Over the past 20 years or so, scholars have delved deeply into the racial ideologies that became influential in the early 1900s and helped facilitate the rise of Nazi Germany. But has the pendulum swung too far? A conference this weekend at Indiana University Bloomington will examine the limits of the "racial state" model in explaining Germany's Third Reich and explore the role of other factors, such as nationalism and ethnic and class issues.

Acclaimed Israeli writer and filmmaker Etgar Keret will visit Indiana University Bloomington for a reading and discussion on Monday, Oct. 26. The evening with Keret, presented by IU's Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program, starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Georgian Room of the Indiana Memorial Union. It is free and open to the public.

The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded Indiana University faculty members Dov-Ber Kerler and Jeffrey Veidlinger $267,000 to preserve and annotate oral histories they collected from Yiddish-speaking residents of Eastern Europe and make the material available to scholars, educators and the public.

Indiana University's College of Arts and Sciences has selected two students as winners of its 2009 Palmer-Brandon Prize: Aren Wilson-Wright, a junior majoring in Jewish studies, religious studies and mathematics, and Clara Mitchell, a junior majoring in English and art history, will each receive $20,000. The Palmer-Brandon Prize is given annually to outstanding full-time students who are majoring in the humanities.

The November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, stunned the world and provided a dramatic reminder of its modern-day dangers. In response, faculty members from the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington have organized a symposium to address the problem of terrorism from the perspective of three countries hit hard by violence: India, Israel and Turkey.

Several academic programs at Indiana University Bloomington will collaborate with Cardinal Stage Company on the Bloomington theater group's production of The Diary of Anne Frank, which runs Sept. 12-28. Also planned are a public conversation with experts on Anne Frank and the Holocaust Sept. 16 and a workshop for teachers Sept. 17.

Selections in this issue include books about a 1932 uprising in El Salvador, the "burdens of perfection" described in Victorian literature, a new generation of Jewish writers in America and the present and future of electric power technologies.

Indiana University President Michael McRobbie will join a delegation of American university leaders on a trip to Israel, June 29 to July 7, to explore closer academic and research ties between the two nations.

In this edition of Lecture Notes, meet National Geographic's Lisa Ling and discuss the female orgasm.

In this edition of Lecture Notes, explore the creation of comic books, learn how humans process alcohol and meet Pulitzer Prize winner David Halberstam.

In this edition of Lecture Notes, celebrate the study of Alzheimer's, explore the artwork of Kalidou Sy and find out if you are fit to breed.

Two words in Hebrew -- "Hoo" and "Shir" -- come together to phonetically sound like Indiana University's and the state's treasured nickname, "Hoosier." Appropriately, for a group of IU students who will sing later this month at the White House, the words also mean, "it is a song."

This edition of "Lecture Notes" features information about lectures and speakers on the Indiana University Bloomington campus from Nov. 6-20, including "Lunch with a Curator," a former chief of the CIA European Division and interesting discoveries from the Stone Age Institute.

Featuring lectures and speakers on the Bloomington campus, including NPR's Michele Norris, recognizing the dangers of Facebook and "Confessions of a Cha Cha Feminist."

Indiana University Bloomington and the Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program will host a landmark conference, "The Writer Uprooted: Contemporary Jewish Exile Literature," March 22-24, featuring presentations by 11 immigrant authors and scholars now living and writing in the United States. It is believed to be the first sizable gathering of such writers ever held in the nation. Renowned Romanian author Norman Manea will deliver the keynote address on March 22 and join his fellow writers as they reflect on the ties between exile and creativity.

Indiana University has reinstated a summer overseas study program in Israel that was suspended three years ago after the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning for that country.

Ambassador Dennis Ross, the nation's chief negotiator in the Middle East peace process from 1988 to 2000, will discuss the dramatic and secretive nature of that process during a lecture on Oct. 20 at 2 p.m. in Willkie Auditorium at Indiana University Bloomington.

Religious, cultural and legal experts from Indiana University Bloomington and Indianapolis will discuss religious faith, politics and the 2004 presidential election during a panel discussion at Indiana University Bloomington on April 1.

As the clock ticks down on the U.S. deadline for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to leave his country, the world is bracing for war. Indiana University faculty experts can provide insights on various aspects of the situation including politics, Near Eastern cultures, Islamic studies, Jewish studies, law and medicine.

Alberto Mizrahi, the world-renowned "Pavarotti of Jewish music," will perform an evening of cantorial music and Jewish song on Feb. 6 at the Indiana University School of Music's Auer Hall.