Dialogue with Marcia Franklin

Host Marcia Franklin talks with historian David Kennedy about Depression-era policies and whether they have parallels to the modern financial crisis.

Kennedy, professor emeritus at Stanford University, is known for integrating both economic and cultural analyses in his works about particular historical eras, as he did in Freedom from Fear, a book about the Great Depression in the United States. That book won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000.

Kennedy is also the author of several other books, including Over Here: The First World War and American Society, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1981.

He and Franklin discuss the differences between the financial crises in the Great Depression and today, as well as issues that concern him including the growing gap he sees between civilian and military society. Kennedy also talks about the priorities for the Bill Lane Center for the American West, of which he was a co-director.

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Originally Aired: 12/23/2010

The interview is part of Dialogue's series, "Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference," and was taped at the 2010 conference. Since 1995, the conference has been bringing together some of the world's most well-known and illuminating authors to discuss literature and life.

Host Marcia Franklin talks with Strobe Talbott, a former journalist and diplomat who was the president of the Brookings Institution from 2002 to 2017. Talbott, who wrote for Time magazine for more than 20 years, has also penned a dozen books.

Franklin and Talbott talk about his passion for the subject of global warming, and whether the issue is still on the political radar for politicians and the public. His book, Fast Forward: Ethics and Politics in the Age of Global Warming, suggests political and societal solutions for reversing climate change.

The two also discuss his views on global governance, about which he writes in The Great Experiment: The Story of Ancient Empires, Modern States, and the Quest for a Global Nation. Talbott also sits on North American Executive Committee of the Trilateral Commission. The two discuss some Americans' fears of a "One World government."

Talbott, who was Deputy Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton, specialized in working with the new independent states of the Soviet Union. He talks with Franklin about a scandal in which Russian spies were found to have been living in the United States for many years. The two also discuss Brookings Mountain West, an offshoot of the Brookings Institution in Las Vegas, which examines public policy issues pertaining to the Intermountain West.

Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and visit the Dialogue website for more conversations that matter!

Originally Aired: 12/16/2010

The interview is part of Dialogue's series, "Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference," and was taped at the 2010 conference. Since 1995, the conference has been bringing together some of the world's most well-known and illuminating authors to discuss literature and life.

Host Marcia Franklin talks with author and world traveler Pico Iyer, whose books and essays about the far corners of the world explore not just the dynamics of those cultures, but also travel itself and its effect on an "outsider."

Iyer's many books include: Video Night in Kathmandu, The Lady and the Monk, Falling off the Map and The Global Soul. His most recent book when Franklin interviewed him, The Open Road, is about the life and philosophy of the Dalai Lama, who was a friend of Iyer's father.

Franklin and Iyer talk about why he enjoys journeying so much, what tips he has for others who want to travel, and why he's concerned that so few Americans have passports. They also discuss the politics of Tibet, and what Iyer learned about the personality of the Dalai Lama in the years of researching his book on him.

A former reporter for Time magazine, Iyer also writes many articles for periodicals and newspapers, including The New York Times and the New York Review of Books.

Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and visit the Dialogue website for more conversations that matter!

Originally Aired: 12/09/2010

The interview is part of Dialogue's series, "Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference," and was taped at the 2010 conference. Since 1995, the conference has been bringing together some of the world's most well-known and illuminating authors to discuss literature and life.

Host Marcia Franklin talks with former child soldier Ishmael Beah, whose bestselling book, A Long Way Gone, details his harrowing experiences in the 1990s when he fought with the government-backed army in Sierra Leone as a teenager during a brutal civil war. Beah fled attacking rebels in his homeland at age 12 and was later picked up and forced to serve in the government army. He was eventually released by the army and sent to a UNICEF rehabilitation center.

Franklin and Beah talk about how he and other children are drawn into war, what effect his experiences had on him, what society can do about this illegal practice, and what he plans to do with his future. Beah also addresses allegations that there were factual inaccuracies in his book, including how long he was a soldier.

Beah moved to the United States in 1998 and later earned a bachelor's degree in political science. He has spoken before the United Nations, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities (CETO) at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, as well as many other panels on children affected by the war.

Beah's novel Radiance of Tomorrow was published in January 2014. His most recent novel Little Family was published in April 2020.

Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and visit the Dialogue website for more conversations that matter!

Originally Aired: 12/02/2010

The interview is part of Dialogue's series, "Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference," and was taped at the 2010 conference. Since 1995, the conference has been bringing together some of the world's most well-known and illuminating authors to discuss literature and life.

Host Marcia Franklin talks with author and New Yorker magazine writer Philip Gourevitch about the stories he's covered, including the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison. The two discuss what lessons Gourevitch thinks can be learned from these events, and why he is often drawn to subjects that make others look away.

In The Ballad of Abu Ghraib, Gourevitch pieced together transcripts of interviews filmmaker Errol Morris conducted with soldiers who were accused of torturing inmates at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Those interviews were also part of a documentary, "Standard Operating Procedure." Gourevitch talks with Franklin about why he thinks some of the soldiers engaged in abusive acts.

