Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs

Season 3, Episode 6: Richard E. Rubenstein, Aristotle's Children: How Christians, Muslims, and Jews Rediscovered Ancient Wisdom and Illuminated the Middle Ages

Join Professors Jeffrey Sachs and an expert on religious conflict, Richard E. Rubenstein as they discuss Rubenstein’s book, Aristotle's Children: How Christians, Muslims, and Jews Rediscovered Ancient Wisdom and Illuminated the Middle Ages. Rubenstein skillfully guides us through the vivid controversies of the Middle Ages, making the philosophical debates of yesteryear both lively and accessible Together, they discuss the riveting events that unfolded - sparking riots, initiating heresy tri...

Season 3, Episode 5: Norman Solomon, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine

Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and political and media analyst Norman Solomon as they discuss Solomon’s important new book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine.  Listen in as Solomon and Sachs explore the intricate interplay between the mainstream media and powerful political forces that promote America’s disastrous “wars of choice” – including the US-led wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and currently the US-Russia proxy war in Ukraine and the US bac...

Season 3, Episode 4: Dr. David Daokui Li, China's World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict

Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and economist David Daokui Li as they discuss Professor Li’s brilliant new book, China's World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict. Listen in as Professor Li explains the deep nature of Chinese politics and economics – based on China’s long history, Confucian culture, and meritocratic political system.  Together, they delve into a wide-ranging discussion of politics, education, philosophy, culture, and international relations.  Professor Li helps...

Season 3, Episode 3: Jessica Rawson, Life and Afterlife in Ancient China

Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Jessica Rawson, one of the world’s most eminent scholars of China, as they discuss Rawson’s book, Life and Afterlife in Ancient China. Listen in to learn about the roots of Chinese civilization through the stories of twelve grand tombs, each helping to reveal a pivotal phase in China’s history.  Together, they discuss the political, geographical, technological, and cultural evolution of China. Professor Rawson offers profound and fascinating insights regardi...

Season 3, Episode 2: Lindsey A. O'Rourke, Covert Regime Change: America's Secret Cold War

Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and political scientist Lindsey O’Rourke as they discuss O’Rourke’s remarkable book, Covert Regime Change.  US foreign policy is based heavily on trying to overthrow foreign governments, and O’Rourke’s account is a powerful and deeply scholarly account of America’s frequent resort to secretive regime-change operations. Her book focuses on the Cold War years (1947-1989), but Sachs and O’Rourke bring the issues up to the current day.    O’Rourke’s highly insight...

Season 3, Episode 1: John Mearsheimer, How States Think: The Rationality of Foreign Policy

Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and political scientist John Mearsheimer as they discuss Professor Mearsheimer’s latest book, How States Think: The Rationality of Foreign Policy. Hailed as the most influential foreign policy realist of his generation, Mearsheimer and co-author Prof. Sebastian Rosato provide a groundbreaking examination of a central question in international relations: Do states act rationally? Together, they discuss the book’s core idea: that states are generally rational in t...

Season 2, Episode 14: Francisco Rodriguez, The Human Consequences of Economic Sanctions

Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and economist Francisco Rodriguez as they discuss Professor Rodriguez’s newest publication, The Human Consequences of Economic Sanctions. Prof. Rodriguez is an expert on the use of unilateral economic sanctions - when one country imposes economic costs on another, and shares insights on the US as the main user of such unilateral economic sanctions. Professor Rodriguez offers us a comprehensive assessment of the effects of unilateral sanctions on the living stand...

Season 2, Episode 13: Richard Layard & Jan-Emmanuel De Neve: Wellbeing, Science and Policy

Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and two of the world's leading experts on the economics of wellbeing, Lord Richard Layard and Professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve to discuss their newest book, Wellbeing: Science and Policy. Together, they examine how wellbeing can be measured and how it can be promoted today and for future generations. What produces a happy life and a happy society? Layard’s and De Neve’s new book offers a systematic exploration that brings together a fascinating and vast body of re...

Season 2, Episode 12: Bruce Cumings, The Korean War: A History

Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Professor Bruce Cumings, renowned historian and  expert in East-Asian history, to discuss Cuming’s book, The Korean War. Together, they discuss the factors that led to the Korean War, its brutal trajectory, and its powerful and fateful impacts US foreign policy.  The Korean War, though little known or understood today, continues to cast a long shadow on geopolitics and US foreign policy up to this day.  Cumings offers a profound and essential look into a war...

