PHILIP K. HOWARD is a distinguished lawyer, best-selling author, and proven civic leader. He is chair of Common Good, a nonpartisan organization aimed at simplifying government.

In his new book, Saving Can-Do: How to Revive the Spirit of America, Howard untangles the gordian knot of populism and broken governance seizing up the American experiment as we approach our 250th anniversary.

Critical minerals are the new oil—and the global competition for the clean energy future is on.

As nations around the world transition toward a cleaner, more diversified portfolio of energy sources, the spotlight is turning to critical minerals.

Lithium and other minerals have uses from electric vehicles and e-bikes to smartphones, computers, medical devices, and drones.

The implications are far-reaching:

—how should environmental costs and benefits be calculated?

—how should we evaluate environmental safeguards in the US and other developed nations that restrict mining and refining of critical minerals?

—how should the economic, cultural, and human rights of people in the vicinity of critical mineral exploration and development be protected, including in the Global South?

—what are the implications for an intensifying, multifaceted competition with China?

Filmmaker Samuel George examines these and other issues in his soon-to-be released documentary, “Lithium Rising: The Race for Critical Minerals.”

The accompanying book is out now, available as a free pdf from the Bertelsmann Foundation.

About Samuel George

Dr. Samuel George is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and analyst for the Bertelsmann Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Washington, DC.

Samuel’s documentaries bring viewers up close and personal to people and communities facing the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century, offering candid perspectives that allow viewers to draw their own conclusions. His films focus on the intersection of politics, economics, social issues, and daily life. Three of his films have in syndication on PBS, and a number of others are available on streaming services. All films are freely available online from the Bertelsmann Foundation.

George graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in History from Oberlin College in 2007, and a Master’s Degree in International Economics and Latin American Studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in 2012. He completed a PhD at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in 2024.

Image Credits | Samuel George Films.

We are in the midst of a series of transformations—political, financial, economic, international, and cultural. At the center of our public affairs for the past decade—for better or worse or a bit of both depending on your point of view—is President Donald Trump.

New York Times reporter Peter Baker said in 2025, “Trump is the most powerful president of our lifetime.”

At the six-month point of Trump’s second term—like Grover Cleveland’s, discontinuous from his first—how do we evaluate Trump and his administration?

In this episode of the Serve to Lead Podcast, presidential historian Luke Nichter offers his highly informed, judicious perspective.

University of Chicago political scientist John Mearsheimer argues that “Nationalism is the most powerful political ideology on the planet.”

Nationalism is flaring across the world in the 2020s. The Russia-Ukraine War can be comprehended as a contest of competing nationalist visions. Nationalist themes are rising in the politics of the United States and United Kingdom, Poland, Hungary, Germany, Turkey, Israel, India, and China.

Nationalist sentiment is surging even in Canada, in response to President Trump’s rhetorical and trade war.

In this episode of the Serve to Lead Podcast, historian Eric Storm discusses his important, timely, and readable new book, Nationalism: A World History.

Woodrow Wilson was widely admired throughout the twentieth century. Surveys of scholars often included him among the higher ranks of presidents. Many of his critics acknowledged his administration as among the most consequential in our history.

In the early twenty-first century Wilson’s star has been in eclipse. His positions on race and gender issues have been highlighted for their jarring discordance from those of our time. Some conservatives see him as uniquely culpable for the subsequent development and overreach of the administrative apparatus and war powers of our national government.

His name has been removed from the public affairs school at Princeton University, an institution that he led into its modern form.

Has the dismissal of Woodrow Wilson gone too far? As with Thomas Jefferson, can we acknowledge his faults and limitations while learning from his visionary insights and seeking to achieve his ideals?

No one is better placed to explore these issues than John M. Cooper, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has dedicated his illustrious career to illuminating Wilson and his era. While Cooper is an admirer of our twenty-eighth president, he’s clear-eyed about his flaws and missteps.

Cooper is perhaps best known to the public as the author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist Woodrow Wilson: A Biography, acclaimed as the definitive one-volume account of Wilson's wide-ranging life and work.

In this episode of the Serve to Lead podcast, Cooper discusses Wilson's historical legacy and reputation—and makes the case for its actionable relevance in our time of accelerating change.

In this episode of the Serve to Lead podcast, historian, educator, author, and activist Elisabeth Griffith discusses American Women Making History: Past, Present & Future.

Dr. Griffith considers a range of issues, including: her wide-angle view of the state of women in the US today; the significance of “gender equity” in politics; the relative contributions of politics, culture, technology, science, education, and finance in evolving understandings of gender roles in the Collective West; how history can inform our navigation of the future; how AI may supercharge the teaching and learning of history; and much more.

Anthropology is the study of what makes us human.

With memorable elan, Wade Davis applies anthropology as a platform for exploring and illuminating a range of phenomena. A polymath possessing a restless intellect and unflagging energy, Davis explores the further reaches of the planet as well as familiar, often underexamined matters closer to home.

As he gets beneath the surface of things, he reveals interconnections and conjures unexpected associations.

In this episode of the Serve to Lead podcast, Wade Davis discusses his celebrated new book, Beneath the Surface of Things: New and Selected Essays.

In conversation as in writing, he’s eloquent and insightful on topics ranging from the knock-on effects of the global pandemic to the potential for an actionable political project to address global climate disruption.