Video

Opening Night: Introductions

Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust opens with an introduction of Pulitzer Prize winner Wynton Marsalis

Act I: Power in the Home

Annette Gordon-Reed became a lawyer to effect social change, but in researching and writing“The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family” she changed history

Maria Henson on what her 1991 series of investigative editorials on domestic violence, “To Have and To Harm,” taught her about the power of crusading journalism

Danielle Allen talks with Sara Ganim and Sacha Pfeiffer about what it’s like to report on intimate crimes and to make those stories public in ways that are sensitive to victims and create social impact

Wesley Lowery reflects on what covering racial unrest in Ferguson, Mo. taught him about his childhood growing up in a biracial home

Junot Díaz reads from “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” exploring power relationships within a single family and within a nation under dictatorial rule

Act II: Power in the Nation

Robert Caro recalls the incident, when he was working on “The Power Broker,” that made him realize that in writing about power, he would have to do so through the lens of the powerless

Donald Graham reads a passage from “Personal History,” the Pulitzer-winning autobiography by his mother, Katharine Graham, about her decision while publisher of The Washington Post to publish the Pentagon Papers

Dean Baquet talks with Laura Poitras and Bob Woodward about their work to expose two of the most stunning abuses of government power in American history

A videotaped conversation with “Hamilton” writer and star Lin-Manuel Miranda about finding your voice as a writer and the role of the playwright in addressing history

Act III: Power in the World

Stan Grossfeld reflects on how pictures he took in the mid-1980s in rebel-held Ethiopia and war-torn Lebanon did—and didn’t—make a difference

Mark Fiore reflects on his unorthodox path to a career as a political cartoonist — and the power of satirical animation to spark social change

Caroline Elkins talks with Joby Warrick and Lawrence Wright about state-sponsored oppression and the rise of stateless terrorist organizations like ISIS and al-Qaeda

Yusef Komunyakaa reads “Thanks,” a meditation on how the natural world can ameliorate the pain of human conflict

Lynn Nottage introduces a scene from “Ruined,” about women and girls trying to survive civil war in the Congo. Performed by Erin Washington and Me’Lisa Sellers.