Underreported with Nicholas Lemann

Megan Walsh joins us to share what she found out researching her book The Subplot, and how she knew there was a bigger story to tell about fiction writing in China.

China is often seen as a monolith, especially by Westerners. Megan Walsh and Rosie Blau join us to help dispel the master narrative.

Jeffrey Wasserstrom, one of America's leading China specialists, helps us wade into the intricate and nuanced realities of China.

Bethany McLean digs deep into the cycles of boom and bust that have plagued the American oil industry for the past decade.

Bethany McLeans chronicles the story of Fannie and Freddie and tells us why homeownership finance is now one of the biggest unsolved issues in today's global economy—and why it must be placed on firmer ground.

[Rerelease] Atossa Araxia Abrahamian travels the globe to meet these willing and unwitting “cosmopolites,” or citizens of the world, who inhabit a new, borderless realm where things can go very well, or very badly.

Journalism is in crisis. Newspapers, traditionally the major generators of original reporting, are rapidly disappearing, leaving behind news deserts. Margaret Sullivan joins us to analyze the damage, and offer some hope.

Margaret Sullivan joins us to talk about her book, Ghosting the News. The story Sullivan tells is not a happy one, but is meant to give rise to hope, as she points the way to solutions. But first, we must take a sobering and clear-eyed look at the problem.

In The Call, Krithika Varagur lays out what we really talk about when we talk about Saudi money, and illuminates the global sweep of its ambitions over the last century. 

In The Call, Krithika Varagur lays out what we really talk about when we talk about Saudi money, and illuminates the global sweep of its ambitions over the last century. 

Drawing on a rich store of knowledge and wisdom, and writing with literary power as well as analytic rigor, Jeffrey Wasserstrom makes us understand the deep roots and the broad significance of the tragedy we see unfolding day by day in Hong Kong.

William Wheeler joins us to discusses the process of reporting his book State of War, the story of MS-13 and its American roots.

Host Nicholas Lemann sits down with Columbia University law professor, and author of The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age Tim Wu to discuss the politics of Louis Brandeis and Theodore Roosevelt as antitrust has reemerged this year as a major issue in the run-up to the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. 

New Kings of the World examines the new arbiters of mass culture ―India's Bollywood films, Turkey's soap operas, and South Korea's pop music.

Acclaimed Pakistani writer Fatima Bhutto joins us to talk about her book, New Kings of the World, which examines the new arbiters of mass culture ―India's Bollywood films, Turkey's soap operas, and South Korea's pop music.

Veteran reporter John B. Judis joins us to talk about his book, The Nationalist Revival, which examines the recent worldwide wave of nationalism.

We're kicking off season two with guest Joel Simon, who in nearly two decades at the Committee to Protect Journalists has worked on dozens of hostages cases. He helps us tackle the question: Should governments pay ransom to terrorists?

The recent booming fracking industry has led many to declare that America will soon be free of the influence of foreign oil and gas suppliers such as Saudi Arabia and Russia. But will we really? This discussion between Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera will persuade you to think about the power of oil in a new way.

Via The Investor's Field Guide podcast: I've often heard that good investors are a bit like journalists: doggedly collecting evidence and building an understanding of how all the pieces of a company or investment fit together. My guest this week is one of my favorite writers and journalists, Bethany McLean. 

Will Doig, author of High Speed Empire, traveled through Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore to chronicle the dramatic transformations taking place. Do ordinary people have a voice in this moment of economic, political, and cultural collision?

This conversation between journalist Masha Gessen and photographer Misha Friedman is a can't miss opportunity to hear one of the leading experts on Russia speak about the importance of memory rooted in history and facts.

When the US invaded Iraq in 2003, the Bush administration promised that oil revenue would be used to win the war and to rebuild and democratize the country. But fifteen years later, those dreams have been shattered. Where did all the oil revenue go?

We sit down with Emily Witt, author of Nollywood: The Making of a Film Empire. Amid electricity cuts, fuel scarcity, and countless other obstacles, how did Nigeria create the second largest movie industry in the world?

Atossa Araxia Abrahamian travels the globe to meet these willing and unwitting “cosmopolites,” or citizens of the world, who inhabit a new, borderless realm where things can go very well, or very badly.

Helen C. Epstein joins us to talk about her new book Another Fine Mess: America, Uganda, and the War on Terror. Is America to blame for decades of war in eastern Africa? Who is Yoweri Museveni? And where is Trump on all of this?

In the first episode of Underreported, we bring in the team to talk about Columbia Global Reports' mission, our lessons learned from entering the book business, and populism's role in the German election.