Uncommon Knowledge

Frank Dikötter is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution who has recently returned to the United States after living in Hong Kong since 2006. In this provocative conversation, Dikötter challenges the prevailing narrative about China’s rise. Drawing from his latest book, China After Mao: The Rise of a Superpower, Dikötter argues that the Chinese Communist Party has masterfully projected the image of a powerful, modern, and econom...

Niall Ferguson, preeminent historian and Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, joins this episode of Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson to discuss the war and ongoing stalemate in Ukraine; the Trump administration’s foreign policy and negotiations with Russia; and the broader geopolitical landscape, including the shift in Europe’s defense posture as the US signals a reduced commitment to NATO.

Throughout the c...

This panel discussion on the legacy of George Shultz, former US secretary of state and Hoover Institution senior fellow, features the Hoover Institution’s director, Condoleezza Rice; Israeli politician and human rights activist Natan Sharansky; and Abraham Sofaer, the former legal advisor to the State Department under George Shultz and the George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy and National Security Affairs at the Hoover ...

Stephen Kotkin is the Kleinheinz Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and one of the most preeminent historians in the world. In this installment of Five Questions for Stephen Kotkin, he explores the reelection of Donald Trump, debating whether it represents a fluke or a seismic shift in American politics, while contextualizing this within a broader discussion of global democracy, as 2024 saw significant elections across many of...

Marc Andreessen is a prominent Silicon Valley entrepreneur, investor, and technologist and the cofounder and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. This discussion covers Andreessen’s journey from his upbringing in rural Wisconsin, through his founding Netscape and the development of one of the first commercial internet browsers in his twenties, to his pivotal role in shaping Silicon Valley and now national politics.

The interview...

Christine Rosen is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, cohost of the daily Commentary Magazine Podcast, and the author of The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World. 

This wide-ranging discussion delves into the pervasive impact of technology on human experience, relationships, and societal norms. Drawing from themes in her book, Rosen critiques how digital devices and virtual realities have ...

In this, the second half of our conversation with Peter Thiel, the discussion delves into Thiel’s reflections on ancient prophecies, particularly the concept of the Antichrist as outlined in biblical and literary sources. Drawing from thinkers such as Cardinal Newman and fiction by Vladimir Solovyov and Robert Hugh Benson, Thiel explores how apocalyptic ideas remain relevant today, particularly in light of global challenges like te...

Andrew Ferguson is a journalist and author; John Podhoretz is the editor of Commentary magazine and the host of the daily Commentary Magazine Podcast; Henry Olsen is a veteran political analyst, host of the Beyond the Polls podcast, and one of the few people who correctly predicted the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. This discussion hosted by Peter Robinson centers on the shifting political landscape in America, dissecti...

Natan Sharansky is a renowned human rights activist, former Soviet dissident, Israeli politician, and author. In 1977, Sharansky was sentenced to 13 years of hard labor in a Soviet prison for the crime of advocating for human rights and the right for Soviet Jews to emigrate to Israel. After nine years of imprisonment, under harsh conditions and including long periods of solitary confinement, Sharankly was released in 1986 as part o...

Peter Thiel—the prominent tech entrepreneur and thinker—returns to Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson to discuss his views on the end times, technology, and societal progress. Thiel delves into the historical and philosophical context of apocalyptic thinking, referencing biblical texts and the work of René Girard. He argues that modern technological advancements, such as nuclear weapons and AI, have apocalyptic potential and sh...

Niall Ferguson, Victor Davis Hanson, and Andrew Roberts are senior fellows at the Hoover Institution and among the most prestigious and popular historians in the world. This is the first time they have appeared together in a public forum. Among the topics they cover in this wide-ranging discussion: the recent controversy regarding Winston Churchill’s role in World War II, the false premise of the 1619 Project, the Cold War, World W...

Condoleezza Rice is the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and a former US secretary of state and national security advisor in the George W. Bush administration. Rice joins Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson at a perilous moment for the United States and the world at large, even more dangerous than the Cold War, Rice argues.

Drawing on her recent article in Foreign Affairs, Rice highlights the complex threa...

General (ret.) H.R. McMaster, the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, returns to Uncommon Knowledge to discuss his latest book, At War with Ourselves, in which he candidly recounts his experiences as former national security advisor to President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2018.

In this wide-ranging interview, McMaster delves into the complexities and challenges he faced while serving in the administrati...

“Are we alone in the universe?” That’s the central question we put to astrophysicist Dr. Luke Barnes, cosmologist Dr. Brian Keating, and philosopher Dr. Jay Richards.

Our guests delve into the probabilities and challenges of finding extraterrestrial life, considering the vastness of the cosmos and the fine-tuning necessary for life to exist. They explore the implications of the SETI project, the rarity of Earth-like conditions, and...

Stephen Meyer is the author of Return of the God Hypothesis and the director of the Discovery Institute. James Tour is a synthetic organic chemist and professor at Rice University, renowned for his work in nanotechnology and his skepticism toward the current scientific models explaining the origin of life. 

In this wide-ranging conversation, Meyer and Tour contrast biological evolution with the more complex challenge of chemical ev...

In his 1943 book The Abolition of Man, C. S. Lewis wrote: “The serious magical endeavor and the serious scientific endeavor are twins: One was sickly and died, the other strong and throve. But they were twins. They were born of the same impulse.” In this Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson, mathematician and philosopher David Berlinski, intelligent design advocate Stephen Meyer, and Associate Professor of Philosophy of Religion ...

Bjorn Lomborg is president of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, a think tank dedicated to applying economic analysis, including cost-benefit analysis, to proposed policies around the issues of the day. He’s also a visiting professor at Copenhagen Business School and visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He's the author of many books, including the 2001 bestseller The Skeptical Environmentalist.  His lates...

Author and columnist Douglas Murray has spent much of the past few years reporting from battlefields in Ukraine and Gaza. His reporting on the harrowing conditions in those wartorn locations make his journalism a must-read. In this wide-ranging conversation, Murray describes what he has witnessed, why the West must ensure victories in both wars, and his reaction to the campus protests across the United States, as well as his views ...

Classicist Victor Davis Hanson is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and the author of hundreds of articles, book reviews, and newspaper editorials on Greek, agrarian, and military history and essays on contemporary culture. He has written or edited twenty-four books, the latest of which is The End of Everything: How Wars Descend into Annihilation. The book—and this conversation—charts how and why...