in a compelling prologue to "american nietzsche" she becomes the fervent reading of ralph waldo emerson beginning in the 1860's. she writes it was emmerson who first constructed nietzsche about life. the policy was drawn to emmerson, jennifer explained, because he understood what it meant to travel imaginatively through time and space in order to find a thinker to think with. i know a few individuals who travel through time and space as imaginatively or who have compelling thinkers to the question of fer herself so we are all in for a treat this evening thinking with her. please strine me in welcoming jennifer ratner-rosenhagen to the newberry. [applause] >> thanks for that lovely introduction and to newberry library and the bookstore for hosting tonight's event and all of you of course for coming out tonight. so, it's very fitting that i find myself in chicago talking about nietzsche because it was in chicago in the early 90s during my years between undergraduate and graduate school that i began to read his philosophy. i wanted to do graduate work in intellectual history but many peopl

was kind enough to reference it in the intro, as i mentioned, nietzsche was an avid reader of ralph waldo emerson. he was the first philosopher that he read. nietzsche read emerson as a teenager. i discussed this in the prologue. one of the things i try to examine in the book or at least touch on, when nietzsche's ideas first came to america in the 20th century, occasionally people would say it sounds a little familiar like our emerson. but they often do this as a way to make a distinction. either that nietzsche is genius and emerson is victorian and a goody goody and emerson is safe for democracy and wholesome and doesn't have a breakdown. that nietzsche is a syphilitic madman. for those early on who he here the emersonian timber in nietzsche's voice are also trying to draw a distinction. what is interesting is this connection. it carries on in the american readings. in the last chapter, i discussed, in particular, three authors. richard were -- they use him as a way to reread and rediscover emerson for an american audience. so i think what may be distinct about americans or what we might be abl

this country because as democrats, we understand the poignancy, the power, and the truth of ralph waldo emerson'smerica is another name for opportunity. opportunity is why we fight for our country. opportunity is what our president fights for. in 61 days, opportunity is what president in -- is why barack obama will win a second opportunity and office. we have a lot of work to do between now and then, so let's get to work. [cheering and applause] >> please welcome of boston mayor, thomas menino. >> it good evening, charlotte. my fellow delegates from massachusetts back there, up front here, massachusetts takes over everything. let me tell you. good evening fellow democrats. and fellow americans. i come from boston. we launched a revolution when we first sent john kennedy to congress. and there were millions of students who had come to study, including that great american name, martin luther king jr.. it is an honor to be here tonight. with so many people determined to move our country forward, i know all americans are proud to carry the torch of progress. in boston, we take that job very seriously

he is a ralph waldo emerson. he has actually -- he has -- emerson, frank pollack, number one in his class of 1856, he decided to go be in manhattan. emerson writes a letter pleading him to stay in new england. they need him. he's been at least two years on brook farm near the famous 19th century, in. he grows around people like nathaniel hawthorne. you know. henry david thoreau. he is in manhattan. he tutors robert shaw, a harvard student. in the 504th massachusetts. in the film glory. bob shock. so you can't blame him. to the blame to mackey blame the germans. not all german units fought perfectly. but the 26 wisconsin, phenomenally heroic. say what was left of the 11th corps by hanging on. shot down after another. finally he got the fighting back to the town. if history is that credit, the germans ran away. they didn't. july 2nd. and after the hard-fought, the union left almost collapses. they hold the line. there was an attack, that old word. the key to the unit position. this storm up among the union. and his

here today as we show off some of the new capabilities we are very hopeful about what this ralph waldo emersonst competitive dog fight in tech right now with apple, google, samsung, a lot of other players. i particularly contrast with r.i.m. when you came in you talked about nokia is on a burning platform. the r.i.m. guys took a long time to figure out their platform was burning too. that metaphor you used about a guy standing on a burning platform deciding to jump into the icy water, getting rescued, at what point in that metaphor is nokia right now? are you still on the platform? are you in the water? have you been rescued? >> we've put that metaphor well behind us. it served the purpose of saying we have problems and we have to energize the organization to make the changes. but now people are seeing those changes. they're seeing the great innovation coming from nokia. for example with the 920, the device we introduced today you see what we believe is the world's most innovative smart phone. as you mentioned with the best way to take pictures and video, the best way to navigate your world an