Isabel  Allende:   In just a few years, Isabel Allende sprang from the obscurity of political exile to world wide popularity. One of Latin America’s most celebrated writers, her beloved novels include The House of the Spirits, Of Love and Shadows, The Infinite Plan, and Eva Luna. Allende's Spring, 1998, release, Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses, finds Allende in full command of the formidable narrative powers that have made her a fixture on the New York Times best-seller lists.

Karen Armstrong:     Author of A History of God, which explores the 4,000 year-old history of monotheism  (the belief in one God, shared by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), Karen Armstrong is one of the world’s foremost commentators on religious affairs. Her other works include: The Gospel According to Women; Muhammad: A Western Attempt to Understand Islam; and Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths.

Derrick Ashong:  From Stephen Spielberg to Harvard's Black Students' Association, Derrick Ashong has always gone his own way.  He knows that those who achieve great things invariably and instinctively follow their own inner sense of the right path.  These are the people who free their minds from the shackles of popular thought and consumer culture.  These are the people who go their own way.  But too often, people are obsessed with fitting in and being cool.  Too often, people are trapped in conformity.

Derrick Ashong is the most exciting new speaker on the lecture circuit today.  An actor and social activist of astonishing oratorical gifts, he played a feature role in Stephen Spielberg's Amistad and is a recent graduate of Harvard University where he served as President of the Black Students' Association.  His presentation, Killing Cool: Ingniting the Soul of Society, radically changes the way that people think of themselves and the world they live in.

Robert Ballard:  The enormous success of the movie Titanic has refocused attention on Robert Ballard, the discoverer of the actual sunken Titanic. The world's foremost underwater explorer and a distinguished scientist affiliated with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Ballard has led or participated in over 110 deep-sea expeditions and logged more hours in the deep than any marine scientist in the world.

Chuck D:  Leader and co-founder of the legendary rap group Public Enemy, Chuck D’s booming voice, forceful personality, and provocative views have made him one of the most quoted young thinkers in America.  His ability to rap about issues of race, rage, and inequality is unparalleled in today’s music.

Chuck D’s public success has not interfered with his private passions.  He is involved with a multitude of national organizations, community groups, and public service campaigns.  These include being a spokesperson for Rock the Vote, the National Urban League, and National Alliance of African American Athletes.  He has served on the Board of Directors of Rock the Vote, and appeared in HBO public service announcements for the campaign for national peace and the Partnership for a Drug Free America.

James Daly  As the editor of Business 2.0, the only magazine exclusively devoted to the people, companies and ideas driving the Internet economy, Jim Daly is on the cutting edge of the trends that are shaping the new economy. His dynamic presentations include The Ten Driving Principles of the New Economy and Managing in Internet Time and explode the myths of managing in the new economy and provide a clear road map to success.

Angela Davis:  What is the meaning of political solidarity and how will it be achieved?  How tenacious is the reactionary opposition and how can it be overcome?  Is this, at long last, the time for oppressed people to come together and forge a new future?

As a passionate activist and member of the Communist Party, Angela Davis was placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List as the result of false charges.  Following one of the most famous trials in recent U.S. history, Davis was acquitted.  Currently, she is a tenured professor in the History of Consciousness at the University of California.  She is the author of Blues Legacies and Black Feminism and Women, Race and Class.

Dr. Jared Diamond:  Dr. Jared Diamond is universally regarded as one of the great minds of our time. Recipient of the MacArthur Foundation genius grant and a professor at UCLA, he is the author of the Pulitzer Prize winning Guns, Germs, and Steel, The Third Chimpanzee and Why is Sex Fun? Dr. Diamond is a spectacular speaker who makes his ideas accessible and meaningful to all.

Jim Fallows:  Flux, instability and unpredictability characterize global politics today.  Making sense and seeing the big picture require a perceptive, highly informed and analytical mind.  James Fallows not only fits that description, he’s even seen one of his most important predictions come true.

The former editor of U.S. News and World Report, Mr. Fallows is also the author of Looking at the Sun, in which he correctly predicted the Asian financial and economic crisis.  A keen observer and interpreter of political and economic trends, Mr. Fallows is also the author of Japan, More Like Us and National Defense, a penetrating  look at the U.S. defense establishment.  President Jimmy Carter’s Chief Speech Writer, Mr. Fallows regularly describes both the small seismic shifts in global and domestic politics on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition.  His most recent book Breaking the News:  How the Media Undermine Democracy won an American Book Award.  Mr. Fallows is a compelling speaker whose thoughtful presentations always help an audience make sense of and see the big picture of global political and economic trends.

