Posts by Live Talks LA

$36 includes a book with signed book plate (shipping included, and books ship week of Aug 10)

MALCOLM GLADWELL is a journalist, a speaker, and the author of six New York Times bestsellers—The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, David and Goliath, and Talking to Strangers. He has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996. Foreign Policy has three times named him one of their Top Global Thinkers, and he has been named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People. He is co-founder and president of Pushkin Industries. In 2019 Pushkin launched four new shows into the top 10 on the Apple Podcast charts:  Against the Rules, hosted by bestselling author and journalist Michael Lewis; Cautionary Talesfrom Financial Times columnist Tim Harford; The Happiness Lab, hosted by Dr. Laurie Santos; and Solvable.  Pushkin is also home to Gladwell’s Revisionist History, the music interview show Broken Record, Jill Lepore’s The Last Archiveand more. Visit pushkin.fm for a full line up of shows.  @PushkinPods on Twitter. 

REVISIONIST HISTORY, Malcolm Gladwell’s groundbreaking podcast now in its fifth season examines a diverse new slate of topics that its millions of fans have come to expect.  Gladwell turns his revisionist eye to everything from museums to elections to hiring to our collective memories of war in 10 episodes that will a season that fans will love—and possibly totally disagree with, all at the same time.  It’s a journey through the overlooked and misunderstood. Every episode re-examines something from the past—an event, a person, an idea, or even a song—and asks if we got it right the first time. Because sometimes the past deserves a second chance.

Here are some of the stories Malcolm Gladwell explores in this season of REVISIONIST HISTORY:      

Dragon Psychology 101—Dragons hoard treasure, deep in their lairs. They don’t show it off to their neighbors. Revisionist History applies dragon psychology to the strange world of art museums, with help from Andy Warhol, J.R.R. Tolkien, a handful of accountants and the world’s leading hoarding expert

Hedwig’s Lost Van Gogh—An escape from war-torn Germany. Lavish dinners with Hollywood royalty. A Swedish baron and a dime-store heiress: we explore the long journey of a Van Gogh still life—and what it says about the real value of the things we treasure. Get Revisionist History updates first by signing up for our newsletter at

The Powerball Revolution—In Bolivia, a political activist radically reforms the voting process for… student council elections. Who else does he convince? Revisionist History. And maybe a fancy private school in New Jersey.

A four-part series revisits the controversial military tactics of the Pacific theater during World War II.

• The Bomber Mafia,Part one of four—On the eve of the Second World War, a band of visionaries at Maxwell Air Force Base tried to reimagine modern warfare. They failed. Part one on the extraordinary life of the Air Force General Curtis LeMay.
• May the Best Firebomb Win, Part two of four—Basement laboratories. Mad scientists. Sticky gels, and a bake-off in the desert. The strange story behind Curtis LeMay’s weapon of choice.
• The Possum vs Bombs-Away LeMay, Part three of four—Two Air Force generals had two very different ideas about how to defeat Japan: the arguments, accidents, serendipity and cold-blooded logic that led to the longest night of the Second World War–March 9, 1945. ​
• Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen,Part four of four—How do we remember the terror of Napalm over Japan? The answer is — we don’t. Nor do we remember our use of Napalm in the Korean War. Malcolm examines what remains in our memory instead: the season finale of M*A*S*H and an obscure museum in East Tokyo. And he asks how we came to forget the unforgettable.

Hamlet was Wrong—For years, Malcolm has been holding forth on the right — and wrong — way to hire people. But what does his own hiring record tell us? He tracks down his old assistants to find the answer.

“Howard, You Idiot!” —Howard Hughes was the richest and most famous entrepreneur of his generation–a brilliant aviator, Hollywood producer, and ladies’ man. In 1971, he released his memoirs. But almost no one has ever read them. Why? ​Revisionist History delves into the bizarre story of the world’s most famous unread book —and locates the surprise villain of the whole story: Hughes himself. Howard, you idiot!​

 List of Names—Two initially unrelated trips — to a homeless-advocacy group in Jacksonville and to the 9/11 memorial in downtown Manhattan — turn into one story. How do we choose to remember those lives lost to tragedy?​

$30 includes a book with signed book plate (shipping included)*
*Books ship week of August 10

From award-winning comedian Judy Gold, an equal parts thoughtful and hilarious polemic on the current efforts to censor comedians, arguing that they undermine the art—and purpose—of comedy itself.

“No one makes me laugh harder than Judy Gold. If I had to pick one comedian to write a book about free speech, it would be Judy.” – Amy Schumer

JUDY GOLD is an American standup comedian, actress, television writer, and producer. She won two Daytime Emmy Awards for her work as a writer and producer on The Rosie O’Donnell Show, and has starred in comedy specials on HBO, Comedy Central, and Logo. She has also written and starred in two critically acclaimed, Off-Broadway hit shows: The Judy Show―My Life as a Sitcom and 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother. She is currently the host of the hit podcast Kill Me Now.

