The Other Eighties

Much as we might like it to be otherwise, our times are often defined by our leaders. Certainly in contemporary times, we remember the post war 50’s, reflected by Ike. The country moving forward again under Kennedy. The chaos of the Great Society and Vietnam under Johnson and then Nixon. We've talked a lot recently of the prosperity of the 90’s under Bill Clinton, and certainly the nation's shift to the right under Reagan in many ways, even more then disco, defined the 80’s.

Even though history is already kind to the Reagan legacy, perhaps because he seems so moderate by the Republican standards of today, it’s important to remember the impact of Reagan on the nation and more importantly of his polarizing presence and the opposition that Reagan gave rise to. An opposition that sought to consolidate the progressive gains of the 60’s and 70’s, even as the nation was lurching rightward. It truly was the political equivalent of the irresistible force vs. the immovable object. That’s the social and political backdrop of Bradford Martin's look at the Reagan years, The Other Eighties: A Secret History of America in the Age of Reagan.

My conversation with Bradford Martin:

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King of the Hackers!

We tend to think of hackers as misanthrope teenagers locked in the back bedroom. In fact hacking, or at least the modern variant of it, is part of a sophisticated international crime network, that stretches from the Bay Area to the furthest reaches of the world. Fueled by the easy and international movement of money in a globalized economy, stolen data is turned into billions of illegal dollars. Kevin Poulsen, once a hacker himself, now the senior editor of Wired.com, in his book Kingpin: How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cybercrime Underground, takes us through the story of Max Butler, a hacker extraordinaire who would ultimately receive the longest prison sentence ever handed out to a hacker.

My conversation with Kevin Poulsen:

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The Science of Immortality

Yesterday's New York Times Magazine had a story about business tycoon David Murdock and his quest to live until 125. The fact is, there are scientists today who think we could live forever! Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award winner Johnathan Weiner, in his new book Long for This World: The Strange Science of Immortality, takes us inside the science of aging and introduces us to the some of the leading minds in the field. Is the modern Fountain of Youth possible, can our deterioration be stopped and what would be the consequences of us all living beyond 100? Weiner tells us about the cutting edge research and the social and political consequences.

My conversation with Jonathan Weiner:

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The Silicon Valley Startup

Some people try and predict the future, others simply invent it and still others make those inventions possible. If it’s true that it is entrepreneurs that drive the future, then there are no more important players then the men who coach, invest and are the allies of those entrepreneurs. One of the stars and pioneers of this field is William H. Draper III. For more than forty years he has been a linchpin of the Silicon Valley, where he has turned others entrepreneurial vision, into tomorrow's reality. In this new book The Startup Game: Inside the Partnership between Venture Capitalists and Entrepreneurs, he takes an insightful look at how innovation, investment and individuals truly change the world.

My conversation with William H. Draper III:

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Marshalling Justice

Long before Martin Luther King efforts, before the Civil Rights Act, or Brown vs. Board of Education, much of the intellectual heft of the effort to achieve racial equality was carried by one man. An aggressive young attorney for the NAACP who fought tirelessly to combat racism, who evolved in his own views and upon whose shoulders rested much of the legal bedrock of the Civil Rights movement. Look before he moved to the Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall would seek to find a legal as well as a moral reason for justice. Professor Michael G. Long, gives us a unique insight into this amazing man in Marshalling Justice: The Early Civil Rights Letters of Thurgood Marshall.

My conversation with Michael Long:

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The Wrong War

The war in Afghanistan is now America's longest war. The 2014 completion of mission still remains years into the future. Yet after all of this, there still seems to be a lack of clarity about our objectives and and about how we might achieve them. We seemed to have broken the momentum of the Taliban. The people don’t seem to want to live under Taliban rule, but neither do they want American rule. There seems to be no "what’s next." We say we don’t want to “nation build”, bet we’re supporting and helping to build up a corrupt and irrelevant central government. Like Vietnam, we say we want to win the hearts and minds of the people, yet what price does this objective have on the warrior ethos we expect of our military?  In short, how do we exit Afghanistan, with clear goals, honestly obtained and most of all what can we learn that really can help us fight the next war?

Bing West, a former Marine combat veteran, a former assistant Secretary of Defense and brilliant chronicler of war, shares his insights into Afghanistan in The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy, and the Way Out of Afghanistan.

My conversation with Bing West:

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Chris Christie

We know from watching Wisconsin and the events in neighboring states, that public sector unions have become political whipping posts for Republican politicians, especially Governors. But where Wisconsin’s Gov. Walker may have overreached and seems politically tone deaf and Arnold Schwarzenegger was to timid here in California; New Jersey’s Governor Chris Christie may have found the sweat spot, as the pitch perfect spokesmen to an electorate fed up with the rising salaries and perks for public employees and their unions.

In so doing, he may actually have a chance to move his state forward, reduce deficits, and engage in endless bloody battles, while becoming more popular in the process. Is he a model for other politicians, or just a big bully who knows how to craft a message?  All of this is part of the Cover Story in this past Sunday's N.Y Times Magazine, by one of the best political reporters in America, Matt Bai. Matt is the new Chief Political Correspondent for The New York Times Magazine.

My conversation with Matt Bai about Gov. Chris Christie:

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