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Join Professors Jeffrey Sachs and Orlando Figes, historian and author of The Crimean War (2012) and his new book, The Story of Russia (2022), in a fascinating discussion of Russian history and ideas about Russian history.

Together, they examine the 19th century Crimean War and the powerful light that the Crimean War, 170 years ago, sheds on the current conflict in Ukraine. More generally, Sachs and Figes explore Russia’s complex relationship with the West, and the ideas that Russian and Western thinkers and politicians have held about Western-Russian international relations throughout history.

The Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs is brought to you by the SDG Academy, the flagship education initiative of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Learn more and get involved at bookclubwithjeffreysachs.org.

Footnotes:

• Books by Orlando Figes
• Crimean War
• Vladimir Putin
• Anti-Russian Sentiment
• Nicolas II of Russia
• Wars Involving Russia
• Ottoman Empire
• Treaty of Paris 1856
• Lord Palmerston 
• The Crimean War Crises of 1853
• Anglo-Russian War
• Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire
• Mikhail Gorbachev
• Soviet Union
• Annexation of Crimea
• Ukraine War 
• Nikita Khrushchev
• Cossacks
• Russian Oligarchs
• NATO

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In this special episode, join Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Ms. María Fernanda Espinosa, and Professor K. Srinath Reddy for their discussion of The Lancet Commission Report on lessons for the future from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Together, they discuss the background to the Commission and the key findings after two years of research. They discuss the possible origins of the virus that causes Covid-19, SARS-CoV-2; including the possibilities that the virus emerged from laboratory research or from an infected animal in the marketplace. They discuss failures of international cooperation and national public-health policy-making - failures that have contributed to 18 million deaths worldwide from Covid-19.  Most importantly, they discuss the Commission’s recommendations for the future on how to prevent or confront future global health emergencies, most importantly by strengthening WHO as the core pillar of global policy.

The Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs is brought to you by the SDG Academy, the flagship education initiative of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Learn more and get involved at bookclubwithjeffreysachs.org.

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Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Professor Christopher Blattman, to explore the dynamics of war and peace as they discuss Blattman’s, Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace.  In his newest book, Blattman argues that violence is not the norm; that there are five reasons why wars break out; and how peacemakers can draw on these reasons to prevent and stop wars.

 Together, they explore the dynamics of war and peace: how communities resolve conflicts, and why such efforts sometimes fail, leading to war. As conflict rages in Ukraine, listen in on this timely and vital conversation to learn more about “Why We Fight" and how we can end wars.

 The Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs is brought to you by the SDG Academy, the flagship education initiative of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Learn more and get involved at bookclubwithjeffreysachs.org.

Footnotes:

• Mao Zedong
• Ukraine War 
• Clausewitz: War as Politics by other Means
• Military History of Russia
• The Rise of Personalist Rule
• Washington as Land Speculator
• French and Indian War
• Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch
• Semi-sovereignty
• Game Theory
• Reversed Industrialization 
• Stalemate
• Thucydides Trap
• The Peloponnesian War
• NATO
• War of Attrition 
• Frozen Conflict 
• Autocrat
• Vietnam War
• Volodymyr Zelenskyy
• United Nations Security

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Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and neuroscientist Anil Seth, author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness to explore the hard problem of consciousness. Because the deep puzzles of consciousness can’t be solved head-on with existing scientific methods, Seth aims to gradually “dissolve” the problem by looking at levels of consciousness, the content of consciousness, and the mystery of the sense of self.

Together, they unpack several of the hard questions: How can physical beings have subjective experiences? How can we measure consciousness? Is consciousness the feeling of being alive? 

 The Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs is brought to you by the SDG Academy, the flagship education initiative of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Learn more and get involved at bookclubwithjeffreysachs.org.

Footnotes:

• Consciousness
• Artificial Intelligence
• What Is It Like To Be A Bat? By Thomas Nagel  
• Psychiatric Injury
• Functional Neuroimaging
• Phenomenology Consciousness
• Functional Consciousness
• Behavioral Consciousness 
• Experiential Perception
• Pattern Recognition 
• Self-Driving Vehicles
• Qualia
• Hard Problem of Consciousness
• Panpsychism
• Élan Vital
• EEG, MRI, fMRI
• Locked-In Syndrome 
• Adrian Owen 
• Sense Perception
• Controlled Hallucination
• Chris Frith
• Plato: Allegory of the Cave
• Sensory Nervo

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Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Peter H. Lindert, economic historian and author of Making Social Spending Work in which Lindert examines how social spending relates to economic growth in various countries and the emphasis we must place on investing in the young. 

Together, they examine the history of public social spending and address the key challenges around intergenerational inequality and fiscal redistribution, the returns on investment in human capital, how to deal with an aging global population, and whether migration is a cost or a benefit for society. 

The Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs is brought to you by the SDG Academy, the flagship education initiative of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Learn more and get involved at bookclubwithjeffreysachs.org.

Footnotes:

• The Rise of Social Spending
• Growing Public: Social Spending and Economic Growth Since the 18th Century
• Public Spending on Education
• Sustainable Development Goal 4
• Social Spending 
• Welfare
• Social Expenditure Database
• Adam Smith
• John Locke
• Thomas Malthus
• French Revolution
• Church and State in 21st Century Britain
• The Road to Serfdom
• Authoritarianism
• Free Lunch Puzzle
• Social Democracy
• Universal Health Coverage in the US
• The US Immigration Debate
• Spending on Children and the Elderly

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Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Casey Michel, journalist and author of “American Kleptocracy: How the U.S. Created the World’s Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History.”  In his debut book, Michel offers a deep investigation into how the US built the largest illicit offshore finance system the world has ever known.

