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Four hundred years ago, in August of 1619, a ship carrying enslaved Africans arrived in the American state of Virginia, then a British colony. That fateful trip altered the country, it’s identity, and its history in unimaginable ways. Nikole Hannah-Jones explores the shadow cast by that crucial moment in her new audio series ‘1619.’

Titled “The Fight for a True Democracy,”  the first episode of Nikole Hannah-Jones’ 1619 podcast examines the collective trauma and repercussions of slavery, both on the African American population, and the nation as a whole. The series is part of the much larger 1619 project for The New York Times Magazine.

“Without the idealistic, strenuous, and patriotic efforts of black Americans, our democracy today would most likely look very different—it might not be a democracy at all,” says Hannah-Jones.

You can listen to the full episode here.

To book speaker Nikole Hannah-Jones for your next speaking engagement, contact an experienced sales agent at The Lavin Agency, her exclusive speakers bureau.

Bestselling author and Rolling Stone writer Matt Taibbi is the host of ‘Useful Idiots,’ a compelling weekly series focusing on news and politics.  

Common wisdom would suggest that Donald Trump’s campaign is targeted towards his most ardent supporters: fellow Republicans. Yet, a new study co-authored by Stanford Sociology Professor Robb Willer and his colleague suggests the opposite is true. Liberals, not conservatives, may be most swayed by the President’s re-election strategy. 

In his latest book, award-winning journalist George Packer tells the story of controversial American diplomat Richard Holbrooke. Our Man paints a dazzling portrait of a policy giant who was brilliant, self-absorbed, and willing to do anything to fulfill his political ambition. Recently, Packer joined Mother Jones editor Clara Jeffery for an enlightening conversation about the longstanding diplomat. 

A few short years ago, the radical left was poised for a European take-over; today, the once-shining leftist leaders have barely made a mark on the government. Yascha Mounk considers why the resurgent movement never took off for The Atlantic. 

The European Left has been traditionally controlled by moderate social democrats. Though the far left has always had a minor presence in European parliament, it had no real power until the Great Recession withered the public’s faith in the old system. “The first sign of the new era came in January 2015 when Syriza, a party forged from a potpourri of leftist splinter groups, won national elections at the height of Greece’s devastating currency crisis. The party’s young leader, Alexis Tsipras, became the first far-left politician in decades to head a western European government,” writes Yascha Mounk in his Atlantic article “The Rapid Fall of The Left.”

Tsipras’ win was one of many small radical leftist victories in Europe, including Jermy Corbyn in Britain and Jean-Luc Melenchon in France. Many predicted that a democratic wave would take over the continent, but, as Mounk writes, most observers failed to recognize that these victories constituted a “reordering of power within the left, rather than a triumph over the right.”

Sunday’s election in Greece—where Tsipras was ousted from office after less than four years in power—suggests that the left is in deep crisis. Mounk offers a potential explanation for the turnaround: its appeal was always more negative than positive. In Tsipras’ case, his opposition to the current system was what fuelled his platform and garnered him support. “So long as Tsipras remained in opposition, his incoherence mattered less than the apparent authenticity of his anger. But once he came to power, his inability to deliver alienated Greeks on all ends of the political spectrum.”

The economic crisis offered a rare opportunity for the far left to gain political ground with angry voters who were turning their backs on the establishment. Unfortunately, they were unable to nurture the momentum into full-fledged and long-lasting support. As the U.S. 2020 election draws near, Mounk urges American leftists to take note of the European Left’s fall from grace if they don’t wish to suffer the same fate.

To book Yascha Mounk for your next speaking event, contact The Lavin Agency, his exclusive speakers bureau.

As the democratic debates kick off, Contributing Editor at Rolling Stone Matt Taibbi joins broadcast journalist Warren Olney on KCRW to discuss how the rise of social media has dramatically altered America’s political landscape.  

Though they are based on very little information, these media pronouncements of the “winners” and “losers” paint a picture of who are the most viable, qualified, or presidential candidates, and effects voter judgement moving forward. In fact, Taibbi notes, the press feels like it has a responsibility to paint this picture and educate voters. However, as we saw in 2016, times are changing: voters are pushing back against these manipulative tendencies, often picking non-traditional candidates just to spite the media, who they have come to view as a faction of the ruling elite.

The American public also no longer has to rely on traditional sources for information. “Commercial press hasn’t clued into the fact that in the social media age, they just don’t have the clout that they used to,” Taibbi says. “We’re in a new frontier, and the press hasn’t caught up to that.”

You can listen to the Taibbi’s full conversation with Olney here.  

Interested in Matt Taibbi or another speaker like him? Visit our dedicated Politics & Society speakers page for more information.

Public intellectual and international best-selling author Sam Harris is well-versed on issues ranging from moral philosophy and religion, to neuroscience and human reasoning. In the latest episode of his wildly popular Making Sense podcast he interviews inimitable historian Jared Diamond on his new book Upheaval, and the rise and fall of civilizations.