Susan Faludi:  Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Susan Faludi is author of the best-selling book Backlash: The Undeclared War on American Women. With insight, wit and compassion, Faludi addresses the topic "Celebrity Feminism and the Crisis of Masculinity."  Examining the increasing uncertainty and frustration men feel about their own identity and role in society, Faludi explores the impact this reality has on the women’s movement and male-female relationships.

Christina Garcia:  What does it mean to have roots in the Hispanic Culture yet achieve relative comfort and familiarity within mainstream American culture?  What are the benefits of this duality?  What are the drawbacks and penalties?

Christina Garcia illuminates the complexities of a dual cultural identity.  Author of the National Book Award-nominee Dreaming in Cuban as well as the acclaimed The Aguero Sisters, she was born in Havana, raised in New York, and attended Columbia University.  Prior to becoming a novelist, she worked as a political journalist, serving as Time Magazine’s bureau chief for Florida and the Caribbean.  She has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Fellow at Princeton University, and the Recipient of a Whiting Writer’s Award.

Howard Gardner:  Creator of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Howard Gardner’s work has changed the way people think and work in education, the arts, cognitive psychology, and medicine. A Professor of Education at Harvard University, his books include the ground-breaking Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences; Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership; and The Unschooled Mind.

Laurie Garrett:   Laurie Garrett won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for her investigations of dangerous infectious diseases, including AIDS, Ebola, pneumonic plague, and Hanta virus. Science writer for Newsday and former National Public Radio correspondent, Garrett is the author of the ground breaking book, The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance.

Arthur Golden:  National Bestselling Author of "Memoirs of a Geisha"

Stephen Jay Gould:   A brilliant interpreter of science, Harvard University evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould is one of the few distinguished intellectuals whose lectures draw pop-star size audiences. His numerous celebrated books include Full House, The Mismeasure of Man (winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award), The Panda's Thumb (winner of the American Book Award), Wonderful Life, Ever Since Darwin, and The Flamingo's Smile. Gould continues to challenge our assumptions about the natural world in his new book, Questioning The Millennium: A Rationalist's Guide to a PreciselyArbitrary Countdown, which explores the historical, religious, and rational roots of human fascination with time and the millennium.

Seymour Hersh:   Seymour Hersh is the most honored reporter in America today and one of the last remaining practitioners of real investigative journalism. His reports for the New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and his numerous books over the past twenty years have earned more than fifteen major prizes, including the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting and the National Book Critics Award. In addition to the bestselling expose of President Kennedy, The Dark Side of Camelot, Hersh is the author of six books, including: The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House and The Samson Option: Israel’s Nuclear Arsenal and America’s Foreign Policy.

Nancy & Jerry Jaax:   Cols. Nancy and Jerry Jaax are among the world’s leading specialist on "hot" (extremely infectious) viruses and high hazard biological research. Each plays a heroic role in the bestselling book, The Hot Zone. A husband and wife team in the Army Veterinary Corps., they are experts in medical defense against chemical and biological agents.

LouAnne Johnson:   LouAnne Johnson is the real life hero of the blockbuster movie and hit television series Dangerous Minds, which portrays a teacher consumed with helping at-risk students.  She is author of My Posse Don’t Do Homework, Teaching Doesn’t Have To Hurt, and The Girls in the Back of the Class. A former Marine Corps officer, Johnson serves as an inspiration to everyone who believes in the uphill struggles of the human spirit.

June Jordan:  North American history has included its share of inequality and persecution.  But an active community, where everyone can, should and does make a difference, has a chance to ensure that history will not be repeated.

Poet-author-activist June Jordan’s life is a living embodiment of that principle – that everyone has an obligation to make a difference. Ms. Jordan’s uncompromising passion for justice knows no boundaries - equal rights for women, immigration policy, families on welfare and the homeless.  The author of 24 books including June Jordan’s Poetry for the People, she is the most published African-American writer in history.  A professor of African-American Studies and Director of the Poetry for the People Program at the University of California, Berkeley, she is a hero to minorities and oppressed people throughout the world, Ms. Jordan’s work articulates the unity of justice, equality and tenderness transcending traditional bounds of self and society.

