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T U E S D A Y

In Kirghizstan, British travel writer Colin Thubron met a man of Korean descent who told him, “It’s wrong not to know your history. Educated people know their history. But here nobody knows.” It’s a sentiment Thubron could well have heard from many of the people he met while researching The Lost Heart of Asia, his account of a trek through the freshly un-Sovieted republics of ever-mysterious Central Asia. Rather than finding vibrant cultures ready to be reborn, the author frequently encountered confusion, people glad no longer to be Soviet yet still partially under the spell of Stalinism. Thubron discusses his book at 6 p.m. at the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden’s Ring Auditorium, 7th & Independence Ave. SW. $16. (202) 357-3030. (Mark Jenkins)