Jared Diamond is a renowned geographer and the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel. His books explore philosophical and scientific subject matter candidly and with compelling detail. His most recent book, Upheaval: How Nations Cope With Crisis and Change, is the final volume in a trilogy (preceded by Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse) chronicling the rise and fall of civilizations around the globe. This final volume looks to both the past and the future, bringing historical, geographic, anthropological, economic, and personal lenses to the apocalyptic questions surrounding our world today. Diamond’s scientific research covers the birds of New Guinea and other Southwest Pacific Islands, and he additionally works toward promoting sustainable environmental policy in his role as a director of the World Wildlife Fund and Conservation International. He lives and works in Los Angeles, where he is a professor of Geography and Physiology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Roy Eisenhardt practiced law for twelve years and currently teaches at University of California, Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law. He was previously president of the Oakland Athletics and served as the Executive Director for the California Academy of Sciences. His past interviews for City Arts & Lectures include Desmond Tutu, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Madeleine Albright, and Brian Greene.