Stacey Kabat:   Stacey Kabat is a prominent activist against domestic violence, the leading cause of injury to women. Recipient of the 1992 Reebok Human Rights Award for getting domestic violence recognized under the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, Kabat won the 1993 Motion Picture Academy Documentary Short Films Oscar for her film Defending Our Lives.

Patricia Kirby:  Why is violent crime by women on the rise?  Are there uniquely female forms of violent crime?  Are women’s motives different from men’s?  Are their methods different?  What are the societal blind spots in dealing with violent crime by women?

Dr. Patricia Kirby is a veteran of the FBI’s acclaimed Behavioral Science Unit (the so-called Silence of the Lambs division) where she served as a Special Agent focusing on investigating serial killers, the psychological profiling of violent offenders, and the murder, rape, and sexual exploitation of children.  Her areas of expertise include the supersizing of murder throughout the culture (principally TV and movies), the feminization of serial killing, women in law enforcement, and female stalkers.  Before serving with the FBI, Dr. Kirby was the first female homicide detective with the Baltimore Police Department.  She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology and Justice from American University.  She has taught at the FBI Academy, the Baltimore County Police Academy, the University of Baltimore, and the College of Notre Dame.  She continues to work as a consultant to homicide investigators and prosecutors throughout the country.

Kenny Kramer:  Kenny Kramer, the manic inspiration behind Seinfeld's "Cosmo Kramer," takes you on an hysterical multi-media voyage through what's actual, what's factual, and what's fantasy in the Seinfeld Universe!  Including rare video footage and fabulously entertaining anecdotes... Kenny shares his backstage knowledge and insights about how the show came about and how many of the actual events in his life became episodes on Seinfeld.

Richard Landes:  What exactly is the End of Time and what are the beliefs that surround it?  How do we view Millennial Madness and what does it tell us about ourselves and the future of our civilization?  What are the religious aspects of the new millennium?  Why do we so willingly believe that January 1, 2000 (or January 1, 2001) will be so radically different from December 31?  Why are we obsessed by arbitrary dates?

Richard Landes has devoted his distinguished career to these and related questions as the Director of the Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University.  As the only such institute in the United States, Landes examined the religious, social, and cultural meaning of the millennium as few others have.  He is a scholar in the field of Medieval History and a popular commentator specializing in "chillasm," the recurring belief that the millennium will bring a period of earthly peace and plenty.

Mark Moffett:  In the words of E.O. Wilson, "Mark Moffett has the soul a 19th century explorer, a wandering naturalist in the tradition of Darwin and Wallace."  A Harvard-trained ecologist, award-winning National Geographic photographer, and world-roving zoologist, Dr. Moffett combines high adventure with a naturalist’s eye for animal life and environmental concerns.  The first person to climb the world’s tallest tree, he is author of The High Frontier:  Exploring the Tropical Rainforest Canopy.

Senator Carol Moseley-Braun:  Senator Carol Moseley-Braun is a passionately outspoken advocate for social justice and economic fairness.  As the first African-American woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate, she is an inspiring role model for anyone engaged in an uphill struggle against unfavorable odds.  Unfortunately, as the only African-American woman in the U.S. Senate, she is a unique witness to the immense and largely unseen obstacles that continually thwart progress.

Why does a nation that uniformly professes to value education above all else so rarely put its money where its mouth is?  Why does a nation that freely declares its commitment to liberty and justice for all show so little will to achieve it?  What is the true nature of the current attack on affirmative action, and where is it really coming from?  What is the role of the media in trivializing political discourse and who stands to gain from it?  Senator Moseley-Braun is not afraid to take on these and other burning public issues.

Lynda Obst:  In one of the toughest and most unforgiving industries, Lynda Obst has emerged as one of Hollywood's most successful producers and one of its most powerful women.  She has produced some of today's biggest movies, including The Fisher King, Sleepless in Seattle and Contact.  She is also the author of the best-selling non-fiction book, Hello, He Lied: And Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches.  In her witty and engaging presentation, "How to Get a Job Like Mine!," she takes the audience through the ups and downs of success in Hollywood - providing practical guides to success in business and to balance in life.

