James Munro McPherson (born October 11, 1936) is an American Civil War historian and is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor Emeritus of United States History at Princeton University. He received the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. McPherson was the president of the American Historical Association in 2003.&nbsp;
Born in Valley City, North Dakota, McPherson graduated from St. Peter High School, and he received his Bachelor of Arts at Gustavus Adolphus College (St. Peter, Minnesota) in 1958 (from which he graduated magna cum laude) and his Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University in 1963 where he studied under C. Vann Woodward.
McPherson joined the faculty of Princeton in 1962. His works include The Struggle for Equality, which was awarded the Anisfield-Wolf Award in 1965. In 1988, he published his Pulitzer-winning book, Battle Cry of Freedom. His 1990 book, Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution, argues that the emancipation of slaves amounts to a second American Revolution. McPherson's 1998 book, For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War, received the Lincoln Prize.&nbsp;
In 2002, he published both a scholarly book, Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam 1862, and a history of the American Civil War for children, Fields of Fury. McPherson published This Mighty Scourge in 2007, a series of essays about the American Civil War. One essay describes the huge difficulty of negotiation when regime change is a war aim on either side of a conflict. "For at least the past two centuries, nations have usually found it harder to end a war than to start one.&nbsp;
Americans learned that bitter lesson in Vietnam, and apparently having forgotten it, we're forced to learn it all over again in Iraq." One of McPherson's examples is the American Civil War, in which both the Union and the Confederacy sought regime change. It took four years to end the war. There are all kinds of myths that a person has about himself, some positive, some negative, some healthy, and some not healthy.&nbsp;
I think that one job of the historian is to try to cut through some of those myths and get closer to some kind of reality. So that people can face their current situation realistically rather than mythically. I guess that's my sense of what a historian ought to do. McPherson was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1991. In 1995, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, presented by Awards Council member David McCullough.
In 2002, McPherson received The Lincoln Forum's Richard Nelson Current Award of Achievement. In 2007, he was awarded the $100,000 Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for lifetime achievement in military history and was the first recipient of the prize. In 2007, he was awarded the Samuel Eliot Morison Prize for lifetime achievement in military history given by the Society for Military History. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009.

James

Kevin Kelly is a writer, editor, and speaker who has had a diverse career exploring the intersection of technology, culture, and business.
In the early days of the internet, Kelly co-founded Wired magazine in 1993 and served as its Executive Editor until 1999. He helped to shape the magazine's coverage of technology and digital culture, and his writing and editing helped to establish Wired as a leading voice in the field.
After leaving Wired, Kelly continued to write and speak about technology and its impact on society. He has written several books, including "Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, &amp; the Economic World" and "What Technology Wants," which explore how technology shapes our world and our future.
In recent years, Kelly has been a sought-after speaker and advisor on technology and its impact on society. He has spoken at conferences and events worldwide and advised companies and organizations on navigating the rapidly changing technological landscape. Kelly is also a co-founder of the All Species Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to cataloging and identifying every living species on earth. The Long Now Foundation focuses on long-term thinking and responsibility.
Overall, Kelly's career has been dedicated to understanding how technology shapes our world and helping others understand and navigate those changes.

Kevin

David Lifton was born in New York on 20th September 1939. A graduate of the Cornell University School of Engineering Physics he worked as a computer engineer for North American Aviation in Los Angeles. Lifton worked on the Apollo space program but left the company in 1966.
Lifton now concentrated on his research into the assassination of John F. Kennedy and particularly the life of Lee Harvey Oswald. He has read all the material published by the Warren Commission. He also spent several months at the National Archives in Washington and interviewed many of the important witnesses in the case.
Lifton published an important article on the assassination in Ramparts. He also served as consultant on the Hollywood movies, Executive Action and Oliver Stone's JFK. Lifton ppeared before the House Select Committee on Assassinations and as an expert witness before the Assassination Records Review Board.
In 1980 Lifton published Best Evidence: Disguise and Deception in the Assassination of John F. Kennedy. Lifton claims that members of the Secret Service agents were involved in the killing of Kennedy. Their involvement was the key to the secret alteration of the President's wounds.
In the book Lifton argued that the wounds contained in the body of John F. Kennedy were altered somewhere between Parkland Hospital and Bethesda Hospital. Lifton believes that the wounds were altered in order to hide the fact that he had been shot from the front, e.g. the Grassy Knoll. The book was a bestseller and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in history.