Gourevitch also authored We Wish to Inform You That Today We Will Be Killed With Our Families, an account of the 1994 mass killing of at least 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus by other Hutus. The book was the recipient of numerous awards.

Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and visit the Dialogue website for more conversations that matter!

Originally Aired: 12/17/2009

The interview is part of Dialogue's series, "Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference," and was taped at the 2009 conference. Since 1995, the conference has been bringing together some of the world's most well-known and illuminating authors to discuss literature and life.

Host Marcia Franklin talks with Dr. Abraham Verghese, a professor at the Stanford School of Medicine and an author of both fiction and non-fiction works. They discuss not only the themes of his work, but also his thoughts on healthcare reform and ways for doctors to establish better working relationships with their patients.

Verghese's first book, My Own Country, was a poignant chronicle of how his life was changed by working with AIDS patients in rural Tennessee. It was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. He went on to pen another non-fiction work called The Tennis Partner, about a doctor's struggle with mental illness and drug addiction. He is also a frequent contributor to magazines and journals, writing articles about medical ethics.

In his first novel, Verghese turned his focus to a work of fiction, Cutting for Stone. It is set in Ethopia, where he grew up. The expansive book follows the saga of two Indian brothers as they learn more about their past. With medicine as its backdrop, it also allows Verghese to explore some of what he views as the best and worst aspects of his profession.

Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and visit the Dialogue website for more conversations that matter!

Originally Aired: 12/10/2009

The interview is part of Dialogue's series, "Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference," and was taped at the 2009 conference. Since 1995, the conference has been bringing together some of the world's most well-known and illuminating authors to discuss literature and life.

Host Marcia Franklin talks with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gretchen Morgenson, then a financial editor and columnist at the New York Times who covered the country's financial crisis since its inception.

They discuss the federal government's push to increase home ownership, which Morgenson sees as the underpinning of the financial collapse. The two also talk about various taxpayer-funded bailouts of companies such as AIG, and whether Morgenson sees any light at the end of the tunnel for the slumping economy.

Before moving to The Wall Street Journal in November 2017, Morgenson was assistant business and financial editor at the New York Times since May 1998. Prior to that she was assistant managing editor at Forbes magazine. She was also the press secretary for the Forbes for President campaign. In 2002, she won a Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of Wall Street.

Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and visit the Dialogue website for more conversations that matter!

Originally Aired: 09/10/2009

The interview is part of Dialogue's series, "Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference," and was taped at the 2009 conference. Since 1995, the conference has been bringing together some of the world's most well-known and illuminating authors to discuss literature and life.

Writer Ethan Watters joins Marcia Franklin to discuss the themes in his book, Urban Tribes, which looks at the ways in which young, unmarried Americans create their own sense of family.

Ethan Watters has written about psychiatry and social psychology for 20 years. He has also taught writing at Berkeley, Stanford, and California College of the Arts. In 1994 he co-founded the San Francisco Writers' Grotto.

In addition to several books, he's written about social trends for publications from Esquire to the New York Times Magazine, among other national and regional publications. He has also created pieces for Public Radio International's This American Life.

Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and visit the Dialogue website for more conversations that matter!

Originally Aired: 12/18/2008

The interview is part of Dialogue's series, "Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference," and was taped at the 2008 conference. Since 1995, the conference has been bringing together some of the world's most well-known and illuminating authors to discuss literature and life.

Marcia Franklin talks with Indian politician, author and former U.N. Under-Secretary-General Dr. Shashi Tharoor. They discuss his revealing look at India's role in the global economy, The Elephant, The Tiger, and The Cell Phone: The Transformation of India in the 21st Century. After talking with Franklin, Tharoor was elected to the Indian Parliament in 2009 to represent the Thiruvananthapuram constituency in the Indian state of Kerala.

Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and visit the Dialogue website for more conversations that matter!

Originally Aired: 12/11/2008

The interview is part of Dialogue's series, "Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference," and was taped at the 2008 conference. Since 1995, the conference has been bringing together some of the world's most well-known and illuminating authors to discuss literature and life.

Marcia Franklin talks with John Hockenberry, a longtime journalist who was the program director for the Sun Valley Writers' Conference. They discuss his view on changes in the media world, as well as advances in adaptive technology for disabled people. Hockenberry became a paraplegic in an auto accident as a teenager, but that didn't keep him from reporting all over the world. He recorded those wheelchair-piloted adventures in his 1995 book, Moving Violations - War Zones, Wheelchairs and Declarations of Independence.

Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and visit the Dialogue website for more conversations that matter!

Originally Aired: 12/04/2008

The interview is part of Dialogue's series, "Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference," and was taped at the 2008 conference. Since 1995, the conference has been bringing together some of the world's most well-known and illuminating authors to discuss literature and life.