Realms of Memory

In the age of climate change and global pandemics how do we remember the victims?  University of Madison, Wisconsin historian Richard C. Keller examines this question through his study of the 2003 heat wave in Paris.  This was the worst natural disaster in French history claiming some 15,000 lives.  In his book, Fatal Isolation: The Devastating Paris Heat Wave of 2003, Keller explains the myriad ways in which victims were forgotten and the disaster was misremembered.  From the science of counting the dead to historically rooted animosity toward marginalized, elderly women, Keller unpacks the causes and consequences of the skewed memory of the 2003 heave wave. 

In his study of the 2003 heat wave in Paris, historian Richard C. Keller reveals the myriad ways we forget the victims of natural disasters.  We relegate marginalized and vulnerable populations to the most precarious housing then blame them for the inevitable outcome of their own life choices.  We formulate categories of susceptible, at-risk populations whose subsequent deaths become unsurprising, anticipated, and less memorable.  From the architecture of modern cities to the science of deciphering mass death counts, the reasons we forget the victims of natural disasters are increasingly relevant in our current age where calamity can strike any of us at any time.  A conversation with Dr. Richard C. Keller about his book, Fatal Isolation: The Devastating Paris Heat Wave of 2003, next on the January 6th episode of the Realms of Memory podcast

How can we understand the extraordinary scope and magnitude of global fame and notoriety achieved by Anne Frank? The Anne Frank diary has been translated into over sixty languages and sold over twenty million copies.  It has inspired everything from graphic novels and Japanese anime to movies and off-Broadway musicals.  The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam has become a major tourist destination attracting over 1.2 million tourists in 2019.  Dutch historian David Barnouw, world renowned Anne Frank specialist, explains the enduring memory of Anne Frank in his book, The Phenomenon of Anne Frank.  A conservation with David Barnouw about the Anne Frank phenomenon and the Holocaust in the Netherlands.

How did the diary of a thirteen year old girl transform Anne Frank into an international memory sensation?  Dutch historian David Barnouw, the world’s leading Anne Frank memory expert, has spent his career explaining the Anne Frank phenomenon.  Find out more on the December 2nd episode of the Realms of Memory podcast.  

From global warming to mass species extinction we are now living in what Alan Weisman describes as the make or break century. What decisions we make now will determine how we come out on the other side.  For the past quarter century Alan has traveled the globe reporting on the crises that imperil the planet.  In The World Without Us (2007), which became a New York Times bestseller, he chronicles what would become of our environmental impact if we suddenly vanished from the planet tomorrow. In Count Down: Our Last Best Hope for a Future on Earth (2013), he explains the history and dangers of the population explosion we are now experiencing and what measures are being taken to address it.  Most recently, Hope Dies Last: Visionary People Across the World Fighting to Find Us a Future (2025), Alan finds inspirational examples of innovative people from across the globe who are finding creative solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. I had the opportunity to engage Alan in a wide ranging conversation about all three books with a particular focus on the themes of memory and forgetting.