American critic Vivian Gornick joined New York Times columnist Roger Cohen, Chicago adoptee Aleksandar Hemon and politics and foreign policy expert Dr David Smith to discuss what drives and divides the greatest superpower in the world, from guns and borders to controversial presidential candidates. Hosted by former New Yorker editor, now Good Weekend editor Amelia Lester.
This was a Sydney Writer's Festival event.

Associate Professor David Smith
Associate Professor in American Politics and Foreign Policy, United States Studies Centre (jointly appointed with the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney)
David Smith is jointly appointed between the US Studies Centre and the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Sydney. His research examines political relations between states and minorities, with a focus on religion in the US. His book Religious Persecution and Political Order in the United States was published by Cambridge University Press in 2015.
Roger Cohen
Columnist for The New York Times
Roger Cohen was a visitor at the US Studies Centre in May 2016.
He has worked for The New York Times for 25 years as a foreign correspondent, foreign editor, and now a columnist. Prior to that he worked for The Wall Street Journal and Reuters. He is the author...
Vivian Gornick
Author of The Odd Woman and the City
Vivian Gornick was a visitor at the US Studies Centre in May 2016. Gornick is an American critic, journalist, essayist, and memoirist. Her most recent book is a memoir, The Odd Woman and the City.
Aleksandar Hemon
Author
Aleksandar Hemon was a visitor at the US Studies Centre in May 2016. Hemon is the author of The Lazarus Project, which was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award, and three collections of short stories: The Question of Bruno; Nowhere Man, which was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Love and Obstacles (2009). His most recent novel is The Making of Zombie Wars (2015).
Amelia Lester
Editor, Good Weekend
Amelia Lester was a visitor at the US Studies Centre in May 2016. She is the editor of Fairfax Media’s national insert magazine, Good Weekend. Previously, Lester was the Managing Editor of The New Yorker.