Speeches & Op-Eds 2008
Unveiling of the Embassy's Gift to the American Library in Paris
April 10, 2008
Directeur Trueheart,
Mesdames et Messieurs,
I am especially pleased to join you this evening to welcome this addition to the American Library's collection to its new home with you. As readers, we expand our own fields of vision each time we encounter new ideas -- whether we embrace the author's arguments or take issue with them.
The books we read become a part of who we are and how we think, and these particular volumes include some of the most thought-provoking titles published recently in the U.S.
The new book by Drew Gilpin Faust, the first female president of Harvard University, is one of the extraordinary titles here.
Entitled, This Republic of Suffering, her most recent book notes that "The Civil War's staggering human cost demanded a new sense of national destiny." Another of the books in this collection is a meditation on a more personal loss, the loss of a mother who was also one of America's premier 20th century intellectuals, Susan Sonntag. This collection includes books that grapple with America's diversity, explore our most intriguing poets, and discuss the next steps for the U.S. in this presidential election year, including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's most recent book.
I am especially pleased to see so many high school students, both French and American, here this evening -- this library is a fantastic resource for all of you, and we're delighted that you take full advantage of it.
We look forward to many fruitful conversations around the ideas touched on by these books, and wish you good reading!