David

Winston Churchill was a British statesman and politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest wartime leaders of the 20th century, leading Britain through its darkest hour during World War II.
Churchill was born in 1874 and was educated at Harrow and Sandhurst. He began his career in the British Army and later transitioned into politics, serving as a Member of Parliament for over 60 years. He held several government positions throughout his career, including as the First Lord of the Admiralty, Minister of Munitions, and Secretary of State for War.
During World War II, Churchill served as Prime Minister and played a key role in leading Britain through the war. He made powerful speeches that rallied the nation and inspired the British people to keep fighting, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. His speeches are widely considered to be some of the greatest in history, with phrases such as "Never give in, never give in, never, never, never" and "We shall fight on the beaches" becoming famous.
One of Churchill's greatest achievements as Prime Minister was his strong alliance with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Together, they led the Allied powers to victory over Nazi Germany.
After World War II, Churchill served as Prime Minister again from 1951 to 1955 but was defeated in the general election. He remained an active Member of Parliament until 1964 and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 for his six-volume memoir of the war. He died in 1965 at the age of 90.
Churchill's legacy continues to this day, with many seeing him as a symbol of leadership, courage, and determination in the face of adversity. He is often ranked as one of the greatest British Prime Ministers, and his speeches are still studied and admired by people all over the world.
Winston Churchill was a prolific writer throughout his life, publishing books on a wide range of subjects. One of his most notable literary achievements is his six-volume memoir, The Second World War, which he wrote during and after the war. The work, which was published between 1948 and 1954, provides a detailed and personal account of the war from Churchill's perspective, including his thoughts and decisions as Prime Minister. The memoirs were international bestsellers and were praised for their historical accuracy and Churchill's literary skill.
In addition to his memoirs, Churchill also wrote several other books throughout his life. Some of his most notable works include:
<ul>
<li>"The World Crisis" (1923-1931): A five-volume work that covers the period of Churchill's life from 1911 to 1928 and includes his thoughts on World War I and its aftermath.</li>
<li>"My Early Life" (1930): An autobiographical work that covers Churchill's childhood and early career.</li>
<li>"A History of the English-Speaking Peoples" (1956-1958): A four-volume work that covers the history of the English-speaking peoples from the Anglo-Saxon period to the end of the 19th century.</li>
<li>"Painting as a Pastime" (1948): A book in which Churchill reflects on his hobby of painting and its therapeutic effects.</li>
</ul>
Churchill's books have been widely read and praised for their historical accuracy and literary merit. They provide valuable insights into the mind of one of the most important figures of the 20th century and continue to be studied and admired today.

Winston

Ariel Durant was a Russian-born American researcher and writer, the co-author of The Story of Civilization with her husband, Will Durant. Ariel Durant was born in Proskurov, Russian Empire (now Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine) as Chaya Kaufman to Jewish parents Ethel Appel Kaufman and Joseph Kaufman. The family emigrated to the United States in 1901. She met her future husband while a student at Ferrer Modern School in New York City. Will was then a teacher at the school but resigned his post to marry Ariel, who was fifteen at the time of the wedding on October 31, 1913.
Ariel and Will Durant were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1968 for Rousseau and Revolution, the tenth volume of The Story of Civilization. In 1977 they were presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Gerald Ford, and Ariel was named "Woman of the Year" by the city of Los Angeles. Ariel Durant and her husband Will died within two weeks of each other in 1981 and are buried at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

Ariel

Jacqueline Novogratz is a social entrepreneur, author, and speaker. She is the founder and CEO of Acumen. This global nonprofit organization uses patient capital to build businesses that serve low-income communities in Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and the United States.
Before founding Acumen, Novogratz worked as a Wall Street analyst and consultant at McKinsey &amp; Company. She also worked as a development worker and social entrepreneur for several years in West Africa.
In her book "The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World," Novogratz tells the story of her journey to understand poverty and her experiences working in Africa and with social entrepreneurs. She got her Bachelor's degree in Economics and International Relations from the University of Virginia. She also holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Novogratz has been recognized as a leader in impact investing and social entrepreneurship. She was included in the Time 100 list in the year 2011. The Time 100 is an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, as selected by Time magazine. The Time 100 list is divided into categories such as leaders, artists, and icons, and Novogratz was listed in the "Leaders" category. Being part of this list is an excellent recognition of the impact and influence of the organization's work and her contributions to the field of impact investing and social entrepreneurship.

