Jon Lee Anderson | From Liberia to Havana: A Life in Adventure, Conflict Zones & Journalism

Feb 27 2024 • 2 hrs 3 mins

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https://atlasgeographica.com/jon-lee-anderson/

#169 - I once responded to a question in a grant application that the people I admired most were great adventurers, great writers and great journalists… the kicker naturally being, that the best was a combination of all three!

Well, in Jon Lee Anderson we have an exemplar for all three of those labels.

Listens past 10 minutes and you will see the adventurer, listen to the details of how he put together Che’s biography and you will understand the journalist but then to top it all off, read anything Jon Lee’s written and you will understand the great writer.

This was a mighty moment for the podcast. I managed to hide my nerves behind a facade of professionalism… but Jon and I ended up spending more than 4 hours together as we inhabited a closed, cold, empty drinkers club on a January London morning.

Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker Staff Writer

Che: A Revolutionary Life

00:00 – Who Is Jon Lee Anderson
02:20 – On The Same Stage Julian Assange Launched Wikileaks.
05:50 – 13 Year Old Runaway Vagabond In East Africa.
22:15 – Is Risk Necessary For It To Be An Adventure?
26:03 – Discovering A Part Of The World For The First Time.
32:44 – Serendipity & Jon Lee On Religion & Evil.
40:20 – First Bi-Line At The Lima Times.
47:37 – Jon Lee Reflects On His Upbringing & How He Thinks About Being A Father.
53:54 – Che Guevara.
1:24:00 – There’s No More Revolutionaries, Only Narcos…
1:32:45 – Haiti.
1:35:48 – What Does Jon Lee Admire Most & Least About Che Guevara?
1:45:48 – What Doors Do The New Yorker Open?
1:46:47 – Christopher Hitchens.
1:51:50 – Next Generation Of Journalists & Media Landscape They Inherit.
1:58:07 – Jon Lee Anderson Autobiography.
2:00:24 – Country Jon Lee Is Bullish On.