Conversations With Jim Zirin Jim Zirin

Barbara McQuade, former US Attorney for Michigan, is author of a new book, which has swept the nation, this week #3 on the New York Times best seller list. The book is entitled “Attack from Within—How Disinformation is Sabotaging America.” In the book, she shows how dictators spew disinformation online, and use it to seize power. We discuss how, if possible, we can overcome the danger of disinformation in the upcoming November election.

I sit with Louise Mirrer, the guiding spirit of the New-York Historical Society for the past two decades. Under her leadership, the museum has reinvigorated its commitment to greater public understanding of history and its relevance with blockbuster exhibitions about slavery and the Vietnam War.

Donna Shalala, for eight years Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, was later elected to Congress from Florida. An staunch advocate for reproductive rights and a fierce opponent of hate speech on campus, she has spent most of the past two decades, in higher education. Now, she ponders her future as interim president of the New School.
 
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Thomas Graham, a Russia expert and author of the terrific new book, "Getting Russia Right," was one of three former national security officials to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in secret back channel talks last April, possibly paving a way forward to end the war in Ukraine. He tells Jim why our post-Soviet effort to partner with Russia failed.

Andrew Roberts, one of the greatest biographers of the English language today, has co-authored his 20th book with General David Petraeus, called "Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine." He tells Jim how warfare has developed over the last eight decades, and applies the history to what we see today in Gaza.

Henry Timms, the tremendously effective CEO at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, tells Jim he will never stop innovating. Since taking over in 2019, he has accomplished the renovation of David Geffen Hall, and expanded programming to include concerts of hip-hop, and even an LGBTQ mariachi group. Henry is having much fun at Lincoln Center, and so has the New York community.