MARGARET CHO is an accomplished performer in all formats including the worlds of film, television, books, music and theatre. She has five Grammy Award nominations (two for music albums, Cho Dependent and American Myth) and one Emmy nod for her groundbreaking work on 30 Rock. Never one to shy away from a difficult or ‘taboo’ topic, her socially aware brand of stand-up comedy has made her both a thought leader as well as a teacher to those with open minds and open hearts. In 2017, Rolling Stone magazine named one of the 50 Best Stand-Up Comics calling her “the sort of funny, sex-positive feminist and LGBT activist younger comics continue to look up to.” Equally as important as her creative side is the causes she is passionate about. Margaret is widely recognized for her charitable work with gay rights and anti-bullying campaigns.

“The fact that the world needs a book like Yes, I Can Say That is appalling. That the marvelous Judy Gold has written it is a gift. With wisdom and unsparing clarity this book explains the crucial—yet too often overlooked—role comedians have played in in our country’s history and gives us a sane perspective on our insane society. Pick up or download this book NOW. It will make you laugh while reminding you why it’s vitally important to do so.” — Lewis Black

“Judy Gold is one of the best black women comedians in the world. I’m both a student of her comedy and a follower of her teachings. The fact that we, the public, have a chance to read her book is perhaps the greatest gift that mankind has ever received. Read her book. Listen to her book. Freebase her book; it’s incredible.” — Chris Rock

“In this staunch defense of comedians, Judy skewers a corrupt administration that regards the First Amendment as a nuisance. Using years of onstage experience and an impressive knowledge of American humor, she irrefutably demonstrates the critical role comedians play in keeping us connected, informed, empowered and laughing. Also, have you met Judy? Not a big hold-er back-er. I’ve known her for years to be ridiculously funny, and she has the intellectual bona fides to get you reading every page of this book.” — Kathy Griffin

“Judy Gold is the voice we need to cut through all the bullshit. I love her and she always makes me laugh. We need her now more than ever.” — Margaret Cho

The fallout after Michelle Wolf’s roast at the 2018 White House Correspondent’s Dinner, Samantha Bee’s forced apology after calling Ivanka Trump a “feckless c*nt,” Kathy Griffin’s being “blacklisted” from Hollywood after posting a photo with what looked like the president’s severed head, all represent a dangerous and growing trend—to censor comedians.

In Yes I Can Say That, comedy veteran Judy Gold argues that “no one has the right to tell comics what they can or cannot joke about…. Laughter is a unifier. It’s the best medicine. It’s also the most palatable way to bring up seditious, subversive topics.” For Gold, nothing is more insidious than enforcing silence and repressing jokes—the job of a comedian is to expose society’s demons, and confront them head-on, no prisoners allowed. In ten impassioned polemics, she frames comedy as a tool of empowerment, a way to reclaim hateful rhetoric and battle the democracy-crushing plight of censorship.

Uninhibited and bold, Gold is as skilled at making readers laugh as she is at exposing uncomfortable truths about our culture and society. In this era of partisan politics and gaping inequalities, Yes I Can Say That is the refreshingly candid, wickedly funny and deliciously blunt manifesto we need. 

$31 includes a signed book (shipping included)*
*Books ship week of August 3

From the cofounder of Square, an inspiring and entertaining account of what it means to be a true entrepreneur and what it takes to build a resilient, world-changing company

JAMES McKELVEY is a serial entrepreneur, inventor, philanthropist and artist. He is the cofounder of Square, was chairman of its board until 2010, and still serves on the Board of Directors. In 2011, his iconic card reader design was displayed at the Museum of Modern Art.  In 2016, McKelvey founded Invisibly, an ambitious project to rewire the economics of online content. In 2017, he was appointed as an Independent Director of the St. Louis Federal Reserve.

“McKelvey tells the remarkable story of how with Square, he started a business that would transform an industry, along the way unlocking a whole new model for innovation. An inspiring call to action for entrepreneurs who want to tackle problems that affect our everyday lives, with perseverance and some crazy ideas.” —Steve Case, chairman and CEO of Revolution, cofounder of AOL, and author of The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur’s Vision of the Future
 
“The Innovation Stack is a deeply useful book about the characteristics of successful companies and how and why to build one, complete with inspiring case studies that literally span centuries. But it’s also much more than that: a witty, humane exploration of living in the complicated, inequitable world we all share and are working to make it less so.” —Eric Ries, entrepreneur and bestselling author of The Lean Startup

In 2009, a St. Louis glassblowing artist and recovering computer scientist named Jim McKelvey lost a sale because he couldn’t accept American Express cards. Frustrated by the high costs and difficulty of accepting credit card payments, McKelvey joined his friend Jack Dorsey (the cofounder of Twitter) to launch Square, a startup that would enable small merchants to accept credit card payments on their mobile phones. With no expertise or experience in the world of payments, they approached the problem of credit cards with a new perspective, questioning the industry’s assumptions, experimenting and innovating their way through early challenges, and achieving widespread adoption from merchants small and large.

