The Role of the Public Intellectual in American Society

On October 18, 2003 distinguished historian Garry Wills delivered a lecture on "The Role of the Public Intellectual in American Society" on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. The lecture was the inaugural event in the new lecture series on public intellectuals in American life. Dr. Wills' lecture was sponsored by the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture in the IU School of Liberal Arts and was made possible with support from Lilly Endowment.

Dr. Wills is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lincoln At Gettysburg among other books. He received the 1998 National Medal for the Humanities. (Copyright 2003 by Garry Wills, placed here with the permission of the Wylie Agency.)

Listen to the Entire Program

or listen by topic by clicking below

• Introduction by Prof. Philip Goff
  
• Opening Remarks by Dr. Wills Americans' view of democracy
  
• U.S. presidents know better than the people
  
• Secrecy
  
• Rule by experts
  
• Public intellectuals (Credence/Entertainment/Solidarity)
  
• What needs do public intellectuals fill? (examples from the past)
  
• Defining a public intellectual