ADVISORY - Empires, Nations and Power: Canadian author Margaret MacMillan on
the nature of power

OTTAWA, Sept. 3 /CNW/ -  Respected Canadian historian and acclaimed author Margaret MacMillan will deliver a lecture in Ottawa on September 7 in which she will offer a trenchant assessment of how history can shape our view of the world.   She will explore the nature of declining and rising powers, shifting relationships and balances within societies, and the force of ideas and ideologies.  

When: Tuesday, September 7, 2010, 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Where: National Gallery of Canada, Auditorium, 380 Sussex Drive

One of Canada's best-known historians, MacMillan is author of several critically acclaimed books including Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World, which won the Governor-General's prize for non-fiction in 2003, and Nixon in China: The Week That Changed the World, shortlisted in 2007 for a Gelber Prize. She is a frequent commentator on historical issues and current affairs in the international media. Her most recent book, The Uses and Abuses of History, takes aim at politicians and countries that misrepresent the past in order to justify war and aggression.  MacMillan is Warden of St. Antony's College, Oxford, where she is also professor of history. She previously served as Provost of Trinity College and professor of history at the University of Toronto. In 2006 she was named an officer of the Order of Canada.

MacMillan's lecture is the eighth in the Speakers of Renown series, which is being held throughout 2010 to mark IDRC's 40^th anniversary.  Upcoming headliners include South Africa's Trevor Manuel, who went from anti-apartheid activist to one of the forces that made that country's economy one of the most robust in Africa; Professor M. S. Swaminathan, the father of India's Green Revolution, named by TIME Magazine as one of the 20 most influential Asians of the 20th century; and Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, head of the United Nation's Development Programme, and named by Forbes as one of the most powerful women in the world.

The event is open to the media. French and English simultaneous interpretation is available. Spaces are limited and journalists are encouraged to register by calling Isabelle Bourgeault-Tassé at 613-696- 2343 or e-mailing at [email protected]. 

Journalists and the public can join in the conversation through Twitter (#IDRC) and Facebook.  For more information and the live webcast, visit www.idrc.ca/events-macmillan.

About IDRC
To achieve self-reliance, poor communities need answers to questions like: How can we grow more and healthier food? Protect our health? Create jobs? IDRC supports research in developing countries to answer these questions. IDRC also encourages sharing this knowledge with policymakers, other researchers, and communities around the world. The result is innovative, lasting local solutions that aim to bring choice and change to those who need it most.

For further information:

Isabelle Bourgeault-Tassé
Senior Media Advisor, IDRC
([phone]
[email protected]