Keen On America

EPISODE 1512: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Alex Ryvchin, author of THE 7 DEADLY MYTHS, about antisemitism from the time of Christ to Kanye West and the Ashburton Army

Alex Ryvchin is co-Chief Executive Officer of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the author of internationally acclaimed books of history and politics, and a best-selling children’s author. He writes for leading publications and speaks, debates and teaches around the world on the Arab-Israeli conflict, foreign and national affairs, antisemitism and the Holocaust, and religion and identity, and is a regular commentator on TV and radio. Alex was born in Kyiv, Ukraine. His family left the Soviet Union as refugees and refuseniks in 1987, when Alex was 3 years old. He attended Sydney Boys High School and went on to study law and politics at the University of New South WalesHe worked for a member of the state legislature as a researcher and speechwriter before practising law at two of the world's largest law firms, first in Sydney and then in London. He served as a spokesman for the Zionist Federation UK, and was awarded a prestigious Israel Research Fellowship to work as a research fellow and staff writer at a Jerusalem-based think-tank. In 2013, he joined the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Australia's premier representative and advocacy body for the Australian Jewish community, and was promoted to co-Chief Executive Officer in February 2018, becoming one of the youngest leaders in the Jewish diaspora. He is a member of the Jewish Diplomatic Corps. He is the author of the international bestseller, "A New Day" (Yogi Books, 2020) written during the Coronavirus Pandemic to help families overcome adversity. His fourth book, “The Seven Deadly Myths” was released in May  2023, and investigates the extraordinary conspiracy theories behind antisemitism.

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.

EPISODE 1511: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Chad Williams, the author of THE WOUNDED WORLD, about W.E.B. Du Bois and the First World World

Chad Williams is the Samuel J. and Augusta Spector Professor of History and African and African American Studies at Brandeis University. Chad earned a BA with honors in History and African American Studies from UCLA, and received both his MA and Ph.D. in History from Princeton University. He specializes in African American and modern United States History, African American military history, the World War I era and African American intellectual history. His first book, Torchbearers of Democracy: African American Soldiers in the World War I Era, was published in 2010 by the University of North Carolina Press. Widely praised as a landmark study, Torchbearers of Democracy won the 2011 Liberty Legacy Foundation Award from the Organization of American Historians, the 2011 Distinguished Book Award from the Society for Military History and designation as a 2011 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title. He is co-editor of Charleston Syllabus: Readings on Race, Racism and Racial Violence (University of Georgia Press, 2016) and Major Problems in African American History, Second Edition (Cengage Learning, 2016). Chad has published articles and book reviews in numerous leading academic journals and collections, as well as op-eds and essays in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Time, and The Conversation. He has earned fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Ford Foundation and the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. His latest book, The Wounded World: W. E. B. Du Bois and World War I (2023), is published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

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.

EPISODE 1510: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Eliot Ackerman, the author of the novel HALCYON, which imagines an America where Al Gore becomes President and there is technology that can resurrect dead people

ELLIOT ACKERMAN is the author of the novels Red Dress in Black and White, Waiting for Eden, Dark at the Crossing (a finalist for the National Book Award), and Green on Blue (a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize), as well as the memoir Places and Names, and is the coauthor with Admiral James Stavridis of the best seller 2034: A Novel of the Next World War. Ackerman is both a former White House Fellow and Marine, and served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart. His latest novel is Halcyon (2023)

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.

