The Atlas Society Presents - Objectively Speaking

Why do most of us believe the world is getting worse when the data says otherwise, and who are the people actually responsible for the extraordinary progress we've made?

Join Atlas Society CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 316th episode of Objectively Speaking as she sits down with author Alexander Hammond to discuss his book "Heroes of Progress: 65 People Who Changed the World," which profiles the scientists, inventors, and thinkers whose innovations helped save billions of lives, changed public policy for the better, and lifted millions out of poverty—even though most of their names have been forgotten.

Hammond is the founder of the Initiative for African Trade and Prosperity, a free trade fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs, and a senior fellow at African Liberty, with work focused on the history of economic growth and innovation, African development, and global well-being. He is the Deputy Editor for Humanprogress.org and policy analyst at the Cato Institute.

Join Atlas Society CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 315th episode of Objectively speaking where she sits down with four-time returning guest Timothy Sandefur to talk about his latest book "Proclaiming Liberty: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and the Declaration of Independence," which revisits the revolutionary year of 1776 through the minds of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, two men whose words and ideas gave birth to modern liberty.

Returning for a fourth time on Objectively Speaking, Sandefur is no stranger to The Atlas Society, having joined us previously to discuss his books "Frederick Douglass: Self-Made Man," "Freedom’s Furies: How Isabel Patterson, Rose Wilder Lane, and Ayn Rand Found Liberty in an Age of Darkness," and "Proclaiming Liberty: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and the Declaration of Independence," Sandefur is the Vice President for Legal Affairs at the Goldwater Institute and holds the Duncan Chair in Constitutional Government. He is the author of ten books as well as more than 50 scholarly articles on a wide variety of legal subjects.

Join Atlas Society CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 314th episode of Objectively Speaking as she sits down with Amity Shlaes, chair of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation, to discuss her book "New Deal Rebels: An Anthology of Critics of the New Deal," which gathers the voices of economists, journalists, and businessmen who warned—in real time—that FDR's policies were deepening and extending the very crisis they claimed to solve.

Shlaes is one of America's foremost historians of the New Deal era. In addition to The Forgotten Man, a #1 New York Times bestseller also adapted as a graphic novel, she is the author of Coolidge, Great Society, and The Greedy Hand: How Taxes Drive Americans Crazy and What to Do About It.

Join Atlas Society CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 313th episode of Objectively Speaking as she sits down with returning guest Geoffrey Cain to talk about his new book “Steve Jobs in Exile: The Untold Story of NeXT and the Remaking of an American Visionary,” which draws on previously unpublished materials and new interviews to reveal the untold story of Steve Jobs's “lost decade”—the twelve years of failure, near-bankruptcy, and humiliation at NeXT that forged the discipline and vision behind his legendary return to Apple.

An award-winning investigative journalist, Cain is a returning guest to Objectively Speaking, having previously joined us to discuss “The Perfect Police State: An Undercover Odyssey into China's Terrifying Surveillance Dystopia of the Future.” A former correspondent at The Economist and regular commentator in The Wall Street Journal, Time, Foreign Policy, and a frequent guest on CNN, NPR, Fox News, and Bloomberg, Cain sits down with world leaders, tech founders, and dissidents at pivotal moments in history. His previous books also include “Samsung Rising,” longlisted for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year.

Join Atlas Society Senior Scholar Richard Salsman, Ph.D., for the 312th episode of Objectively Speaking as he unpacks the paradox at the heart of Greenspan's career: how a man shaped by Ayn Rand's philosophy of reason and free markets came to spend two decades running the very institution designed to plan them.