Allan Gregg in Conversation

November 14 2008: Ted Rogers

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:00:00 EST

Ted Rogers is a legendary entrepreneur. In his new autobiography, he explains how he built Rogers Communications into one of the largest companies in Canadian history. It's called Relentless.

November 7 2008: Margaret Atwood

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 7 Feb 2008 22:00:00 EST

Margaret Atwood is one of Canada's leading activists on a wide range of environmental and cultural issues. Atwood delivered this year's Massey Lectures, which have been collected in a new book called Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth.

October 10 2008: Simon Winchester

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:00:00 EST

In a new book, Simon Winchester tells the remarkable story of the brilliant but eccentric Cambridge professor Joseph Needham. It's called The Man Who Loved China.

October 31 2008: Charlotte Gray

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 22:00:00 EST

She's been called the most important woman in Canadian history -- Nellie McClung. Charlotte Gray has written a biography about this extraordinary Canadian. It's called Nellie McClung.

October 31 2008: James Orbinski

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 22:00:00 EST

Canada's Dr. James Orbinski has witnessed some of the most horrific events of our time. In a new memoir, he recounts those experiences and how they changed him. It's called An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-First Century.

October 24 2008: Salman Rushdie

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:00:00 EST

Salman Rushdie has been knighted by the Queen and for the second time, his novel Midnight's Children has won the Best of Booker Award. His latest novel is called The Enchantress of Florence.

October 17 2008: Eric Margolis

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 22:00:00 EST

Author and syndicated columnist Eric Margolis has long been a critic of American foreign policy and of Canada's military involvement in Afghanistan. His new book is called American Raj: Liberation or Domination?

October 10 2008: Christopher Shulgan

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:00:00 EST

In a new book, Christopher Shulgan tells the story of the Soviet diplomat who brought then-prime minister Trudeau and Gorbachev together and helped change the course of history. It's called The Soviet Ambassador.

October 3 2008: Devra Davis

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 3 Oct 2008 22:00:00 EST

A scientist and public health expert, Devra Davis is head of the Centre for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh. In a provocative new book she argues that we have been too focused on treating cancer, while ignoring its environmental causes. It is called The Secret History of the War on Cancer.

September 26 2008: Mel Hurtig

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 22:00:00 EST

The publisher, political activist and author argues we are no longer the people we think we are. He has combed world statistics to see how Canada really measures up and has published his important, astonishing, and truly appalling findings in The Truth about Canada.

June 13 2008: Paul Collier

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 22:00:00 EST

In a new book, Oxford University economist and government adviser Paul Collier calls for dramatic changes to improve conditions for the world's poorest countries. The Bottom Billion is the winner of this year's Lionel Gelber Prize for the best book on international affairs.

May 30 2008: Anna Porter

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 30 May 2008 22:00:00 EST

Rezso Kasztner saved thousands of his fellow Jews by bargaining for their lives with the Nazis. But after the Second World War he was vilified. Author Anna Porter recounts the dramatic story in her book, Kasztner's Train: The True Story of Rezso Kasztner, Unknown Hero of the Holocaust.

June 6 2008: Dee Dee Myers

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 6 Jun 2008 22:00:00 EST

She was White House Press Secretary to former President Bill Clinton, the first woman ever to hold the position. In a new book, she writes about those years and argues it's time for women to have their rightful share of power. The book is called Why Women Should Rule the World.

May 23 2008: Samantha Power

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 23 May 2008 22:00:00 EST

Samantha Power is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, human rights expert and Professor of the Practice of Global Leadership at Harvard University. In a new book, Power tells the life story of a United Nations envoy killed in Iraq. It's called Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World.

May 16 2008: Tom Hayden

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:00:00 EST

Tom Hayden was one of the 'Chicago Seven' arrested at the 1968 Democratic National Convention and later put on trial. Forty years later, he is still an activist. His latest book is called Writings for a Democratic Society: The Tom Hayden Reader.

April 4 2008: Erna Paris

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 4 Apr 2008 22:00:00 EST

Journalist Erna Paris traces the difficult birth of the International Criminal Court and America opposition to the independent body. It's called The Sun Climbs Slow: Justice in the Age of Imperial America.

April 25 2008: Diane Francis

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 22:00:00 EST

In a new book, Diane Francis profiles seventy-five of Canada's richest people. Francis is editor-at-large of the National Post and her book is called Who Owns Canada Now: Old Money, New Money and the Future of Canadian Business.

