From school and work pressures to the distractions and anxiety that come with having access to social media and everything else on their phones, it can be hard to get sleep as a teenager. In a survey a few years back, 58% more teenagers were “severely sleep deprived” than in 1991.The 21st was joined by two psychotherapists who wrote a book on this sleepless generation and what can be done to help.

Many feel that in their slice of America, they are not free to say whatever they want about politics. Yet, while the blue-city Republican and the red-state Democrat might feel isolated, they are not alone. We were joined by a University of Illinois professor who studied one such group of political outliers to talk about what she found. 

To mark Presidents' Day, we talked about an overlooked aspect of the American presidency — the way the institution affected photography, and how America itself was influenced by the way presidents have been photographed. We were joined by a historian of photography and author of Photographic Presidents: Making History from Daguerreotype to Digital.

Our guest for the second half of the show has represented workers going up against their employers, argued before the US Supreme Court, and is the author of half a dozen or so books on American politics, law, and labor — including his latest, The History of Democracy Has Yet to be Written: How we Have to Learn to Govern All Over Again. It’s about his long-shot campaign for Congress in the Obama era, and his ideas for fixing what’s wrong with American democracy.

As we approach our third year of the pandemic, there’s no denying there’s been a drastic shift in the way we do, view and approach work. To talk about reimagining workplace culture and the "Great Resignation," we were joined by an author and speaker who helps leaders develop and maintain inclusive and supportive spaces.