Steven Pinker:   Steven Pinker's How The Mind Works, a bold synthesis of the "computational theory of the mind" with the theory of natural selection, firmly places him in the forefront of the cutting-edge field of Cognitive Science. Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at M.I.T., Pinker was named among Newsweek’s "100 Americans for the Next Century" and was listed in Esquire's "Register of Outstanding Men and Women." Pinker is also the author of the previous best-seller, The Language Instinct.

Mark Plotkin:  In our efforts to save the tropical rain forest, might we also be saving ourselves?  What medicinal cures and ancient wisdom does the rain forest and its native people contain?

As much as any working scientist, Dr. Mark Plotkin has dedicated his career to demonstrating the cultural and biological diversity of these precious resources.  A renowned Ethnobotanist and explorer of the hidden resources of the tropical rain forests, Dr. Plotkin plays a featured role in the popular Imax movie Amazon and is author of several books, including Tales of a Shaman’s Apprentice, Sustainable Harvest and Use of Rainforest Products, and a children’s book, The Shaman’s Apprentice – A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest.  For the past 15 years, Dr. Plotkin has worked with ancient shamans of Central and South America to learn more about the healing properties of tropical plants.

Robert  Ressler:  Robert Ressler is the country’s foremost criminologist and a leading authority on violence in contemporary society. Former director and founder of the FBI’s acclaimed Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, he is the true life hero of the movie Silence of the Lambs. The hit television series The X Files was also inspired by Ressler’s work at the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit where he coined the phrase "serial killer."

Dr. Peter Sealey:  Dr. Peter Sealey is one of the great marketing minds of our time.  As head of Global Marketing at Coca Cola, Dr. Sealey not only met the Pepsi Challenge -- he beat it.  His revolutionary tactics included hiring Hollywood powerhouse Michael Ovitz and Creative Artists Agency to create one of the most memorable campaigns in history, "Always Coca Cola."  Most recently, as Co-Director of the Center for Marketing and Technology at U.C. Berkeley he has virtually defined marketing in the digital age.

Anne Simonton:  From the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition to being jailed ten times for her courageous and non-violent demonstrations, Ann Simonton has become the focus for discussion on the media’s role in exploiting the beauty myth.  She is passionate in her criticism of beauty pageants, women’s magazines, and advertising that encourages an unrealistic physical ideal which has severe psychological consequences, often resulting in eating disorders and low self-esteem.  Her presentations help men and women understand that in a world that worships image over reality, they can still be in control.

Ms. Simonton is the coordinator of Media Watch, the organization behind the flamboyant MYTH California Protest and the high profile opponent of the Miss America Beauty Pageant.  Her auto-biographical stories have been published as I Never Told Anyone and Her Wits About Her.  Her work has been featured in the popular educational films Rethinking Rape and the documentary Miss or Myth?

Jane Smiley:   Jane Smiley is a novelist of rare depth and broad popular appeal. A Thousand Acres, her acclaimed 1992 novel, won the Pulitzer Prize and has been made into a major motion picture.  Heralded for the moral complexity of her themes and her keen insight into human nature, Smiley is also author of Moo, The Age of Grief, Ordinary Love and Good Will, The Greenlanders, and her latest, The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton.

Tabitha Soren:   The main architect of MTV’s influential "Choose or Lose"  political coverage, Soren’s interviews with candidates provide the most incisive exploration of campaign issues affecting the 18 to 35 year old age group. She is currently on sabbatical from MTV while she is at Stanford as a Knight’s Journalism Fellow.

Oliver Stone:  Oliver Stone is the most honored and most controversial contemporary filmmaker. Director of Nixon, Born on the Fourth of July, JFK, The Doors, Platoon, Salvador, Wall Street, and Natural Born Killers, producer of the mini-series Wild Palms, and writer of Midnight Express, he is the only current director to have won three Oscars. Following his hugely successful, Fall 1997, college lecture tour in support of his first novel, A Child’s Night Dream, Stone is writing again and preparing to begin his new,  as yet unannounced, movie project. Stone addresses the topic of "Making Movies Matter."

Ronald Takaki:   Ronald Takaki is one of the nation's most respected proponents of cultural diversity. He is author of A Different Mirror:  A History of Multicultural America, a bold retelling of our country's history with an emphasis on the immigrant experience.  A passionate, inspiring educator, Takaki is a professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California-Berkeley. His companion book to A Different Mirror, A Larger Memory: A History of Our Diversity, will be published in Fall, 1998.

