

Keen On America
Andrew Keen
Nobody asks sharper or more impertinent questions than Andrew Keen. In KEEN ON, Andrew cross-examines the world’s smartest people on politics, economics, history, the environment, and tech. If you want to make sense of our complex world, check out the daily questions and the answers on KEEN ON.
Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best-known technology and politics broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running show How To Fix Democracy and the author of four critically acclaimed books about the future, including the international bestselling CULT OF THE AMATEUR.
Keen On is free to listen to and will remain so. If you want to stay up-to-date on new episodes and support the show, please subscribe to Andrew Keen’s Substack. Paid subscribers will soon be able to access exclusive content from our new series Keen On America – keenon.substack.com
Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best-known technology and politics broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running show How To Fix Democracy and the author of four critically acclaimed books about the future, including the international bestselling CULT OF THE AMATEUR.
Keen On is free to listen to and will remain so. If you want to stay up-to-date on new episodes and support the show, please subscribe to Andrew Keen’s Substack. Paid subscribers will soon be able to access exclusive content from our new series Keen On America – keenon.substack.com
Episodes
Mentioned books

Apr 19, 2023 • 35min
Seeing Through the Smoke: Peter Grinspoon, MD, untangles the truth about marijuana
EPISODE 1445: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the author of SEEING THROUGH THE SMOKE, Peter Grinspoon, MD, about untangling the medical, political and psychological truths about marijuanaPeter Grinspoon, M.D. is a primary care doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital, an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and has been a cannabis specialist for twenty-five years. Dr. Grinspoon is a popular speaker and is frequently featured in the national media, on issues such as cannabis, addiction, and physician health. His private practice offers comprehensive cannabis coaching and education, as well as certification (only in MA). Dr. Grinspoon is also certified as a health and life coach in order to further help people find their goals and follow their dreams. He offers comprehensive health and wellness coaching on a wide variety of issues for which he is uniquely qualified to help. His latest book, “Seeing Through the Smoke: Cannabis: An Expert Doctor Untangles the Truth About Cannabis” is out in April, 2023 (Prometheus).Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Apr 19, 2023 • 22min
What's Love Got To Do With It? Genevieve Wheeler on witty banter, trashing talking and true romance in our social media age
EPISODE 1444: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the author of ADELAIDE, Genevieve Wheeler, about on witty banter, trashing talking and true romance in our social media age of Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and FacebookGenevieve Wheeler is an American writer and communications manager. Her bylines have appeared in publications like VICE, Vogue Business, Teen Vogue, Elite Daily, and POPSUGAR, with her work and words cited in The New York Times, Vox, the BBC World Service, Cheddar News, Jezebel, and beyond. She holds an MA in marketing communications from the University of Westminster in London and a BS in Advertising from Boston University. She's currently based in London. Adelaide is her debut novel.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Apr 19, 2023 • 26min
Why nobody is taking any liberties at Liberties: Celeste Marcus on publishing an uncompromisingly high-quality literary quarterly in the age of Substack & TikTok
EPISODE 1443: In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to the managing editor of LIBERTIES, Celeste Marcus about how to publish an uncompromisingly high-quality literary quarterly in the age of Substack & TikTokCeleste Marcus is the managing editor of Liberties. She is also writing a biography of the artist Chaim SoutineNamed as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Apr 19, 2023 • 36min
When the Medium Became the Message: Julia Angwin on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and the origins of our age of advertising driven surveillance capitalism
EPISODE 1442: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the author of STEALING MY SPACE and DRAGNET NATION, Julia Angwin, about MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and how the medium of social media has become the message of our data rich, surveillant age.Julia Angwin is an award-winning investigative journalist and contributing Opinion writer at The New York Times. She founded The Markup, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the impacts of technology on society, and is Entrepreneur in Residence at Columbia Journalism School’s Brown Institute. Julia was a previously a senior reporter at the independent news organization ProPublica, where she led an investigative team that was a Finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting in 2017 and won a Gerald Loeb Award in 2018. From 2000 to 2013, she was a reporter at The Wall Street Journal, where she led a privacy investigative team that was a Finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting in 2011 and won a Gerald Loeb Award in 2010. In 2003, she was on a team of reporters at The Wall Street Journal that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting for coverage of corporate corruption. She is also the author of “Dragnet Nation: A Quest for Privacy, Security and Freedom in a World of Relentless Surveillance” (Times Books, 2014) and “Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America” (Random House, March 2009). She earned a B.A. in mathematics from the University of Chicago, and an M.B.A. from the Graduate School of Business at Columbia UniversityNamed as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Apr 19, 2023 • 48min
