Synopsis
Join Andrew Keen as he travels around the globe investigating the contemporary crisis of democracy. Hear from the world’s most informed citizens about the rise of populism, authoritarian and illiberal democracy. In this first season, listen to Keen’s commentary on and solutions to this crisis of democracy. Stay tuned for season two.
Episodes
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In defense of literary flyover country: Peter Slen on Willa Cather's "My Antonia", the 1918 novel that captured the ideal of immigrant middle America
03/11/2023 Duration: 29minEPISODE 1843: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Peter Slen, Executive Producer of the C-SPAN series BOOKS THAT SHAPED AMERICA, about Willa Cather's "My Antonia", the 1918 novel that nailed the ideal of immigrant middle AmericaPeter Slen is the senior executive producer and a host at C-SPAN, a television and radio network known for its unbiased coverage of government proceedings.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. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus
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Orwell and his women: Bethanne Patrick on new feminist takes on George Orwell - the man , the husband and the writer.
03/11/2023 Duration: 37minEPISODE 1842: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Bethanne Patrick, book critic at the Los Angeles Times, about new feminist takes on George Orwell, the man and the writer.Bethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast. 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, DIGIT
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Guilty by seven crimes and death by a thousand verticals: Keith Teare on Sam Bankman-Fried and Palo Alto, Elon Musk and Rishi Sunak, and Space X and X
03/11/2023 Duration: 35minEPISODE 1841: In our weekly KEEN ON wrap of tech news with Keith Teare, author of the THAT WAS THE WEEK newletter Keith talks about Sam Bankman-Fried and Palo Alto, Elon Musk and Rishi Sunak, and Space X and X Keith Teare is a Founder and CEO at SignalRank Corporation. Previously he was Executive Chairman at Accelerated Digital Ventures Ltd - A UK-based global investment company focused on startups at all stages. He was also previously the founder at the Palo Alto incubator, Archimedes Labs. Archimedes was the original incubator for TechCrunch and since 2011 has invested, accelerated or incubated many Silicon Valley startups including Around (sold to Miro), Millicast (Sold to Dolby), InFarm, Miles, Quixey; M.dot (sold to GoDaddy); chat.center; Loop Surveys; DownTown and Sunshine. Teare has a track record as a serial entrepreneur with big ideas and has achieved significant returns for investors. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, vi
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How to get more women in science right now: Lisa Munoz on implicit bias, leaky pipelines, tokenization and other explanations for the persistent gender gap in science
02/11/2023 Duration: 32minEPISODE 1840: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Lisa M.P. Munoz, author of WOMEN IN SCIENCE NOW, about implicit bias, leaky pipelines, tokenization and other explanations for the persistent gender gap in scienceAs president of SciComm Services, Inc., Lisa Munoz develops, leads, and executes communication strategies for science groups, including VC funds, sci-tech startups, scientific societies and academic research groups, international organizations, and other institutions. She has more than 20 years of experience translating complex science into digestible stories for broad audiences. Lisa started her career in radio and then print journalism, as a reporter and then managing editor of Geotimes, a geoscience magazine. She is a former Press Officer for the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, and former Chief of Staff and Communications Director for the OS Fund. Lisa has an engineering degree from Cornell University with a specialty in science writing. Lisa’s expertise spans cognitiv
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Did the KGB really invent the idea of the Palestinian nation in the 1960s? Pierre Rehov on Iranian financed sleeper-cells in US universities and why he admires Hamas' "evil mind"
02/11/2023 Duration: 37minEPISODE 1839: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the French-Israeli filmmaker and writer Pierre Rehov what he believes are Ianian financed sleeper-cells in US universities and why he admires Hamas' "evil mind"Pierre Rebov is a French-Israeli novelist, journalist and documentary filmmaker. Born in Algiers, he had to flee his native country with his family in 1961, at the end of the French-Algerian war. Established in Paris, and later in New York, he graduated from Assas law school and studied counter-terrorism at IDC Herzliya. Since 2000, he produced and directed 13 documentaries on the Middle Conflict. He now lives in Tel Aviv.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 T
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Overcoming the politics of black grief and white grievance in America today: Juliet Hooker on why American democracy is in desperate need of an radical expansion of its political imagination
