Fearsome Foreshadowing

There are certain novels that creep into the current political discourse, stories that – decades after their original publication – can be interpreted as being eerily prescient. One such book is Richard Condon’s The Manchurian Candidate. The stellar performances by Frank Sinatra and the chilling Angela Lansbury (ages before Murder She Wrote) in John Frankenheimer’s 1962 film adaptation cast long shadows over a Cold War-obsessed audience. The black-and-white film is still heralded as the best political thriller ever made. New Timesalumnus and local journalist Gaspar González and Yale professor Matthew Frye Jacobson provide analysis and examine the film’s troubling relevance in What Have They Built You To Do?, a scholarly text named for one of the film’s most poignant quotes. See the movie and stick around for a lively discussion with the always-eloquent González.
Fri., Jan. 19, 8 p.m.