Malinowski in the World

About this episode

Jay Nordlinger interviews Tom Malinowski about his life, career, and experiences related to Poland and U.S. politics.

As I say in my introduction, Tom Malinowski has had a long and varied career: in the State Department, the White House, Congress, and elsewhere. I hugely enjoyed my hour of talking with this fellow. I think you will as well. He began life in Poland, in 1965. Is he related to Bronisław Malinowski, the great anthropologist—indeed, a founder of that field? Yes: the anthropologist was Tom’s great-great-uncle. Before deciding on a college, Tom visited the University of Chicago. (UC was a seat of anthropology.) “I found, to my surprise and delight, that one of the main intro freshman classes was ‘Marx, Freud, and Malinowski.’ I’m, like, ‘Hello!’” At some point, Tom visited a place that few of us have ever been to: Papua New Guinea. There, “Malinowski” is a very important name. When he was six, Tom moved with his mother and stepfather to America—to New Jersey. Still, he would be caught up in the drama of Poland—the Solidarity movement, martial law, etc.—as I was. (I am two years older than Tom.) In the summer of 1981, he was in Poland and actually met Lech Wałęsa, the Solidarity leader. A Polaroid picture was taken of the two of them, and signed by Wałęsa. Tom still has it. “I was…

People in this episode

Host: Jay Nordlinger

Guest: Tom Malinowski

Topics covered

• politics
• personal history
• Solidarity movement
• anthropology
• U.S. foreign policy

Keywords

• Tom Malinowski
• Bronisław Malinowski
• Lech Wałęsa
• Solidarity
• U.S. foreign policy
• Poland
• anthropology
• Papua New Guinea

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Chicago

Places: Poland, New Jersey, Papua New Guinea

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