Born in Somalia, Ayaan Hirsi Ali earned international attention as a critic of Islam and advocate for the rights and self-determination of Muslim women, actively opposing forced marriage, honor violence, child marriage and female genital mutilation. She founded the AHA Foundation – an organization for the defense of women’s rights.

Masterful storyteller and internationally acclaimed literary powerhouse with two dozen books and 79 million copies in print.

Pulitzer Prize Winning Author, Humorist, Columnist

Daniel James Brown is author of The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Olympics (2013), that was a #1 New York Times Bestseller list for 137 weeks. Dan’s latest book, Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II (2021) portrays the kaleidoscopic journey of four Japanese American families and their second generation young men-the Nisei-who volunteered for the 442 Regimental Combat Team. The 442^nd was deployed to France, Germany and Italy, where they were asked  to do the near impossible in often suicidal missions.

Two-time US Poet Laureate, dubbed “the most popular poet in America” by the New York Times

A former Secretary of the Navy and distinguished Naval Academy graduate, shares his inspiring journey in “At the Helm: My Journey with Family, Faith, and Friends to Calm the Storms of Life.” His memoir highlights principled leadership, ethical challenges faced, and pivotal contributions to naval history.

National Geographic Explorer in Residence, Ethnographer, Writer, Photographer and Filmmaker

Niall Ferguson, MA, DPhil, FRSE, writes and lectures on international history, economic and financial history and British and American imperialism. He is known for his positive views concerning the British Empire.

A Pulitzer-Prize winning biographer, presidential historian, former sports journalist and political commentator.

Tom Ikeda is the founding Executive Director of Densho, a grassroots organization dedicated to preserving, educating, and sharing the story of World War II-era incarceration of Japanese Americans in order to deepen understandings of American history and inspire action for equity. Tom was wrote the forward and consulted with  Daniel James Brown writing of  Facing the Mountain.

Walter Isaacson has established himself as the biographer of creativity, innovation, and genius. Einstein was the genius of the revolution in physics, and Steve Jobs was the genius of the revolution in digital technology.

Leader in Science Policy in the US, Author, Undersecretary for Science for President Obama, Theoretical Physics Professor at CalTech then NYU

Acclaimed Author, Finalist National Book Award in Fiction and Professor at Princeton University

H.R. McMaster retired with thirty-four years of experience as an officer in the U.S. Army commanding troops in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, and during Desert Storm, followed by a position as National Security Advisor in the White House, and professorships at Stanford University and the Hoover Institution, H.R. McMaster brings us his well-qualified viewpoint of the geopolitical landscape and decades of first-hand knowledge of the global stage today.

Mr. Rubenstein is a leader in the area of Patriotic Philanthropy, having made transformative gifts for the restoration or repair of the Washington Monument, Monticello, Montpelier, Mount Vernon, Arlington House, Iwo Jima Memorial, the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian, the National Archives, the National Zoo, the Library of Congress, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Bestselling author of more than a dozen novels and memoirs, including The Joy Luck Club.

Bari Weiss is a journalist and the author of “How to Fight Anti-Semitism,” which won a 2019 National Jewish Book Award. From 2017 to 2020 Weiss was an opinion writer and editor at The New York Times. Before that, she was an op-ed and book review editor at The Wall Street Journal and a senior editor at Tablet Magazine.