Tag: new book

This January marks what would have been the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that was recently repealed. Leading legal historian Mary Ziegler argues that Roe—the decision, its history, and its fall—have repercussions far beyond abortion rights. In her new book Roe: The History of a National Obsession (out now!), she explains how its ripple effects help us understand so much of our social and political landscape: from racial justice to political polarization to our constitutional rights.

Nic Stone, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Dear Martin, is a long-time champion of diverse stories in the fight for racial justice. She makes her nonfiction debut this month with How to Be a (Young) Antiracist: a Young Adult adaptation of Ibram X. Kendi’s groundbreaking work, and a crucial guide to social justice for young readers.

Nic has brought her message of social justice and solidarity to young people not only across America, but across the globe. Her books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Dear Martin, have garnered widespread acclaim for their unflinching portrayal of systemic racism as well as their clear-eyed hopefulness. As an author and speaker, she brings her message of equity and equality to audiences of all ages.

Now she’s breaking into the nonfiction sphere with How to Be a (Young) Antiracist (out January 31). This brilliant and accessible guide to antiracism for young readers reframes the concepts from Ibram X. Kendi’s #1 New York Times bestseller How to Be an Antiracist, centering young adulthood. Nic empowers teen readers (and everyone else!) to dismantle inequality and create a more just society. In talks, she draws on her book to give us essential context and practical tools for the fight for racial justice, helping us to be powerful forces for real change in our school, work and everyday life.

Watch Nic explain why sharing our own stories is so crucial:

In a city grappling with poisonous water, award-winning photographer and MacArthur Genius LaToya Ruby Frazier found hope. She first travelled to Flint, Michigan in 2016 to document how the city’s water supply was contaminated and poisoning the residents. There, she teamed up with community members to document not only the injustice and environmental racism, but more importantly, the hope and resilience that Flint’s residents displayed. Six years later, her new book Flint is Family in Three Acts tells the story of a community banding together to confront inequality. 

LaToya’s Flint photography was featured in The New York Times, which said, “The words, portraits and actions in this book place an ongoing disaster in broader context: American, humanitarian, human.”

This photobook is the most recent project in LaToya’s long history of ground-breaking social documentary work. Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Jerry Saltz called her “one of the strongest artists to emerge in this country this century.” LaToya proves that creativity has power, and that we can be the architects of our own futures—even in the worst of conditions. “No matter how dark a situation may be,” she says, “a camera can extract the light and turn a negative into a positive.”

Watch LaToya’s TED Talk on the Flint water crisis, which has over two million views: 

How do we stay sane and find purpose in the climate crisis? Dynamic TED Speaker and New Yorker-acclaimed science writer Britt Wray has the answer. Her revolutionary scientific research, outlined in her brilliant new book Generation Dread, reveals that wrestling through our climate emotions helps us find purpose and fight for the future of our planet. 

Britt shows us how the grief we face daily can mobilize us to take action, fortify our mental fitness, and collectively build the world we want. With critical scientific research and insights from therapists and activists, she moves us from anxious stasis to sustainable flourishing. In the context of the climate catastrophe (not to mention Covid, war, bitter political division, economic uncertainty, and mass violence), she sees a way forward to the other side. “Hope is very much about rolling up your sleeves, getting clear-eyed, being convicted and courageous and doing something with others,” Britt says. “And once you do that, you create the conditions to have real hope.”

Britt is a writer, broadcaster, and creator of the weekly climate newsletter “Gen Dread,” whose original research focuses on the mental health impacts of the climate crisis. She’s also a TED Resident and Stanford Human and Planetary Health Fellow. 

Britt joined us at the Lavin Agency to provide us with practical steps that we can take to find purpose and meaning in an age of anxiety. Watch this exclusive interview here:

Never in history has a democracy succeeded in being both diverse and equal—and yet this is the central goal of democracies around the world today. At a time of rising political tensions, Yascha Mounk’s crucial new book The Great Experiment: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure reveals the key to building democracies that work. 

