Episodes
In defense of literary flyover country: Peter Slen on Willa Cather's …
EPISODE 1843: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Peter Slen, Executive Producer of the C-SPAN series BOOKS THAT SHAPED AMERICA, about Willa Cather's "My Antonia", the 1918 novel that nailed the ideal of immigrant middle Am...
Orwell and his women: Bethanne Patrick on new feminist takes on Georg…
EPISODE 1842: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Bethanne Patrick, book critic at the Los Angeles Times, about new feminist takes on George Orwell, the man and the writer. Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the ...
Guilty by seven crimes and death by a thousand verticals: Keith Teare…
EPISODE 1841: In our weekly KEEN ON wrap of tech news with Keith Teare, author of the THAT WAS THE WEEK newletter Keith talks about Sam Bankman-Fried and Palo Alto, Elon Musk and Rishi Sunak, and Space X and X Keith Teare i...
How to get more women in science right now: Lisa Munoz on implicit bi…
EPISODE 1840: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Lisa M.P. Munoz, author of WOMEN IN SCIENCE NOW, about implicit bias, leaky pipelines, tokenization and other explanations for the persistent gender gap in science As presid...
Did the KGB really invent the idea of the Palestinian nation in the 1…
EPISODE 1839: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the French-Israeli filmmaker and writer Pierre Rehov what he believes are Ianian financed sleeper-cells in US universities and why he admires Hamas' "evil mind" Pierre Rebo...
Overcoming the politics of black grief and white grievance in America…
EPISODE 1838: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Juliet Hooker, author of BLACK GRIEF/WHITE GRIEVANCE, about why American democracy is in desperate need of an radical expansion of its political imagination Juliet Hooker is...
A remarkable American hero at a time in which many Americans are no l…
EPISODE 1837: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Ronald C. White, the author of ON GREAT FIELDS, about the life of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, the unlikely hero of Gettysburg. Ronald C. White is the author of two New York...
The problem with stories about the Holocaust is that they are told by…
EPISODE 1836: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Daniel Finkelstein, author of HITLER, STALIN, MUM AND DAD: A FAMILY MEMOIR OF MIRACULOUS SURVIVAL, about the extraordinary coincidences enabling the survival of his family i...
Zero to Zero: William Deresiewicz on what happens when the price of o…
EPISODE 1835: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks William Deresiewicz, author of THE DEATH OF THE ARTIST, about the fate of the creative artist when , in our digital economy, the price of content has been driven down to zero W...
Where have all the Democrats gone? Ruy Teixeira on why the Democratic…
EPISODE 1834: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Ruy Teixeira, co-author of WHERE HAVE ALL THE DEMOCRATS GONE?, needs to tone down the volume on cultural issues if its to rediscover its political soul Ruy Teixeira is a Sen...
How this month's "almost miraculous" Polish election might be a hopef…
EPISODE 1833: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Maciej Kisilowski, editor of LET'S AGREE ABOUT POLAND, about the promise and peril of democracy in a post authoritarian Poland after what he calls its "almost miraculous" Oc...
Does today's climate change crisis represent an existential threat to…
EPISODE 1832: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Antonello Provenzale, author of HISTORY OF CLIMATE CHANGE, about whether today's climate change crisis represent an existential threat to humanity Antonello Provenzale is Di...
An enigmatic city teetering on the edge of the world: John Kampfner o…
EPISODE 1831: In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to John Kampfner, author of IN SEARCH OF BERLIN, about the enigmatic German capital on the edge of the world John Kampfner has had a 30-year career in international public l...
A Theory of Everyone (but not Everything): Michael Muthukrishna on ho…
EPISODE 1830: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Michael Muthukrishna, author of A THEORY OF EVERYTHING, about how humans are a new kind of animal and why we need to transform the world into the most efficient laboratory p...
Why Americans have the constitutional right to sometimes lie: Jeff Ko…
EPISODE 1829: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Jeff Kosseff, author of LIAR IN A CROWDED THEATER, about the protection of free speech in our digital age of misinformation Jeff Kosseff is an associate professor of cyberse...
Eight literary tricks and treats to scare you this Halloween: Bethann…
EPISODE 1828: In this regular KEEN ON show with LA Times book critic Bethane Patrick, Bethanne talks about eight scary new books to keep you awake this Halloween Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing in...
Why our cyborg AI future may already have arrived in the trained-on-j…
EPISODE 1827: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the filmmaker, artist and writer Hito Steyerl about what she calls the "pyramid schemes", "on-boarding" tools and the "mean" creativity of our AI age Hito Steyerl (born 1 Ja...
Is the venture capital industry a big ponzi scheme? Keith Teare separ…
EPISODE 1826: In this regular weekly KEEN ON with Keith Teare, THAT WAS THE WEEK newsletter author, Keith tries to separate the hyperbole from the hysteria of VC techno-optimism Keith Teare is a Founder and CEO at SignalRan...
The American Shakespeare or trash of the veriest sort? Peter Slen on …
EPISODE 1825: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Peter Slen, Executive Producer of the C-SPAN series BOOKS THAT SHAPED AMERICA, about Mark Twain's 1884 novel HUCKLEBERRY FINN, the adventurous story of a youthful nation on ...
A Graphic Diary of the War in Ukraine: Nora Krug on the contrasting r…
EPISODE 1824: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Nora Krug, author of DIARIES OF WAR, about the contrasting realities of a Ukrainian journalist and a Russian artist in the first year of the Russian invasion Nora Krug is a ...
The Dismal Science investigates that most dismal of things - economic…
EPISODE 1823: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Branko Milanovic, author of VISIONS OF INEQUALITY, about how different economists have made sense of economic inequality over the last 250 years BRANKO MILANOVIC is a Senior...
That Sinking Feeling of Falling Out of the Middle Class: Ray Suarez o…
EPISODE 1822: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Ray Suarez, author of "That Sinking Feel", about his fear of being poor in the America of the inegalitarian Twenties. Ray Suarez has had a more than 40-year career in print,...
Celebrating a transcendental photography of nature that blurs art and…
EPISODE 1821: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Anand Varma, author of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC INVISIBLE WONDERS, on about his lifelong curiosity with the natural world Anand Varma is a National Geographic Explorer and award-...
How to stand up to the apocalypse: Peter Sarris on Justinian, the 6th…
EPISODE 1820: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talk: Peter Sarris on Justinian, the legendary 6th century Byzantine ruler who resurrected the Eastern Roman Empires to Peter Sarris, author of JUSTINIAN, about the legendary 6th cen...