Best-selling author Michael Lewis discusses his new book, Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service, with Jeffrey Rosen. As government programs face political headwinds, Lewis and his favorite writers examine the human stories of the heroic civil servants who make government work and why their contributions matter.
This conversation was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall series on March 26, 2025.
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This episode was produced by Samson Mostashari and Bill Pollock. It was engineered by David Stotz and Bill Pollock. Research was provided by Yara Daraiseh.
Participants
Michael Lewis is a journalist and bestselling author, known for his books on topics ranging from politics to Wall Street. His most recent works include Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon, The Premonition: A Pandemic Story, The Fifth Risk, and The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds. His books, The Big Short, The Blind Side, and Moneyball, were adapted into blockbuster films. He is the creator and host of the podcast Against the Rules and his latest edited volume is Who is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
Additional Resources
- Michael Lewis, ed., Who Is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service (2025)
- Michael Lewis, “The free‑living bureaucrat,” The Washington Post (March 2025)
- Michael Lewis, “Directions to a journalistic gold mine,” The Washington Post (Nov. 2024)
- Michael Lewis, The Premonition: A Pandemic Story (2022)
- Michael Lewis, The Fifth Risk (2018)
- CURE ID
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