What It Takes®
216 episodes - English - Latest episode: 2 months ago - ★★★★★ - 913 ratingsRevealing, intimate conversations with visionaries and leaders in the arts, science, technology, public service, sports and business. These engaging personal stories are drawn from interviews with the American Academy of Achievement, and offer insights you’ll want to apply to your own life.
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Episodes
Jeff Koons: Contemporary Art Phenomenon
February 12, 2024 05:05 - 44 minutes - 51.8 MBJeff Koons is one of the most successful artists of our time. For 40+ years, his iconic works have brought a sense of playfulness to museums worldwide, and sometimes a bit of controversy as well. His iconic pop art sculptures include a giant pink rabbit that looks so remarkably like a shiny mylar inflatable, it's hard to believe it is made of metal. His balloon dog, the type you'd see at a child's birthday party, likewise demands a second look. In this recent interview, Koons describes his l...
Best of (Nobel Prize Edition) - Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman: The Vaccine Revolution
October 02, 2023 19:35 - 57 minutes - 63.3 MBThe COVID-19 vaccine came out at warp speed because of the work of these two scientists. This week, they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. In celebration, we are re-posting our episode about Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman. For many, many years they investigated the secrets of messenger RNA (mRNA). And when the pandemic began, their research was ready and waiting. On this episode you’ll hear Katalin Karikó talk about her humble beginnings in Hungary, and the forces tha...
Best Of - Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind
May 02, 2023 16:35 - 42 minutes - 48.1 MBGordon Lightfoot has died, at the age of 84. He spoke with the Academy of Achievement last year, and we featured that interview in an episode. To honor the legendary singer and songwriter, we are re-posting the episode today. Gordon Lightfoot had a slew of international hits in the 1960's and 70's, including "If You Could Read My Mind," "Sundown" and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." His songs were also performed by some of the biggest stars of that time, including Jerry Lee Lewis, The ...
T.J. Stiles and David Blight: The Epic Life
March 27, 2023 07:05 - 59 minutes - 63.7 MBThese two Pulitzer Prize-winning biographers have spent their careers delving into the lives of Americans who changed the course of U.S. history. T.J. Stiles and David Blight talk here about how historical biography can bring us closer to an understanding of the times we live in. They discuss why Jesse James, General George Custer, Cornelius Vanderbilt and Frederick Douglass are relevant still. And they let us in on some surprising aspects of their own lives! © American Academy of Achieveme...
Best of - Wayne Shorter and Esperanza Spalding: Jazz Invention
March 03, 2023 08:05 - 1 hour - 74.4 MBWayne Shorter was a legendary saxophonist and composer whose career began in the 1950's and spanned the development of modern jazz. Mr. Shorter died this week, at the age of 89. To honor his life and music, we are bringing back this episode, which originally aired in 2017. It features Wayne Shorter and a jazz artist 50 years his junior: Esperanza Spalding. Ms. Spalding is a bass player, composer, lyricist and singer - and one of the most exciting artists in contemporary jazz. Wayne Shorter a...
Best Of - Neil Sheehan and David Halberstam: Truth Seekers
January 27, 2023 08:05 - 58 minutes - 66.2 MBFifty years ago today (January 27, 1973), the United States' military involvement in the Vietnam War came to an end, with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords. We mark that occasion by bringing back our episode on two brave reporters, who risked their lives and their reputations during the war in Vietnam, to reveal the truth to the American people about what was happening there. Both describe here - how and when they realized the United States government was lying about the causes and the ...
Best Of - Maya Angelou (Part 2): In the Spirit of Martin
January 16, 2023 08:05 - 32 minutes - 37.3 MBIn honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we treat you to a re-broadcast of this episode from 2017. Maya Angelou and Martin Luther King Jr. were close friends, years before Angelou became known throughout the world for her memoir “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." In this, the second our two Maya Angelou podcasts, she offers her personal reflections of Dr. King as a poet and a man with great humility and a sense of humor. She talks about the state of the African-American community decades late...
Best Of - Nora Ephron: Unstoppable Wit
December 26, 2022 08:05 - 41 minutes - 44.4 MBContemplating what movie to watch this holiday week? You can't go wrong with "When Harry Met Sally," perhaps the greatest rom-com of all time. Nora Ephron, who wrote the screenplay, as well as other great movies and books, knew just how to make people laugh and cry and kvell. But mostly laugh. She was a successful director and producer too, in an industry not very hospitable to women. In this episode, Ephron shares the most important lesson she learned from her mother: that all pain is fodd...
