Episode notes
Harvard Business School Professor Ranjay Gulati, PhD ’93, an expert on leadership strategy and organizational growth, says that bravery is a learned behavior. His new book leverages social science research to put readers on the path to a more courageous mindset.
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Colloquy
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences · Tech & Science · English
Conversations with visionary scholars and thinkers from the Harvard PhD community
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E79 · 21 Aug 2026 · 34 min
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E78 · 7 Aug 2026 · 35 min
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E77 · 3 Jul 2026 · 30 min
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In one of the last interviews of his life, the Brown University historian Gordon Wood, known as the "dean of historians of the American Revolution," spoke with Harvard Griffin GSAS about the creation of the American republic, the social and cultural transformations that accompanied those in politics, and why an understanding of the country's early history can provide perspective in our own tumultuous times.
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E76 · 19 Jun 2026 · 32 min
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In his forthcoming book, University of California, Berkeley historian Brian DeLay, PhD ’04, argues that the great paradox of the Revolution was that the Patriots were fighting not only for their independence, but also for an empire of their own—and that their surprising ability to access guns and ammunition enabled their success.
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E75 · 5 Jun 2026 · 27 min
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E73 · 1 May 2026 · 29 min
More Rules for Aging with Roger Rosenblatt
A generation after the bestselling "Rules for Aging," author Roger Rosenblatt, PhD ’68, is back with "More Rules for Aging," a new book of wry maxims and hard-won wisdom. He reflects on life’s "October," the reality of loss, and finding the beauty in recalling old friends and cherished memories.
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E72 · 3 Apr 2026 · 32 min
What Was the Boston Tea Party Really About?
The historian Vanessa Williamson, PhD '15, asserts the Patriots who dumped 342 crates of tea into Boston Harbor on December 16, 1773, were actually protesting a corporate tax break for the British East India Company. Discover how the fight for taxation has been central to American democracy, liberty, and the pursuit of equality since the founding.
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E71 · 6 Mar 2026 · 31 min
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Historian and former presidential adviser Ted Widmer discusses the use of state power in the 18th century—and today.
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E70 · 20 Feb 2026 · 23 min
Harvard’s First Black PhD: Part 2—W.E.B. Du Bois, From Social Scientist to Global Leader
W.E.B. Du Bois was doing groundbreaking research in academia. Why did he leave it behind to become an activist?
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E69 · 6 Feb 2026 · 21 min
Harvard's First Black PhD: Part 1—W.E.B. Du Bois the Student
Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer David Levering Lewis on how the Harvard PhD experience influenced W.E.B. Du Bois, the man who would become one of the leading Black activists and intellectuals of the 20th century.
