Back to The Wild West with Kenneth Manusama

On Super Tuesday, the most important day of the American primaries, the John Adams dove dive into the weaknesses and instabilities of America’s democratic system. As the 2024 presidential elections loom, legal, racial, and religious controversies are already stretching the country to a breaking point.
In his new book, 'Democratie van het Wilde Westen' Kenneth Manusama does just that. He investigates how the Trump era painfully exposed the structural vulnerabilities in America’s democratic system. And he shows that the problems in American democracy did not start with Trump, neither did they end with his defeat in 2020, nor were they unique in American history.
After his talk, he was joined by Dr. Markha Valenta (President of the Netherlands American Studies Association and Assistant Professor University College Utrecht) and Manon Portos Minetti (historian, lecturer and curator, specializing in colonial violence in the Americas and Caribbean) for a panel discussion.
We closed the evening with a preview of Boom Chicago’s comedy show, Politically Incorrect featuring Greg Shapiro.
Recorded at the Rode Hoed in Amsterdam on March 5th, 2024.