02/11/2023 Duration: 43minEPISODE 1838: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Juliet Hooker, author of BLACK GRIEF/WHITE GRIEVANCE, about why American democracy is in desperate need of an radical expansion of its political imaginationJuliet Hooker is Professor of Political Science at Brown University. She is a political theorist specializing in racial justice, Latin American political thought, Black political thought, and Afro-descendant and indigenous politics in Latin America. Before coming to Brown, she was a faculty member at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of Race and the Politics of Solidarity (Oxford, 2009); Theorizing Race in the Americas: Douglass, Sarmiento, Du Bois, and Vasconcelos (Oxford, 2017); and editor of Black and Indigenous Resistance in the Americas: From Multiculturalism to Racist Backlash (Lexington Books, 2020). Theorizing Race in the Americas was awarded the American Political Science Association’s 2018 Ralph Bunche Book Award for the best work in ethnic and cultural pluralism and the 2018
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A remarkable American hero at a time in which many Americans are no longer comfortable with the heroic ideal: Ronald C. White on the life of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, the unlikely hero of Gettysburg
01/11/2023 Duration: 38minEPISODE 1837: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Ronald C. White, the author of ON GREAT FIELDS, about the life of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, the unlikely hero of Gettysburg.Ronald C. White is the author of two New York Times bestselling presidential biographies. USA Today said of A. Lincoln: A Biography [2009], “If you read one book about Lincoln, make it A. LINCOLN.” American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant [2016] won the William Henry Seward Award for “Excellence in Civil War Biography.” He has also written Lincoln’s Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural [2002], a New York Times Notable Book, The Eloquent President: A Portrait of Lincoln Through His Words [2005], a Los Angeles Times bestseller, and Lincoln in Private: What His Most Personal Reflections Tell Us About Our Greatest President [2021], recipient of the 2021 Barnondess/Lincoln award. He is the narrator of the Random House Audiobook for Lincoln in Private. His new biography, On Great Fields: The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrenc
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The problem with stories about the Holocaust is that they are told by the survivors: Daniel Finkelstein on the extraordinary coincidences enabling the survival of his mum and dad from both Hitler and Stalin
01/11/2023 Duration: 50minEPISODE 1836: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Daniel Finkelstein, author of HITLER, STALIN, MUM AND DAD: A FAMILY MEMOIR OF MIRACULOUS SURVIVAL, about the extraordinary coincidences enabling the survival of his family in World War TwoDANIEL FINKELSTEIN is a weekly political columnist at The Times of London. Formerly an adviser to Prime Minister John Major, he was appointed to the House of Lords in 2013. He recently became a director of Chelsea Football Club. He is married with three children and lives in Pinner, a suburb of London. He is grandson of Dr. Alfred Wiener, founder of the Wiener Library, the world’s oldest Holocaust archive, where he is a patron.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 INTE
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Zero to Zero: William Deresiewicz on what happens when the price of online content is driven down to zero
31/10/2023 Duration: 42minEPISODE 1835: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks William Deresiewicz, author of THE DEATH OF THE ARTIST, about the fate of the creative artist when , in our digital economy, the price of content has been driven down to zero William Deresiewicz is an award-winning essayist and critic, a frequent speaker at colleges, high schools, and other venues, and the author of five books including the New York Times bestseller Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life. His latest book is The End of Solitude: Selected Essays on Culture and Society. Bill has published over 300 essays and reviews. He has won the Hiett Prize in the Humanities, the National Book Critics Circle’s Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing, and a Sydney Award; he is also a three-time National Magazine Award nominee. His work, which has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Harper’s, and many other publications, has been translated into 19 languages and anthologized in 39 college and
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Where have all the Democrats gone? Ruy Teixeira on why the Democratic Party needs to tone down the volume on cultural issues if it's to rediscover its soul
31/10/2023 Duration: 39minEPISODE 1834: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Ruy Teixeira, co-author of WHERE HAVE ALL THE DEMOCRATS GONE?, needs to tone down the volume on cultural issues if its to rediscover its political soulRuy Teixeira is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and co-founder and politics editor of the Substack newsletter, The Liberal Patriot. His forthcoming book, with John B. Judis, is Where Have All the Democrats Gone?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. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss t
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How this month's "almost miraculous" Polish election might be a hopeful sign for democracy everywhere: Maciej Kisilowski on the promise and peril of representative democracy in a post authoritarian Poland