Best of - John Irving: A Literary Life
December 05, 2022 08:05 - 30 minutes - 37.7 MB2022 was a big year for John Irving, the author of "The World According to Garp," "A Prayer for Owen Meany," and "The Cider House Rules." He turned 80, and just recently published The Last Chairlift, his first novel in seven years. It is 913 pages long and is, he says, the last long book he will ever write. Seemed like a great time to bring back our 2016 episode on John Irving. In it, he talks about why he approaches every book by writing the last sentence first. And he might just convince...
Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind
November 21, 2022 08:05 - 42 minutes - 48.1 MBHe had a slew of international hits in the 1960's and 70's, including "If You Could Read My Mind," "Sundown" and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." His songs were also performed by some of the biggest stars of that time, including Jerry Lee Lewis, The Grateful Dead, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, and Barbra Streisand. Today, at 84 years old, Gordon Lightfoot is still writing and performing. He is as charming a raconteur as you might expect, given the nature of the songs he writes, and talks he...
Roger Daltrey: Rock Icon
October 31, 2022 07:05 - 59 minutes - 62.8 MBThe Who changed rock n roll, with the use of synthesizers, feedback, power chords and a wild onstage presence They were rock gods. And they created the first rock opera. Lead singer Roger Daltrey is now 78. He's a grandfather, and wears hearing aids. But he is still on the road doing shows. He talks here about his roots in post-war England, and about meeting the other original members of The Who in high school. He discusses how they developed their unique sound, and dishes a little gossip ...
Best of - Milton Friedman: Champion of Capitalism
October 17, 2022 07:05 - 56 minutes - 51.9 MBAs Americans struggle to pay their bills in the face of inflation, policymakers and economists are debating the best way to control rising prices. Central to that debate are ideas first put forward by Milton Friedman, winner of the 1976 Nobel Prize for economics, and a leading theorist of inflation. Friedman was an outspoken proponent of the free market and small government, and one of the most influential economists of all time. His ideas on monetary policy, taxation, privatization and der...
Best of - Sonia Sotomayor: Power of Words
September 19, 2022 07:05 - 58 minutes - 60.5 MBWe celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept 15 - Oct 15) by taking a new listen to our 2017 episode on United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Justice Sotomayor tells the extraordinary story of her voyage from the most dangerous neighborhood in the United States, to the highest court in the land -- a voyage fueled by the power of words. In a wide-ranging conversation with NPR's Nina Totenberg, recorded at the Supreme Court in 2016, Sotomayor shares her earliest memories ...
Mike Wallace and Art Buchwald: Blues Brothers
September 05, 2022 07:05 - 51 minutes - 55.6 MBOne was an aggressive, no-holds-barred television interviewer. One was a newspaper columnist, who employed gentle satire to swipe at the rich and the powerful. Mike Wallace and Art Buchwald were leading media figures for fifty-plus years: Wallace as the co-host of "60 Minutes", Buchwald as the Washington Post humorist whose column was syndicated to over 500 newspapers. They went after the truth in very different ways, but they were the best of friends. They jokingly called themselves "The ...
Best Of - B.B. King: King of the Blues
August 22, 2022 07:05 - 36 minutes - 27.6 MBBB King began life as a humble Mississippi cotton farmer, and ended up one of the most influential guitarists and singers of the past century. Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt, The Rolling Stones and many others are among his disciples. During his lifetime he was celebrated by presidents, kings & queens - and declared a national treasure. The interview you’ll hear in this episode was recorded at the 2004 Academy of Achievement Summit in Chicago, and includes stories a...
Best of - David McCullough, Stephen Ambrose and David Herbert Donald: Time Travelers
August 09, 2022 07:05 - 54 minutes - 63.1 MBIt is the rare writer who can make history so compelling, so alive, that people will flock to read it. David McCullough, who died last Sunday, was one of those writers. He was the author of two Pulitzer Prize-winning books: one about President Harry Truman and one about President John Adams. In honor of Mr. McCullough, we are reposting this episode from 2020 which featured him and two other great presidential historians: Stephen Ambrose and David Herbert Donald. They talk here about their s...
Best of - Bill Russell: Giant of a Man
August 03, 2022 07:05 - 32 minutes - 34.4 MBThe most astonishing winning streak in the history of sports, belonged to the Boston Celtics. They won eleven championships between 1957 and 1969, eight of those in a row. And the player at the center of those wins - was Bill Russell, who died this week at the age of 88. Russell changed the game of basketball, with his incredible speed, and his ability to block shots as no player had done before. When he took over as coach of the Celtics (while still playing on the team), he became the ...
