Events Calendar

Join the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center for a virtual conversation with Samantha Power, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former United States Ambassador to the United Nations. In this intimate and thought-provoking dialogue, Samantha Power will discuss her New York Times-bestselling memoir, The Education of an Idealist, and offer insight on a range of pressing global issues.

This memoir asks the question: What can one person do? At a time of upheaval and division, Samantha Power offers an urgent response to this question —and a call for a clearer eye, a kinder heart, and a more open and civil hand in our politics and daily lives.

Themes discussed in the memoir are aligned with social issues explored in the Humanity Gallery within the Holocaust & Humanity Center’s museum at historic Union Terminal. In The Education of an Idealist, Power explains how she coined the term “upstander,” and how we all have the opportunity to be upstanders in unique ways. Upstanders are individuals who stand up for others and their rights. They fight against injustice and unfairness, and they use their character strengths to inspire action and become the best of humanity today.

“Every day, almost all of us find ourselves weighing whether we can or should do something to help others,” Power writes in the book. “We decide, on issues large and small, whether we will be bystanders or upstanders.”

Humorous and deeply honest, The Education of an Idealist lays bare the searing battles and defining moments of her life and shows how she juggled the demands of a 24/7 national security job with the challenge of raising two young children. Along the way, she illuminates the intricacies of politics and geopolitics, reminding us how the United States can lead in the world, and why we each have the opportunity to advance the cause of human dignity. Power’s memoir is an unforgettable account of the power of idealism—and of one person’s fierce determination to make a difference.

The Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center is proud to host this event in conjunction with its Cincy Upstander Project. Through generous funding from the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation, the Cincy Upstander Project aims to inspire our community to become upstanders through a city-wide art campaign, monthly programs, museum tours, giveaways, and training opportunities.

When you purchase the Special Admission Package ($30), you receive:

• Admission to “An Evening with Samantha Power: Discussing ‘The Education of an Idealist’ and What It Means to Be an Upstander”

• Your own copy of “The Education of an Idealist,” provided by Joseph-Beth Booksellers and the Holocaust & Humanity Center

• Exclusive access to HHC’s Book Club. Hosted by our museum staff in early March, you can discuss the book in a casual format with other community members in preparation for Samantha Power’s lecture.

• A chance to win Cincy Upstander shirts, posters, masks, and museum tickets during HHC’s March giveaway event

General Admission, without a copy of the book, is $10.

About Samantha Power

Samantha Power is a Professor of Practice at the Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Law School. From 2013-2017, Power served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and a member of President Obama’s cabinet. From 2009-2013, Power served on the National Security Council as Special Assistant to the President for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights. Power began her career as a journalist, reporting from places such as Bosnia, East Timor, Kosovo, Rwanda, Sudan, and Zimbabwe, and she was the founding executive director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Kennedy School. Power’s book, “A Problem from Hell”: America and the Age of Genocide won the Pulitzer Prize in 2003. She is also the author of the New York Times bestsellers Chasing the Flame: One Man’s Fight to Save the World (2008) and The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir (2019), which was named one of the best books of 2019 by the New York Times, Washington Post, Economist, NPR, and TIME. Power earned a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.