Thecuriousmanspodcast

In this episode I speak with former federal prosecutor, senior Justice Department official, prominent legal analyst, CNN and SiriusXM guest host Elliot Williams about his book, Five Bullets: The Story of Bernie Goetz, New York's Explosive '80s, and the Subway Vigilante Trial That Divided the Nation.

A case that was a flashpoint and a nucleus for many powerful figures in New York that still shape the political narrative. The impacts of the Goetz case still resonate and shape what we think about more recent events that Williams and I touch upon.

In this episode, host Matt Crawford speaks with award-winning journalist Matthew Davis about his book A Biography of a Mountain: The Making and Meaning of Mount Rushmore.

Davis traces the mountain's transformation from sacred land to national monument, examining the artistic ambition, political motivations, labor history, and cultural conflicts embedded in Mount Rushmore's creation. The conversation addresses both the monument's symbolic power and the controversies surrounding it, including Indigenous perspectives and modern debates over public memory.

This episode invites listeners to look beyond the stone faces and consider what Mount Rushmore reveals about American history—and how that history continues to be interpreted today.

My guest today is Dean Foster, a leading expert in cross-cultural communication and the author of Doing Business Beyond Borders Successfully. Dean has spent decades helping organizations, leaders, and teams navigate cultural differences with clarity, respect, and real-world results.

In this conversation, we explore why cultural misunderstandings happen, how they can quietly derail global success, and what individuals and organizations can do to communicate more effectively across borders. Whether you're leading international teams, working with global clients, or simply curious about how culture shapes business, this episode is packed with practical insight.

In this episode, host Matt Crawford sits down with children's author Amy Pollack for a joyful conversation about writing for young readers, nurturing a love of books, and helping children explore big ideas through stories made just for them.

Amy shares how she thinks about her audience, the role of educators and mentors in shaping lifelong readers, and how parents can use stories as a bridge for meaningful conversations. This episode is perfect for anyone who believes books can open doors—especially for kids.

In this interview I speak with former Reuter's reporter Jeremy Clift about his two science-fiction novels, Born In Space and Space Vault.

We discuss how his career in journalism started, how his international reporting influenced his world view and what led him to foray into science-fiction writing.

Born In Space and Space Vault, the first in the series delves into the not-so-distant future and the implications of living and inhabiting space.

Today on TheCuriousMansPodcast I sit down with author Dennis Feece to discuss his new book, The Phantom Grasp: A T.B Stone Mystery. T.B is back at it again and as usual Feece delivers. With a great mystery to solve, good food and drink this book pulls you in just as much as the previous in the trilogy. Come join old friends, hop in the Spider and hold on!

Today on TheCuriousMansPodcast, we're joined by award-winning author and historian Ann Bausum, whose powerful new work, White Lies, examines one of the most consequential misinformation campaigns in American history: the rewriting of the Civil War. Bausum unpacks how the South — with help from surprising allies in the North — transformed defeat into mythology, recasting slavery, secession, and rebellion into a romanticized story of honor and heroism.

In this conversation, we explore how those false narratives took root, how they shaped generations of American education and public memory, and why confronting them today is essential to understanding race, democracy, and truth itself. This episode is a deep dive into how history gets made — and unmade — and why the stories we choose to believe still shape the world we live in.

Stay with us.

Isit down with David Eliot, author of Artificially Intelligent: The Very Human Story of AI, to explore the human drama behind the rise of artificial intelligence. They discuss the myths that shaped the field, the innovators who steered it, the promises and pitfalls of today's systems, and what AI is revealing about human creativity and identity. A deep and accessible look at the future of intelligence — both artificial and our own.

In this podcast I sit down with Lisa Endo Cooper and Bremond Berry MacDougal who founded their own publishing house Quite Literally Books.

Today on the show, we're joined by Brian Potter — engineer, researcher, and author of the groundbreaking new book The Origins of Efficiency. In this conversation, Brian unpacks why certain industries evolve toward extraordinary efficiency while others stagnate, and what history can teach us about building better systems today. From 19th-century factories to modern construction sites, Brian reveals the surprising patterns that shape productivity, innovation, and the hidden forces that determine why some technologies take off and others never do. If you care about progress, engineering, or how the world actually gets built, this is an episode you don't want to miss.