Roger Berkowitz recently gave the opening lecture at the Hannah Arendt Center Conference “The Unmaking of Americans: Are There Still American Ideas Worth Fighting for?” The conference, held at Bard College, included talks by David Bromwich, Anand Girdirhardas, Kennan Ferguson, Jerome Kohn, Ann Lauterbach, Lawrence Lessig, Charles Murray, George Packer, Robert Post, Joan Richardson, Amity Shlaes, Jim Sleeper and Kendall Thomas. You can view the conference in its entirety here. For the weekend read this week, we provide an edited transcript of Professor Berkowitz’s speech: “American Exceptionalism: What Are We Fighting For?”

Whether Kobani falls or stands, it has become a defining moment of nationhood and identity for Syrian and Turkish Kurds.

There’s a better way between the contending libertarian and paternalist approaches to regulating drugs.

Jordan’s King Abdullah has a vital role to play in the fight against ISIS, but the U.S. first needs to show its resolve.

Fear and distrust of government are major problems when it comes to controlling Ebola in West Africa, but the United States has its own problems along these lines as well. America’s public health authorities should look to the civil defense legacy for lessons on preparing for pandemics.

In mid-September, the German Ethics Council recommended that sexual relations between consenting adult siblings be decriminalized. It is worth noting how all arguments presented in the Council’s carefully worded document are of a completely secular nature.

The Roman Emperor Commodus turned away from a fight against barbarians along the frontier to take up more rewarding domestic pursuits. It didn’t work out so well for the Emperor.

UKIP’s near-upset of Labor is in many ways more telling than its victory in Clacton. But the British elite has a long history of co-opting its malcontents.

The Battle of New Orleans, a big battle in a little war fought 200 years ago, shaped U.S. history more than most Americans realize.

Hong Kong’s student protest movement may be simmering down for now, but it’s likely to flare up again. Both the protestors and the government realize that Hong Kong is inextricably bound to China. The question is: on whose terms?