American Madness: Jonathan Rosen's tragic story about friendship, insanity and murder
EPISODE 1441: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the author of THE BEST MINDS, Jonathan Rosen, about the story of his close childhood friend Michael Laudor - a tragic story of friendship, insanity and murderJonathan Rosen is the author of two novels: Eve’s Apple and Joy Comes in the Morning, and two non-fiction books: The Talmud and the Internet: A Journey Between Worlds and The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of Nature. His essays and articles have appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, and numerous anthologies. He lives with his family in New York City. His latest book is THE BEST MINDS: A Story of Friendship, Madness and the Tragedy of Good Intentions (2023)Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Apr 18, 2023 • 31min
The South Pacific, Then and Now: Tanis Rideout asks whether we should apologize for the sins of our colonizing ancestors
EPISODE 1440: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the author of the new novel THE SEA BETWEEN TWO SHORES, Tanis Ridebout about the South Pacific nation of Vanuata asks whether we should feel guilty for the sins of our ancestorsTANIS RIDEOUT’s internationally acclaimed first novel, Above All Things, was a national bestseller, named to numerous best books of the year lists, and published in several languages around the world. It was awarded the Premio ITAS del Libro di Montagna and was longlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Her new novel is The Sea Between Two Shores. She is also the author of the poetry collection Arguments with the Lake, and, in 2006, she was named the “Poet Laureate for Lake Ontario” by the environmental advocacy group Lake Ontario Waterkeeper. Born in Belgium, she grew up in Bermuda and in Kingston, Ontario, and now lives in Los Angeles.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Apr 18, 2023 • 31min
Soft Power 2.0: Daniel F. Runde on how America can reclaim global leadership in the 2020s
EPISODE 1439: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the author of THE AMERICAN IMPERATIVE, Daniel Runde, about how to reinvent America global leadership in a world increasingly dominated by Chinese economic and military powerDaniel F. Runde is a senior vice president, director of the Project on Prosperity and Development (PPD), and holds the William A. Schreyer Chair in Global Analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a leading global think tank. Mr. Runde also served as the acting director for the CSIS Americas Program from 2020-2022. His work is oriented around U.S. leadership in building a more democratic and prosperous world. Among his many other contributions, Mr. Runde was as an architect of the BUILD Act, contributed to the reauthorization of the U.S. EXIM Bank in 2018, and was an architect of Prosper Africa, a U.S. government initiative to deepen the United States' commercial and development engagement in Africa. He has been a leading voice on the role and future of the World Bank Group and U.S. leadership in the multilateral system. Prior to CSIS, Mr. Runde held leadership roles at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank Group. Earlier in his career, Mr. Runde worked in commercial banking at Citibank in Argentina and in investment banking at Alex. Brown & Sons. Mr. Runde was granted the Officer’s Cross in the Order of Isabel la Católica, a Spanish civil order. Currently, he serves on the board of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), the Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF), Spirit of America, and the Ashesi University Foundation. Mr. Runde is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Bretton Woods Committee. He is also a columnist for The Hill and hosts a CSIS podcast series, Building the Future: Freedom, Prosperity, & Foreign Policy with Dan Runde. Mr. Runde is also the author of the book The American Imperative: Reclaiming Global Leadership through Soft Power (Bombardier Books, 2022). He previously chaired two U.S. government advisory committees: the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid at USAID and the Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee at the U.S. EXIM Bank. Fluent in Spanish, he graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College and holds a master’s in public policy from Harvard University.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Apr 18, 2023 • 33min
What Do White Women Want? Kimberlee Yolanda Williams on what it's like to rock the white woman's cradle