Best of - John Hume and David Trimble: A Vision of Peace
August 01, 2022 07:05 - 49 minutes - 53.6 MBThese two remarkable men, from opposite sides of the 30-year "Troubles" in Northern Ireland, bravely reached across the divide and waged peace. They were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998. David Trimble, who died on July 25th, 2022, was the leader of the Protestant pro-British Ulster Unionist Party. John Hume, who died in 2020, was a Catholic civil rights and political leader. In a poll several years ago, he was voted the greatest person in Irish history. They talk here about the under...
Best of - Frank McCourt: Teacher Man
July 18, 2022 07:05 - 45 minutes - 58.3 MBNo one could tell a story better than Frank McCourt. His first book, Angela's Ashes, remains one of the most compelling accounts of poverty, alcoholism, and the longing for a better life. It won a Pulitzer Prize 25 years ago, and transformed McCourt from a modest immigrant and a lifelong high school teacher, into a literary celebrity. In this episode, which originally posted in 2017, you'll hear McCourt hold forth with tremendous humor and that lyrical voice - about the miseries of his child...
Best of - Steve Jobs and Tony Fadell: Inventing the Future
July 04, 2022 07:05 - 1 hour - 69.2 MBFifteen years ago, a sleek pocket-sized device was introduced that would change much about how we interact in the world: the iPhone. This is the intimate history of the two men who created it. Steve Jobs famously co-founded Apple. In the late 90’s, when the company was failing, he hired a young engineer and designer named Tony Fadell, who created a little device that became known as the iPod. It not only turned Apple’s fortunes around, it transformed the music industry and the experience of ...
Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman: The Vaccine Revolution
June 20, 2022 07:05 - 57 minutes - 63.3 MBThe COVID-19 vaccine came out at warp speed because of the work of these two scientists. For many years they had been investigating the secrets of messenger RNA (mRNA). And when the pandemic began, their research was ready and waiting. On this episode you’ll hear Katalin Karikó talk about her humble beginnings in Hungary, and the forces that enabled her to persevere, even though for decades people thought her ideas about mRNA were laughable. She was denied grants, lost jobs and wasn’t tak...
Best of - Lauryn Hill: Family, Faith & Hip-Hop
May 30, 2022 07:05 - 38 minutes - 50.5 MBLauryn Hill has had an outsized impact on the world of hip-hop, soul and R&B. She entered the music world in the mid-1990’s as one third of the band The Fugees, and soon after released a solo album, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill”. It was a phenomenon, and swept the Grammys. But then Ms. Hill pretty much vanished from music and public life, in an internal battle between fame, family and faith. On this episode you’ll hear the incomparable and enigmatic Lauryn Hill, speaking in 2000, just as...
Best of - Daniel Inouye and Norman Mineta: In Defense of Liberty
May 09, 2022 07:05 - 1 hour - 58.9 MBNorman Mineta spent three years in a internment camp for Japanese-Americans when he was a child. But this shameful period in American history did not deter him from becoming a celebrated civil servant, one who broke racial barriers to become a 10-term U.S. Congressman from California and the first Asian-American member of the Cabinet. In honor of Norm Mineta, who died last week at the age of 90, and in celebration of Asian-American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we invite you to take ...
Best of - Naomi Judd: Dream Chaser
May 02, 2022 07:05 - 35 minutes - 34.4 MBAs a tribute to Naomi Judd, who died suddenly on Saturday night at the age of 76, we are re-posting our episode from 2017. Ms. Judd's life and storied career had more ups and downs than a rollercoaster, as she talked about here. For eight glorious years, she and her daughter Wynonna were the biggest country music sensation of the 1980's, with fourteen number one hits, sold-out stadium tours, and too many rhinestones to count. But Naomi's life before and after was far from glamorous. Her ear...
Andrea Ghez and Donna Strickland: Frontiers of Knowledge
April 25, 2022 07:05 - 58 minutes - 64.6 MBOnly four women have ever received the Nobel Prize in Physics. This episode features two of them! Andrea Ghez unlocked a secret of the universe when she figured out how to prove the existence of a super-massive black hole in the center of our galaxy. Donna Strickland devised a way of producing far more intense and precise lasers. Those lasers have changed manufacturing, cancer treatments, and eye surgeries, and promise to offer insights into the fundamental principles of physics. Both Ghez ...
