In this episode of If Passports Could Talk, we journey through five decades of cultural exchange and international education with Lonnie R. Johnson. Lonnie R. Johnson was born in 1952 and grew up in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. As a humanities major as St. John’s University in Minnesota, a small Benedictine men’s liberal arts college, he was encouraged by an Austrian professor of German to go to Vienna to “see the real thing,” and he spent his senior year of college on a junior-year-abroad program in Vienna, 1973-74. This marked the beginning of an improbable but accomplished fifty-year career on the Austrian-American interfaces of international higher education, academic exchange, and research.

His book Central Europe: Enemies, Neighbors, Friends (Oxford University Press, 1996, 3rd revised and expanded edition, 2010) is widely acknowledged as a standard work for students interested in the region. His previous books include Introducing Austria (Österreichischer Bundesverlag, Vienna, 1985; Ariadne Press, Riverside, CA, 1987) and with Inge Lehne, Vienna: The Past in the Present, (Riverside: Ariadne Press, 1995: 2nd revised edition of the Austrian 1st edition (Vienna: Österreichischer Bundesverlag, 1985)).

This episode is a tribute to the intellectual wanderer—and to the power of cultural diplomacy done quietly, persistently, and well.

https://www.amazon.com/Central-Europe-Enemies-Neighbors-Friends/dp/0195100719?ref_=ast_author_dp

How did hydropower shape Austria’s modern history? In our latest episode, we dive into Mountain Battery: The Alps, Water, and Power in the Fossil Fuel Age (2025) with its author, Marc Landry. From the collapse of the Habsburg Monarchy to the rise of National Socialism and post-WWII reconstruction under the Marshall Plan, the story of hydropower—often called "white coal"—intersects with key moments in Austrian history.

Marc Landry serves as Marshall Plan Endowed Professor in Austrian Studies and Director of Center Austria at the University of New Orleans. Landry was the Fulbright-Botstiber Visiting Professor in Austrian-American Studies at the University of Innsbruck, in 2016.

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You can find Mountain Battery: The Alps, Water, and Power in the Fossil Fuel Age (2025), here: https://www.sup.org/books/history/mountain-battery

Learn more about Marc Landry's work at the Austrian Marshall Plan Center for European Studies at the University of New Orleans: https://www.centeraustria.org/

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Who we are: The Botstiber Institute for Austrian-American Studies (BIAAS) promotes an understanding of the historic relationship between the United States and Austria, including the lands of the former Habsburg empire, by awarding grants and fellowships, organizing lectures and conferences, and publishing the Journal of Austrian-American History. We engage with a broader public audience through digital programming, including videos, podcasts and blog posts.

For more information go to https://www.botstiberbiaas.org or follow us on our various social media accounts!

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Auf Wiedersehen! / Until next time!

Join us as we travel to the festive, snowy alps and explore how locals and visitors alike ring in the New Year. In this video, Austrians and Americans share their personal memories and traditions—feasting on raclette or goulash, sipping sparkling wine, watching the annual broadcast of “Dinner for One,” and gathering outdoors to admire fireworks and enjoy a midnight waltz. Discover the heartfelt stories and cherished rituals that define an Austrian New Year (German: "Silvester"), connecting past and present, family and friends, as the old year gracefully gives way to the new.

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Thank you to our interviewees who made this video possible: Max, Leandra, Johanna, Christian, Philipp, Constanze, Kara, Mel, Lilly, Adrienne, Xavier, Bernhard, and Julia!