Keen On America

EPISODE 1877: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Kliph Nesteroff, author of OUTRAGEOUS, about the history of American showbiz and its perennial culture warsKliph Nesteroff was born and raised in a pacifist community in rural British Columbia. After being permanently expelled from high school for the content of a speech he delivered during a campaign for school president, he moved to Toronto and started performing stand-up comedy. Influenced by the Beat Generation, punk rock music, and his anti-war upbringing, Nesteroff primarily performed in underground bars, punk rock clubs, and alternative comedy venues. He quickly developed a cult following for the combative, insult-comic character Shecky Grey, which landed him on the cover of several Canadian free weeklies. After eight years of stand-up, Nesteroff became an advocate for the homeless, the mentally ill, and the drug addicted, accepting a position in an experimental clinic that nursed addicts with life threatening infections back to health. While working night shifts at the clinic, Nesteroff spent much of his time writing about stand-up comics from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, focusing on the mafia-run nightclubs that used to employ comedians. The articles were frequently published by the web-magazine of free form radio station WFMU. In 2011, Marc Maron began talking about Nesteroff's articles on several episodes of his WTF podcast, eventually extending an invitation to Nesteroff to appear on his program. After a 2012 appearance on WTF with Marc Maron, Nesteroff got a book deal with Grove Press to write the definitive history of 20th Century American stand-up. Released in 2015, The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels, and the History of American Comedy became a best-selling book and led to a television career. Nesteroff is a frequent talking head on countless programs and documentary films about comedy.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

EPISODE 1876: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Bulent Atalay, author of BEYOND GENIUS, about how Shakespeare, Da Vinci, Newton, Beethoven and Einstein all shared the same kind of transgressive mindsDescribed by the Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, NPR and PBS as a “Modern Renaissance Man,” Bulent Atalay is a scientist, artist and author. After his participation in a scientifically incongruous archaeological expedition to Mt. Ararat in Eastern Turkey — one in which the late astronaut James Irwin was also a member — the Washington Post carried the story, “Indiana Atalay and the Search for the Ark.” With roots in Turkey and England, Atalay now resides in the United States. His grandfather was a Turkish military officer who survived the Battle of Gallipoli in WWI, only to die while fighting against Lawrence of Arabia in 1916. His father was a military officer and diplomat who served as diplomatic courier to European capitals during WWII, and subsequently held successive assignments as military attaché to London, Paris, and Washington. Read "A Tribute to Kemal Atalay." He received his early schooling at Eton in England and St. Andrew’s School in Middletown, Delaware, the institution which served as the site of the 1989 Robin Williams film, Dead Poets Society. He went into physics by accident when a secretary in the admissions office at Georgetown University read his intended career as "physicist" instead of "physician," and he stayed in physics when he found he had latent interest in the field. His advanced education includes BS, MS, MA, PhD and postdoctoral studies, completed at Georgetown, Princeton, University of California-Berkeley, and Oxford University.  A professor of physics in Virginia now, he has previously been a member of the Department of Theoretical Physics at the University of Oxford, as well as the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where Einstein spent the last twenty-five years of his life. An accomplished artist, Atalay has presented his works in one-man exhibitions in London and Washington, and his two books of lithographs — Lands of Washington and Oxford and the English Countryside — can be found in the permanent collections of Buckingham Palace, the Smithsonian, and the White House. Ten years after its release by Smithsonian Books in April 2004, his best selling book, Math and the Mona Lisa, has had numerous printings in English, and appeared in thirteen languages. His last book, Leonardo's Universe, coauthored with former student Keith Wamsley, was released by National Geographic Books in 2009, and declared "... one of ten must-have books for the year," by the Britannica Blog writer. It has appeared in English and Japanese. In April, 2019, the National Geographic Society released the book as a "bookazine," abridged to 25,000 words with the title Leonardo da Vinci: Celebrating the Renaissance Man. Atalay's most recent book, Beyond Genius, identifying the common qualities and conditions crucial in producing Leonardo, Shakespeare, Newton, Beethoven, and Einstein,” five "transformative geniuses," who redefined their respective fields, is scheduled for release on November 7, 2023 by Pegasus Books.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

EPISODE 1875: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the anti Trump conservative Peter Wehner about the nihilism of the evangelical right in America todayPeter Wehner is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a senior fellow at the Trinity Forum. His books include The Death of Politics: How to Heal Our Frayed Republic After Trump, City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era, which he co-wrote with Michael J. Gerson, and Wealth and Justice: The Morality of Democratic Capitalism. He was formerly a speechwriter for George W. Bush and a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Wehner is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, and his work also appears in publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and National Affairs.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

EPISODE 1874 : In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Lauren Grodstein, author of WE MUST NOT THINK OF OURSELVES, about why she changed her mind about writing a novel about the HolocaustLauren Grodstein is the author of five novels, including the New York Times bestseller A Friend of the Family and the Washington Post Book of the Year The Explanation for Everything.  Her forthcoming novel We Must Not Think of Ourselves will be published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill in November, 2023. Lauren’s work has been translated into French, Turkish, German, Hebrew, and other languages, and her essays and reviews have been widely published.  She teaches in the MFA Program at Rutgers University-Camden and lives in New Jersey with her husband and children.  Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