Best of - Edward Teller: Destroyer of Worlds
April 11, 2022 07:05 - 1 hour - 77.9 MBRussia's war in Ukraine, and Vladimir Putin's threat to unleash nuclear weapons, has put the world on edge. In 2018 we explored the complicated history of the nuclear age, and we thought it was an opportune time to revisit that episode. Our story focuses on Edward Teller, often called "The Father of the Hydrogen Bomb". He was also the force behind Reagan's Star Wars initiative, and the model for "Dr. Strangelove". Teller was a Hungarian math prodigy who fled Hitler's Germany. In America, he ...
General C.Q. Brown and Lt. Col. James Harvey: Wings of Freedom
March 28, 2022 07:05 - 59 minutes - 64.3 MBThe Tuskegee Airmen were some of the bravest and best pilots to ever fly for the United States Armed Forces. One of the last surviving members of the pioneering African-American fighting force, is Lieutenant Colonel James Harvey. He faced tremendous discrimination during his career, but he became the very first winner of the Top Gun competition. The success of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II led to the desegregation of the military. And that opened a path for fighter pilot Charles Q...
Best of - Coach John Wooden: Character for Life
March 21, 2022 07:05 - 38 minutes - 53.3 MBDuring March Madness, can you think of anything more satisfying to do between games than listen to an interview with legendary UCLA coach John Wooden?! Wooden led his team to more NCAA championships than any other coach in history, and he did it with a quiet, old-fashioned approach that challenged notions of what it takes to win. Even if you're not a sports fan, you can find lessons and inspiration from Coach Wooden's leadership. In this episode, which originally posted in 2016, Wooden talk...
Best of - Lynsey Addario: Portraits of Love and War
March 14, 2022 07:05 - 53 minutes - 48.6 MBLast week, a shocking photograph was seen around the world. It showed a Ukrainian mother and her two children - lying dead on the street - killed by Russian mortar fire. The picture was taken by Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Lynsey Addario. Addario has covered wars and humanitarian crises in 70 countries, including Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and now Ukraine. She has been kidnapped twice and has been badly injured on the job, but she is determined to open our eyes to the state of the...
Best of - Andrew Young: My Life, My Destiny
February 28, 2022 08:05 - 45 minutes - 53.4 MBAndrew Young has worn many hats: pastor, congressman, ambassador & mayor, but his first role in public service was as Martin Luther King Jr’s strategist and negotiator. He was at King’s side for many of the biggest battles of the civil rights movement, and he helped draft and secure the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In this encore episode (originally published in 2016), Young shares his unique, personal stories about that turbulent period in our country’s histor...
Best of - Rosa Parks and Judge Frank Johnson: Standing Up for Freedom
February 14, 2022 15:37 - 50 minutes - 56.6 MBIn the fall of 1955, Rosa Parks refused to stand for a white passenger on the bus, Martin Luther King Jr. was chosen to lead the boycott that followed, and a lawyer named Frank Johnson was appointed to be the first and only federal judge for the middle district of Alabama (also the youngest federal judge in the nation). These three people didn't know each other, and yet, their paths converged in Montgomery, at the crossroads of history. In this episode, you'll hear rare audio of Ms. Parks de...
Tenley Albright: Miracles on Ice
January 31, 2022 08:05 - 39 minutes - 47.2 MBEvery time the Olympics roll around, we’re regaled with inspiring stories of the athletes. Well, it’s hard to imagine a more inspiring story than this one, from long ago. Tenley Albright was the very first American woman to win the Olympic gold medal in figure skating, and the first to win the World Championship. That was in 1956. It was a remarkable feat, made all the more so, because Tenley Albright was a polio survivor. After those Olympics, she entered Harvard Medical School - one of o...
E.O. Wilson, Richard Evans Schultes and Wade Davis: Pl(ants) of the Gods
January 17, 2022 08:05 - 56 minutes - 62.3 MBE.O. Wilson was sometimes called "the father of biodiversity," sometimes "a modern-day Darwin," and sometimes simply "Ant Man." His recent death was an enormous loss to the world of biology and environmentalism. You'll hear him tell wonderful stories here, including one about how a childhood disability gave him a great advantage in his work. You'll also get to know two major figures in a related field: ethnobotany. Richard Schultes created the field with his groundbreaking studies in the Am...