EPISODE 1438: In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to the author of DEAR WHITE WOMAN, PLEASE COME HOME, Kimberlee Yolanda Williams, about what white women should and shouldn't want from black women.Dear White Woman, Please Come Home is Kimberlee's attempt to share with readers what her clients, workshop attendees, and audience members have felt for years. She will always bring her full self, her DC flare, her sass, and her humor, so get ready to meet the best friend you didn’t know you had. Hailing from the nation’s capital with huge hair, a million watt smile, and contagious laughter, Kimberlee Yolanda Williams has had a heart for the perceived underdog for as long as she can remember. From her earliest years, Kimberlee’s experiences unfolded in communities filled with diversity of every kind, where gatherings around topics of equity and inclusion were explored with courageous authenticity. She grew up thinking engaging across differences was something everyone wanted to do and knew how to do. So why didn’t they do it? As an educator, consultant, workshop leader, speaker, and certified life and health coach, her adult years brought her to a variety of US cities. With each new context she increasingly understood what held people back from crossing social divisions. Kimberlee found herself able to consciously place herself in the center of these divisions, in particular racial dynamics, and support people across the racial spectrum in stepping closer to one another. Kimberlee is first and foremost a humanist, a deep believer in what is possible when humanity is centered. Her mix of authenticity and raw truth gives permission for those around her to choose progress over perfection and bring their full selves into the room. She is known for finding humor and challenge at just the right moments, and like the best of coaches, leaning in and pushing audiences just enough to believe in the potential she sees. Her approach of connection and compassion is what makes a consultation feel like a conversation with your best friend, a workshop feel like a workout with your favorite trainer, and her presentations feel like a present from your closest confidant. Kimberlee received a B.A. in Foreign Language Education from the University of Maryland (go Terps!), as well as an M.S. in education from Dominican University. She currently lives in Seattle with her partner where they refuel by being in community (with other folks of color), reading and reading some more, and relaxing near any body of water. In addition to all of the above, Kimberlee is a daughter, a granddaughter, a sister, a cousin, an aunt, a niece, a dancer, an avid learner of languages (five to date), a free spirit, an empath, and now a writer.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Apr 18, 2023 • 43min
Is Antisemitism on the Rise? Philip Slayton discusses an ancient hatred in our age of identity politics
EPISODE 1437: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the author of Antisemitism, Philip Slayton, about hatred of Jews - an ancient hatred in our age of identity politicsAfter studying law at Oxford University as a Manitoba Rhodes Scholar, Philip Slayton clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa. Then, for thirteen years, he pursued an academic career, teaching at McGill University and becoming dean of law at the University of Western Ontario. Philip then went into legal practice with a major Canadian law firm in Toronto, and worked on many of the biggest corporate and commercial transactions of the time. He retired from the practice of law in 2000. Since leaving legal practice Philip Slayton has written eight books. Lawyers Gone Bad: Money, Sex and Madness in Canada’s Legal Profession was published in hard cover by Viking Canada in 2007, in paperback by Penguin Canada in 2008, and as an ebook in 2010. Mighty Judgment: How the Supreme Court of Canada Runs Your Life was published in hard cover and as an ebook in 2011 by Allen Lane and as a paperback by Penguin Canada in 2012. In 2013 Philip independently published Bay Street: A Novel, a legal thriller. The Toronto Star described Bay Street as “expert and engaging… exciting and hilarious… a first rate crime novel…” Mayors Gone Bad was published in hard cover and as an ebook by Viking in May of 2015. How To Be Good: The Struggle Between Law and Ethics (with Patricia Chisholm), a collection of essays first published in Canadian Lawyer magazine, was published in 2017. The Future of Tennis (with Peter Figura) was published in 2018 by Skyhorse Publications of New York. Nothing Left to Lose: An Impolite Report on the State of Freedom in Canada was published by Sutherland House in 2020. Antisemitism: An ancient hatred in the age of identity politics was published by Sutherland House in March 2023. Philip divides his time between Toronto and Nova Scotia. He is married to the writer Cynthia Wine. He has been a Woodrow Wilson Fellow; President of the Canadian Rhodes Scholars Foundation; Co-Chairman of the Canadian Campaign for Oxford; a Governor of Sheridan College; and president of PEN Canada. In 1998, Oxford University named him a “Distinguished Friend” of the University. Philip and Cynthia were founders (in 2002) of the Port Medway Readers Festival, a highly successful summer literary festival on Nova Scotia’s South Shore, and founders (in 2017) of the Seely Hall Society, dedicated to promoting interest in the local history of Port Medway and the surrounding area and helping restore, protect, and use as a local resource, the historic Port Medway building known as Seely Hall.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Apr 17, 2023 • 36min
Those British Coronations: Jennifer Robson compares the crowning of Elizabeth II in 1953 with Charles III in 2023
EPISODE 1436: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to the author of CORONATION YEAR, Jennifer Robson, about the 1953 coronation of Elizabeth II and what Britain was like seventy years agoJennifer Robson is the Globe & Mail and Toronto Star number-one bestselling author of six novels, among them The Gown and Somewhere in France. She holds a doctorate in British history from the University of Oxford and lives in Toronto, Canada, with her husband and children. Her latest novel is Coronation Year (2022)Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.


