Talk Cocktail

Kishore Mahbubani is a writer, professor, and a former Singaporean diplomat who served twice as ambassador to the UN. In his new book The Great Convergence: Asia, the West, and the Logic of One World, he argues that the world has seen more positive change in the past 30 years than in the 300 that preceded it. The global middle class is growing. Poverty levels have fallen;  major wars have decreased and people are better educated and better informed. The world is connected in new ways. Mahbubani thinks we are at the dawn of a new age.My conversation with Kishare Mahbubani:

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Back in the 60's protest was de rigueur. The anti-war movement and the struggle for civil rights were front and center in the nation's consciousness. During that period many institutions sprung up to give voice to hope and to the causes of the day. Today, 50 years later most of those institutions are gone, and are at best distant nostalgic memories of days gone by.

However, one institution remain in the heart of San Francisco: Glide Memorial Church.

When Cecil William came to Glide it had 35 congregants in the heart of SF's Tenderloin. Today, 50 years later, it is a beacon of hope for the poor, the marginalized and the community. How did this church, under the leadership of Cecil Williams and Janice Mirikitani, remain relevant to the times, in fact, ahead of it's times? What does it tell us about hope, faith and social justice?

Today Cecil and Janice tell their story in their memoir Beyond the Possible: 50 Years of Creating Radical Change in a Community Called Glide

My conversation with Cecil Williams and Janice Mikikitani:

Donald Rumsfeld had an interesting philosophy. He often said that sometimes the solution to a small intractable problem, was to create a much bigger problem or crisis which would, he thought, often make the bigger problem easier to solve.

In some ways Dwight Eisenhower, our 34th President, subscribed to a similar idea. In order to avoid fighting small wars, which he was totally opposed to, he created the bluff of the potential for a much bigger nuclear Armageddon. In so doing, he helped set the country on a path to prevail in the Cold War. Now, award winning journalist Evan Thomas looks at Ike's unique talents in Ike's Bluff: President Eisenhower's Secret Battle to Save the World.

My conversation with Evan Thomas:

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We live the a world usually between the mundane and the absurd. Except that sometimes, it's hard to tell which is which. George Saunders, in his brilliant short stories, helps us all to navigate that landscape. Whether it's the talons of corporate culture, the underside of capitalism or simply the way we treat each other, Saunders finds the poetry that allows us to see the truth in a well crafted sentence.

The New York Times Magazine said about his current collection of stories, Tenth of December, “the best book you will read this year."

My conversation with George Saunders:

This past Monday marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Rosa Parks. She would become one of the most well know women of the twentieth century. When she died in 2005, her body was placed in the Capitol rotunda. Yet the narrative of her life is often defined as a reluctant champion of civil rights, whose one action, on a bus in Montgomery in 1955, made her an iconic figure.

In fact, her life was was really a lifelong fight for for the black freedom struggle. Historian Jeanne Theoharis in The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks paints a broad and nuanced picture of Rosa Parks as a sophisticated political actor and thinker.

My conversation with Jeanne Theoharis:

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Amidst all the political talk about immigration, we forget the most important part. That throughout history, immigration has been the way that cultures renew themselves. The way in which the vibrancy of cultures stay relevant,  the way in which we connect and understand others, and perhaps most importantly, the way we often get great food.

Eddie Huang has experienced all of that. As a recovering lawyer, the son of immigrant parents and the very successful chef and proprietor of the Baohous restaurant in New York’s West Village. Now he shares his story in his memoir Fresh Off the Boat.

My conversation with Eddie Huang:

No matter how much we love our technology, it would be foolish to think that it has only positive effects on us. The impact on our lives has been so profound and our acceptance so overwhelming, that arguably in some way, it must rewire us to see and think about the world differently. This is the background for Pulitzer Prize winning N.Y Times reporter Matt Richtel's new technological thriller The Cloud.

My conversation with Matt Richtel:

Today there are conflicting forces at play in our nation. On the one hand it appears that progressivism is on the rise. That the walls of prejudice continue to fall. However, we are also becoming a more urban nation. That urbanism goes hand in hand with the progressive agenda. But what happens to those left in rural America? Are they simply condemned to the old ideas , old ways, old attitudes? Can we ever find a way to bridge the prairie and the progressive? This is the core issue Melanie Hoffert takes up in her memoir Prairie Silence:

My conversation with Melanie Hoffert:

Perhaps it's our popular culture, but the business of selling has gotten a terrible reputation. Whether it’s Willy Loman trying to be “well liked,” or Harold Hill hoodwinking people from town to town, or Alec Baldwin in David Mamet's’ Glengarry Glen Ross, we've seen selling portrayed as as one of the least trustworthy endeavors. Even lower on the scale than members of congress.

Selling in the 21st century is different. No longer is it about sleaze and closing. Today it’s about science, persuasion and information. Selling is something we all do in our personal lives, and in our professional lives; even if we are not in the business of sales. Best selling author Daniel Pink, takes us inside this reality  in To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others.

My conversation with Daniel Pink:

We humans have this seemingly innate desire to measure everything. Yet what are we really observing, what are we measuring? Since we can only observe a narrow slice of the world around us, most of the universe exists far beyond what we can see, hear, feel or touch.

Popular science writer David Blatner, in his book Spectrums: Our Mind-boggling Universe from Infinitesimal to Infinity takes us on a journey to those part of the universe that are intangible, infinite and invisible.

My Conversation with David Blatner