Amy Tan:   One of the most highly acclaimed multicultural authors of our time, Amy Tan is author of The Joy Luck Club, a beloved international bestseller translated into 19 languages and made into a major motion picture. She is also author of The Kitchen God’s Wife, A Hundred Secret Senses, and two children’s books.

William Taylor:  William Taylor is co-founder and editor of Fast Company, the new magazine that chronicles the ideas, companies, and tools shaping the new world of business. Formerly the associate editor of the Harvard Business Review, Taylor is co-author of three books, The Big Boys: Power and Position in American Business, No-Excuses Management, and Going Global.

Helen Thomas:  As the most honored reporter covering the White House, Helen Thomas has not only made an indelible impression on American journalism but was also the first woman to break the male culture that dominated national political coverage until the 1960’s.  She was the only print journalist to travel with President Nixon to China and is the only journalist to have covered every American President since Kennedy.  A seat in the front row of all White House press conferences is specially reserved for her.

Ms. Thomas was the first woman officer of the White House Correspondents’ Association and its first female President in 1975.  She has received 19 honorary doctorates and was named one of the 25 most influential women in America.

John Updike is probably the greatest and most prolific American author living.  Since the late 50’s, his novels have chronicled the itches, frustrations, failings and transgressions of middle-class Americans.  His characterizations are deep, his plots are interesting and his books are almost always richly rewarding reads.

Mr. Updike graduated from Harvard College in 1954 and was a staff writer for The New Yorker for several years.  He has written 40 books including collections of short stories, poems and criticisms.  His novels have won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the American Book Award and the National Critics Circle Award.  One of his recent works, Rabbit at Rest, was awarded the Howells Medal by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, for the most distinguished work of American fiction of the last five years.

Linda Villarosa:   Former Executive Editor of Essence Magazine, Linda Villarosa is now Health Editor of the New York Times. Villarosa has written numerous articles and edited the book Body and Soul: The Black Woman’s Guide to Physical and Emotional Well Being. Her article about being a lesbian, "Coming Out," co-written with her mother, generated an unprecedented and sympathetic response form the readership of Essence.

Derek Walcott:  Winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature, Derek Walcott received widespread praise, as is usually the case for this Caribbean born poet and playwright, for his most recent collection of poetry, The Bounty. Recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant, Walcott's acclaimed works include: Omeros, his epic reinterpretation of The Odyssey; The Gulf; and Another Life. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The Kenyon Review, and many others.

Cameron West, Ph.D. is the best selling author of  First Person Plural: My Life as a Multiple.  The book, a true life account of his battle with Dissociative Identity Disorder (D.I.D.), formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder, has shot to the top of best-seller lists accross the United States and was recently sold to Disney to be produced as a feature film starring Robin Williams.  Dr. West has been featured on Oprah, The Today Show, 20/20 and others, as well as radio across the United States.

E.O. Wilson:   Edward O. Wilson's heralded opus, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, was excerpted as the cover article in the March, 1998, issue of The Atlantic Monthly and marks the Pulitzer Prize-winning biologist's breakthrough effort to unite the sciences and the humanities. "One of the leading biologists and scientific thinkers of this century" (The New York Review of Books), Wilson is a leading figure in the global effort to prevent species extinction. Winner of two Pulitzer Prizes and founder of the controversial field of sociobiology, his other books include: The Diversity of Life, Naturalist, On Human Nature, and The Ants.

Richard Worzel:  It’s intangible, invisible and indefinable. Any way you try to look at it, the future is hard to predict. That’s why you should listen to Richard Worzel.

Richard Worzel is a leading futurist and one of the country’s most sought-after speakers. He is a feet-on-the-ground visionary whose discipline is shaped by his background as an investment professional with a Chartered Financial Analyst designation. Mr. Worzel has had real-world experience advising start-ups and fast-growing companies, especially in the hi-tech sector. A visionary with a track record, Mr. Worzel predicted the rise of the global economy... 20 years ago, and the rise of the record-breaking bull market of the ’90s. A dynamic, compelling speaker, Mr. Worzel can point any organization to the future and show it what to expect, what to plan for, and how to succeed.