What Was Your Biggest Surprise When You Moved to the United States?

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When you arrived in pittsburg, i actually thought the airport had to be the biggest airport in the history of the world. And then sun you get to america, and at that time, i think there was 13 or 14 channels, but within a few years there'd be 60, and then god knows how many we have now. So just that sense of abundance, i think. But as you know, some things were similar, even if the form changed. Like, sport was huge in ireland, even for a small country, irish football or socker, or hurling or whatever. And then you come to America and you look around, it's just a f

A former war correspondent and UN ambassador, Samantha Power has had her share of tough assignments. But writing a memoir about it all is also a daunting prospect. The format itself is a challenge: how do you convince the reader you’re worth spending time with? How do you paint a relatable portrait without oversharing and losing your dignity? For Samantha the answer was settling upon a purpose for her memoir and ruthlessly cutting out everything not in service of that.

Tyler and Samantha discuss that purpose and more, including what she learned as an Irish immigrant, the personality traits of good diplomats (and war correspondents), relations with China, why democracy is so rare in the Middle East, the truth about Richard Holbrooke, what factors mitigate against humanitarian intervention, her favorite memoir, how to get NATO members to spend more on defense, and whether baseball games are too long.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

Recorded July 30th, 2019 Other ways to connect

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