Jacqueline

Arianna Huffington is a Greek-American author, syndicated columnist, and businesswoman. She was born Arianna Stassinopoulos on July 15, 1950, in Athens, Greece. She moved to the United Kingdom with her family when she was 16 and later studied economics at Girton College, Cambridge.
After graduating, Huffington began her career as a writer and commentator and was a prominent conservative commentator in the UK during the 1970s and 1980s. She later moved to the United States, where she continued her career as a political commentator and became a naturalized citizen in 1990.
In 2005, Huffington co-founded The Huffington Post, a news and opinion website, with Kenneth Lerer and Jonah Peretti. AOL acquired the site in 2011 for $315 million. She served as the site's editor-in-chief from 2005 to 2016.
Huffington is also a prolific author and has written several books, including "The Sleep Revolution," "Thrive," and "The Fourth Instinct: The Call of the Soul." She is also a public speaker and has delivered speeches on various topics, including well-being, media, and politics.
In 2016, Huffington resigned as editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post to focus on her health and wellness startup, Thrive Global, which focuses on reducing workplace stress and burnout. She is still the CEO of Thrive Global.
AOL acquired the Huffington Post in 2011 for $315 million. In 2016, she stepped down as editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post to focus on her new startup, Thrive Global, which aims to end the "epidemic of stress and burnout" by offering corporate wellness programs and products. Huffington is also an author, having written 14 books, including the best-seller "Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder."

Arianna

Nassim Nicholas Taleb is a Lebanese-American essayist, scholar, statistician, and former trader and risk analyst whose work focuses on problems of randomness, probability, and uncertainty. He is the author of several books, including "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable," which was published in 2007 and became a bestseller.
Taleb is a former trader and risk analyst and has worked as a professor of risk engineering at New York University's Tandon School of Engineering. He has a background in mathematics, statistics, and computer science and has published numerous papers in academic journals on topics related to randomness and uncertainty.
Taleb's main area of research is the study of "black swans," which he defines as rare events that have a large impact and are typically not predictable. He argues that traditional risk assessment methods, such as using historical data to predict future events, are inadequate because they fail to consider the possibility of black swan events.
Taleb is also known for his criticism of the concept of "normalcy" in statistics and his skepticism of the use of mathematical models in finance and economics. He has argued that the assumptions made in these models are often unrealistic and can lead to dangerous oversimplifications.
In addition to his work in academia, Taleb is also a public intellectual and has written several books for a general audience. His books have been widely discussed and debated in the media and have been translated into multiple languages.
Taleb is a strong advocate for antifragility, a concept he has developed and popularized in his books. Antifragility is the property of a system or entity that improves when subjected to volatility, shocks, stressors, or disorder and doesn't just remain indifferent to them.
Taleb's writing style is often characterized as provocative and contrarian, and he is known for his strong opinions on a wide range of topics. His work has been influential in the fields of economics, finance, and risk management and has also been discussed in the broader cultural and intellectual conversation.

Nassim Nicholas

Chris Anderson is the Head of TED, a non-profit organization devoted to spreading ideas through short, powerful talks. He is also the founder of TEDx, a program that allows communities and organizations to host TED-like events.
Anderson has been involved with TED since 2001 and took over as Head of TED in 2002. Under his leadership, TED has grown into a global phenomenon, with talks being viewed by millions of people in more than 100 languages. He has also been instrumental in expanding the reach of TED by making the words available for free online and by launching the TEDx program.
In addition to his work with TED, Anderson is also an entrepreneur and author. He is the founder of several successful companies. In addition, he has written several books, including "The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More" and "TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking."
Anderson is a firm believer in the power of ideas to change the world, and he has dedicated his career to promoting this idea through TED. He is a charismatic and dynamic speaker and has been praised for his ability to bring together diverse groups of people to share their thoughts and inspire change.
Anderson is also known for his innovative approach to curation, which has helped to make TED one of the most respected and widely-watched platforms for ideas. He has a keen eye for identifying new and emerging trends and is always looking for ways to bring fresh perspectives and voices to the TED stage.
He has also been a champion of using technology to democratize knowledge and ideas, making them more accessible to people worldwide. In addition, he has been an early adopter of new technologies, such as online video and social media, to help spread TED's message and reach new audiences.
Various organizations and publications have also recognized Anderson's work with TED. He has been honored with numerous awards for his contributions to the field of communications and education and has been named one of the most influential people in the world by Time Magazine.
In addition to his role at TED, Anderson is a sought-after speaker and advisor and has been invited to speak at conferences and events worldwide. In addition, he is a regular contributor to various publications, where he shares his insights on the future of technology, business, and culture.
Overall, Chris Anderson is a respected leader and a thought leader in the field of ideas and education, and he continues to inspire and innovate in his role as Head of TED. His work has helped make TED one of the most critical and influential platforms for sharing knowledge and ideas, and his contributions to the field will continue to be felt for years.

