General Tony Zinni on the New Military Role

Anthony Zinni is maybe best known to the general public for his early criticism of the invasion of Iraq. The a former chief of CENTCOM, Zinni has had his eye on the changing face of geopolitics for a good portion of his career.

Zinni talks about how his early service in Vietnam echoes the current mission of the military in Afghanistan and why a different style of leadership is needed across political and business lines. Zinni also weighs in on the current state of Iraq with U.S. troops beginning to withdraw.

LISTEN: GENERAL TONY ZINNI

Kurt Andersen and the Reset Button

What exactly is the United States going through? Have we seen it before? Is it like the Great Depression? Is it like the end of the Roman Empire?

Kurt Andersen thinks we are at a point in time when political, economic and technological cycles have collided. As we are at a unique point in history, Andersen says, the nation is also offered a unique opportunity. He lays out those opportunities his book RESET: HOW THIS CRISIS CAN RESTORE OUR VALUES AND RENEW AMERICA. Andersen, bestselling author and co-founder of Spy magazine, based his book on the response to a Time magazine cover story titled "The End of Excess."

LISTEN: KURT ANDERSEN, RESET

Woodstock Three Ways

The Woodstock music festival defines a generation for some. But as the cultural touchstone is marked by a 40-year anniversary, participants, next-generation observers and historians can come up with various different views about the "three days of peace, love and music." Upon reflection, many cite the highly influential movie (partially filmed by a then-unknown Martin Scorsese) as making the true lasting impact on the culture. Others see Woodstock as the capping event on the transition from good times to bad.

Here are three different views of Woodstock from men who have strong ties to the sixties.

Woodstock literally did change Elliot Tiber's life. His memoir TAKING WOODSTOCK, which recounts his role in helping get the festival off the ground, is the basis for the film of the same name directed by Ang Lee. Tiber serves as the main character in the film (and, naturally, in his own memoir), which stars Demetri Martin.

LISTEN: ELLIOT TIBER, TAKING WOODSTOCK


Rolling Stone magazine writer Mikal Gilmore takes a cultural and sociological view of the festival. Gilmore has written extensively about the sixties and where politics and music meet.

LISTEN: MIKAL GILMORE, REFLECTIONS OF WOODSTOCK


Author of THE ROCK AND ROLL BOOK OF THE DEAD, David Comfort, notes that bad trips were also a part of the festival. Comfort cites an ungrounded stage, weather and traffic problems and stars on the edge of total implosion as reflections of some of the darker side of Woodstock. Notably, Comfort notes that Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix would each live only about a year past the festival.

LISTEN: DAVID COMFORT, ON THE DARK SIDE OF WOODSTOCK

Superpower Problems

It’s now (and has been) apparent that the true impact of globalization on Americans is more than just cheap stuff and a reshaped concept of domestic manufacturing jobs. In other parts of the world information access, the rise of non-state entities and many other forms of “decentralization” are creating new challenges for long-standing industrial and political powers.

Will a growing trend of decentralization start to change our idea of the United States? Has it already? These are some of the issues tackled by Paul Starobin in his book AFTER AMERICA: Narratives for the Next Global Age. In the book, Starobin suggests that current organizational trends and issues need to change for the U.S. to adapt to the changing world.

LISTEN: PAUL STAROBIN, AFTER AMERICA