31/10/2023 Duration: 39minEPISODE 1833: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Maciej Kisilowski, editor of LET'S AGREE ABOUT POLAND, about the promise and peril of democracy in a post authoritarian Poland after what he calls its "almost miraculous" October election Maciej Kisilowski is a frequent commentator on issues of political-economy of East-Central Europe, contributing (among others) to Project Syndicate, The Wall Street Journal, Politico, Haaretz, EU Observer, and EURActive. He is the author/editor of three books, including Administrategy, which was translated into five languages. He’s a consultant to governmental organizations, progressive political parties, advocacy groups and businesses in Central Europe and beyond.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
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Does today's climate change crisis represent an existential threat to humanity? Antonello Provenzale contextualizes the contemporary crisis within a history of climate change from the earth origins to the Anthropocene
31/10/2023 Duration: 32minEPISODE 1832: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Antonello Provenzale, author of HISTORY OF CLIMATE CHANGE, about whether today's climate change crisis represent an existential threat to humanityAntonello Provenzale is Director of the Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources at the National Research Council of Italy. His latest book is History of Climate Change: From the Earth's Origins to the AnthropoceneNamed 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. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subs
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An enigmatic city teetering on the edge of the world: John Kampfner on Berlin, a city of ghosts and memories where he can still smell the Wall
30/10/2023 Duration: 32minEPISODE 1831: In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to John Kampfner, author of IN SEARCH OF BERLIN, about the enigmatic German capital on the edge of the worldJohn Kampfner has had a 30-year career in international public life spanning media, global affairs, politics and arts. He is the author of seven books. He began his journalistic career as a foreign correspondent with the Daily Telegraph, first in East Berlin where he reported on the fall of the Wall and unification of Germany, and then in Moscow at the time of the collapse of Soviet Communism. He went on to work for the FT and BBC. As Editor of the New Statesman from 2005 to 2008, he took the magazine to 30-year circulation highs. He was Society of Magazine Editors Current Affairs Editor of the Year in 2006. He now writes regularly for newspapers such as the Guardian, FT and Der Spiegel. He has made many programmes over the years for BBC Radio 4 and World Service and regularly appearances on European broadcasters. His new book, In Search of Berlin, is
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A Theory of Everyone (but not Everything): Michael Muthukrishna on how human-beings are a new kind of animal and why we need to transform the world into the most efficient laboratory possible
30/10/2023 Duration: 46minEPISODE 1830: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Michael Muthukrishna, author of A THEORY OF EVERYTHING, about how humans are a new kind of animal and why we need to transform the world into the most efficient laboratory possibleMichael Muthukrishna is Associate Professor of Economic Psychology at the London School of Economics. He is also Affiliate of the Developmental Economics Group at STICERD, Affiliate of the LSE Data Science Institute, CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar in the Boundaries, Membership and Belonging programme at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and Technical Director of The Database of Religious History. He is also a board member of the One Pencil Project. Prof Muthukrishna's research focuses on answering three broad questions: (1) Why are humans so different to other animals? (2) What are the psychological and evolutionary processes that underlie culture and social change, and how is information transmitted, maintained, and modified? (3) How can the answers to these questions b
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Why Americans have the constitutional right to sometimes lie: Jeff Kosseff protects free speech in our digital age of misinformation
29/10/2023 Duration: 44minEPISODE 1829: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Jeff Kosseff, author of LIAR IN A CROWDED THEATER, about the protection of free speech in our digital age of misinformationJeff Kosseff is an associate professor of cybersecurity law in the United States Naval Academy’s Cyber Science Department. He is the author of four books and more than 20 academic journal articles. In fall 2023, Johns Hopkins University Press will publish his latest book, Liar in a Crowded Theater: Freedom of Speech in a World of Misinformation, which examines and defends legal protections for false speech. In 2019, he was named an Andrew Carnegie Fellow by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, to support his 2022 book The United States of Anonymous: How the First Amendment Shaped Online Speech. His 2019 book, The Twenty-Six Words That Created the Internet, traced the history of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. He also is the author of Cybersecurity Law, a textbook and treatise whose third edition was published by Wiley in