In Upheaval—the third book of his monumental trilogy that started with Guns, Germs and Steel—Jared Diamond explores how nations recover from crisis by looking at a collection of case studies. From the Soviet Union’s attack on Findland to the transformation of Germany in WWII, Diamond reveals the strategies that have been most successful in the face of collective trauma. Amidst the grave dangers the world currently faces, Upheaval encourages us to learn from past nations.

Diamond joined modern-day philosopher Sam Harris’ on his Making Sense podcast for an insightful conversation touching on political polarization, immigration policy, the biological differences between populations, and the fragility of American democracy as a whole. The full podcast is available here.

To book Jared Diamond for your next speaking event, contact The Lavin Agency today.

1984—George Orwell’s seminal work—has enjoyed a cultural resurgence in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidency. Now, award-winning journalist and author George Packer unpacks the novel’s newfound relevance for The Atlantic.

“Orwell never intended his novel to be a prediction, only a warning,” George Packer writes in Doublethink is Stronger than Orwell Imagined, his latest article for The Atlantic. The book, originally published in 1949, envisions a dystopian future in which the world has fallen prey to ruthless totalitarianism, fueled by terror, surveillance, and political propaganda. Though there are startling similarities between the world today—the haunting phrase “fake news” comes to mind—and Orwell’s nightmarish dystopia, we don’t live under a totalitarian regime. “We are living with a new kind of regime that didn’t exist in Orwell’s time,” Packer writes. “Today the problem is too much information from too many sources, with a resulting plague of fragmentation and division—not excessive authority but its disappearance, which leaves ordinary people to work out the facts for themselves, at the mercy of their own prejudices and delusions.”

Packer offers us a new reading of 1984; today, the heart of the issue is not the state, but the individual. It’s not that Trump might abolish democracy, Packer argues, “but that Americans had put him in a position to try.” Regardless of the political ideologies of the day, 1984 will remain fundamental reading because it wrestles with the enduring concept of truth. Does it exist? Who gets to decide what is and isn’t true? According to Packer, the real political war is the one we wage internally.

George Packer is a staff writer for The Atlantic. His recent book, Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century, was released in May 2019.

To book George Packer or another Politics & Society speaker, contact The Lavin Agency for more information.

Netflix’s new series When They See Us tells the story of the Central Park 5: the five teenagers who were wrongfully imprisoned for the violent rape of a female jogger in 1989. Following its release, The New York Times has chosen Emily Bazelon’s Charged as one of six must-read books to help viewers better contextualize the crime, investigation, and it’s aftermath.

Thirty years ago, five black and latino boys in New York City were falsely convicted of the rape and attempted murder of Trisha Meili, a 28-year-old white woman. Years after DNA evidence exonerated the boys (now men) collectively known as the Central Park 5, director Ava DuVernay revisits the case with her heart-wrenching miniseries When They See Us: a powerful indictment of an unchecked criminal justice system influenced by racial bias. Veteran legal journalist and Lavin speaker Emily Bazelon crafted a similar indictment earlier this year in her bestselling book Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration. Now, The New York Times is recommending Charged as a companion read to the series, offering viewers a key to understanding the many grey areas of the legal system—and how something like the Central Park 5 case could have happened.

In Charged, Bazelon shows readers how having the right prosecutor can change everything. Through the stories of two young defendants navigating the system, interspersed with years of meticulous research, Bazelon makes a compelling argument for excessive prosecutorial powers being responsible for over-incarceration in the United States.

Though she paints a bleak picture of the system in its current state, Bazelon remains hopeful that American prosecution can heal itself through the inclusion of young and diverse prosecutors with their eye on reform. “Prosecutors also hold the key to change,” Bazelon writes. “They can protect against convicting the innocent. They can guard against racial bias. They can curtail mass incarceration.”

Curious to learn more? Visit our dedicted Politics & Society speakers page or contact The Lavin Agency today. 

The 2020 Presidential Race is densely packed with contenders. Journalist and Lavin Speaker Emily Bazelon explores the legitimacy of one of the Democratic Party’s most visible candidates—Elizabeth Warren—in her cover story for the New York Times Magazine.

Who can beat Donald Trump in 2020? That is the question on many people’s lips as the election draws nearer. With such a tightly packed race to the democratic primary, it’s anyone’s game. But one candidate’s star is steadily rising: Elizabeth Warren. In her New York Times Magazine cover story “Elizabeth Warren is Completely Serious,” Emily Bazelon chronicles the senator’s political journey—and transformation—into serious presidential contender.

“For her entire career, Warren’s singular focus has been the growing fragility of America’s middle class,” Bazelon writes. “She made the unusual choice as a law professor to concentrate relentlessly on data, and the data that alarms her shows corporate profits creeping up over the last 40 years while employees’ share of the pie shrinks.” In her intruiging and thorough profile, Bazelon expertly illustrates Warren’s platform today: centered on income inequality, corporate power, and corrupt politics.