Best of - Sidney Poitier: Trailblazing Screen Legend
January 08, 2022 08:05 - 54 minutes - 67.1 MBSidney Poitier changed America’s view of black men. And he changed Hollywood. The star of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “The Defiant Ones,” and “In The Heat of the Night” became, in 1964, the first African-American to win an Academy Award (for “Lillies of the Field”). He was a leading man and box office sensation throughout the 1950’s and 60’s, portraying a huge array of characters with a dignity, courage and humanity that was radical for its time. Sidney Poitier died on Thursday, January ...
Best of - Archbishop Desmond Tutu: The Power of Faith
December 27, 2021 08:05 - 39 minutes - 46 MBDesmond Tutu was the moral force that helped bring down Apartheid in South Africa. As a young priest, he was not very political, despite the fact that he’d grown up under the most brutal form of segregation. But his theology evolved, he says, and he realized it was a divine calling to fight for justice. Archbishop Tutu died on December 26th, 2021. In his honor, we are replaying this episode from December of 2015. In it, you’ll hear Archbishop Tutu describe his personal, spiritual and politi...
Edna O’Brien: Love, Loss and Literature
December 13, 2021 08:05 - 48 minutes - 57.2 MBEdna O'Brien's first novel, "The Country Girls," was banned in Ireland, and burned in her own home parish. The year was 1960, and young Irish women of that era were NOT supposed to reflect on their lot in life, or harbor sexual desires. But Edna O'Brien had one goal as a young writer - to tell the truth. Decades later, her compatriots finally came to view her the way the rest of the world did: as a trailblazer, and as one of Ireland's greatest living writers. Forty plus books and plays late...
Best of - Steven Spielberg and Janusz Kaminski: Images of the Imagination
December 06, 2021 08:05 - 51 minutes - 67.3 MBSteven Spielberg hired Janusz Kaminski as the cinematographer for "Schindler's List” twenty-five years ago, and they have worked together, hand-in-glove, ever since. Their collaboration has produced "Saving Private Ryan," "Bridge of Spies," "Lincoln," and many others, including the new, eagerly-awaited "West Side Story," which opens December 10th. In this episode, which originally posted in 2016, both filmmakers tell how they fell in love with the movies and learned to make them. Spielberg...
Best of - Stephen Sondheim: Maestro of Broadway
November 29, 2021 08:05 - 1 hour - 67.1 MBHe grew up next door to Oscar Hammerstein and became his greatest protege. In 1957, he wrote the lyrics for "West Side Story," and for the next 60 years dominated the world of musical theater, and transformed it. His songs managed to express the most complex and vital human emotions, and touched generations of theatergoers. Stephen Sondheim was still writing and composing at 91, until Thanksgiving night, when he died suddenly, hours after dining with a group of friends. The shows he leave...
Best of - Carole King and Hal David: More Than Beautiful
November 22, 2021 08:05 - 39 minutes - 48.2 MBWhile listening to this episode, we dare you to NOT sing out loud. Carole King and Hal David were each one half of a legendary songwriting duo, and each responsible for many of the greatest songs of the 1960’s and 70’s (too many to start mentioning here, but we packed as many as we could into the podcast). If you like a medley, you’re in the right place. Carole King worked with (and was married to) Gerry Goffin. Hal David worked with Burt Bacharach. They all worked in New York City’s Brill B...
Zahi Hawass and Kent Weeks: Golden Age of the Pharaohs
November 08, 2021 08:05 - 59 minutes - 65.3 MBMuch of what we've learned over the past half-century about the ancient Egyptians, we've learned from these two archaeologists. They've both made major discoveries and have played a crucial role in protecting the pyramids and burial sites for future generations. Zahi Hawass is a National Geographic explorer, and once oversaw all of antiquities Egyptian government. But beyond that, he has drawn millions of tourists to visit Egypt, with his many books and television documentaries. He wears a ...
Best of - General Colin Powell: My American Journey
October 25, 2021 07:05 - 58 minutes - 53.1 MBColin Powell, who died on October 18, 2021, wore many hats during his distinguished career in public service, among them: Secretary of State, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and National Security Advisor. And he was the first African-American to hold each of those positions. When he joined the Army in the 1950's, though, his only ambition was to be a good soldier. It was beyond the realm of possibility for the son of working class Jamaican immigrants to aspire much higher. In this epi...