Season 2, Episode 11: Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future

Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and bestselling science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson, to discuss Robinson’s recent books The Ministry for the Future and New York 2140  for a thought provoking conversation on how climate change has and will potentially affect us all.   Together, they explore climate change as an existential threat and the plausible and tumultuous ways the climate crisis will shape our future. What happens as we push beyond planetary boundaries? Will sea levels rise to de...

Season 2, Episode 10: Chris Coyne: In Search of Monsters to Destroy: The Folly of American Empire and the Paths to Peace

Join Professors Jeffrey Sachs and Chris Coyne, economist and author of In Search of Monsters to Destroy: The Folly of American Empire and the Paths to Peace, for an eye-opening examination on whether interventionist methods should ever have a place in foreign policy.  Together, they discuss American imperialism and militaristic culture around the world, proving that nonviolent approaches to domestic and international conflicts not only minimize violence, but also promote cultures of peace t...

Season 2, Episode 10: Christopher Coyne, In Search of Monsters to Destroy: The Folly of American Empire & the Paths to Peace

Season 2, Episode 9: Glenn Denning, Universal Food Security: How to End Hunger While Protecting the Planet

Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Professor Glenn Denning, a world-leading specialist in agricultural and food policy to discuss Denning’s new book Universal Food Security: How to End Hunger While Protecting the Planet. Together, they explore how we can achieve a food-secure world while protecting the planet through sustainable agricultural technologies, farm practices, and healthy diets.    Their discussion ranges broadly over the choices of agricultural technology, food policy, dietary cho...

Season 2, Episode 8: Orlando Figes: The Story of Russia

Join Professors Jeffrey Sachs and Orlando Figes, historian and author of The Crimean War (2012) and his new book, The Story of Russia (2022), in a fascinating discussion of Russian history and ideas about Russian history. Together, they examine the 19th century Crimean War and the powerful light that the Crimean War, 170 years ago, sheds on the current conflict in Ukraine. More generally, Sachs and Figes explore Russia’s complex relationship with the West, and the ideas that Russian and Wes...

Season 2, Episode 7: SPECIAL EDITION: The COVID-19 Lancet Commission Report

In this special episode, join Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Ms. María Fernanda Espinosa, and Professor K. Srinath Reddy for their discussion of The Lancet Commission Report on lessons for the future from the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, they discuss the background to the Commission and the key findings after two years of research. They discuss the possible origins of the virus that causes Covid-19, SARS-CoV-2; including the possibilities that the virus emerged from laboratory research or from a...

Season 2, Episode 6: Christopher Blattman, Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace

Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Professor Christopher Blattman, to explore the dynamics of war and peace as they discuss Blattman’s, Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace.  In his newest book, Blattman argues that violence is not the norm; that there are five reasons why wars break out; and how peacemakers can draw on these reasons to prevent and stop wars.  Together, they explore the dynamics of war and peace: how communities resolve conflicts, and why such efforts sometim...

Season 2, Episode 5: Anil Seth, Being You: A New Science of Consciousness

Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and neuroscientist Anil Seth, author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness to explore the hard problem of consciousness. Because the deep puzzles of consciousness can’t be solved head-on with existing scientific methods, Seth aims to gradually “dissolve” the problem by looking at levels of consciousness, the content of consciousness, and the mystery of the sense of self. Together, they unpack several of the hard questions: How can physical beings have sub...

Season 2, Episode 4: Peter H. Lindert, Making Social Spending Work

Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Peter H. Lindert, economic historian and author of Making Social Spending Work in which Lindert examines how social spending relates to economic growth in various countries and the emphasis we must place on investing in the young.  Together, they examine the history of public social spending and address the key challenges around intergenerational inequality and fiscal redistribution, the returns on investment in human capital, how to deal with an aging globa...

Season 2, Episode 4: Peter H. Lindert, Making Social Spending Work

Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Peter H. Lindert, economic historian and author of Making Social Spending Work in which Lindert examines how social spending relates to economic growth in various countries and the emphasis we must place on investing in the young.  Together, they examine the history of public social spending and address the key challenges around intergenerational inequality and fiscal redistribution, the returns on investment in human capital, how to deal with an aging globa...

Season 2, Episode 3: Casey Michel: American Kleptocracy

Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Casey Michel, journalist and author of “American Kleptocracy: How the U.S. Created the World’s Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History.”  In his debut book, Michel offers a deep investigation into how the US built the largest illicit offshore finance system the world has ever known. Together, they examine just how the US implosion into a center of global offshoring took place, what that means for the rest of the world, and its vast implications for those...

