Episodes

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to the author of THE FOREST, Alexander Nemerov, about his truthfully subjective image of America in the 1830s Alexander Nemerov is Carl and Marilynn Thoma Provostial Professor in the Arts and Humanities at Stanford University. His new book, The Forest: A Fable of America in the 1830s , is just out from Princeton University Press. His most recent book is Fierce Poise: Helen Frankenthaler and 1950s New York , published by Penguin in 2021 and a finalist for the...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to 50 STATES OF MIND author Ryan Bernsten on how everyone in America is connected and nobody is lost Offering a fresh perspective on U.S. politics, American national and Oxford University Masters graduate Ryan Bernsten’s book 50 States of Mind: A Journey to Rediscover American Democracy will be published on March 28, 2023 by UK publishers Bite-Sized Books. Bernsten is a graduate of Northwestern University and Oxford's Creative Writing Master's program. He ha...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to GNAR COUNTRY author Steven Kotler about the biology of aging and how to stay "rad" while growing old. Steven Kotler is a New York Times bestselling author, an award-winning journalist, and the Executive Director of the Flow Research Collective . He is one of the world’s leading experts on human performance. He is the author of 11 bestsellers (out of fourteen books), including The Art of Impossible, The Future is Faster Than You Think, Stealing Fire, The R...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to the author of UNLIKELY HEROES, Derek Leebaert, about Franklin Roosevelt's four key lieutenants - Harold Ickes, Harry Hopkins, Frances Perkins and Henry Wallace - and the radically new world that they collectively made. Derek Leebaert won the biennial 2020 Truman Book Award for Grand Improvisation . His previous books include Magic and Mayhem: The Delusions of American Foreign Policy from Korea to Afghanistan and To Dare and to Conquer: Special Operations ...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to BLOOD MONEY author Kathleen McLaughlin about an exploitative American blood industry that, she believes, is sucking the blood of the poor Kathleen McLaughlin is an award-winning journalist who reports and writes about the consequences of economic inequality around the world. A frequent contributor to The Washington Post and The Guardian , McLaughlin’s reporting has also appeared in The New York Times, BuzzFeed, The Atlantic, The Economist, NPR , and more....

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to THE BENEATH THE ICE author Mensun Bound about the extraordinary story of how the Endurance, Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship, was found in the most hostile sea on earth. Born in the Falkland Islands, Mensun Bound was the Triton Fellow in Maritime Archaeology at St Peter’s College, Oxford, and the director of the first academic unit for underwater archaeology in England. Known as the "Indiana Jones of the Deep", Bound has conducted wreck surveys and excavation...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to FINALLY SEEN author Kelly Yang about Roald Dahl, Ron DeSantis and why children's literature has become so politicized. KELLY YANG, Founder, is the New York Times best-selling, award-winning author of FRONT DESK and winner of the 2018 Asian Pacific American Award for Literature. FRONT DESK is a debut middle grade novel published by Scholastic Inc, the publishers of Harry Potter, about a 10 year-old Chinese American immigrant girl who manages the front desk...

