Massey Lectures

The Massey Lectures are an annual series of week-long of lectures on a political, cultural or philosophical topic given here in Canada by a noted scholar. They were created in 1961 to honour Vincent Massey, Governor General of Canada. Their purpose is to “enable distinguished authorities to communicate the results of original study on important subjects of contemporary interest.”

Some of the Massey Lecturers have included Northrop Frye, John Kenneth Galbraith, Noam Chomsky, Margaret Atwood, Ursula Franklin, Martin Luther King, Jr., Willy Brandt, Wade Davis, Douglas Coupland, Michael Ignatieff, and many other notable individuals. A book of the lecture is also published each year by House of Anansi Press.

They’re nearly always thoughtful and mind expanding essays (well Douglas Coupland’s didn’t do much for me personally). The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has put them online, so if you are intrigued, you can check them out.

http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/masseys.html 
(scroll down for a list of all the lectures with a description of the topic and a photo of the book.)

http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes/massey-lectures/
(and if you want to listen to any of the lectures.)