Jeffrey Sachs on a Career at the Center of Global Affairs

For more than four decades, Jeffrey Sachs has been a leading voice in global economics and advising governments from Bolivia and Poland to Russia, China, and India. A Harvard graduate with three economics degrees, Sachs became a tenured Harvard professor at just 28 and spent more than two decades t…

From the Archives: Todd Rundgren

Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Todd Rundgren is in a class all his own. Whether scoring Top 40 hits, playing all of the instruments on his albums or wildly experimenting with musical genres, Rundgren is continuously pushing the bou…

The Hitmakers: Foreigner’s Lou Gramm and Yes’ Jon Anderson

Lou Gramm is a legendary singer and songwriter best known as co-founder and original frontman of Foreigner. Gramm is considered among the greatest and most successful rock vocalists of his generation. He co-wrote many of Foreigner's hits with bandmate Mick Jones. Together, they were inducted into t…

From the Archives: Michael Douglas

To celebrate 15 years of great conversations, we're revisiting Alec's first episode from 2011. Michael Douglas has lived in the same apartment overlooking Central Park for decades. Alec joins him there for a compelling conversation about what makes a great director and why playing the villain is so…

From the Archives: Patricia Bosworth

Mark Twain once likened biographies to “the clothes and buttons of the man” saying “the biography of the man himself cannot be written.” The quote is a favorite of Patricia Bosworth, a 1950s model-actor turned biographer known for capturing the lives of Diane Arbus, Montgomery Clift, and Marlon Bra…

From the Archives: Lang Lang

Dubbed “the hottest artist on the classical music planet” by The New York Times, pianist Lang Lang has reached a level of stardom rare for classical musicians.  But his prominence is hard-won.  Alec, who adores Lang Lang's charisma and talent, elicits from his guest stories of hardship during his c…

Illeana Douglas’ Love of Movies Knows No Bounds

Illeana Douglas is an Emmy-nominated actress, writer, producer, director, and author whose career spans film, television, and classic-cinema preservation. The granddaughter of two-time Academy Award-winning actor Melvyn Douglas, Illeana Douglas has appeared in acclaimed films such as as “Goodfellas…

From the Archives: Edie Falco

Edie Falco says she is nothing like Carmela Soprano. Nor does she have much in common with Nurse Jackie. But Falco made these characters two of the most identifiable and human women in television history. She has an armful of Emmys, Golden Globes, and Screen Actors Guild Awards—and a cadre of dedic…

Daniel Immerwahr on American Empire - Past, Present, and Future

Daniel Immerwahr is a historian, scholar, professor, and author whose work explores U.S. and global history, with a particular focus on the ways the past continues to shape the present. He currently teaches U.S. and global history at Northwestern University’s Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences. Im…

From the Archives: Mick Fleetwood Skates Back into the Charts

Mick Fleetwood is the drummer and a founding member of Fleetwood Mac, one of the most successful rock bands of all time. Fleetwood talks to Alec about how dyslexia led him to drumming, how supportive parents encouraged his talent and his move to London as a teenager, how his friendship with the ban…