When We Face Inequality Together, We All Win
Heather McGhee traveled across the country, spotlighting stories of ordinary people coming together across divides to fight injustice and make change. The New York Times bestselling author of The Sum of Us, she offers a message of hope and community that has never been more crucial than in this election year.
Changing Minds Is the First Step to Changing Everything
Today, it feels harder than ever to unite for a common goal—but Anand Giridharadas says there’s still hope. The New York Times bestselling author of The Persuaders, he’s developed a practical playbook for reaching out to those who think differently from us, while still holding fast to what we believe.
Roe v. Wade, and What’s Next for Our Constitutional Rights
The landmark Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe has had repercussions far beyond abortion rights. Leading legal historian Mary Ziegler explains how it helps us understand so much of our social and political landscape: from racial justice to political polarization to our constitutional rights, and what comes next.
A Shared Passion for Equality Can Still Unite Us
Our nation is split into four narratives, says award-winning author George Packer: from “Free America” to “Smart America.” But our deep-rooted, shared passion for equality can still bring us together. In talks, he draws on his book Last Best Hope to show how we can work across party lines and save our democracy.
We Must Face the Past to Forge a More Equal Future
A long-time New Yorker staff writer and the Dean of Columbia Journalism School (the only journalism school in the Ivy League), Jelani Cobb has dedicated his career to investigating how today’s news has its roots in our complex past, and what we need to do to build a better world for tomorrow.
The World Is Not Divided Between Us and Them
In a polarized world, we can find common ground and look beyond the boundaries that divide us. Drawing on his vast body of work, including his books Cosmopolitanism and The Lies that Bind, Kwame Anthony Appiah shows us how to celebrate our shared humanity while still embracing our differences.
Our Society Is Getting Better—Really!
Health, prosperity, safety, and happiness are on the rise worldwide. But we’re facing a wave of fatalism that threatens to undo our progress. Renowned public intellectual Steven Pinker makes the case for embracing reason, science, and humanism—the ideals we need if we want to continue making the world better.
Black Americans Are Foundational to Our Country’s History
“Our democracy’s founding ideals were false when they were written. Black Americans have fought to make them true,” writes Pulitzer Prize winner Nikole Hannah-Jones. As creator of The 1619 Project (now an Emmy-winning docuseries), she shows how we can live up to our ideals of freedom, justice, and equality.
Building Coalitions Is Hard. But There’s a Playbook
Charles Booker grew up in one of Kentucky’s poorest ZIP codes and worked his way up to become the youngest Black legislator for that state in almost 90 years. He draws on his career to offer a playbook for building trust across divides: “You find those common themes. You create a space of trust. And then you get to work.”
Our Road Towards a Better American Story
We’re in a moment of overlapping crises, but it’s not too late to set things right. In his urgent new book, What We’ve Become, psychiatrist Jonathan Metzl uses the lens of gun reform to show how our common desire for safety and freedom can help us come together in the pursuit of a just and equitable democracy.