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Eight literary tricks and treats to scare you this Halloween: Bethanne Patrick on "app-aritions", cultural ghosts and unfamiliarly familiar haunted houses
28/10/2023 Duration: 38minEPISODE 1828: In this regular KEEN ON show with LA Times book critic Bethane Patrick, Bethanne talks about eight scary new books to keep you awake this HalloweenBethanne Patrick maintains a storied place in the publishing industry as a critic and as @TheBookMaven on Twitter, where she created the popular #FridayReads and regularly comments on books and literary ideas to over 200,000 followers. Her work appears frequently in the Los Angeles Times as well as in The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Literary Hub. She sits on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and has served on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the host of the Missing Pages podcast. 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, T
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Why our cyborg AI future may already have arrived in the trained-on-jargon "person" of Sam Bankman-Fried: Hito Steyerl on pyramid schemes, on-boarding tools and the "mean" creativity of our AI age
28/10/2023 Duration: 33minEPISODE 1827: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the filmmaker, artist and writer Hito Steyerl about what she calls the "pyramid schemes", "on-boarding" tools and the "mean" creativity of our AI ageHito Steyerl (born 1 January 1966) is a German filmmaker, moving image artist, writer, and innovator of the essay documentary. Her principal topics of interest are media, technology, and the global circulation of images. Steyerl holds a PhD in philosophy from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. She is currently a professor of New Media Art at the Berlin University of the Arts, where she co-founded the Research Center for Proxy Politics, together with Vera Tollmann and Boaz Levin.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 VERTIG
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Is the venture capital industry a big ponzi scheme? Keith Teare separates the hyperbole from the hysteria of VC techno-optimism
27/10/2023 Duration: 34minEPISODE 1826: In this regular weekly KEEN ON with Keith Teare, THAT WAS THE WEEK newsletter author, Keith tries to separate the hyperbole from the hysteria of VC techno-optimism Keith Teare is a Founder and CEO at SignalRank Corporation. Previously he was Executive Chairman at Accelerated Digital Ventures Ltd - A UK-based global investment company focused on startups at all stages. He was also previously the founder at the Palo Alto incubator, Archimedes Labs. Archimedes was the original incubator for TechCrunch and since 2011 has invested, accelerated or incubated many Silicon Valley startups including Around (sold to Miro), Millicast (Sold to Dolby), InFarm, Miles, Quixey; M.dot (sold to GoDaddy); chat.center; Loop Surveys; DownTown and Sunshine. Teare has a track record as a serial entrepreneur with big ideas and has achieved significant returns for investors. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscri
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The American Shakespeare or trash of the veriest sort? Peter Slen on Mark Twain's ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, the adventurous story of a young man and young nation on a great and not-so-great adventure
27/10/2023 Duration: 31minEPISODE 1825: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Peter Slen, Executive Producer of the C-SPAN series BOOKS THAT SHAPED AMERICA, about Mark Twain's 1884 novel HUCKLEBERRY FINN, the adventurous story of a youthful nation on a great and not-so-great adventurePeter Slen is the senior executive producer and a host at C-SPAN, a television and radio network known for its unbiased coverage of government proceedings.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. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscr
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A Graphic Diary of the War in Ukraine: Nora Krug on the contrasting realities of a Ukrainian journalist and a Russian artist in the first year of Russian invasion
26/10/2023 Duration: 37minEPISODE 1824: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Nora Krug, author of DIARIES OF WAR, about the contrasting realities of a Ukrainian journalist and a Russian artist in the first year of the Russian invasionNora Krug is a German-American author and illustrator whose drawings and visual narratives have appeared in newspapers, magazines and anthologies internationally. Her illustrations have been recognized with gold and silver medals by the Society of Illustrators and the NY Art Directors Club. Krug is a recipient of fellowships from Fulbright, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the Maurice Sendak Foundation, and others. Her books are included in the Library of Congress and the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University. Krug was named Moira Gemmill Illustrator of the Year and 2019 Book Illustration Prize Winner by the Victoria and Albert Museum. Her visual memoir Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home (Scribner, 2018, foreign edition title