Season 2, Episode 2: Heather Cox Richardson: How the South Won the Civil War

Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Heather Cox Richardson, renowned historian and author of How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America in which Richardson argues that while the North prevailed in the American Civil War, ending slavery and giving the country a “new birth of freedom,” democracy’s blood-soaked victory was ephemeral. Together, they discuss the myth that the Civil War released the US from the grip of oligarchy and the co...

Season 2, Episode 1: Keisha Blain, Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer's Enduring Message to America

John Professor Jeffrey Sachs and award-winning historian, Dr. Keisha Blain, as they discuss her latest book, Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer's Enduring Message to America. Together, they will situate Fannie Lou Hamer as a key political thinker alongside leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks while illustrating how her ideas remain salient for a new generation of activists committed to dismantling systems of oppression in the United States and across the globe. ...

Episode 10: Corey Robin, The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Donald Trump

John Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Corey Robin, political theorist and author of The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Donald Trump  in which Robin argues that conservatism is a reaction against movements of the left—from the French Revolution to feminism. Together, they discuss aspects of such arguments, including the roots of conservatism, and what drives the political right in today's political landscape. The Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs is brought to you by the SDG Acad...

Episode 9: Eric Foner, The Second Founding

Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Eric Foner, as they discuss Foner's latest novel, The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution. Together,  they discuss this transformative era in American history, and how the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments remain strong tools for achieving the American ideal of equality, if only we will take them up.  The Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs is brought to you by the SDG Academy, the flagship ...

Episode 8: Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Not “a Nation of Immigrants”

John Professor Jeffrey Sachs and highly acclaimed author of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, to discuss her latest novel, Not “A Nation of Immigrants.”    Together they discuss settler colonialism, white supremacy, and the history of erasure and exclusion in the United States while urging the audience to embrace a more complex and honest history, which has typically been left out of traditional American textbooks. The Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs ...

Episode 7: Rick Perlstein, Reaganland, America's Right Turn 1976-1980

Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and historian Rick Perlstein for their discussion of Reaganland.   Together they discuss the "Southernization" of American politics, the causes behind U.S. President Ronald Reagan's rise to power in the 1970s, and the way that conservatives’ cutthroat strategies to gain power remain a powerful political force today. The Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs is brought to you by the SDG Academy, the flagship education initiative of the UN Sustainable Development Solution...

Episode 6: Patricia Sullivan, Justice Rising

In this month's episode of the Book Club, Jeffrey Sachs and Professor Patricia Sullivan, a leading civil rights historian, place Robert Kennedy at the center of the movement for racial justice of the 1960s—and show how many of today’s issues can be traced back to that pivotal time in US history. Prof. Sullivan is the author of this month's featured book Justice Rising: Robert Kennedy’s America in Black and White. The Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs is brought to you by the SDG Academy, the f...

Episode 5: Robert Lustig, Metabolical

Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and New York Times-bestselling author Dr. Robert Lustig for their discussion of Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine, Dr. Lustig's newest book about the interconnected strands of nutrition, health/disease, medicine, environment, and society. Together, they discuss the relationship between nutrition and non-communicable disease, the dangers of processed foods, and the ways in which the entrenched interests of Big Foo...

Episode 4: Mariana Mazzucato, Mission Economy

In this episode, Professor Jeffrey Sachs speaks with Dr. Mariana Mazzucato, Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value and Founding Director of the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose at University College London, about her new book Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism. Professors Sachs and Mazzucato discuss the history of public ambition embodied in the American moon landing and the importance of boldly reimagining the capacities and role of gover...

Episode 3: Rashid Khalidi, The Hundred Years' War on Palestine

Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and historian Rashid Khalidi as they discuss Khalidi's book The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017 and the long history of disenfranchisement against the Palestinian people. The Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs is brought to you by the SDG Academy, the flagship education initiative of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Learn more and get involved at bookclubwithjeffreysachs.org. Footnotes: Edw...

Episode 2: Richard Rothstein, The Color of Law

Prof. Sachs speaks with historian Richard Rothstein about his groundbreaking history of the modern American metropolis, The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, in which Rothstein explodes the myth that America’s cities came to be racially divided through individual prejudices, income differences, or the actions of private institutions. Rather, he makes clear that it was the laws and policy decisions of local, state, and federal governments that actuall...

Episode 1: Martin J. Sherwin, Gambling with Armageddon

Welcome to the Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs! In this first episode, world-renowned economist and Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Martin J. Sherwin about his book Gambling with Armageddon: Nuclear Roulette from Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis, which explores the origins, scope, and consequences of the evolving place of nuclear weapons in the post-World War II world. Professors Sachs and Sherwin discuss the choices of the Truman...