April 18 2008: Ronald Wright

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:00:00 EST

The collapse of Easter Island, the fall of the Roman Empire. We've made too much progress to end up as they did. But historian Ronald Wright sees similarities between our own society and doomed civilizations of the past. His book is called A Short History of Progress.

May 9 2008: Garth Turner

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 9 May 2008 22:00:00 EST

Over the past several years there's been a huge real estate boom. But the boom is over and now the question is -- will we see a bust? Garth Turner is a financial commentator and Member of Parliament. His new book is called "Greater Fool: The Troubled Future of Real Estate".

April 18 2008: Thomas Cahill

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:00:00 EST

The Middle Ages -- it's often depicted as an era of fear and ignorance -- the tyranny of kings over long suffering peasants. However, in a new book, historian Thomas Cahill tells a different story. It's called Mysteries of the Middle Ages: And the Beginning of the Modern World.

April 11 2008: Pico Iyer

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 22:00:00 EST

With turmoil in Tibet as China prepares to host the Olympic games, the world's focus is on Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. Journalist Pico Iyer has known him personally for more than thirty years and now he's written a book about him called The Open Road: the Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.

March 28 2008: Sherry Cooper

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 22:00:00 EST

According to Sherry Cooper, "boomers will redefine retirement just as they have redefined middle age." Cooper is chief economist at BMO Capital Markets. Her new book is called The New Retirement: How It Will Change Our Future.

March 14 2008: Alan Weisman

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 22:00:00 EST

What if we were to suddenly disappear from Earth -- all of us humans? What would happen to our planet? What sort of imprint would we leave behind? Science writer Alan Weisman tackles these questions in his bestseller The World Without Us.

March 7 2008: Steven Pinker

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 7 Mar 2008 22:00:00 EST

What makes us curse and what does it say about us? Steven Pinker explores this and other linguistic mysteries in his new book. Pinker is a world-renowned cognitive scientist at Harvard University. His book is called The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature.

March 21 2008: Simon Blackburn

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:00:00 EST

Simon Blackburn is one of the world's most eminent philosophers. Time magazine hailed his bestseller, Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy, as "the one book every smart person should read to understand, and even enjoy, the key questions of philosophy."

March 21 2008: Roger Martin

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:00:00 EST

What do successful leaders have in common and what can we all learn from their success? In a new book, Roger Martin claims it's not what they do, but how they think. His book is called The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking.

February 29 2008: Irshad Manji

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 22:00:00 EST

She's been called Osama bin Laden's worst nightmare. Journalist, feminist, Muslim activist -- Irshad Manji is world renowned as an outspoken advocate for Islamic reform. Manji is the author of The Trouble with Islam Today and now she's come out with a new DVD, Faith Without Fear.

February 15 2008: Yann Martel

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 22:00:00 EST

Canada's Yann Martel shot to international fame with his novel Life of Pi. He won the prestigious Booker Prize and his novel went on to sell six-million copies worldwide. Now Martel has come out with a special illustrated edition of Life of Pi.

February 22 2008: Jan Wong

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 22:00:00 EST

China in the early 1970's -- it's the height of the Cultural Revolution. Journalist Jan Wong, then a student and a Maoist, travels from Canada to study at Beijing University. Her book about that time is called "Beijing Confidential: A Tale of Comrades Lost and Found".

February 15 2008: Kevin Patterson

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 22:00:00 EST

We're bombarded by media coverage of the Canadian forces in Afghanistan, but rarely do we hear from the soldiers themselves. Until now that is. Kevin Patterson's new book is called Outside the Wire: The War in Afghanistan in the Words of Its Participants.

February 8 2008: Maude Barlow

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 8 Feb 2008 22:00:00 EST

While global warming grabs the headlines, there's another environmental disaster unfolding -- the world is running out of fresh water. Political activist Maude Barlow addresses these and other issues in her new book "Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water".

February 1 2008: John Spong

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 1 Feb 2008 22:00:00 EST

To some he's a visionary who wants to reform Christianity. To others he's a heretic, out to destroy the Church. John Spong's latest book is called "Jesus for the Non-Religious".

January 25 2008: Jeffrey Simpson

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:00:00 EST

Forget about Canada's 2012 Kyoto targets and force industrial polluters to pay a carbon tax. These are a few of the controversial proposals put forward in a new book by Jeffrey Simpson called "Hot Air: Meeting Canada's Climate Change Challenge".

January 11 2008: Brian Wansink

allangregg@tvo.org (TVO) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 22:00:00 EST

What makes us overindulge when we're not even hungry? Food psychologist Brian Wansink is a professor of Marketing and Nutritional Science at Cornell University. His book is called "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think".