Events & Speaking 

Ruth is represented by Billy Hallock, CAA
Contact: billy.hallock@caa.com

Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a compelling and lively speaker on topics of vital interest today. Her talks feature insights on authoritarian styles of leadership, fascism and its memory, and propaganda that have made her a go-to source for journalists around the world and a frequent guest on television, radio, and podcasts.

Speaking Topics Include:

  • Propaganda and Personality cults from Cultivation to Disengagement
  • The GOP as an Authoritarian Party and the Future of US Democracy
  • Anti-Semitism and Fantasies of National Purity
  • How Autocrats Think, and How To Oppose Them
  • The Anti-Authoritarian Playbook
  • Making the Nation Great, Again – Nostalgia and Utopia in Authoritarianism from Mussolini to Trump and Putin
  • Endgames: How Strongmen Fall

Photos from “The Return of the Strongman,”
Festival of Dangerous Ideas, Sydney, October 2022

“The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump”
National Press Club 2019

Strongmen Book Tour / Online Events

Feb 4, 2024
6:30-8:00 PM Eastern

“Strongmen: How to Defeat Them and Autocracy,”

Foreign Policy Association, The Century Association, NYC

Dec 11, 2023
8:00-9:30 PM Eastern
(Online Event)

“The Captured Mind: The Growing Appeal of Authoritarianism”

Columbia Ceenter for Psychoanalytic Training and Research

Past Events

Nov 11, 2023
Unitarian Universalist Church of Sarasota

“Fascism at Our Doorstep – And What to Expect Next”

Florida Veterans for Common Sense, Choose Democracy Now, and Floridians for Democracy

Nov 1, 2023

“Viktor Orban and the Illiberal Turn”

Columbia University

Oct 15, 2023
10:00-5:00 PM Eastern

“Fighting Fascism: A Symposium on Jewish Responses From the Interwar Period to the Present Day”

Co-hosted by the American Jewish Historical Society and the Center for Jewish History

Oct 11, 2023
NYC, NY

“Stop Trump Summit”

Panel “Trump and American Fascism” 

October 4, 2023
7PM Eastern
(Online Event)

“How Media and Journalism Can Defend Democracy from Fascism,”

The Media and Democracy Project

Sept 21, 2023
7PM Eastern

The Authoritarian Playbook and How to Defeat It,”

Henry King Stanford Distinguished Professor, University of Miami Center for the Humanities lecture

Sept 13, 2023
12PM – 1PM Eastern

“What Political Trends Will Shape the Future?”

New America and Arizona State University Future Security Forum 2023 

Sept 5, 2023
12-1pm PT/3-4pm ET
(Online Event)

 

“The Trump Indictments, the 2024 Elections, and Public Peace,”

Panel, UCLA School of Law Safeguarding Democracy Project

Sept 28, 2022

“America At A Crossroads”

The Community Conversations Series, in conversation with Larry Diamond. 

May 18, 2022
12PM – 1PM Eastern

Democracy in Peril”, sponsored by The New Republic

Featuring Ruth, Barbara Walters, David Rieff, and New Republic editor Michael Tomasky

May 4-6, 2022

Crosscut Festival
Seattle, WA

Authoritarian Cults and Media Indoctrination

June 2-4, 2022

Keynote Speech
Canadian Association of Italian Studies

“Italy: Laboratory of Political Modernity,”

July 17, 2021

World Mental Health Coalition Town Hall

Authoritarian Cults and Media Indoctrination

May 20, 2021

American Club of Hamburg

“Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present”

May 19, 2021

Dartmouth College

“Propaganda and Personality Cults from Mussolini to Trump,”

May 19, 2021

Körber History Forum

“Is it that simple? The allure of authoritarianism,”

 

April 30, 2021

Maxwell School of Government, Syracuse University

“Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present”

 

April 29, 2021

Cambridge Union

“This House Believes That We are Witnessing a Global Fascist Resurgence,” Debate

 

April 20, 2021

Bristol Festival of Ideas

“Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present”

 

April 16, 2021

Northeastern University

“The Fascist Threat to Public Health” Panel

 

April 15, 2021

Cleveland State University

“The Fascist Threat” Panel

 

February 18, 2021

Columbia University Institute for Ideas & Imagination, 1PM EST

“Real Strong Men” Virtual Talk

Ruth in conversation about fascism, authoritarianism, and coups, with Mark Mazower

February 12, 2021

NYU Department of History, 12:30-2PM EST

“Reflections on the 2020 Election” Virtual Event

Ruth in conversation with Steve Hahn and Michele Mitchell

January 15, 2021

Krasno Global Events Series at UNC-Chapel Hill

“Defending Democracy: The Global Rise of Autocracy in the U.S., Europe & Elsewhere”

Moderated by Dr Klaus Larres (Krasno professor, UNC-Chapel Hill)

January 13, 2021

Brooklyn Historical Society,
New York, NY

The Authoritarian’s Playbook: A Conversation between Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Adam Gopnik

Ruth in conversation with Adam Gopnik.

December 8, 2020

Italian Cultural Institute,
New York, NY

Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present

Ruth in conversation with Federico Rampini, US Bureau Chief, La Repubblica.

October 27, 2020

Museum of Jewish Heritage,
New York City

Strongmen: Mussolini To The Present

This program will be moderated by How Fascism Works author Jason Stanley, Yale University.  Suggested donation: $10