Chris

Erich Maria Remarque, born Erich Paul Remark, was a German-born novelist. His landmark novel All Quiet on the Western Front (1928), based on his experience in the Imperial German Army during World War I, was an international bestseller that created a new literary genre and was adapted into multiple films. Remarque's anti-war themes led to his condemnation by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels as "unpatriotic." He was able to use his literary success to relocate to Switzerland and the United States, where he became a naturalized citizen.
Remarque was born on 22 June 1898 as Erich Paul Remark to Peter Franz Remark and Anna Maria (née Stallknecht), a working-class Roman Catholic family in Osnabrück. He was never close with his father, a bookbinder, but he was close with his mother, and he began using the middle name Maria after World War I in her honor. Remarque was the third of four children of Peter and Anna. His siblings were his older sister Erna, older brother Theodor Arthur (who died at the age of five or six), and younger sister Elfriede.
The spelling of his last name was changed to Remarque when he published All Quiet on the Western Front in honor of his French ancestors and in order to dissociate himself from his earlier novel Die Traumbude. His grandfather had changed the spelling from Remarque to Remark in the 19th century. Research[when?] by Remarque's childhood and lifelong friend Hanns-Gerd Rabe proved that Remarque had French ancestors – his great-grandfather Johann Adam Remarque, who was born in 1789, came from a French family in Aachen.&nbsp;
This is contrary to the falsehood – perpetuated by Nazi propaganda – that his real last name was Kramer ("Remark" spelled backward) and that he was Jewish. During World War I, Remarque was conscripted into the Imperial German Army at the age of 18. On 12 June 1917, he was transferred to the Western Front, 2nd Company, Reserves, Field Depot of the 2nd Guards Reserve Division at Hem-Lenglet.&nbsp;
On 26 June 1917, he was posted to the 15th Reserve Infantry Regiment, 2nd Company, Engineer Platoon Bethe, and fought in the trenches between Torhout and Houthulst. On 31 July 1917, he was wounded by shell shrapnel in the left leg, right arm, and neck, and after being medically evacuated from the field, was repatriated to an army hospital in Germany, where he spent the rest of the war, recovering from his wounds, before being demobilized from the army.
After the war, he continued his teacher training and worked from 1 August 1919 as a primary-school teacher in Lohne, then in the county of Lingen, and now in the county of Bentheim. From May 1920, he worked in Klein Berssen in the former County of Hümmling, now Emsland, and from August 1920 in Nahne, which has been a part of Osnabrück since 1972. On 20 November 1920, he applied for a leave of absence from teaching.&nbsp;
He worked at a number of different jobs in this phase of his life, including librarian, businessman, journalist, and editor. His first paid writing job was as a technical writer for the Continental Rubber Company, a German tire manufacturer. Remarque made his first attempts at writing at the age of 16. Among them were essays, poems, and the beginnings of a novel that was finished later and published in 1920 as The Dream Room (Die Traumbude). Between 1923 and 1926, he also scripted a comic series, Der Contibuben, drawn by Hermann Schütz, published in the magazine Echo Continental, a publication by the rubber and tire company Continental AG.
After returning from the war, the atrocities of war and his mother’s death caused him a great deal of mental trauma and grief. In their later years as a professional writer, he started using "Maria" as his middle name instead of "Paul" to commemorate his mother. When he published All Quiet on the Western Front, he had his surname reverted to an earlier spelling – from Remark to Remarque – to dissociate himself from his novel Die Traumbude.
In 1927, he published the novel Station at the Horizon (Station am Horizont). It was serialized in the sports journal Sport im Bild, for which Remarque worked. (It was first published in book form in 1998.) All Quiet on the Western Front (Im Westen nichts Neues) (1929), his career-defining work, was also written in 1927. Remarque was at first unable to find a publisher for it. Its text described the experiences of German soldiers during World War I.&nbsp;
On publication, it became an international bestseller and a landmark work in twentieth-century literature. It inspired a new genre of veterans writing about conflict and the commercial publication of various war memoirs. It also inspired dramatic representations of the war in theatre and cinema in Germany and in countries that had fought in the conflict against the German Empire, particularly the United Kingdom and the United States.

