Keen On America

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...

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 publis...

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 b...

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 lega...

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 top...

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...

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...

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 man...

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: H...

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 a...

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 i...

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...

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 lead...

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 ,...

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...

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....

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 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 inve...

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...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to BLACK AND QUEER ON CAMPUS author Michael P. Jeffries about what life both is and ideally should be for LGBTQ students in America today. Michael P. Jeffries is Dean of Academic Affairs, Class of 1949 Professor in Ethics, and Professor of American Studies at Wellesley College. He holds a PhD from Harvard University and works at the intersection of race, cultu...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to PURPOSEFUL CURIOSITY author Costa Andriopoulos on how to ask the kind of questions that will successfully change our lives Costas Andriopoulos is a Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He joined Bayes Business School (formerly Cass) in September 2014. Before joining Bayes, Costas held a Chair in Strategy at Cardiff Business School, and, prior to th...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to the author of THE WOMAN WITH THE CURE, Lynn Cullen, about Dr Dorothy Horstmann the pioneer of the polio vaccine who gave up everything and changed the world. Lynn Cullen grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and is the bestselling author of The Sisters of Summit Avenue , Twain’s End , and Mrs. Poe , which was named an NPR 2013 Great Read and an Indie Next List se...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to the author of OTHERLANDS, Thomas Halliday, about the deep time of paleobiology, croquet and the existential threat of climate change to our species and planet THOMAS HALLIDAY is a palaeontologist and evolutionary biologist. He holds a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at the University of Birmingham, and is a Scientific Associate of the Natural History Mus...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to the director general of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, Wojciech Soczewica, about how to visit - both in person and online - this unique monument to evil. A graduate of the Institute of International Relations at the University of Warsaw and the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then in t...

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to POD author Laline Paul about how to tell "Humanimal" stories that will get us to recognize our collective guilt in the destruction of nature. London-born and of Indian heritage, Laline Paull studied English at Oxford, screenwriting in Los Angeles, and theater in her home city. Her most recent novel is The Bees, which was a resounding critical and commercial...