Political commentator, satirist, author and columnist Arianna Huffington will be the featured speaker for Washington University’s Assembly Series, replacing Seymour Hersh, who cancelled due to a schedule conflict. Huffington’s talk, “Election 2004: Handicapping the Presidential Race,” will be held at 11 a.m. on Sept. 15 in Graham Chapel. The chapel is located just north of Mallinckrodt Center (6445 Forsyth) on the Hilltop campus. All Assembly Series lectures are free and open to the public, although some may have limited public seating.
Huffington is the author of 10 books, most recently Fanatics and Fools: The Game Plan for Winning Back America, published in 2004, and before that, Pigs at the Trough: How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption Are Undermining America, published in 2003 and a New York Times best seller.
In addition to books, she writes a nationally syndicated column and has been a frequent guest on politically-oriented television programs such as “Politically Incorrect,” “Real Time with Bill Maher,” “The O’Reilly Factor,” “Hannity & Colmes,” “Nightline,” “Crossfire,” “Hardball,” and “Firing Line.”
Born in Greece to parents who participated actively in the resistance to the Nazi occupation of their country, Huffington was reared with political activism. She moved to England at age 16 and attended Cambridge University, earning a master’s degree in economics. She proved to be a top debater early in life when she was named president of the Cambridge debating society.
After moving to America, the one-time Republican became an Independent. She ran for governor of California as an Independent during the 2003 recall election. In 2000 she helped organize the “Shadow Conventions” to spotlight key issues that neither party was willing to address, such as financial corruption and the ever-widening gulf between the “two Americas.” In 2002 she co-founded The Detroit Project, a grassroots campaign that attempts to influence a change in emphasis on building gas-inefficient vehicles and to call attention to the country’s dependence on foreign oil. In addition, she created the Bermuda Project to expose corporate America’s growing use of offshore tax shelters, and she has campaigned to reform our country’s failing public education system.
Although known for her political punditry, Huffington’s body of published work includes subjects well outside the boundaries of politics. The Female Woman, her first book printed in 1974, explored the changing roles of women. Biographies of Maria Callas and Pablo Picasso were international bestsellers. Other books include The Gods of Greece and The Fourth Instinct.
For more information on this lecture, please consult the Web site at http://assemblyseries.wustl.edu or call 314-935-5285.