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Massey Lecture Archives

The 2009 CBC Massey Lectures, "The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World"

The Wayfinders is a profound celebration of the wonder of human genius and spirit as brought into being by culture. Of the 7,000 languages spoken... Read More »

The 2008 CBC Massey Lectures, "Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth"

Legendary novelist, poet, and essayist Margaret Atwood delivers a surprising look at the topic of debt. In her wide-ranging, entertaining, and imaginative approach to the... Read More »

The 2007 CBC Massey Lectures, "The City of Words"

The end of ethnic nationalism, building societies around sets of common values, seems like a good idea. But something is going wrong. In the 2007... Read More »

The 2006 CBC Massey Lectures, "The Ethical Imagination"

Science and technology confront us with some of the most challenging and unprecedented ethical questions in the world today. These issues encompass what it... Read More »

The 2005 CBC Massey Lectures, "Race Against Time"

"I have spent the last four years watching people die." With these wrenching words, diplomat and humanitarian Stephen Lewis opens his 2005 Massey Lectures. Lewis's... Read More »

The 2004 CBC Massey Lectures, "A Short History of Progress"

Each time history repeats itself, so it's said, the price goes up. The 20th century was a time of runaway growth in human population, consumption,... Read More »

The 2003 CBC Massey Lectures, "The Truth about Stories: A Native Narrative"

In his 2003 Massey lecture, award-winning author and scholar Thomas King looks at the breadth and depth of Native experience and imagination. Beginning with Native... Read More »

The 2002 CBC Massey Lectures, "Beyond Fate"

People today are often afflicted with a sense that they cannot change things for the better. They feel helpless, constrained, caught -- in a word,... Read More »

The 2001 CBC Massey Lectures, "The Cult of Efficiency"

"This is a time of excitement and innovation, but also contradiction, passion, and fierce polemics in our public conversations. As modern democratic societies begin to... Read More »

The 2000 CBC Massey Lectures, "The Rights Revolution"

Since the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, rights have become the dominant language of the public good around the globe.... Read More »