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Podcast: History Unplugged Podcast
Episode: A Pre-WWI French Philosopher Was More Popular Than Elvis and Possibly Entered the US Into the Great War
Description: In New York City, 1913, French philosopher Henri Bergson gave a lecture at Columbia University, resulting in fanfare, traffic jams, and even fainting spells among the thousands of people clamoring for a seat. But this was not Bergson’s only taste of celebrity. When he got married in 1891, Marcel Proust served as his best man. In 1917, the French government sent him to the United States to convince Woodrow Wilson to join World War I. In the early 1920s, he debated the nature of time with Albert Einstein. Once an international celebrity acclaimed for his philosophy of creativity and freedom in a...