The National Book Award–winning author of "Stamped from the Beginning" charts how “great replacement theory” has become a dominant political idea of our time and ushered in an antidemocratic age.

A Cappella Books proudly welcomes Dr. Ibram X. Kendi to Glenn Memorial Church Auditorium for a discussion of his highly-anticipated new book, "Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age."

 The author will appear in conversation with George Yancy, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Philosophy at Emory University.

Tickets include a signed first edition of “Chain of Ideas."

Please note: Although tickets are non-refundable, if you cannot attend, your ticket still entitles you to a signed copy of the book. A Cappella Books will hold your book for one month from the event date. You may pick it up in-store or call us to request shipping.

About the Book

Recall the words chanted in Charlottesville, Virginia: “You will not replace us!” Recall the string of mass shooters across the globe—in Oslo, Christchurch, Buffalo, El Paso, and Pittsburgh—who claimed their crimes were a defense against “White genocide.” Recall business and media figures cultivating anxiety and furor over demographic change. These incidents only scratch the surface: Popular and ruling politicians in every region of the world have expressed some version of great replacement theory, eroding democratic norms in the name of preventing demographic change.

The term was coined in 2011 by a French novelist who argued that Black and Brown immigrants were “invading” Europe, brought by shadowy elites to “replace” the White population. From there, politicians and theorists in the United States and elsewhere repackaged it as a story of “globalists” welcoming “migrant criminals” and promoting diversity to take away the jobs, cultures, electoral power, and very lives of White people. Over time, great replacement theory has expanded those under threat to include citizens, men, Jews, Christians, heterosexuals, and ethnic majorities in countries as distinct as Russia, El Salvador, Brazil, Italy, and India, all targeted with the message that they are facing an existential attack that only a strongman can prevent.

In "Chain of Ideas," internationally bestselling author Ibram X. Kendi offers an unsettling but indispensable global history of how great replacement theory brought humanity into this authoritarian age—and how we can free ourselves from it.

About the Author

Dr. Ibram X. Kendi is one of the world’s foremost historians and leading antiracist scholars. His books have been translated into multiple languages and republished throughout the Americas, Africa, Europe, and Asia. Dr. Kendi is Professor of History and the founding director of the Howard University Institute for Advanced Study, an interdisciplinary research enterprise examining global racism. He is author of many highly acclaimed bestsellers including "Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America," which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction. He is the author of the international bestseller "How to Be an Antiracist." Time magazine named Dr. Kendi one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as the Genius Grant.

About the Conversation Partner

George Yancy is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Philosophy at Emory University and a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College, one of the college’s highest honors. He is also the University of Pennsylvania’s Inaugural Provost's Distinguished Visiting Faculty. He is the author, editor, and co-editor of over 25 books. Yancy has published over 250 combined scholarly articles, chapters, and interviews that have appeared in professional journals, books, and at various news sites. He is especially known for his numerous essays and conducted interviews at both the New York Times’ philosophy column "The Stone," and his current publications at Truthout, which is a nonprofit news organization.