Best of - Johnny Cash: True To His Own Voice
October 18, 2021 07:05 - 21 minutes - 22.9 MBHe had a voice that could make a mountain quake. And his impact on the world of music is legendary. As fans prepare to celebrate the arrival of a new Johnny Cash album -- recorded live in 1968 but never released -- we take a second listen to the very first episode of What It Takes. You'll hear the deeply introspective Cash near the end of his career (1993). He reflects on how he overcame considerable personal obstacles and turned his failures into the stepping stones to success. He also tal...
Denton Cooley, Willem Kolff and William DeVries: King of Hearts
October 04, 2021 07:05 - 1 hour - 72.7 MBThe 1960's, 70's and 80's brought about a revolution in the treatment of heart and kidney disease. Dialysis, organ transplants, coronary bypass, open heart surgery and many other procedures that we think of as almost routine today - were created during those decades. Meet three of the important innovators who, between them, have saved millions of lives. Denton Cooley performed the first human-to-human heart transplant, Willem Kolff invented dialysis and is considered the father of artifici...
Best of - George Lucas: The Force Will Be With You
September 20, 2021 07:05 - 39 minutes - 54.8 MBGeorge Lucas’s only dream as a teenager was to race cars, but he went on to create the most popular films in motion picture history. Along the way, while writing and directing Star Wars, Indiana Jones and American Graffiti, he learned life-changing lessons about humility, generosity, and the inestimable value of friendship…. as well as the secret to happiness. A not-too-subtle hint here: it has nothing to do with fame and fortune. *This episode was originally published in 2015. (c ) Amer...
Christiane Amanpour: Life on the Front Line
September 06, 2021 07:05 - 54 minutes - 58.2 MBShe is one of the most recognized, respected and admired journalists in the world. Christiane Amanpour has covered just about every war and conflict of the past four decades and she has never shied from danger. She talks here about the forces that shaped her: an unusual childhood in Iran, and the revolution that upended her family's life. She describes the hard work and luck that landed her a job at CNN, when it was still a fledgling network, and the circumstances that led to her becoming ...
Hamid Karzai: Chaos Rules
August 23, 2021 07:05 - 41 minutes - 41.4 MBTwo decades ago, he rode into Afghanistan on a motorcycle with just three compatriots, hoping to overthrow the brutal Taliban regime. Against all odds, Hamid Karzai succeeded, and became president of his country for the next 14 years. Just before he was formally chosen as president, he made an appearance at the Academy of Achievement's International Summit, and told the miraculous tale you'll hear here. Karzai was filled with hope and optimism for Afghanistan that day, and spoke of his visi...
Best of - James Michener: Master Storyteller
August 16, 2021 07:05 - 38 minutes - 52.1 MBJames Michener was born to tell stories. He was one of the most popular and best-selling American novelists of all time… able to merge equal parts fiction, history, geography and culture into a perfect, page-turning blend. Here, he tells his own dramatic and mysterious life story, and he describes his very first venture into writing fiction, when he was stationed on an island in the Pacific during World War II. The book that came of that experience was "Tales of the South Pacific," which ear...
Robert Ballard: Modern-Day Captain Nemo
August 02, 2021 07:05 - 57 minutes - 59.4 MBHe’s a modern-day Captain Nemo - the person responsible for much of what we’ve learned about the Earth’s oceans over the past sixty years. He’s best-known as the person who discovered the Titanic and other historic shipwrecks. But his contributions to science and his dedication to exploration are what he’s proudest of. In the 1970’s Bob Ballard was one of the first people to explore the bottom of the sea in a submersible, and he was the first to begin mapping its geography. He later helped d...
Nadine Gordimer, Athol Fugard and Elie Wiesel: Messengers of Humanity
July 19, 2021 07:05 - 42 minutes - 50.6 MBThese three writers used the power of their pens to expose and explore man's inhumanity to man. You'll hear the presentations they gave at the Academy of Achievement's International Summits. South African novelist and anti-Apartheid activist Nadine Gordimer was the author of "Burger's Daughter" and "July's People", and she received the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature. Playwright Athol Fugard, also South African and an outspoken critic of Apartheid, received the Tony Award for Lifetime Achi...
Best of - Sir Roger Bannister: The Mile of the Century
July 12, 2021 07:05 - 35 minutes - 51.7 MBOn the morning of May 6th, 1954, Roger Bannister achieved what most people believed was not humanly possible: he ran a mile in under four minutes. It is considered one of the greatest athletic achievements of all time, alongside Sir Edmund Hillary's ascent of Mt. Everest. Bannister was a medical student at the time. He had already been to the Olympics, two years before. And he had spent eight years developing his own unique approach to training - one that allowed him to very gradually impr...