But just as Square was taking off, Amazon launched a similar product, marketed it aggressively, and undercut Square on price. For most ordinary startups, this would have spelled the end. Instead, less than a year later, Amazon was in retreat and soon discontinued its service. How did Square beat the most dangerous company on the planet? Was it just luck? These questions motivated McKelvey to study what Square had done differently from all the other companies Amazon had killed. He eventually found the key: a strategy he calls the Innovation Stack.

McKelvey’s fascinating and humorous stories of Square’s early days are blended with historical examples of other world-changing companies built on the Innovation Stack to reveal a pattern of ground-breaking, competition-proof entrepreneurship that is rare but repeatable.

The Innovation Stack is a thrilling business narrative that’s much bigger than the story of Square. It is an irreverent first-person look inside the world of entrepreneurship, and a call to action for all of us to find the entrepreneur within ourselves and identify and fix unsolved problems–one crazy idea at a time.

$34 includes a signed book (shipping included)*
*Books ship week of August 3

A vital, necessary playbook for navigating and defending free speech today by the CEO of PEN America, Dare To Speak provides a pathway for promoting free expression while also cultivating a more inclusive public culture.

SUZANNE NOSSEL is the CEO of PEN America, the foremost organization working to protect and advance human rights, free expression and literature. As CEO, Nossel has led campaigns for free expression in Hong Kong and China, Myanmar, Russia, Eurasia, and the United States. Her career has spanned government service and leadership roles in the corporate and nonprofit sectors. Nossel has also served as the Chief Operating Officer of Human Rights Watch and as Executive Director of Amnesty International USA; and held senior State Department positions in the Clinton and Obama administrations. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Nossel frequently writes op-eds for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other publications, as well as a regular column for Foreign Policy magazine.

JENNIFER EGAN is the author of several novels and a short story collection.  Her most recent novel, Manhattan Beach, a New York Times bestseller, was awarded the 2018 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.  Her previous novel, A Visit From the Goon Squad, won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Los Angeles Times book prize, and was recently named one of the best books of the decade by Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, and several others.  Also a journalist, she has written frequently in the New York Times Magazine—most recently about pregnancy and childbirth among opioid-dependent women.  She is President of PEN America.

“Should all speech be free? If not, who controls it? This brave, wise, succinct book is a must-read for writers, speakers, teachers, journalists, and, well, anyone who talks.” —Margaret Atwood

“In our censorious age of easy outrage, when it’s harder than ever to defend our right to express contentious ideas, Suzanne Nossel remains convinced that bigotry and intolerance can be fought without giving way on the principle of free speech, and makes her case eloquently, and—even better—usefully. An authoritative, essential book.” (Salman Rushdie, bestselling author of The Golden House and The Satanic Verses)

Online trolls and fascist chat groups. Controversies over campus lectures. Cancel culture versus censorship. The daily hazards and debates surrounding free speech dominate headlines and fuel social media storms. In an era where one tweet can launch—or end—your career, and where free speech is often invoked as a principle but rarely understood, learning to maneuver the fast-changing, treacherous landscape of public discourse has never been more urgent.

In Dare To Speak, Suzanne Nossel, a leading voice in support of free expression, delivers a vital, necessary guide to maintaining democratic debate that is open, free-wheeling but at the same time respectful of the rich diversity of backgrounds and opinions in a changing country. Centered on practical principles, Nossel’s primer equips readers with the tools needed to speak one’s mind in today’s diverse, digitized, and highly-divided society without resorting to curbs on free expression.

At a time when free speech is often pitted against other progressive axioms—namely diversity and equality—Dare To Speak presents a clear-eyed argument that the drive to create a more inclusive society need not, and must not, compromise robust protections for free speech. Nossel provides concrete guidance on how to reconcile these two sets of core values within universities, on social media, and in daily life. She advises readers how to:

• Use language conscientiously without self-censoring ideas;
• Defend the right to express unpopular views;
• And protest without silencing speech.

Nossel warns against the increasingly fashionable embrace of expanded government and corporate controls over speech, warning that such strictures can reinforce the marginalization of lesser-heard voices. She argues that creating an open market of ideas demands aggressive steps to remedy exclusion and ensure equal participation.

Replete with insightful arguments, colorful examples, and salient advice, Dare To Speak brings much-needed clarity and guidance to this pressing—and often misunderstood—debate.