Speaking for the Children … and the AK-47

California Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera Channels the Many Voices of Africa

In Squaring Off, Zócalo invites authors into the public square to answer five questions about the essence of their books. For this round, we pose questions to California poet laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, author of Senegal Taxi.

Herrera weaves together a multitude of unexpected voices and genres—poetry, prose, art, dialogue—to give voice to the pain and hope of the children whose lives have been ravaged by years of violence and war in the Sudan.

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When You Say Go Jump Off a Cliff, I Feel It

Benjamin K. Bergen Explains the Astonishing Workings of Language in Homo Sapiens

In Squaring Off, Zócalo invites authors into the public square to answer five questions about the essence of their books. For this round, we pose questions to UC San Diego …

Can We Stop Another Run on the Banks?

No, Says Gary B. Gorton, Unless We Get What Causes Financial Crises

In Squaring Off, Zócalo invites authors into the public square to answer five questions about the essence of their books. For this round, we pose questions to Gary B. Gorton, …

Taking Political Humor Seriously

Peter Robinson Believes Laughs Can Influence Votes

In Squaring Off, Zócalo invites authors into the public square to answer five questions about the essence of their books. For this round, we pose questions to Peter M. Robinson, …

The People’s Choice?

Robert W. Bennett Explains the Bewildering Electoral College

In Squaring Off, Zócalo invites authors into the public square to answer five questions about the essence of their books. For this round, we pose questions to Robert W. Bennett, …

Human Sacrifice: The Weather Made Me Do It

Historian Peter Watson on How Nature Changed the Old World and the New

In Squaring Off, Zócalo invites authors into the public square to answer five questions about the essence of their books. For this round, we pose questions to intellectual historian Peter …