EPISODE 1873: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Peter Slen, Executive Producer of the CSPAN series, 10 BOOKS THAT SHAPED AMERICA, about why the "Words of Cesar Chavez" still matterPeter Slen is the senior executive producer and a host at C-SPAN, a television and radio network known for its unbiased coverage of government proceedings.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

EPISODE 1872: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Peter Slen, Executive Producer of the CSPAN series, 10 BOOKS THAT SHAPED AMERICA, about the impact of Rose and Milton Friedman's 1980 defense of free market capitalism, "Free to Chose"Peter Slen is the senior executive producer and a host at C-SPAN, a television and radio network known for its unbiased coverage of government proceedings.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

PISODE 1871: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to William B. Eimicke, author of LEVELING THE LEARNING CURVE, about to how to create a more inclusive and connected universityWilliam B. Eimicke is co-author of Leveling the Learning Curve: Creating a More Inclusive and Connected University by William B. Eimicke, Soulaymane Kachani, and Adam Stepan (Columbia University Press, 2023).  He is professor of practice and founding director of the Picker Center for Executive Education at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and has led major online learning projects at Columbia and with partner institutions around the world. His books include Social Value Investing (with Howard W. Buffett, 2018) and Management Fundamentals (with Steven Cohen, 2020), both published by Columbia University Press.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

EPISODE 1870: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Jason Pack, the co-host of The Disorder podcast, about Qatar, Iran, Biden, Hamas, Israel and the road to order in the disordered Middle EastJason Pack is the Founder of Libya-Analysis LLC, and the co-host of Disorder, a geopolitics podcast co-produced with Goalhanger Podcasts. He is a Senior Analyst for Emerging Challenges at the NATO Defence College Foundation in Rome. In partnership with NDCF, Jason leads a project entitled NATO and the Global Enduring Disorder, which produces a range of content (including the Disorder podcast and series of publications) attempting to sketch out a ‘unified field theory’ of our current era of geopolitics while proposing actionable solutions to our most pressing collective action challenges. His most recent book, Libya and the Global Enduring Disorder (Hurst, Oxford University Press) is a ‘cross-over’ academic book that explores what Libya’s dysfunctional economic structures and its ongoing civil war reveal about our era of 21st-century geopolitics. Jason’s concept – that we no longer inhabit the post-Cold War World, but have entered a new era – the ‘Enduring Disorder’ – was conceived to describe the collective action failures that have come to define international politics. At present, he is producing a series of articles, media, and podcasts applying this concept to climate change, tax havens, and the geopolitical crises in Ukraine, Syria, and Afghanistan.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

EPISODE 1869: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Kate Bravery, co-author of WORK DIFFERENT, who offers ten truths about work, jobs and education in the age of AIKate Bravery is Mercer’s Global Advisory Solutions and Insight Leader and a non-executive director at Digital Frontiers. She oversees HR solutions and insights at Mercer, plus the management of its knowledge across its Health, Wealth, and Career practices. Kate is a global citizen who currently lives in Brighton in the UK with her husband, son, and daughter. Kate is an acclaimed thought leader on the future of work: she is the author of Mercer’s Global Talent Trends study and runs podcast and live events that focus on emerging workforce trends. She convened with the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Oxford University on the future of work post-COVID, gender parity and how to ensure equitable futures for all. Kate started her career by evaluating how employee orientation and leadership programs impacted worker's perceptions of their cultural alignment at American Express. She then tackled consulting, from leadership profiling and team building to People Strategy and HCM processes, all the while honing her thinking on human-centric design. When she joined Mercer in Hong Kong, she added rewards consulting and workforce analytics to her expertise. Kate has held a range of leadership roles worldwide, and strives to help companies secure a talent advantage through their people, She is passionate about advancing our collective mindset around what constitutes decent work and a desirable employer. Kate is a Chartered Occupational Psychologist (British Psychological Society) with an BSc (Hons.) from Royal Holloway Collage, London, an MSc in Organisational Psychology from City University (UK), and an MBA from Macquarie Graduate School of business (Sydney).Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

EPISODE 1868: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Marga Hoek, author of IMAGINE TECH FOR GOOD, about how tech can solve some of the world's greatest challengesMarga Hoek is the international business and thought leader on sustainable business and capital and the shift form the linear economy to a circular economy. Ranked by Thinkers 50 as one of the top 30 new management thinkers in the world She has gained recognition over the years as a successful and innovative business leader in various CEO and executive roles. Marga Hoek is the author of the award-winning bestseller New Economy Business, which received international acclaim for the clear vision on a sustainable, circular economy and the new role of business. She recently released her newest book The Trillion Dollar Shift, during the World Economic Forum Annual Conference in Davos. It is the first and only business book on the Global Goals, addressing how business and capital can make positive use of these goals, while strengthening their company and business proposition. Marga Hoek has a strong track record as a business leader herself. She has been CEO of multiple private and public companies and is the former CEO and Chairman of the Dutch Sustainable Business Association. In the second half of 2023, Marga’s book called ‘Tech for Good: solving the world’s greatest challenges’ will be published. This book will showcase advanced technologies and 75 real-life cases that reveal how technology can be our biggest ally moving forward.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe