Sitemap - 2023 - Keen On America
How everyone, even Benjamin Netanyahu, has a soul
The KEEN ON 2023 Fiction Awards: Bethanne Patrick's six favorite novels of the year
Five of the Non-Fictional Best: Bethanne Patrick picks her favorite non-fiction books for 2023
In Praise of Ineffective Altruism: Amy Schiller on how philanthropy went wrong and how to fix it
Should we let go of Philip Roth? Hannah Gold gets into Roth's mind, his hands and his followers
The First Neo-Liberal or the Last Conservative?
Silicon Valley's First Double Unicorn: OpenAI’s dual personality disorder
Digital Lennonism: Marga Hoek imagines how tech can solve some of the world's greatest challenges
How to make the most of college: Ben Wildavsky on the art of using college to build a career
The problem with stories about the Holocaust is that they are told by the survivors
Is Sam Bankman-Fried a "trained-on-jargon" cyborg?
In Defense of Place: Seth Kaplan on how to repair American society, one zip code at a time
Burn Baby Burn: M.R. O'Connor on the life-giving force of fire to regenerate nature
On Netanyahu, populism and democracy
Why Food Stamps Work: Christopher Bosso's political history - and defense - of SNAP
Disorder, Disorder, Disorder: Jason Pack and Alexandra Hall Hall order our disordered world
Ordering the Middle Eastern Disorder
Is peace there for the taking? Jason Pack on Israel, Gaza, the Middle East and beyond
The All American Bitch: Evelyn McDonnell on Joan Didion's artistic sensibility and moral clarity
The Right Female Stuff: Loren Grush on the story of America's first six female astronauts
Should environmentalists be utopian? Dickson Despommier imagines the perfect 21st century city
Normalizing China: Gilles Guiheux on China's very ordinary history between 1949 and today
The 10 books that have most shaped America: Peter Slen on Thomas Paine's COMMON SENSE
What's Your Lego? Bent Flyvbjerg on how to get big things done
Your Face Belongs to Us: Kashmir Hill on a secretive startup's quest to end privacy as we know it
The Long Life of a Radical Gerontologist: Ken Dychtwald on how to age with purpose
The most brutal and gruesome siege in human history? Prit Buttar on the siege of Leningrad 1941-42
Nine Noteworthy Novels: Bethanne Patrick on fast, furious and fun reads for the dying days of summer
Mr and Mrs Orwell's Invisible Lives
Why the Revolution Won't Be Retweeted: Ece Temelkuran on social media's failure to change the world
The Woman Who Couldn't Wake Up: Quinn Eastman on Hypersomnia and the science of sleepiness
How Trust Works: Peter Kim on the science of how relationships are built, broken, and repaired
How something really strange began to happen on social media in 2016
In Defense of the Abraham Accords
Remembering a first Tweet with the same bewitching nostalgia as a first kiss
Why 1968 was the year that broke American politics and how this could be repeated in 2024
Why Greta Gerwig's BARBIE is Cynical and Vapid
Why So Many Smart People Are Turning Against Democracy
If We Can Be Taught How to Write, Then Why Not Also Be Educated in How to Love?
How to go from a small handful of book sales to top of the bestseller list via a 16 second Tiktok
How Landscape Architecture should get us to Pause and then Reconnect with Nature
Following the Dirty Money in Today's Globalized Entrepreneurial Underworld
How the High Price of Money is Wrecking the Venture Capital Industry
The New York Street that Changed American Art Forever
Why Springsteen's NEBRASKA Matters So Much
A Real World War II Story: The Tragic Life of Ira Hayes
In Praise of Valiant American Women
How Barbie Dolls Up the Plasticity of our Surreal Times
Why Julian Barnes Will Never Write a Memoir or Autobiography
Why Conservatives Should Fear & Loathe AI
The Netscape Moment When AI Gets a Brain
Imaging the Animal World as Nature's Great Maintenance Crew
Why the "very very excellent" OPPENHEIMER is a complicated film for our complex times
The Hidden History of American Democracy
Episode 1610: Our Oppenheimer Moment
Episode 1609: Why America Dominates the World
Episode 1608: The Fourth Turning is Here
Episode 1607: What Happens When Both Life and the Planet is Programmable?
Episode 1603: Can Diplomacy Save American Democracy?
Episode 1603: Social Media For Dummies
EPISODE 1602: How to Learn to Look So that We Become the World Itself
Episode 1601: Why Americans Still Can't Talk to Each Other About Politics
Episode 1599: Black Americans, Civil Rights and the Roosevelts, 1932-1962
Episode 1598: Goodbye, Eastern Europe
Episode 1597: Into the Bright Sunshine of Human Rights
Episode 1596: How the Internet Has Become an Outrage Machine
Episode 1595: Why AI is Now the Analytical Brain AND the Creative Heart of our Economy
EPISODE 1594: Can Artificial Intelligence Be Moral?
Episode 1593: Why America's Blood-Sucking Super Rich Want to Live Forever
Episode 1592: Risking Everything in Pursuit of Truth and Beauty
Episode 1591: Enabling a Conversation Between Rural and Urban America
Episode 1590: Talking to the Mafia about Michael Jackson, Donald Trump and Jimmy Hoffa
Episode 1589: Why Lina Khan and Gary Gensler Should Be Fired
Episode 1588: A Real-Life Tragicomedy about our Destruction of the Earth
Episode 1587: What America's current drug binge reveals about the post neoliberal 2020s
Episode 1586: Why the Renaissance Still Haunts Us
Walt Zuckerberg: If you like Disneyland, then you're gonna love Threads
Episode 1584: Learning from the Deepest Oceans about How Life Begun
Episode 1582: A Terribly Serious History of Philosophy at Oxford
KEEN ON Episode 1581: When a Czechoslovakian David Twice Beat the Soviet Goliath
Episode 1580: The Albert Einstein Effect
Episode 1579: Crime as a Catalyst for Social Change
The rise of Las Narcas - the drug ladies of Latin America
The Warnings of a Holocaust Scholar about Today's World of the Big Lie
How to Tell the American Story
Phew! When AI ate the internet
A Chilling Plot to Grab the World's Food and Water Resources
How to Get Beyond the Shame of Sexual Violence
America's First Great Naturalist
The Uncomfortable Truths Our Dogs Would Tell Us If They Could Talk
Why Novels Must Be More Believable than Non-Fiction Books
Remembering Judy Garland, Michael Jackson, the Spice Girls and Stevie Wonder
From Pizza and Meze to Ramen and Borscht: Unscrambling the Politics of National Dishes
Is most of rural America really plotting to destroy democracy?
On the Importance of Being Batshit Crazy
American Whitelash: Wesley Lowery on the cost of progress in an increasingly multiracial America
Pricing the Priceless: Paula DiPerna on how to quantify the planet and solve the climate crisis
Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World
A Queer American Life: R.K. Russell on being black and bi-sexual in the National Football League
A Radical Amerikan Family: Santi Elijah Holley on the Shakurs - from the Black Panthers to Tupac
The Good Enough Job: Simone Stolzoff on how to reclaim our life from work
My Hijacking: Martha Hodes on her memoir of forgetting
Imagine a City: Mark Vanhoenacker writes a love letter from the sky to the world's greatest cities
Having Pride in Pride: Abdi Nazemian on why he's happy being thought of as a queer writer
Body Neutrality: Jessi Kneeland on the psychology and spirituality of escaping body self-hatred
The Survivor's Story of a Gay Activist: Paul Burston on how we can all be heroes, just for one day
The Wounded World: Chad Williams on W.E.B. Du Bois and the First World World
Carry Strong: Stephanie Kramer offers an empowered approach to navigating pregnancy and work
Talking Turkey: Soli Özel makes sense of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's return to political power
How to Scale Trust: David Samson on making tribes and tribalism work in the 21st century
A Lost Son in Russia: Brett Forrest on the tragic human collateral loss of the FBI's secret wars
On Our Worst Behavior: Elise Loehnen explains why women should be sinful
Telling the Same Story Differently: Terry McDonell on writing about his mother, Irma
The Phoenix Economy: Felix Salmon on work, life and the price of lobster rolls in the new not normal
The Cult of Celebrity: Landon Jones on how America has devolved into a culture of fans and followers
Decision Sprint: Atif Rafiq on whether innovation is an art or a science
A Scientific Theory of Complexity: Neil Theise on Connection, Consciousness and Being
John Borthwick on the Intimacy of AI & Social Media Data
The Traffic Drug: Ben Smith on the Internet's fatal addiction to viral traffic
How to Fix Democracy Series 5 Launches
Jeff Jarvis remembers the history of social media
The 1963 Birmingham Campaign: Paul Kix on the ten weeks that changed America
HELL TO PAY: Michael Lind explains how the suppression of wages and unions is destroying America
From Solitaire to Heartstopper: Alice Oseman on asexuality, authentic story telling and book banning
The Promise of Second Life: Amber Atherton on the rise (and fall) of virtual communities
Excellent Advice for Living (and Dying)
Trump Was a Joke: Sophia McClennen on how satire makes sense of a President who didn't
Free and Equal: Daniel Chandler on what a fair society should look like
Seeing Through the Smoke: Peter Grinspoon, MD, untangles the truth about marijuana
American Madness: Jonathan Rosen's tragic story about friendship, insanity and murder
Soft Power 2.0: Daniel F. Runde on how America can reclaim global leadership in the 2020s
Nesting After Divorce: Beth Behrendt on how to co-parent in the family home after the marriage ends
William Brewer: Psychedelic Therapy Saved My Life
How to Innovate: Sheena Iyengar on how, in our Age of Big Problems, we must learn to Think Bigger
A Tragic Grand Delusion: Steven Simon on the Rise and Fall of American Ambition in the Middle East
Complicate the Narrative: Rajiv Vinnokota on how to transform Americans into better citizens
Why Philosophy Matters: Diana Janney on the philosophical foundations of her fiction
I Can't Save You: Anthony Chin-Quee on how giving up his successful career in medicine "saved" him
Don't Be King Canute: Keith Teare's Open Letter against pausing generative AI
The Last Catastrophe: Allegra Hyde offers an existential pitch for saving the planet
How to Incentivize People to Change their Behavior: Uri Gneezy reveals how incentives really work
The Power of Hope: Carol Graham on how the science of well-being an save us from despair
Ancient Stories about the Future: Sabrina Orah Mark on telling fairy tales designed to wake us up
How Data Happens: Chris Wiggins on a history of data from the Age of Reason to the Age of Algorithms
Are You Drowning in Work? Nick Sonnenberg on how to reduce clutter and enable productivity
Horror Literature as a Form of Realism: Leopoldo Gout on the living dead who layer Mexico City
Playing God: Mary Jo McConahay on why American Catholic Bishops are a threat to democracy
Bootstrapped: Alissa Quart on why we need to liberate ourselves from the "American Dream"
More Than a Glitch: Meredith Broussard confronts race, gender and ability bias in tech
Craig Seligman on Doris Fish, the rise of drag and why Ron DeSantis should dress up as a woman
The Noise of Typewriters: Lance Morrow remembers the golden age of American journalism
Without a Female Doubt: Surbhi Sarna on how woman can go from underrated to unbeatable
The Marriage Box: Corie Adjmi on her guilt at writing about "flawed" Jewish characters
A Psychiatric Novel about Donald Trump: Peter Kramer fictionalizes the "Great Man's" inner life.
A Wooden World of Mud, the Stars and the Forest: Alexander Nemerov's Fable of America in the 1830s
50 Reasons to be Cheerful: Ryan Bernsten on why America isn't quite as divided as we are told
Gnar Country: Steven Kotler on how to stay "rad" while growing old
The New Deal's Unlikely Heroes: Derek Leebaert on FDR's Four Key Lieutenants and the World They Made
Crisis, What Crisis? Paul Stephan on the world crisis triggered by our knowledge economy
We All Live in Palo Alto Now: Malcolm Harris' History of California, America and the World
Remembering Africatown: Nick Tabor on America's Last Slave Ship and the Community it Created
Roger Cohen on our age of undoing
An Affirming Flame: Roger Cohen meditates on life, politics and how to rebuild our age of undoing
The Inside Story of Social Media: Steven Levy on Friendster, MySpace, Facebook and TikTok
Purposeful Curiosity: Costas Andriopoulos on asking the right questions that will change our lives
Go, Dorothy, Go! Lynn Cullen on the woman who gave up everything and changed the world
Miss Aldridge Regrets: Louise Hare on how to write a successful second novel
No Miracles Needed: Mark Jacobson on how today's technology can save our climate and clean our air
Burn the Boats: Matt Higgins on why we should all toss Plan B overboard
Bloodshed and Lies in Saudi Arabia: Jeed Basyouni on Mohammed bin Salman's Kingdom of Executions
Can Populism Survive? Massimo Morelli on the nature and future of Populism
The United Nations as Leviathan: Roland Rich on why we need to reinvent the UN
The Ghost at the Feast: Robert Kagan on America and the Collapse of the World Order 1900-1941
Hijad Butch Blues: Lamya H on how to unf**k the world
A Hacker's Mind: Bruce Schneier on how the powerful bend society's rules and how to bend them back
How to Fix a Broken Planet: Julian Cribb's advice for surviving the 21st century
On the Ocean's Awesomeness: Farah Obaidullah explains why our lives depend on healthy oceans
From Doom to Bloom in 7 Days: Why Spring Has Arrived Unnaturally Early this Year in Silicon Valley
How to Kick Addictive Ideologies: Dr Emily Bashah on ending violence in Israel/Palestine
Will Donald Trump EVER Go to Jail? Elie Honig on Trump's Houdini-like Ability To Get Away With It
In the Nation's Service: Philip Taubman on George P. Shultz's UnTrumpian Role in Ending the Cold War
Why BLK ART matters: Zaria Ware on the Audacious Legacy of Black Artists and Models in Western Art
Hunger, Loneliness and Misery at Work: Jon Clifton on the Global Rise of Unhappiness
This Is Not Who We Are: Zachary Shore on America's Struggle Between Vengeance and Virtue
Forget Generative AI: Margaret Heffernan on Why the Future is Up To Us
An American riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma
Say It Loud and Say It Proud: Natalie Lue on the Joy of Saying NO
Frank Vogl on the American Bankers and Politicians Enabling Kleptocracy Around the World
George McCalman's Illustrated Black American History: How to Honor Both the Iconic and the Unseen
What Will Become of Syria in 2023? Joby Warrick on the Future of a Catastrophe
A Peculiarly American Sickness: Paul Auster and Spencer Ostrander on BLOODBATH NATION
DLD 2023: Quantum computing, Auschwitz-Birkenau, designing living brains & ubiquitous AI
Danielle Clode on Koalas: A Natural History and an Uncertain Future
The End of one Silicon Valley Myth
The End of the Silicon Valley Myth: Why Big Tech now faces a Reckoning
01.20.23: That Was The Week in Tech
GEORGE KENNAN: A Life Caught Between the United States and the Soviet Union
Curtis White on Transcendence: How Art and Dharma Can Save Us in a Time of Collapse
Can an Updated Version of Dale Carnegie's 20th Century Help Us Fix Our 21st Century Future
Why the Best Lessons in Life are Experienced rather than Learned
The Revolt against Humanity: Adam Kirsch Imagines a Future Without Humanity"
LIFE ON MARS: IMAGINING THE FIRST CITY ON THE RED PLANET
Paul Auster on America as a "Bloodbath Nation"
Some Bleak Truths about Ukraine
Pico Iyer: Why Travel Writing is a Form of Memoir and How Covid Has Changed How We See the World
Brad Feld: The Tech Community Needs To Be Humble to Survive With What Will Be a "Challenging" 2023
Beezy Marsh: Remembering a London of 1946 in Which Fearsome Female Gangsters Ran the Show
Leigh Goodmark on the Case for Abolition Feminism: Why We Need to Decriminalize Domestic Violence
Why the West should arm with Ukraine with missiles to hit Russian cities
Chris Schroeder: How to Read 100 Books in 2023 Without Going to Live in a Library or a Bookstore