The American Lyceum Podcasts

Masih Alinejad, the globally famous feminist and human rights activist, joins Tim Kane to discuss her journey to the US after having to escape Iran. In this powerful interview, she discusses the harrowing experiences her family faced until a religious dictatorship where even leaving the house with her hair uncovered was illegal, and how it felt to live free from theocratic laws for the first time.

Roya Hakakian grew up in the oppressive shadows of totalitarianism in Iran, a Jewish teenager navigating her identity in a world with strict ideas about who she should be. Arriving in the US, she came to love the freedoms, opportunities, and hopes of her new home, becoming one of America's greatest poets, human rights activists, and public speakers, being awarded with the Guggenheim Prize and appearing in the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Join her as she discusses her profoundly moving new book, A Beginners Guide To America, with Tim Kane.

Economist and author David R. Henderson moved to the United States in 1972 and became a U.S. citizen in 1986, serving on President Ronald Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers, becoming one of the world's foremost economic experts and professors across his extensive career. In this episode, he discusses immigration, the draw of the USA, and what it was like serving as an immigrant under Reagan.

Born into a Cuban family and deported because of his father’s political prisoner status, Jose Sarduy came to the U.S. at a young age, growing up with a hard working family brought loads of funny moments everyday. For Jose, what they did best was teach him to work hard for his dreams, and not forget how to laugh at life and himself. As a former officer in the Air Force, Jose is an accomplished aviator and veteran, having served in Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. He’s been all over the world and has even been shot at in two countries. This and more he brings to the stage believing that, “if you can’t laugh at a hard time in your life, you ain’t over it yet.” In this episode, he discusses what he loves - and what makes him laugh - about America and American identity.

David Harsanyi is a conservative writer, opinion columnist, and author. After his family left communist Hungary for a new life in the US, he developed a strong love for the country that gave him a chance at a life with 'real freedom'. Harsanyi is a senior writer at National Review, and a columnist at the New York Post. His writings on politics and culture have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Weekly Standard, The Washington Post, USA Today, Reason, The Jerusalem Post, The Globe and Mail, and other publications.

Chantal Da Silva is a freelance journalist focusing on covering immigration, human rights and politics. Having written for international and national publications across the US, Canada and the UK, including Forbes, CBC, Newsweek and many more, Chantal is committed to challenging misinformation, hysteria and myth-making around one of the USA's most pressing debates: immigration.

Tunku Varadarajan is an Indian writer and journalist, formerly editor of Newsweek Global and Newsweek International. Born in India, he has become one of the foremost minds on academic journalism in the western world, performing research and lecturing for New York University, Columbia, and serving as the Virginia Hobbs Carpenter Research Fellow in Journalism at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Somali-born Dutch-American activist, feminist, author, scholar and former politician. She received international attention as an advocate for the rights and self-determination of Muslim women, actively opposing forced marriage, honor violence, child marriage and female genital mutilation. She founded the AHA Foundation and currently works for the Hoover Institution and the American Enterprise Institute. In this episode, she discusses what drew her to the USA, and why it represents a freedom that is both hoped for and feared around the globe.

Dr Tim Kane speaks to Faisal Saeed Al Mutar, recipient of the Gold President's Volunteer Service Award and Iraqi-born American human-rights activist, writer, and satirist who was admitted to the United States as a refugee in 2013. After surviving three kidnapping attempts from Al Qaeda and enduring severe persecution for his secular views, Faisal came to America and established Global Conversations and Ideas Beyond Borders, assisting dissidents in closed societies worldwide and translating news and progressive materials into Arabic.

Every year, more than a million immigrants arrive in America, many choosing to take an oath of citizenship. This podcast finds out why, with in-depth guest interviews, introducing you to some of the incredible people who've settled in the United States. Your host is Tim Kane, the JP Conte Research Fellow in Immigration Studies at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.