Exposing Hollywood's most notorious interwar celebrity spy
In episode 1957 of KEEN ON, Andrew talks to Ronald Drabkin, author of BEVERLY HILLS SPY, about the First World War hero who helped Japan attack Pearl Harbor
Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Ronald Drabkin is the author of Beverly Hills Spy and peer-reviewed articles on Japanese espionage. His obsession with espionage history started when he was as a child in Los Angeles, where he vaguely understood that his father had been working for the US military in counterintelligence. Later he discovered that his grandfather had also been in “the business,” and it drove a voyage of discovery into previously classified documents on three continents. His career prior to writing was at early stage startups in the US, where he was an early adopter of Google and Facebook advertising. He currently lives in Tokyo.
Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.
Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
Laura Mason: How the French Revolution and the January 6 American Insurrection Are Bookends in the Struggle for Democracy
Graciela Mochkofsky on The Prophet of the Andes: A Latin American Journey to the Promised Land
Justin Gregg: What Animal Intelligence Reveals About Human Stupidity
Hans Greimel & William Sposato: Is the Carlos Ghosn Story Really a Parable About the Limits of Davos Man and the Globalized Neo-Liberal Order?
Edward Chancellor on the Real Story of Interest: How Low Interest Rates Are Bad For Everyone (Except Central Bankers)
Sean McLain: What Does the Carlos Ghosn Story Tell Us About Contemporary Japan?
Eli Saslow: How Covid Compounded All the Best and Worst Things About the America of the 2020s
Natasha Sizlo: How an LA Real-Estate Agent Went to Paris and Wrote a Memoir of Love, Loss, and Destiny
Mike Rothschild: Is QAnon a Threat to Civilization or Childish Distraction For the Digital Underclass?
Peter Coy: Why Economics Might Not Be the Dismal Science That We Love to Hate
Christopher Kolenda: What Afghan War Veterans Can Teach America About How to Listen Empathically To Our "Enemies"
Richard Vague on Wiping the Financial Slate Clean: The Case For a Debt Jubilee
Dean Schroeder: What Denver and the Danes Can Teach Silicon Valley About Innovating Local Government