Co-Founder Of Mother Jones Magazine To Speak At CU-Boulder Feb. 10

Adam Hochschild, an author, editor and co-founder of Mother Jones magazine, will give a public talk at the University of Colorado at Boulder on Tuesday, Feb. 10.

Hochschild will present the lecture "12 Men in a Printing Shop, 1787: the First Great Human Rights Movement is Born," at 4 p.m. in the Old Main Chapel. The talk is free and open to the public. He will be on campus as a guest of the World Affairs Athenaeum.

"Adam Hochschild is a highly regarded writer and social activist," said Lauren Robinson, one of the student fellows responsible for putting on Athenaeum events. "A superb former Conference on World Affairs participant, Mr. Hochschild will make a wonderful Athenaeum program guest."

As an author, he is perhaps best known for his 1998 book "King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa." In the book he tells the story of the brutal and corrupt colonial regime of King Leopold II of Belgium in the Congo in Africa during the 1880s into the early 1900s.

Much of Hochschild's writing focuses on bringing to light injustices throughout the world and throughout various periods in history. In 1976, he co-founded Mother Jones magazine, a San Francisco-based journal founded with a commitment to social justice issues.

He also has written for The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, the New York Times Magazine, The Nation and many other newspapers and magazines. Hochschild's other books include "Half the Way Home: A Memoir of Father and Son," "The Mirror at Midnight: A South African Journey," "The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin," and "Finding the Trapdoor: Essays, Portraits, Travels."

The Athenaeum also is sponsoring a student dinner with Hochschild on Monday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m. The dinner is open only to CU-Boulder students and space is limited, so interested students should contact the Athenaeum fellows to make reservations. A student-run program that brings world-renowned guests to campus to interact with students in their classes and in public forums, the Athenaeum is an offshoot of the Conference on World Affairs.

Past Athenaeum visitors include Sister Helen Prejean, author of the book "Dead Man Walking," Tim Long, an executive producer and writer for "The Simpsons," Gary Hart, Margot Adler, Rick Reilly and Dr. Patch Adams.

For more information about the public lecture call (303) 492-7252. To make reservations for the student dinner e-mail the Athenaeum fellows at cwaathen@colorado.edu.