As an author, Johns Hopkins professor, and Atlantic contributing editor, Yascha enables us to create connections and work toward a society for all to feel safe and seen. “That scenario is not easy to achieve,” he says, “but democracy is never easy to achieve—something our Founding Fathers were very aware of—so I think it’s within our power to fight for that.” With his international expertise and unwavering optimism, he brings new insight to an age-old problem, giving us fresh hope for the greatest experiment of our time. From the rise of populism to the powerful role of diversity in strengthening democracy, Yascha is “a convincing, humane, and hopeful guide” (bestselling author George Packer).

Watch Yascha explain the path to a better democracy here:

In just a couple of months the Coronavirus that emerged from the Chinese city of Wuhan has spread around the world, sparking a race to find treatments and vaccines against it. Zeroing in on how this deadly virus is spreading and what everyone can do to take preventative measures are The Lavin Agency’s Top Pandemic Speakers—letting you know what this, and the spread of other infectious diseases, means for you and your community. 

Nathan Wolfe is the world authority on how infectious diseases spread and how to prevent pandemics before they strike. Just as we discovered in the 1960s that it is better to prevent heart attacks then try to treat them, over the next 50 years we will realize that it is better to stop pandemics before they spread and that effort should increasingly be focused on viral forecasting and pandemic prevention. In his urgent talks, Wolfe discusses how novel viruses enter into the human population from animals and go on to become pandemics. He then explains attempts by his own research group to study this process and attempt to control viruses that have only recently emerged. By creating a global network at the interface of humans and animals, Wolfe is working to move viral forecasting from a theoretical possibility to a reality.

Gina Kolata is the New York Times Reporter for Science and Medicine, and demystifies the science of personal health in the face of spreading pandemics. In her talk based on her book Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918, Kolata recounts the fascinating story of the world’s deadliest disease. The Great Influenza Pandemic killed an estimated 50 million people, and infected 500 million around the globe—making it one of the deadliest disasters in our history. But what’s most amazing about that epidemic is how scientists solved the mystery of what that the virus looked like: by finding fragments in corpses and tissues stored in a vast government warehouse. Drawing from her extensive research, and relating it back to current diseases, Kolata tells the story of this discovery, and explains what it revealed about the 1918 flu—and what made it so destructive.

Dr. Jennifer Gardy is the expert champion of science that we need in the face of a spreading global pandemic. In a globally connected world with a rapidly expanding population, identifying and stopping pandemics before they spread is more important than ever. In her talks, Gardy outlines her vision of a 21st century form of public health, or “public health 2.0.” We must ensure that the outbreaks of the future are “open source outbreaks,” where researches around the world create and share vital information in real time. Through the lens of recent outbreaks, she explores how “open source outbreaks” unfold, from the technology that enables them, to what the future of public health collaboration could mean for our species.

To book one of these Pandemic Speakers for your next speaking engagement, contact The Lavin Agency and speak with an agent from our sales team.

In his year-end celebration of his favorite books of 2019,  Barack Obama names Shoshana Zuboff’s The Age of Surveillance Capitalism—a groundbreaking analysis of the intersection of the monetization of private data, big tech, the economy, and society—one of his top books.

To book speaker Shoshana Zuboff, contact her exclusive speakers bureau, The Lavin Agency.

Marcus Bullock is the creator of Flikshop, an ingeniously simple app that allows family members to connect with prisoners via short messages and photos. His entrepreneurial enterprise has proven so successful that he’s collaborating with Apple, as part of their Code with Apple series.

The inaugural TIME “100 Next” list was announced today. Honoring rising stars who are “eager to defy the odds and fight for a better future,” the list includes two Lavin speakers: Wanuri Kahiu, a Cannes-winning filmmaker from Kenya, and Vijay Gupta, the MacArthur Genius violinist putting art into social justice.

Marking the launch of her new memoir, Unfollow: Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church, Megan Phelps-Roper was interviewed on NPR’s popular Fresh Air program. 

Negotiating is more than a skill; it’s a fact of life. One could argue that nearly every interaction we have is a form of negotiation, which begs the question: how can we do it better? Francesca Gino explains how—contrary to popular belief—being too friendly in a negotiation could actually have adverse effects. 

When thinking about diversity, we tend to consider factors like gender, sexuality, and ethnicity. But what about age? Activist Ashton Applewhite has written a manifesto raging against the perils of growing older in a society that is, at its core, deeply ageist. Forbes calls it a must-read for anyone hoping to foster a more diverse and inclusive workplace.  