Emily Bazelon is a staff writer for The New York Times and the author of the recently released Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration.

To book Emily Bazelon for your next speaking event, contact The Lavin Agency today.

In today’s political climate, nationalism tends to carry negative connotations. But in the latest video from Big Think, historian, geographer, and bestselling author JARED DIAMOND explores how—much like self-confidence for the individual—nationalism is something that countries should have, in healthy doses.

Nationalism isn’t inherently bad—it just depends how much you have of it. Jared Diamond sat down with Big Think to discuss what separates a healthy sense of national identity from unhealthy patriotic obsession. He cites Finland as an example of a country with a “healthy nationalism” based on reality—specifically, their unique language. “Nobody else in the world speaks the Finnish language. It's a beautiful, but very difficult language,” Diamond explains. “It's the root of Finnish national identity.” On the other end of the spectrum lies Germany during WW2, a situation in which grandiose pride compelled them to try and conquer the world. Today, Germany has restored what Diamond deems a much healthier national identity focused on the importance of community. 

Diamond is a Pulitzer Prize Winner and a #1 New York Times bestselling author. His latest book Upheaval—the conclusion to the epic trilogy that began with Guns, Germs, And Steel—focuses on how nations can recover from crises.

To learn more about the latest in Politics & Society, browse our dedicated speakers page. 

Bill Gates is a software mogul, a billionaire philanthropist, and an avid reader—reporting he reads at least one book per week (or 50 titles per year). As a result, he’s emerged as a trusted authority on book recommendations. This year, he’s chosen Lavin Speaker Jared Diamond’s new book Upheaval as a summer must-read.

“I’m a big fan of everything Jared has written, and his latest is no exception,” Gates writes. “The book explores how societies react during moments of crisis. He uses a series of fascinating case studies to show how nations managed existential challenges like civil war, foreign threats, and general malaise. It sounds a bit depressing, but I finished the book even more optimistic about our ability to solve problems than I started.”

Gates also sat down with the celebrated author and historian to have a longer conversation about how societies have creatively solved their biggest problems. Diamond admits he became “cautiously optimistic” while researching some of the world’s most successful negotiations, and thinking about how to apply those insights to our current problems. “Jared doesn’t go as far as to predict that we’ll successfully address our most serious challenges,” Gates’ notes, “but he shows that there’s a path through crisis and that we can choose to take it.”

For more information or to book speaker Jared Diamond for your next event, contact The Lavin Agency.

Ageism is the last acceptable “ism” says Ashton Applewhite, author of This Chair Rocks—the powerful anti-ageism manifesto that Publishers Weekly called “a valuable resource, an agent for social change, and an enjoyable read.”   

Booklist calls it “a fierce and funny yet practical and thoughtful manifesto on how such negativity can be combated on individual and societal levels. Offering much food for thought and abundant realistic steps to engender positive change, Applewhite's guide is an essential tool for enjoying healthy and happy aging.”

Applewhite’s TED talk below garnered a standing ovation and has been viewed almost two million times.

To book Ashton Applewhite for your next event, contact The Lavin Agency.

Do you want to try to earn enough money to insulate yourself from the world? Or do you want to make the world a place you don’t have to insulate yourself from? World-renowned media theorist Douglas Rushkoff has written his most important book yet: a crucial rallying cry to resist the technologies, markets and institutions that aim to isolate and repress us, and instead, remake society as a team: Team Human. 

To book Douglas Rushkoff for your next event, contact The Lavin Agency. 

Jared Diamond is a Pulitzer Prize winner, a #1 New York Times bestselling author, and one of Foreign Policy’s Top 10 Public Intellectuals. His forthcoming book, Upheaval, is the final installment a trilogy that the Times calls “one of the most significant projects embarked upon by any intellectual of our generation.” In Upheaval he brilliantly answers another of the world’s most pressing questions: what makes some nations resilient in the face of tremendous change—and others not? 

Yuval Noah Harari, bestselling author of Sapiens, calls it “a riveting an illuminating tour of how nations deal with crises—which might hopefully help humanity as a whole deal with our present global crisis.” Diamond’s books, like his keynotes, take audiences on a journey through some of the most profound evolutionary questions of our time, with an urgent, persuasive focus on how we can learn from the past to improve the world today. 

Watch Diamond’s TED talk, viewed over two million times, in which he asks, and answers the question: why do societies collapse?  

To book Jared Diamond for your next event, contact The Lavin Agency, his exclusive speakers bureau.

In a follow-up interview with bestselling author and Harvard professor Steven Pinker, he explains (among other things) what gave him the idea for Enlightenment Now—a book about why and how the world is getting better. “It was an epiphany from seeing graphs of human improvement that changed my view of the overall course of history: that progress is a demonstrable fact. It’s not a matter of seeing the glass half full. It’s not a matter of being an optimist. It’s a fact—that very few people know about.”

To book Steven Pinker for your next speaking event, contact The Lavin Agency, his exclusive speakers bureau.