Join renowned philosopher Susan Neiman and interviewer and curator Paul Holdengräber for an in-depth discussion at the Wende Museum in Culver City. Co-presented by the Thomas Mann House Los Angeles, the conversation will focus on Neiman’s new book, Call It Evil: Understanding the Trump Era (Norton, 2026), and explore how we grapple with the concept of evil in times of crisis.
Partially written during her fellowship at the Thomas Mann House Los Angeles, Neiman examines what concepts of evil can teach us about the current political moment. In conversation with Holdengräber, she will explore how cynicism, and the belief that human behavior is driven solely by self-interest and the pursuit of power, has come to be accepted as common sense. What happens when moral principles are dismissed as naïve, and how does this erosion of values affect trust, justice, and democracy? Can reclaiming a language of moral clarity help us confront the present crisis?
Library Journal writes: “Neiman has tackled the subject of evil (‘the most explosive word we have’) before in books such as Evil in Modern Thought and Moral Clarity, but never as compellingly and comprehensively as here. Many observe today’s flagrant immorality and ask, ‘How did this happen?’ Neiman explains how it happened, tracing the history, politics, economics, and the misuse of language and reason that led to this point. (…) Every sentence is worth reading in this compelling book. For readers who are horrified and want to understand how we got here, this book is an absolute must.”
A light reception and a book table from Village Well Books & Coffee follow the conversation. This program will include ASL interpretation.
An event by the Wende Museum and the Thomas Mann House.
Participants
Susan Neiman is an internationally renowned philosopher, essayist, and cultural critic. She writes mainly on topics of moral philosophy, the enlightenment, and metaphysics and their impact on politics. Before becoming director of the Einstein Forum in Potsdam in 2000, she was Professor of Philosophy at Yale and Tel Aviv Universities. Neiman has always been politically active: As a teenager, she protested U.S. Vietnam War policies and more recently the Bush administration’s Iraq war, and she worked as a campaign aide for Barack Obama. Her philosophically grounded call for moral clarity aims to make traditional notions of morality productive for left-liberal thought and action. Among her most acclaimed publications are Left is Not Woke (2023), Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil (2019), and Evil in Modern Thought: An Alternative History of Philosophy (2022). Susan Neiman was a 2025 Honorary Fellow at the Thomas Mann House Los Angeles.
Paul Holdengräber is an interviewer, curator of public curiosity, and was the Founding Executive Director of Onassis Los Angeles. Prior he was Founder and Director of The New York Public Library’s LIVE from the NYPL cultural series where he interviewed and hosted over 600 events, including interviews with Patti Smith, Wes Anderson, Mike Tyson, Werner Herzog, and many more. Before his tenure at the library, he was the Founder and Director of The Institute for Art & Cultures at LACMA. He holds a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Princeton University. In 2003, the French Government named him Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, and then promoted him in 2012 to the rank of Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres. In 2010, The President of Austria awarded him the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art.
The garden side gate will open 30 minutes before the start time and is available for ADA access and check-in. Theater doors open 15 minutes before the start time. Seating is first come, first served. An RSVP does not guarantee admission once capacity is reached. No late entry.