Showing results by narrator "Kevin Stillwell" in All Categories

Venture capitalist Michael Moritz talks to Foreign Affairs about predicting success, investing globally, and why Google’s original business model was a failure.

In recent decades, most innovation has come from a single sector (information technology) and a single place (Silicon Valley). Walter Isaacson's The Innovators and Peter Thiel's Zero to One shed light on how that happened and what drives innovation more generally.

The Russian millennials who will inherit Vladimir Putin's political system won't upend it. Drawing on hours of conversations with Russia's future leaders, Ellen Mickewicz explains why they will uphold the status quo.

Far from being a "First World problem", mental illness is a global scourge that affects people of all incomes and backgrounds. By 2030, mental disorders will cost the global economy around $6 trillion a year - more than heart disease.

Conventional wisdom says the state can best foster innovation by just getting out of the way. In fact, government has historically served not as a meddler in the private sector, but as a key booster of it - and often a daring one, willing to take risks that businesses won’t.

A century on, discussions about the Ottoman massacre of Armenians are still dominated by questions surrounding the use of one fraught and divisive word: "Genocide". Washington should use the term, but also recognize its many limitations.

Despite all the grim predictions, the European Union is not on the verge of collapse. Quite the contrary: If European leaders act with resolve and persistence, the union could experience a rebirth.

Marijuana, once considered worthy of condemnation, has in recent years become a "medicine", legalized fully in four states, with others expected to follow. But the dangers are clear. According to Bennett's research, more Americans are admitted to treatment facilities for marijuana use than for any other illegal drug. Studies have shown a link between marijuana use and abnormal brain structure and development.

At the heart of the nation's spiritual history are audacious and often violent scenes. But the Puritans and the shining city on the hill give us just one way to understand the United States. Rather than recite American history from a Christian vantage point, Peter Manseau proves that what really happened is worth a close, fresh look.

Riley Burke has it all: a successful advertising agency, a beautiful house, a trim sailboat, and a gorgeous wife. But no longer sure of his wife's love, he begins an affair, the first in their 10-year marriage. As Riley and his would-be lover wait on the dock in Newport Harbor for the launch to his boat, a young man nearby is attacked by a brutal thug. When Riley intervenes, he finds himself inextricably drawn into a chain of events that will change his life forever; he finds himself, suddenly, in dangerous waters.

Western pundits and nostalgic Muslim thinkers alike have built up a narrative of the caliphate as an enduring institution, central to Islam and Islamic thought between the seventh and 20th centuries. In fact, the caliphate is a political or religious idea whose relevance has waxed and waned according to circumstance.

The war on ISIS underscores Washington's unique global position of leadership when it comes to defending the West. Its allies count on it to project power globally and even to come to their aid when they cannot defend themselves. For all its budget woes, political gridlock, and desire to pivot away from the world's problems, the United States will continue to find itself doing the heavy lifting - whether combating ISIS or deterring a recidivist Russia - for the foreseeable future. Simply put, there is no one else.

The past few weeks have seen a wave of Muslims from all around the world joining the ranks of ISIS. Although most of the attention has been on those coming from the United States and Europe, the bulk of foreign fighters has actually come from places like Turkey, from which the flow of jihadists is particularly puzzling.

Russian leaders often claim the United States reneged on a promise not to expand NATO after the Cold War. They aren't lying: Although Washington never put a pledge in writing, U.S. officials worked hard to convince Moscow that NATO wouldn't move east. And in international politics, informal commitments count.

The heart-pounding true story of the plot to kill the most powerful man in America. In 1892, America was on the verge of another civil war, this one over industrial slavery. It was the era of robber barons, and none was more reviled for his harsh treatment of workers than industrialist Henry Clay Frick. The deadly Homestead Steel Strike that summer had left Frick with blood on his hands, and two young, impassioned radicals thought he should pay for his crimes.

Xi Jinping’s reforms are designed to produce a corruption-free, politically cohesive, and economically powerful one-party state with global reach: a Singapore on steroids. But there is no guarantee the reforms will be as transformative as the Chinese leader hopes.

The coming revolution in genetic engineering will be exciting to some, frightening to others, and challenging for all. If not adequately addressed, it will also likely lead to major conflict both within societies and globally.

Commercialization and globalization, coupled with a decline in U.S. Defense spending, have ushered in a new era for the U.S. Defense industry. The Pentagon is off to a slow start, however, in weathering the current transition.

To strengthen its economic power and extend its strategic influence during uncertain times, Washington must lead on global trade. If it doesn’t, it will be left on the sidelines.

A hundred years after World War I, new accounts of the drama help listeners navigate the intricacies of European politics and the political and diplomatic maneuverings that kicked off the war. Yet there is still no consensus on its origins or lessons.