A Book with Legs

Erwin Chemerinsky, Berkeley Law’s dean and a leading constitutional scholar, explores the toughest battles over campus speech and academic freedom. He discusses the heckler’s veto, controversial speakers, protest encampments, viewpoint neutrality, Title VI, DEI requirements, faculty discipline, and government pressure on universities. A sharp guide to navigating free expression when institutions face intense political and social pressure.

Cole and Bill Smead explore books on Boeing, financial panics, the dollar, free speech, the Old West, Orwell, and spiritual life. Their discussion draws parallels between AI mania and past technology booms, then turns to Nike’s brand, contrarian investing, hidden leverage, aging investors, and whether five-percent Treasuries could outperform stocks over the next decade.

In this episode of A Book with Legs, Cole Smead, CEO and Portfolio Manager at Smead Capital Management, sits down with Dr. Kenneth Rogoff to discuss his book, "Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider's View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance, and the Road Ahead."Kenneth Rogoff is the Maurits C. Boas Professor of Economics at Harvard University. From 2001 to 2003, he served as Chief Economist and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund, and earlier in his career was an economist at the Federal Reserve Board. He is the co-author, with Carmen Reinhart, of the New York Times bestseller "This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly," as well as "Foundations of International Macroeconomics" and "The Curse of Cash." He earned his Ph.D. in economics at MIT and is also an international grandmaster of chess.The conversation explores the dollar's position at the center of global finance, from the history of currency dominance dating back to Spain, to the rise of populism and its threat to the dollar's exorbitant privilege, to real, candid stories from Rogoff's own experience meeting Chinese leadership and warning of the country's real estate crisis years before it hit. They also discuss the euro's uneven path, the Mexican peso crisis, and what stablecoins and cryptocurrency really mean for the future of money.Read Kenneth's column here: https://www.project-syndicate.org/columnist"Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider's View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance, and the Road Ahead," published by @YaleUniversityPress , is available now.Sign up to be notified about new episodes: https://hubs.ly/Q0452V800

In this episode of A Book with Legs, Cole Smead, CEO and Portfolio Manager at Smead Capital Management, sits down with Adrian Wooldridge to discuss his book, “The Revolutionary Center: The Lost Genius of Liberalism.”Adrian Wooldridge is the global business columnist at Bloomberg News, and previously spent more than twenty years at The Economist, serving as political editor and Washington bureau chief. He is the author of twelve previous books, including “Capitalism in America,” co-written with former Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan, and “The Aristocracy of Talent.”The conversation traces the intellectual roots of liberalism, from Erasmus and Hobbes to Mill and Tocqueville, and explores where the philosophy has drifted from its original ideals. Along the way: how the concentration of power in figures like the Mag 7 and today’s tech leaders echoes Montesquieu’s warnings, how identity politics shifted the unit of analysis from individuals to groups, and what Wooldridge believes must change to recover what he calls “the revolutionary center” before autocracy, fascism, or societal stratification takes hold.“The Revolutionary Center: The Lost Genius of Liberalism,” published by Pegasus Books, is available now.Sign up to be notified about new episodes: https://hubs.ly/Q0452V800

Bryan Burrough, New York Times bestselling author and narrative historian of the Old West. He traces how Southern honor culture, the Colt revolver, and Civil War trauma made Texas the gunfighter crucible. Short vivid stories cover Wild Bill, John Wesley Hardin, Wyatt Earp, cattle drives exporting violence, and how newspapers forged outlaw legends.

In this episode of A Book with Legs, Cole Smead, CEO and Portfolio Manager, and Bill Smead, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer at Smead Capital Management, sit down with Liaquat Ahamed to discuss his book, “1873: The Rothschilds, The First Great Depression and the Making of the Modern World.”Liaquat Ahamed explores 1873 as the first truly global financial crisis, centered on the Rothschild family, then the wealthiest bankers in the world. The conversation traces how the Rothschilds nearly collapsed in 1848, losing 40% of their capital, only to rebuild over the next 25 years into a bank controlling a third of the entire European banking system. Liaquat and the Smeads discuss how market psychology moves in generational cycles, why it can take a full generation to recover confidence after a crash, and how President Grant’s decision to defend the gold standard during the 1873 panic prolonged deflation across the U.S. economy.“1873: The Rothschilds, The First Great Depression and the Making of the Modern World,” published by Penguin Press, is available now.Sign up to be notified about new episodes: https://hubs.ly/Q0452V800

David Williams, author and aviation historian who accessed the Boeing family archives, tells Bill Boeing's journey from timber cruiser to accidental aviation titan. Stories include the balloon that sparked his obsession, hiring genius Wong Tsu against prejudice, a prohibition wiretap scandal that shaped privacy law, the creation of the first flight attendants, and Boeing's reversal from breakup to wartime giant.

Alex Wright, writer and information designer who studies how humans create and circulate information, chats about the wild origins of American newspapers. He traces technological leaps like Linotype and rotary presses, the rise of syndication and advertising, and parallels between 19th-century viral networks and today’s digital media. Short anecdotes range from Mary Katherine Goddard to Mark Twain’s newsroom pranks.

A wide-ranging book roundup covering investor psychology, Chinese history, and the role of history in markets. They touch on mathematical thinking, multiple intelligences, and how constraints can spark better problem solving. Conversation includes corporate turnarounds, energy and oil market mechanics, demographics and economic effects, and practical steps for managing uncertainty.

Can a human being’s behavior and personality be fully explained by a machine, chemistry, biology, or data? Or is there something intangible left over?These questions and the different conversations they can spark were the inspiration behind this special episode of A Book with Legs. Smead Capital Management CEO and Portfolio Manager Cole Smead revisits highlights from conversations with experts offering unique perspectives on the topic, including a computer scientist, a geneticist, a neuroscientist, and a cognitive scientist.Check out the full episode to hear from names like Paige Harden, author of "Original Sin: On the Genetics of Vice, the Problem of Blame, and the Future of Forgiveness" and Charles Murray, author of "Taking Religion Seriously." Smead Chairman and CIO Bill Smead also shares his perspective on what past manias have had in common and why those lessons remain relevant for investors today.Sign up to be notified about new episodes: https://hubs.ly/Q0452V800