Kwame Anthony Appiah is often called a postmodern Socrates, and for good reason: he asks probing questions about identity, ethnicity, honor, and religion during a time when these difficult notions continue to shift. Exciting and erudite, Appiah challenges us to look beyond the boundaries—real and imagined—that...

“Culture moves before politics,” says Jeff Chang. In the seminal Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, Chang used hip-hop culture to radically remix the last 25 years of America's political and social history. In his pulsating follow-up, Who We Be, he traces the rise of multiculturalism—its...

Ta-Nehisi Coates is one of the most original and perceptive voices in black America—and one of our best young writers, period. With rich emotional depth and a sonar sense of how pop culture, politics, and history shape discussions of race, Coates is “the young James Joyce of the hip hop generation” (Walter...

With few peers, Reza Aslan addresses the topics of Islam, the Middle East, and Muslim Americans with authority, wit, and an infectious optimism. Aslan speaks for a young generation of Muslims—socially conscious, politically active, and technologically savvy—who fight for democratic reform. Whether he's talking...

Shannon K. O'Neil talks about the need for America to start viewing Mexico as a partner instead of a problem. Moving beyond the stereotypes—gangs, drugs, violence—O’Neil reveals another, more hopeful country: a Mexico undergoing rapid social, political, and economic transformation, with profoundly integrated...

Erin Meyer specializes in cross-cultural management, intercultural negotiations, and multi-cultural leadership. Meyer is a professor at INSEAD, one of the world's leading international business schools. Her work focuses on how the world’s most successful global leaders navigate the complexities of cultural differences...

Our society claims to embrace racial, gender, and physical differences. Yet, it still routinely denies equal treatment when these groups refuse to downplay—or “cover”—their differences. In his soft-spoken but powerfully moving talks, Kenji Yoshino sidesteps identity politics to arrive at a new paradigm...

A thoughtful young writer on issues of morality and politics, Eyal Press is the author of Beautiful Souls, a revelatory study of moral courage. On stage, he looks at the surprising factors that cause ordinary people to behave ethically—to stick to their conscience, to defy the sway of authority and convention—even...

Teju Cole is a writer, art historian, and street photographer. He is the author of two books: a novella, Every Day is for the Thief, and a novel, Open City, which won the PEN/Hemingway Award, was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and named one of the best books of 2011 by the New...