Erich

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama is a lawyer, writer, and the former First Lady of the United States. She is the wife of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama. Born on January 17, 1964, in Chicago, Illinois, Michelle was raised in a working-class family on the city's South Side. She attended Princeton University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology, and then went on to Harvard Law School, where she earned her Juris Doctor.
After graduating from Harvard, Michelle returned to Chicago and worked as a lawyer and community organizer. She met Barack Obama while working at a law firm, and the couple married in 1992. They have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.
As First Lady, Michelle focused on education, health, and wellness issues and supporting military families. She also worked to promote international education for girls and women and helped to launch the Let Girls Learn initiative, which aims to promote education for girls in developing countries.
In addition to her work as First Lady, Michelle has also been an advocate for healthy living and has launched several initiatives to promote healthy eating and exercise, including the "Let's Move!" campaign. She is also a best-selling author, with her memoir "Becoming" selling millions of copies worldwide.
After leaving the White House, Michelle and Barack Obama founded the Obama Foundation, an organization dedicated to inspiring and empowering the next generation of leaders. She also continues to speak and write on a variety of issues, including education, women's rights, and promoting civic engagement.
Michelle Obama is widely respected for her intelligence, grace, and dedication to public service. She is known for her ability to connect with people from all backgrounds and has been a powerful role model for women and girls around the world.
In addition to her work on education and health, Michelle Obama has also been a vocal advocate for civil rights and social justice. She has spoken out on issues such as racial inequality and gender discrimination and has worked to promote greater understanding and acceptance of diversity.
During her time as First Lady, Michelle also worked to promote the arts and humanities. She strongly supported the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She helped to launch several initiatives to promote arts education and creativity.
As a public figure, Michelle Obama has also been a fashion icon known for her sophisticated and stylish wardrobe. She has been recognized for her ability to mix high-end designer pieces with more affordable items and has been credited with helping to boost the careers of several young designers.
In 2020, Michelle Obama launched a podcast called “The Michelle Obama Podcast,” where she "hares her life experiences and has conversations with various people, including her family, friends, and people in the public eye. The podcast is hosted on Spotify, is highly popular among listeners, and has received positive reviews.
Michelle Obama's impact on AmeriObama'sture and society has been significant. She has been a powerful voice for change and progress, and her influence will continue to be felt for years to come.

Michelle

Ryan Peterson is the founder and current CEO of Flexport.

Ryan

Sam Quinones is a journalist, storyteller, former LA Times reporter, and author of four acclaimed books of narrative nonfiction.&nbsp;
His most recent book is The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth, released in 2021. The book follows his 2015 release, Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic by Bloomsbury Press. Both books are critically acclaimed. In January 2022, The Least of Us was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) award for Best Nonfiction Book of 2021.
Dreamland won a National Book Critics Circle award for the Best Nonfiction Book of 2015. It was also selected as one of the Best Books of 2015 by Amazon.com, the Daily Beast, Buzzfeed, Seattle Times, Boston Globe, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Entertainment Weekly, Audible, and in the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg Business by Nobel economics laureate, Prof. Angus Deaton, of Princeton University.
In 2019, Dreamland was selected as one of the Best 10 True-Crime Books of all time based on lists, surveys, and ratings of more than 90 million Goodread.com readers. Also, in 2019, Slate.com selected Dreamland as one of the 50 best nonfiction books of the last 25 years. In 2021, GQ Magazine selected Dreamland as one of the “50 Best Books of Literary Journalism of the 21st Century.”
Quinones’ career as a journalist has spanned 35 years. He lived for 10 years as a freelance writer in Mexico, where he wrote his first two books. In 2004, he returned to the United States to work for the L.A. Times, covering immigration, drug trafficking, neighborhood stories, and gangs. In 2014, he resigned from the paper to return to freelancing, working for National Geographic, Pacific Standard Magazine, the New York Times, Los Angeles Magazine, and other publications.
Columbia Journalism School selected him as a 2008 recipient of the Maria Moors Cabot prize for a career of excellence in covering Latin America. He is also a 1998 recipient of an Alicia Patterson Fellowship, one of the most prestigious fellowships given to print journalists. For several years, he taught Tell Your True Tale writing workshops at East LA Library, the stories of which he posted on his storytelling webpage of the same name.
He lived briefly in a drug rehabilitation clinic in Zamora while hanging out with a street gang. He lived with drag queens in Mazatlan, hung out with merchants in the Mexico City neighborhood of Tepito, and with the relegated PRI congressmen known as the Bronx.
On the border, he spent time with the last apostle of a splinter group of polygamous Mormons, Fernando Castro, who lived south of Ensenada, with three of his six wives and some of his 42 children and 128 grandchildren. Quinones followed the promoters of Tijuana's opera scene and visited the yeseros, makers of plaster statues of Mickey Mouse and Spiderman in that city's Colonia Libertad.
In 1998, he was awarded the Alicia Patterson Fellowship, one of the most prestigious fellowships in U.S. print journalism, for a series of stories on impunity in Mexico, including a story of a lynching in a small town. During his years in Mexico, he wrote two collections of nonfiction stories.
His cult classic, True Tales From Another Mexico: The Lynch Mob, the Popsicle Kings, Chalino and the Bronx (Univ. of New Mexico Press, 2001), are nonfiction stories about people on the margins of contemporary Mexico - drag queens, Oaxacan Indian basketball players, valientes, gang members, and popsicle vendors.
His second book of non-fiction stories, Antonio's Gun and Delfino's Dream: True Tales of Mexican Migration (Univ. of New Mexico Press, 2007), tells of the lives of Tijuana opera stars, velvet painters, soccer players in southwest Kansas, narco-Mennonites, immigrants who return to run for mayor, a town southeast of L.A., and a young construction worker bent on finding a new way for himself.

