The Historian Who Explains Why the Middle East Is Messed Up - Simon Sebag Montefiore
The Middle East didn’t become a cauldron overnight, and to understand what’s happening there today, you have to understand the history that brought us here. Simon Sebag Montefiore joins me to unpack t...
15 Sep 34min
How Wall Street’s Billionaires Became Untouchable - William D. Cohan
What happens when you accumulate so much money and power that the normal rules no longer seem to apply? William Cohan joins me to unpack the extraordinary rise of Leon Black and Apollo, and a story of...
10 Sep 39min
Harlan Coben Sold 100 Million Books. Here’s His Advice for Aspiring Writers.
He has sold more than 100 million books, but what I love most about Harlan Coben is that he’ll be the first to tell you he still wrestles with self-doubt, and that fear can either paralyze you or fuel...
8 Sep 35min
The KGB Spy Who Exposed Russia’s Secret Plan to Attack The West - Richard Kerbaj
This is an unbelievable true story of a KGB defector who helped MI5 blow apart the Soviet spy network in Britain, and why British intelligence decided it couldn’t trust the CIA with the secret. It’s a...
7 Sep 33min
How Politics Destroyed American Universities - Neil Gross
Neil Gross joins me for a conversation about what happened to the American college experience, how politics, polarization, and fear of speaking your mind have damaged one of the greatest institutions ...
25 Aug 34min
Chicago Is at a Breaking Point (But She Says She Can Fix It) - Susana A. Mendoza
Today on Open Book, we're not joined by an author, but by a woman fighting to become the next mayor of Chicago. Susana Mendoza grew up in Chicago learning how to stand up to bullies, fight for what sh...
14 Aug 28min
The Secretive Family Behind a $13 Trillion Financial Empire
Fidelity is one of the most powerful financial institutions in America, but the story of the family behind it has largely remained hidden. Justin Baer joins me to reveal how the Johnson dynasty built ...
11 Aug 35min
Ex-CIA Officer: America Has a 20% Chance of Splitting Apart - James Telfer
A former CIA officer sat down to write a "fun airport novel" and ended up putting a 20% probability on America actually splitting apart. James Telfer joins me to talk about what he saw from the inside...
6 Aug 29min
