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Few reporters  covered the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan with a nuanced critical eye like Rajiv Chandrasekaran. He's the former Editor-in-Chief of the Washington Post, and the author of “Imperial Life in the Emerald City” and “Little America”, about Iraq and Afghanistan respectively. These books shine light on the colossal civil-military divide in theater which led to disastrous decision making, costing many life and limb. He has a unique skill in aptly criticizing military decision making while  showing  respect and deference to the soldiers executing orders on the ground. Mr. Chandrasekaran is currently an executive at The Emes Project—the family foundation of Starbucks founder Howard Schultz where works on Policy and Strategy. If you enjoy the episode please consider rating us on Apple, Spotify, or where ever you get your podcasts. Those ratings help us out a ton. Thanks and enjoy the conversation.

Jay Z made $470 million in 2021. Long before hiphop produced billionaires, Zack O'Malley Greenburg was covering the beat from his post at Forbes. Zack is the author of several books on the business of hiphop including "Empire State of Mind" and "Three Kings" profiling Jay Z, Puff Daddy, and Dr. Dre. As was one of the earliest business writers in the country covering the entrepreneurial edge in the hiphop community, Zack documented the genre's evolution from fringe to dominance. He joined me on 99pages a chat about what he saw in the earliest days of hiphop, and what we can learn from it today. 

Tesla, Yelp, YouTube, Meta, Palantir, Affirm, SpaceX, LinkedIn, and countless other Silicon Valley companies were founded or seeded by alumni of a single company founded in the mid 1990s: PayPal. Jimmy Soni goes deep behind the scenes of the epicenter of the most powerful forces that have shaped the modern world. With captivating and detailed accounts from the principals of the team--Thiel, Hoffman, Musk, Sacks, Levchin, and others--"The Founders" will stand as the standard bearing book of the start of the modern tech industry. We'll ask Soni about his research, the libertarian ethos behind these entrepreneurs, the chauvinism of Silicon Valley, and the prospect of antitrust or personal information protections in the United States. Join us for this live session with Q&A, or listen to our podcast: 99pages!

How do Fyre Festival and Theranos get "backed" when substantive companies get passed on? In the words of Suneel Gupta, we need more high integrity people who can sell a good idea. Gupta is a Harvard professor, entrepreneur, and investor with a deep background in startup success. He has invested in homerun companies like Airbnb & SpaceX; and he's the founder of Rise which was acquired by One Medical Group in 2017. His book "Backable" discusses the ability for individuals to acquire the skills needed to get influence behind themselves and their ideas. I ask him about success in startups as a minority & what it takes to find lessons in failure.

99pages is excited to host #British Olympian & Author Derek Redmond to discuss his book "Sport is a Business, Business is a #Sport". Derek is best known for his iconic #olympics moment, tearing his hamstring in the middle of the 1992 Barcelona 400m semi-final. But with the help of his father, he summoned the strength to finish the race to one of the largest standing ovations in Olympics history. I'll be joined by James Raybould to ask Derek a bit about his leadership philosophy.

Gautum Mukunda is host of Nasdaq's "World Reimagined" podcast and the author of "Indispensable: When Leaders Really Matter". Few people have researched the implications--and triviality--of leadership as much as Gautum. The overwhelming research shows that even great leaders often are riding the momentum of their institutions while in power. But occasionally, a leader comes along that totally changes the game--a Churchill, a Bezos, or even a Trump. What makes a leader not just "good" but impactful? What can we do to ensure American society is protected from the impacts of narcissistic leaders, but can benefit from the visions of value creators? He's served as a professor at the Harvard Kennedy and Business Schools, and as a contributor to Forbes Magazine. Gautum is a long time friend and one of the people I respect most, I truly enjoyed this conversation.

The US is somehow the richest nation on earth yet is plagued with massive rates of poverty, healthcare debt, income inequality, and poor infrastructure. Kelton shows us how our Gold Standard logic leftover from the 1950s and 1960s continues to hold us back needlessly. She explains how modern monetary theory can help us reimagine the way in which currency owning governments can fund development and grow themselves out of hardship. This is the antidote to the senseless class war our nation is fighting and we need lawmakers to pay attention.

The story of the United States is often told as a cohesive group of colonists rising up against its British overlord. The story is far more complicated. In "American Nations" Colin Woodard differentiates between The values and emigration of Puritan New England, Dutch New York, German & Quaker Pennsylvania, Royalist Tidewater Virginia, the agrarian industrial deep south, the Scottish and Irish border-landers of Appalachia, as well as the French & Spanish settlements in the New World. Each of these domains had different incentives and value which remain core to our national division to this day.

Sebastian Junger has defined himself as the leading storyteller of our nation's ground forces in the Global War on Terror--both in and after conflict. He has authored bestselling books War & Tribe. We'll discuss his latest release--Freedom--about the joint and mutually exclusive struggle for Freedom & Community.  We value individuality and self-reliance, yet are utterly dependent on community for our most basic needs. In this intricately crafted and thought-provoking book, Sebastian Junger examines the tension that lies at the heart of what it means to be human.

99pages interviews Ty Seidule, author of "Robert E. Lee & Me"--one of NPR's Staff Picks for 2021-- is part memoir, part history discussing the pervasion of Confederate legacy in modern society. Robert E. Lee in many circles continues to be regarded as a hero-- if not worshiped--with much of his actual horrific and selfish decisions masked in order to save face.  From an honest and scientific perspective, Seidule discusses the reality of Lee's motivations and actions, as well as the affect the persistent "lost cause myth" plays in the minds of the privileged south.