Howard Zinn (1922-2010) was a historian, playwright, and activist. He wrote the classic A People's History of the United States, "a brilliant and moving history of the American people from the point of view of those ... whose plight has been largely omitted from most histories" (Library Journal). The book, which has sold more than two million copies, has been featured on The Sopranos and Simpsons and in the film Good Will Hunting.&nbsp;
In 2009, History aired The People Speak, an acclaimed documentary co-directed by Zinn, based on A People's History and a companion volume, Voices of a People's History of the United States. Zinn grew up in Brooklyn in a working-class, immigrant household. At 18, he became a shipyard worker and then flew bomber missions during World War II.&nbsp;
These experiences helped shape his opposition to war and passion for history. After attending college under the GI Bill and earning a Ph.D. in history from Columbia, he taught at Spelman, where he became active in the civil rights movement. After being fired by Spelman for his support for student protesters, Zinn became a professor of Political Science at Boston University, where he taught until his retirement in 1988.
Zinn was the author of many books, including an autobiography, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train, the play Marx in Soho, and Passionate Declarations. He received the Lannan Foundation Literary Award for Nonfiction and the Eugene V. Debs award for his writing and political activism.

Howard

Karl Paul Polanyi was an Austro-Hungarian economic historian, economic anthropologist, economic sociologist, political economist, historical sociologist, and social philosopher. He is known for his opposition to traditional economic thought and for his book, The Great Transformation, which argued that the emergence of market-based societies in modern Europe was not inevitable but historically contingent.&nbsp;
Polanyi founded the radical and influential Galileo Circle while at the University of Budapest, a club that would have far-reaching effects on Hungarian intellectual thought. During this time, he was actively engaged with other notable thinkers, such as György Lukács, Oszkár Jászi, and Karl Mannheim. Polanyi graduated from Budapest University in 1912 with a doctorate in Law. In 1914, he helped found the National Citizens' Radical Party of Hungary and served as its secretary.
Polanyi was a cavalry officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army in World War I, in active service on the Russian Front and hospitalized in Budapest. Polanyi supported the republican government of Mihály Károlyi and its Social Democratic regime. The republic was short-lived, however, and when Béla Kun toppled the Karolyi government to create the Hungarian Soviet Republic, Polanyi left for Vienna.
Polanyi is remembered today as the originator of substantive, a cultural approach to economics that emphasized the way economies are embedded in society and culture. This view runs counter to mainstream economics but is popular in anthropology, economic history, economic sociology, and political science.
Polanyi's approach to the ancient economies has been applied to a variety of cases, such as Pre-Columbian America and ancient Mesopotamia. However, its utility in the study of ancient societies, in general, has been questioned. Polanyi's The Great Transformation became a model for historical sociology. His theories eventually became the foundation for the economic democracy movement. His daughter, Canadian economist Kari Polanyi Levitt (born 1923 in Vienna, Austria), is an Emerita Professor of Economics at McGill University, Montreal.