EPISODE 1508: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the CEO and President of Democracy Forward, Skye Perryman, about the existential crisis of American Democracy and what we can do to save it

Skye Perryman is a lawyer, advocate, and leader with a track record of taking on and winning critical fights that advance democratic values, stop abuses of power, and improve the wellbeing of people and communities. She was named President and CEO of Democracy Forward Foundation in June 2021, returning to the organization where she was on the founding litigation team. She most recently served as the Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, where she oversaw its broad portfolio of legal, policy, and public affairs work and led a number of groundbreaking initiatives that enhanced access and equity in health care. Prior to ACOG, Skye was a Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward Foundation where, as one of the organization’s founding litigators, she developed and filed some of the first cases challenging unprecedented and unlawful executive action in the post-2016 era. Skye began her legal career at Covington & Burling LLP and later practiced at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr (WilmerHale). In private practice, she handled complex and high-stakes matters at the intersection of law and policy for clients across industries, while maintaining a robust pro bono practice dedicated to vindicating the civil and constitutional rights of people. Earlier in her career, Skye coordinated programs for underserved youth in Central Texas public schools. She was also part of early efforts to build coalitions between labor and environmental stakeholders supporting investment in renewable energy infrastructure and good jobs. Skye volunteers her time as a mentor and serves on the boards of several organizations, including the First Shift Justice Project, the Atlas Performing Arts Center, and the Interfaith Alliance. She teaches courses at American University and is an active alumna of Baylor University, where she helped to initiate a thousands-strong alumni movement calling on the University to change its restrictive policies regarding LGBTQ+ student organizations. Skye grew up in Texas and is a proud product of its public schools. She holds a Juris Doctor with honors from the Georgetown University Law Center and a Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude from Baylor University where she is a member of the Board of Advocates for the College of Arts and Sciences. She has received numerous accolades, including being named a four-time Washington Rising Star by SuperLawyers, a Top 40 Under 40 Trailblazer by the Leadership Center for Excellence, the Baylor Line Foundation’s Outstanding Young Alumna, a Harry S. Truman Scholar, and a Chuck F. C. Ruff Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year. Her work has been covered in outlets such as The New York Times, National Public Radio, NBC News, The Washington Post, The Houston Chronicle, and Teen Vogue.

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.

EPISODE 1508: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Andrew Krivak, author of LIKE THE APPEARANCE OF HORSES, about war, language, memory and why, in his opinion, AI algorithms like ChatGPT will never understand beauty

Andrew Krivak is the author of three novels, two chapbooks of poetry, and two works of nonfiction. His 2011 debut novel, The Sojourn, was a National Book Award finalist and winner of both the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for fiction and the inaugural Chautauqua Prize. He followed The Sojourn, in what would become the Dardan Trilogy, with The Signal Flame, a novel The New York Times said evoked “an austere landscape, a struggling family, and a deep source of pain.” His novel The Bear received the Banff Mountain Book Prize for fiction, and is a National Endowment for the Arts Big Read title. Like the Appearance of Horses, the third novel in the Dardan Trilogy, is forthcoming in 2023. As a poet, Andrew has published the short collections Islands, and Ghosts of the Monadnock Wolves. He is also author of the memoir A Long Retreat: In Search of a Religious Life, and editor of The Letters of William Carlos Williams to Edgar Irving Williams, 1902-1912, which won the Louis Martz Prize for scholarly research on William Carlos Williams. He holds a BA from St. John’s College, Annapolis; an MFA in poetry from Columbia University; an MA in philosophy from Fordham University; and a PhD in literary modernism from Rutgers. Andrew lives with his wife and three children in Somerville, Massachusetts, and Jaffrey, New Hampshire.

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.

EPISODE 1507: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to David Blake, the co-founder and CEO of BookClub, about the resiliency of the physical book and why he is cautiously optimistic about the impact of AI on storytelling

David Blake is the Co-Founder & CEO at Bookclub

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.

EPISODE 1506: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the author of CARRY STRONG, Stephanie Kramer, about her empowered approach to navigating pregnancy and work

Stephanie Kramer is a beauty industry executive with experience on three continents. She had her first son, William, while working at Chanel, Inc. and her second, James, at Kiehl’s Since 1851. Today she is the Chief Human Resources Officer at L’Oréal USA, based in New York City. Stephanie has a degree in Chemistry from Wake Forest University and her master’s degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), where she has been an Adjunct Professor of Communications. She has been featured as a speaker at several colleges and universities, including The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, and New York University. Her latest book is CARRY STRONG: An Empowered Approach to Navigating Pregnancy and Work (2023)

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.