In this regular KEEN ON summary of the week's news in technology, Andrew talks to That Was The Week newsletter editor Keith Teare about Section 230, an AI bubble, a new China-Saudi axis, techno-political problems in Israel, and Sam Bankman-Fried's legal woes Keith Teare is a Founder and CEO at SignalRank Corporation. Previously he was Executive Chairman at Accelerated Digital Ventures Ltd - A UK based global investment company focused on startups at all stages. He was also previously founder at ...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to the author of THE WORLD CRISIS AND INTERNATIONAL LAW Paul Stephan about the world crisis caused by our knowledge economy and what we can do about it Paul B. Stephan is a law professor at the University of Virginia. He is an expert on international business, international dispute resolution and comparative law, with an emphasis on Soviet and post-Soviet legal systems. In addition to writing prolifically in these fields, Stephan has advised governments and ...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to the co-author of THE BIG MYTH, Erik Conway, about how American business taught us to loathe government and love the free market ideologies of neo-liberal economists like Milton Friedman. Erik Conway is a historian of science and technology residing in Altadena, CA, and works for the California Institute of Technology. He is the author of seven books, on topics as diverse as aviation infrastructure development in the 1930s and 1940s to Mars exploration in ...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to THE SECRET FILES author Michael Hayes about Bill de Blasio, the NYPD & the Broken Promises of Police Reform Michael is a journalist and author of the forthcoming book The Secret Files: Bill De Blasio, The NYPD, and The Broken Promises of Police Reform . Set during Bill de Blasio’s tenure as mayor of New York City, the book chronicles the failure of New York City’s most powerful officials to hold the city’s cops accountable to the public they serve. Named ...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to the author of INJUSTICE, INC Daniel Hatcher about how the United States criminal justice system has transformed the poor and children into tradable commodities Daniel L. Hatcher is Professor of Law in the University of Baltimore’s Civil Advocacy Clinic and author of "Injustice, Inc.: How America's Justice System Commodifies Children and the Poor," and "The Poverty Industry: The Exploitation of America's Most Vulnerable Citizens." A former Maryland Legal A...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to MEGANETS author David Auerbach on how digital forces beyond our control are commandeering our daily lives and inner realities. DAVID AUERBACH is a writer and software engineer who has worked for Google and Microsoft. His writing has ap­peared in The Times Literary Supplement, MIT Technology Review, The Nation, The Daily Beast, n+1, and Bookforum , among many other publications. He has lectured around the world on technology, literature, philosophy, and st...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to PALO ALTO author Malcolm Harris about Leland Stanford, eugenics, Herbert Hoover's technocracy, Elizabeth Holmes' black sweaters and Sam Bankman-Fried's parents. Malcolm Harris is an American journalist, critic, and thought leader. He is an editor at The New Inquiry and authored Kids These Days: The Making of Millennials and Shit is Fucked Up and Bullshit: History Since the End of History . His upcoming book, Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism,...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to RED BALCONY author Jonathan Wilson about Palestine in the 1930s, Jabotinsky and Jewish terrorism, and whether it's ever okay to use the Y word to describe Jewish people. JONATHAN WILSON is the author of nine books, including the novels The Hiding Room (a finalist for the Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize) and A Palestine Affair (a New York Times Notable Book and National Jewish Book Award finalist); two short story collections, Schoom and An Ambulance Is on ...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to ACTUAL MALICE author Samantha Barbas about Civil Rights and Freedom of the Press in the 1964 New York Times v. Sullivan case and how the current Supreme Court might be plotting to review this ruling. Samantha Barbas is the author of several books on media history and law, with a focus on journalism, privacy, libel, and the First Amendment. Her latest book is Actual Malice: Civil Rights and Freedom of the Press in New York Times v. Sullivan (2023). She is ...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to THE CURSE OF THE MARQUIS DE SADE author Joel Warner about a French ponzi scheme built around the original manuscript of De Sade's notorious "120 Days of Sodom" Joel Warner is a writer and editor whose work has appeared in Esquire, Wired, Newsweek, Men’s Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, Popular Science, and Slate, among others. He is the author of THE CURSE OF THE MARQUIS DE SADE: A Notorious Scoundrel, a Mythical Manuscript, and the Biggest Scandal in Lit...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to the author of OFF THE EDGE author Kelly Weill about Flat Earthers, conspiracy culture and why some people will believe anything. Kelly Weill , the author of OFF THE EDGE: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture and Why People Will Believe Anything (2023), is a journalist at the Daily Beast , where she covers extremism, disinformation, and the internet. As a leading media voice on the role of online conspiracy theories in current affairs, she has discussed Flat ...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks with Emmanuel Iduma, the author of I AM STILL WITH YOU, about the complex silence, inheritance and history of the Nigerian Civil War Emmanuel Iduma is the author of A Stranger’s Pose , a book of travel stories which was longlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize. His essays and art criticism have been published in The New York Review of Books, Aperture, Artforum , and Art in America . His honors include a Creative Capital/Warhol Foundation grant for arts writing,...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN (3rd ed) author John Perkins about how China and the United States are both contributing to what he calls the "death economy" and how to create an alternative system that will save both our planet and our souls. As Chief Economist at a major international consulting firm, John Perkins advised the World Bank, United Nations, IMF, U.S. Treasury Department, Fortune 500 corporations, and countries in Africa, Asia, Latin Amer...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to AFRICATOWN author Nick Tabor about the Clotilde, America's last slave ship and the community it created outside of Mobile, Alabama. NICK TABOR is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in New York Magazine, The New Republic , The Washington Post , Oxford American , The Paris Review , and elsewhere. Africatown is his first book. He lives in New York. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's bes...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to the author of AN AFFIRMING FLAME, Roger Cohen, about the "exquisite torture" of writing and how we can undo what he calls our "Age of Undoing" ROGER COHEN is the Paris bureau chief and a former op-ed columnist for The New York Times, where he began working in 1990. He has also worked for the Time s as a correspondent in Paris and Berlin, and as bureau chief in the Balkans covering the Bosnian war, for which he was cited for excellence by the Overseas Pres...

In this regular weekly KEEN ON round-up of tech news, Andrew talks to SignalRank CEO Keith Teare about ChatGPT hysteria, Microsoft's Bing dilemma, Tesla's self-driving woes and the upcoming existential challenge to Google at the Supreme Court Keith Teare is a Founder and CEO at SignalRank Corporation. Previously he was Executive Chairman at Accelerated Digital Ventures Ltd - A UK based global investment company focused on startups at all stages. He was also previously founder at the Palo Alto in...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to Steven Levy, Wired editor-at-large and author of FACEBOOK: THE INSIDE STORY, about the history of social media from Friendster and MySpace to Facebook and TikTok. Steven Levy is Wired’s editor at large. The Washington Post has called him “America’s premier technology journalist.” For almost four decades Levy has chronicled the digital revolution, its impact on humanity, and the people behind it. He has written the foundational work on computer culture ( H...