Together, they examine just how the US implosion into a center of global offshoring took place, what that means for the rest of the world, and its vast implications for those who seek to preserve open societies and the rule of law.

The Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs is brought to you by the SDG Academy, the flagship education initiative of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Learn more and get involved at bookclubwithjeffreysachs.org.

Footnotes:

• Kleptocracy
• Money Laundering  
• Offshoring
• US as a Tax Haven
• Pandora Papers 
• Panama Papers
• Perpetuity 
• South Dakota is Turning Into a Tax-haven for the Global Elite
• Shell Corporations 
• White Collar Crime 
• USA Patriot Act
• Senator Carl Levin
• International Revenue Service (IRS) 
• How Delaware Became the World’s Biggest Offshore Haven
• Loopholes for Kleptocrats
• The Great American Tax Haven: Why the Super-rich Love South Dakota
• Dynasty Trust

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Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Heather Cox Richardson, renowned historian and author of How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America in which Richardson argues that while the North prevailed in the American Civil War, ending slavery and giving the country a “new birth of freedom,” democracy’s blood-soaked victory was ephemeral.

Together, they discuss the myth that the Civil War released the US from the grip of oligarchy and the competing claims of equality and subordination woven into the nation's fabric and identity.

The Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs is brought to you by the SDG Academy, the flagship education initiative of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Learn more and get involved at bookclubwithjeffreysachs.org.

Footnotes:

• Colonial America
• Otto Ecktein
• American Civil War
• Oligarchy
• Declaration of Independence
• Edmund Morgan
• “All Men are Created Equal”
• Confederate States of America
• January 6 2021 Insurrection
• Democracy
• Right Wing Politics
• InfoWars
• Demagogue
• FCC Fairness Doctrine
• Facebook Algorithm Regulation
• The True Believer; Eric Hoffer
• Authoritarianism
• Indigenous People of the Americas
• Westward Expansion

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John Professor Jeffrey Sachs and award-winning historian, Dr. Keisha Blain, as they discuss her latest book, Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer's Enduring Message to America.

Together, they will situate Fannie Lou Hamer as a key political thinker alongside leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks while illustrating how her ideas remain salient for a new generation of activists committed to dismantling systems of oppression in the United States and across the globe.

The Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs is brought to you by the SDG Academy, the flagship education initiative of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Learn more and get involved at bookclubwithjeffreysachs.org.

Footnotes:

• Fannie Lou Hamer
• Civil Rights Movement
• 1964 Democratic National Convention
• Hamer's Testimony at the Democratic National Convention 1964
• White Supremacy
• Voter Suppression in the United States 
• Sharecropping
• Literacy Test
• Jim Crow South
• Apartheid
• Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP)
• Lyndon B. Johnson
• Second-class Citizen
• “Mississippi Appendectomy”
• Forced Sterilization
• Fannie Lou Hamer, Civil Rights Activist, Savagely Beaten in Mississippi Jail
• Intersectionality
• Set the World on Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom 
• The Working Poor

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John Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Corey Robin, political theorist and author of The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Donald Trump  in which Robin argues that conservatism is a reaction against movements of the left—from the French Revolution to feminism.

Together, they discuss aspects of such arguments, including the roots of conservatism, and what drives the political right in today's political landscape.

The Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs is brought to you by the SDG Academy, the flagship education initiative of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Learn more and get involved at bookclubwithjeffreysachs.org.

Footnotes:

• Conservatism
• Edmund Burke
• Letter to a Noble Lord
• French Revolution
• Sarah Palin
• Subaltern
• Social Construction of Gender
• Democratic Governance
• Joseph de Maistre
• Populism
• Modern American Conservatism
• Aristocracy
• Limousine Liberal
• Racial Ideology
• Abolitionism
• Traditionalist Conservatism
• New Left
• Cancel Culture
• ‘Why Me?’ The Role of Perceived Victimhood in American Politics
• Richard Nixon
• Donald Trump
• Reagan Era
• Joe Manchin
• New Deal

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Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Eric Foner, as they discuss Foner's latest novel, The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution.

Together,  they discuss this transformative era in American history, and how the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments remain strong tools for achieving the American ideal of equality, if only we will take them up. 

The Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs is brought to you by the SDG Academy, the flagship education initiative of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Learn more and get involved at bookclubwithjeffreysachs.org.

Footnotes:

• The Second Founding 
• 13th, 14th & 15th US Amendments 
• History of the US
• American Civil War 
• Three-fifths Clause
• “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”
• Timeline of the Revolution 
• Plantation States 
• Slavery & Serfdom
• Abraham Lincoln
• Abolitionism
• Fugitive Slave Acts
• Debt Limit
• Emancipation Proclamation
• Marx & Engels on the Civil War
• Birthright Citizenship 
• Insurrection
• Federalism 
• Jurisprudence
• US Electoral Process
• Texas House Passes Voting Bill 
• The Dunning School
• W.E.B. Du Bois: Black Reconstruction

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