EPISODE 1505: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the Istanbul based political scientist Soli Özel about President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s return to power in Turkey

Soli Özel is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations and a senior lecturer at Istanbul Kadir Has University. Özel was a “Europe’s Futures” fellow at Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna in 2021–22. During the pandemic, he taught course at the American University in Central Asia and the Menton campus of Sciences-Po. He also hosted webinar series for Institut Montaigne on the American elections and on the changing geopolitics of the Middle East. He was a Bernstein Fellow at the Schell Center for Human Rights at Yale Law School and a visiting lecturer in Yale’s political science department. Özel has been a columnist at Nokta magazine and GazetePazar, Yeni Binyıl, Habertürk, and Sabah newspapers. Currently he writes for Deutsche Welle-Turkish and Politikyol, and provides a weekly commentary on world affairs for Gazete Duvar TV. He has held fellowships at Oxford University the EU Institute of Strategic Studies, the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin, Institut Montaigne in Paris, and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. Özel holds an MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS-1983).

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.

EPISODE 1503: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the author of OUR TRIBAL FUTURE, David Samson, about how to channel our foundational human instincts into a force for good

DAVID R. SAMSON is an associate professor of Biological Anthropology at the University of Toronto. An interdisciplinary scholar investigating major behavioral and physiological transitions in human evolution, he has worked with a range of primate species and studied sleep in different types of human societies. Samson’s research has been internationally profiled in venues such as BBC, Time, the New York Times, The Smithsonian, CBC, NPR, and National Geographic. He is the author of Our Tribal Future. In his spare time, Samson is a practitioner of a medieval martial art in the Society of Creative Anachronism.

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.

EPISODE 1503: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks with ACCELERATED MINDS author, Neil Seeman, about the fascinating, inspiring and often destructive impulses that drive the entrepreneurial brain

Neil Seeman is a Canadian writer, Internet entrepreneur and mental health advocate. He is Founder and Chairman of RIWI. He was CEO of RIWI from 2011 until September 2021. At the University of Toronto, he is a Senior Fellow in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. In June 2022, he was named a lifetime Fields Institute Fellow. He is a Senior Fellow at Massey College, Senior Academic Advisor to the Investigative Journalism Bureau at the Univ. of Toronto, knowledge translation advisor to the HIVE Lab, and affiliated faculty in the Centre for Global Health. He has been listed in the Canadian Who’s Who since 2002. He holds a BA (Hons.) from Queen’s University, a JD from the Univ. of Toronto and a Master of Public Health degree from Harvard. His research and ideas in Big Data have been applied by decision-makers and researchers in different fields to make sense of how people in all countries produce, consume and understand information and misinformation on the Web that can be collected and analyzed in near real-time. He is a regular contributing essayist to Nikkei, Healthcare Quarterly, the Toronto Star and other publications, and an advisor to PredictNow, an AI firm. His new book is "Accelerated Minds: Unlocking the Fascinating, Inspiring, and Often Destructive Impulses that Drive the Entrepreneurial Brain" (Sutherland House). See: https://neilseeman.com. Neil was founder and director of the Health Strategy Innovation Cell at the University of Toronto; a founding editorial board member of the National Post; a former researcher and consultant at IBM; and the author of hundreds of articles in international and national media, and in peer-reviewed scientific and health policy journals, including Nature, CMAJ, and Synapse. He is a mental health advocate, and is the co-author of three books on mental health topics. He is the recipient of major research grants, including a New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) grant awarded through Canada’s three federal research agencies: the SSHRC, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). His work has been profiled in media across the world, including the Wall Street Journal, Nikkei, BBC, CNBC, and The Economist. He has taught at Toronto Metropolitan University and the Univ. of Toronto on health policy, healthcare communications, and digital healthcare. Neil supervises a broad range of students and works with faculty and healthcare leaders internationally. He is the author of ACCELERATED MINDS (2023)

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.