about his experience in Afghanistan in an interview with Walter Isaacson at the Aspen Summer Celebration Aug. 7.

Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, joined Isaacson and PBS NewsHour anchor Jim Lehrer for a public conversation during the 17th annual celebration. 

Isaacson is president and CEO of the Aspen Institute and an author of books on Albert Einstein, Henry Kissinger and Benjamin Franklin.  He spoke at Guilford in October 2008.

Gorbachev, Arias Encourage President Obama to Visit Hiroshima

Former Bryan Series speakers Mikhail Gorbachev and Oscar Arias joined three other Nobel Peace Prize recipients in encouraging President Obama to visit Hiroshima later this year to re-energize his call for a world without nuclear arms.

Hiroshima is hoping to have Obama--the 2009 Nobel recipient--join the 11th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in November.  The White House has said the president has no current plans to attend.

Gorbachev, who spoke in the series in 2004, and Arias, who spoke in 2002, made the appeal to Obama along with Lech Walesa, Frederik Willem de Klerk and Jose Ramos-Horta.

A visit to Hiroshima, which the U.S. bombed in 1945, killing about 140,000 people and hastening the end of World War II, would be unprecedented for a sitting U.S. president and could be highly controversial.

Mitchell's Shuttle Diplomacy Leads to New Set of Middle East Peace Talks

George Mitchell's shuttle diplomacy has helped bring Israel and Palestine back to the peace negotiating table, according to the New York Times Aug. 20.

With Mitchell by her side, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to resume direct negotiations with Israel this fall.   The two sides were given a one-year deadline to reach an agreement.

In early 2009 President Obama named Mitchell special envoy for Arab-Israeli affairs.  He is a former Senate Majority Leader and was a key negotiator for peace in Northern Ireland in the late 1990s.

He spoke in the Bryan Series in February 2004. 

Krugman Among Amanpour's Guests on This Week Debut Aug. 1

Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist, will be among the guests on "This Week" when Christiane Amanpour hosts for the first time Aug. 1.  The show airs on the Triad-area ABC affiliate at 11 a.m.

Amanpour and Krugman spoke in the Bryan Series in November 2008 and November 2009, respectively.

Krugman will participate in the roundtable discussion in the second half of the program, with George Will, Donna Brazile and Ahmed Rashid. Featured guests on the program are House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Meanwhile, on "Meet the Press," David Gregory's guests will include Admiral Mike Mullen, Michael Bloomberg, Alan Greenspan and Gov. Ed Rendell.  Doris Kearns Goodwin and Mark Halperin will provide commentary on the news. 

Gregory spoke in the series in April 2010 and Goodwin, in October 2000.

It's Gregory vs. Amanpour In Sunday Morning Talk Beginning Aug. 1

David Gregory, who has hosted "Meet the Press" on NBC since December 2008, is getting new competition from another former Bryan Series speaker this weekend.

Christiane Amanpour becomes host of ABC's "This Week" Sunday, Aug. 1.  She succeeds interim host Jake Tapper, who has filled the role since George Stephanopoulos left for a co-hosting role with "Good Morning America" earlier this year.

Amanpour, the former CNN reporter who is perhaps television's leading international broadcast journalist, "will bring the international and the domestic together," said ABC News President David Westin.

Gregory is widely respected as "Meet the Press" host after replacing the late Tim Russert, who moderated for more than 16 years. 

Amanpour and her husband, James Rubin, substituted for Russert in the series in November 2008 after his death and Gregory presented the 2009-10 finale in April.

Desmond Tutu Says He's Retiring from Public Life in October

South African anti-apartheid leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu says he will retire from public life Oct. 7, on his 79th birthday. 

Tutu, one of the most popular speakers in the Bryan Series, battled to end apartheid and later to promote peace and reconciliation in his native land.  He retired as the Archbishop of Cape Town 14 years ago but kept a heavy public schedule.

"The time has now come to slow down and sip, maybe, Rooibos tea with my beloved wife in the afternoon, to watch cricket and rugby and soccer and tennis; to travel to visit my children and grandchildren, rather than [go to] conferences and conventions and university campuses," said Tutu.

He spoke for Guilford in November 2005.

Tutu: President Obama Not Meeting AIDS Funding Commitment

Desmond Tutu, who spoke in the Bryan Series in November 2005, wrote in a New York Times op-ed July 20 that President Obama has spent less than he promised to combat AIDS in Africa.

Tutu said only $366 million was added to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief program this year, compared to the $1 billion Obama committed while on the presidential campaign trail.

President George W. Bush established the program, which has provided $19 billion to help distribute anti-viral treatments to about 2.5 million Africans infected with H.I.V.

"I appreciate that tough financial times require the United States government to cut spending. But scaling back America’s financial commitments to AIDS programs could wipe away decades of progress in Africa," Tutu wrote.

"Surely the richest country on the planet can find the means to fight this scourge."