Karl

Sam Harris is an American neuroscientist, philosopher, and author. He is the founder and CEO of Project Reason, a non-profit organization that promotes science and secularism. Harris is known for his critiques of religious faith and his promotion of scientific rationality and secular humanism. He has written several books, including "The End of Faith," "Letter to a Christian Nation," "The Moral Landscape," "Free Will," and "Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion." Harris is also a frequent speaker and commentator on neuroscience, philosophy, and religion issues.
Sam Harris hosts a podcast called "Making Sense," produced by his non-profit organization, Project Reason. The podcast features Harris having in-depth conversations with various guests, including scientists, scholars, authors, and other public figures. Topics of discussion on the podcast include science, philosophy, politics, and current events. The podcast is released weekly, and episodes can be found on various platforms such as iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube. The podcast has been running since 2013 and has been well-received by listeners for its in-depth and thought-provoking conversations.
Harris has written extensively on neuroscience and its implications for understanding the nature of consciousness, free will, and morality. In addition, he is known for his work on the neural basis of belief and emotion and his critiques of traditional religious and spiritual beliefs.
Project Reason is a non-profit organization that promotes scientific understanding and critical thinking on issues related to religion, morality, and politics. It provides a forum for open and rational discussion of these topics and works to combat the influence of dogmatism and superstition in public life. Some of the activities of Project Reason include public lectures, debates, discussions with experts in various fields, and the production of multimedia content such as podcasts, videos, and articles. Harris' organization also provides educational resources and materials for educators and students.

In A Peace to End All Peace, David Fromkin tells the story of how the modern Middle East was created. The Middle East has long been a region of rival religions, ideologies, nationalisms, and ambitions. All of these conflicts― including hostilities between Arabs and Israelis and the violent challenges posed by Iraq's competing sects― are rooted in the region's political inheritance: the arrangements, unities, and divisions imposed by the Allies after the First World War.&nbsp;
Fromkin reveals how and why the Allies drew lines on an empty map that remade the geography and politics of the Middle East. Focusing on the formative years of 1914-1922―when all seemed possible―he delivers in this sweeping and magisterial book the definitive account of this defining time.

James Norman Mattis, commonly known as “Mad Dog” Mattis, is a retired United States Marine Corps general who served as the 26th United States Secretary of Defense from January 2017 to December 2018. He previously served as the 11th Commander of United States Central Command from August 2010 to March 2013. Prior to that, he commanded the United States Joint Forces Command from November 2007 to August 2010.
He served as the United States Marine Corps Forces Central Command Commander from July 2002 to November 2004. He was also the first Marine officer to serve as the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation of NATO Allied Command Transformation from November 2007 to September 2009.
Mattis served in the Marine Corps for 44 years and earned a reputation as one of the most formidable combat leaders of his time. He was well known for his hard-charging leadership style and blunt speaking, leading to his nickname “Mad Dog Mattis.”
He was an infantry officer who served in the Persian Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War, where he led troops in some of the most intense fightings in modern combat. In recognition of his service, he was awarded numerous decorations, including the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, and the Legion of Merit.
Mattis was widely respected in the military for his leadership. He is credited with developing the Marine Corps’ Counterinsurgency Manual and leading the development of the US military’s new Counterinsurgency Field Manual. He also served on a number of military boards and committees and was a sought-after speaker at military events.
After leaving the military, Mattis was tapped to serve as Secretary of Defense by President Donald Trump. He was confirmed with a 98-1 vote in the Senate and served until his resignation in late 2018. Mattis was widely praised for his work in the Trump administration and is credited with helping to maintain a strong defense posture and forging a closer relationship with NATO allies.
Since retiring from the military and the Trump administration, Mattis has become a highly sought-after speaker and consultant. He is a highly decorated military veteran who has been widely credited with developing the strategy and tactics that helped the US military turn the tide in Iraq. He is known for his leadership, strategic thinking, and blunt speaking.