Rooted in Ashton Applewhite’s own experience navigating the world as an older woman, This Chair Rocks is a lively investigation of the stereotypes, industries, and institutions that contribute to our youth-obsessed culture. Applewhite examines everything from the cult of beauty brands, to discrimination in the workplace, exposing the American myth of independence in the process. And beyond debunking ageist beliefs that no longer serve us, she paints a portrait of what an age-friendly world would look like—and how much better off we’d be for it.

Funny, personal, and thoroughly researched This Chair Rocks is a rousing call-to-action. Forbes writes, “By the end of the book, readers will have a better understanding of age discrimination and will be able to assess personal beliefs that may have contributed to ageism in and out of the workplace. Using humor, Applewhite is able to craft a compelling case for how we can combat our ageist beliefs.”

To book speaker Ashton Applewhite for your next speaking engagement, contact a sales agent at The Lavin Agency today.

Information is capital in the twenty-first century, a fact which has led companies like Google and Facebook to hunt, capture, and hoard the personal data of its consumers. The value lies not in the capacity for service improvement, but in the rich predictive signals such data provides. In an essay for Toronto Life, Shoshana Zuboff explains the rise of the surveillance economy, and why Toronto may become a leading market.  

As the CEO of Trend Hunter, the largest trend-spotting platform in the world, Jeremy Gutsche is well-versed in the art of bringing big ideas to life. Now, he explains how CIOs will become crucial to disruptive innovation in the coming years.  

The average lifespan of a fortune 500 company has fallen from a healthy 75 years to a mere 15. Why is this so? According to Jeremy Gutsche, it’s because companies aren’t structured to adapt. “We have rules, structures, policies, procedures, best practices all meant to preserve and protect the status quo,” Gutsche explains.

In today’s organizations, there is no one person charged with understanding or implementing adaptation. But there should be. The CIO, the person who scouts new technologies and figures out how they will impact a company, is in an interesting position. In the coming years, Gutsche predicts the role will become much bigger, more sophisticated, and more strategic.

With the competition rising, brands are finally starting to understand the value of disruptive innovation. It’s important there is a clear leader of adaptation within each organization, says Gutsche, and the CIO is being called upon for the challenge.

To book speaker Jeremy Gutsche for your next event, contact The Lavin Agency, his exclusive speakers bureau.

July 20th, 2019, marks 50 years since NASA put a man on the moon. These are the Lavin Speakers talking about mankind’s greatest achievement.  

To learn more about booking a speaker for your next event, contact The Lavin Agency to speak with a sales representative.

In this Lavin Weekly, Yascha Mounk outlines a dark new era in American politics; Susan Pinker presents evidence to end the spanking debate once and for all; and Suki Kim’s takedown of a public radio icon earns her a spot on the Longreads Best Investigative Reporting of 2017 list. 

1. “Mr. Trump, Fox News, and Republicans in Congress seem to be actively using falsehoods to prepare an assault on the institutions that allow American democracy to function.”

In all democracies, politicians will occasionally lie, says Yascha Mounk in the New York Times this week. “But the construction of an alternate reality that obviates the very possibility of conducting politics on the basis of truth is a novelty for the United States.” These are exactly the tactics authoritarian populists have used for years to attack and destroy a democracy, he says. 

2. “Experimenting with autonomy and observing how parents react is part of the job of a child. Setting age-appropriate boundaries is the role of the adult.”

In the Wall Street Journal this week, Susan Pinker outlines a new study that settles the debate on spanking: “The American Pediatric Society now advises parents to avoid spanking, and the American Psychological Association cautions against the practice too. American parents seem to be left with a choice: To use a form of physical discipline that gambles with the future of their children or to fine other ways to help them learn self-control.”

3. “This story begins differently than most sexual-harassment accounts out there…”

Suki Kim’s takedown of an iconic public radio host in The Cut earned her a spot on Longreads’ Best Investigative Journalism of 2017 list this week. “The article was a reckoning of women’s experiences at work that included not just sexual harassment, but also degradation, anger, and resentment.”

Yascha Mounk, Susan Pinker, and Suki Kim are just a selection of Lavin speakers who made the world a smarter place this week. Check our our full roster.