Thursday, March 19
7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Registration Required Below
Join us for a discussion with historian Benjamin Carter Hett about the rise of autocracy in America and its similarities to Europe in the years leading up to World War II.
Dr. Hett is the author of The Death of Democracy: Hitler’s Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic, a detailed account on the Nazi Party’s rise to power in the 1930s.
MTL’s Conversations Committee member and Western Connecticut State University Psychology Professor Emeritus Daniel Barrett will moderate the discussion, leaning into Dr. Hett’s deep knowledge to explore how Germany’s democracy fell apart in the 1930s, and what historical lessons can be gleaned to help guide us both today and into the future.
This virtual webinar will be hosted via Zoom. Registered participants will receive an invitation with a link prior to the program. Please include a cell phone number to receive a text reminder.
Panelists:
Benjamin Carter Hett earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Alberta and completed a law degree at the University of Toronto. He practiced law in Toronto before earning a master’s degree in history from University of Toronto and a Ph.D. from Harvard. He taught at both Harvard College and Harvard Law School, and since 2003, he has taught at Hunter College and at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Dr. Hett is the author of six books, including The Death of Democracy: Hitler’s Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic, winner of the 2019 Vine Award for History and named one of the best books of the year by The Times of London and The Daily Telegraph. This work was also a clue on Jeopardy in 2025.
Dr. Daniel W. Barrett is a Professor Emeritus at the Department of Psychology at Western Connecticut State University. A former resident of Redding, he graduated with a BA from Wesleyan University, earned his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Arizona State University and served as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Health Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the editor of the forthcoming Social Influence: Key Debates and Contending Perspectives and the author of Social Psychology: Core Concepts and Emerging Trends as well as numerous publications.