Larry Ellison is an American businessman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who is a co-founder, executive chairman, and chief technology officer of Oracle Corporation. As of November 2022, he was listed by Bloomberg Billionaires Index as the seventh-wealthiest person in the world, with an estimated fortune of $91 billion. Ellison is also known for his 98% ownership stake in Lanai, the sixth-largest island in the Hawaiian Archipelago.
Larry Ellison was born in New York City to an unwed Jewish mother. His biological father was an Italian-American United States Army Air Corps pilot. After Ellison contracted pneumonia at the age of nine months, his mother gave him to her aunt and uncle for adoption. He did not meet his biological mother again until he was 48.
Ellison moved to Chicago's South Shore, then a middle-class neighborhood. He remembers his adoptive mother as warm and loving, unlike his austere, unsupportive, and often distant adoptive father, who had chosen the name Ellison to honor his point of entry into the United States, Ellis Island. Louis Ellison was a government employee who had made a small fortune in Chicago real estate, only to lose it during the Great Depression.
Although Ellison was raised in a Reform Jewish home by his adoptive parents, who attended synagogue regularly, he remained a religious skeptic. At age thirteen, Ellison refused to have a bar mitzvah celebration. Ellison states: "While I think I am religious in one sense, the particular dogmas of Judaism are not dogmas I subscribe to. I don't believe that they are real. They're interesting stories. They're interesting mythology, and I certainly respect people who believe these are true, but I don't. I see no evidence for this stuff." Ellison says that his fondness for Israel is not connected to religious sentiments but rather due to the innovative spirit of Israelis in the technology sector.
Ellison attended South Shore High School in Chicago and later was admitted to the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and was enrolled as a premed student. At the university, he was named science student of the year. However, he withdrew without taking final exams after his sophomore year because his adoptive mother had just died. After spending the summer of 1966 in California, he attended the University of Chicago for one term, where he studied physics and mathematics and first encountered computer design. In 1966, aged 22, he moved to Berkeley, California.
While working at Ampex in the early 1970s, he was influenced by Edgar F. Codd's research on relational database design for IBM. That led 1977 to the formation of the company, which later became Oracle. Oracle became a successful database vendor to mid- and low-range systems, later competing with Sybase (created in 1984) and Microsoft SQL Server (a port of Sybase began in 1989), which led to Ellison being listed by Forbes as one of the wealthiest people in the world.

Larry

Henry Kissinger

John Mearsheimer

Fareed Zakaria

Robert D. Kaplan

Bernard Lewis

A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin provides a deep understanding of the Middle East's history. It's a great resource if you want to explore the roots of the conflicts and issues that the region faces today.

Understanding the Middle East

The book shows how World War I had a significant impact on the Middle East. Fromkin explains how the decisions made during the war still affect the region today. It's a fascinating look into the long-term effects of global events.

The Impact of World War I

Fromkin's book reveals the role that Western powers, particularly Britain, played in shaping the Middle East. He shows how their actions and policies led to the creation of new nations and the rise of conflicts. It's a must-read if you want to understand the West's influence in the region.

The Role of Western Powers

A Peace to End All Peace is a great book to check out if you're interested in politics. It shows how complex and intertwined political decisions can be, and how they can have far-reaching consequences. Fromkin does a great job of breaking down these complexities.

The Complexity of Politics

The book emphasizes the importance of understanding historical context. Fromkin shows how past events and decisions shape the present and future. It's a great reminder to always consider the bigger picture when looking at current events.

The Importance of Historical Context

A Peace to End All Peace

David Henry Fromkin was an American historian best known for his interpretive account of the Middle East, A Peace to End All Peace (1989), in which he recounts European powers' role between 1914 and 1922 in creating the modern Middle East. The book was a finalist for both the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Fromkin wrote seven books, ending in 2007 with The King and the Cowboy: Theodore Roosevelt and Edward the Seventh, Secret Partners.
Fromkin was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August 27, 1932. He died on June 11, 2017, in New York City due to heart failure; he was 84. A graduate of the University of Chicago and the University of Chicago Law School, he was Professor Emeritus of History and International Relations and Law at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, where he was also the Director of The Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Long-Range Future.
Before his career as a historian, Fromkin was an attorney and political adviser. In the 1972 Democratic primary campaign, he served as a foreign-policy adviser to candidate Hubert Humphrey. As an attorney, he served as both prosecutor and defense counsel in the Army Judge Advocate General's Corps. He retired as professor emeritus in 2013.
Discussing Fromkin's book Kosovo Crossing: The Reality of American Intervention in the Balkans, Noam Chomsky stated that Fromkin "asserts without argument that the U.S. and its allies acted out of 'altruism' and 'moral fervor' alone" in bombing Yugoslavia during the Kosovo war. Noam Chomsky criticized Fromkin for his portrayal of the US-backed NATO intervention in the Kosovo War.

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