Tavis Smiley

Excerpt taken from "The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto" (April 2012) courtesy of SmileyBooks.

There are nearly 150 million persistently poor and near poor people in America who are not responsible for the damage done by the Great Recession. Yet they pay the...

More than one million jobs have been created in the United States within the past six months.

That's the good news.

The downside is that more than half of these new jobs, or nearly 668,000, were created in the restaurant, retail, temporary service, social assistance and hospitality sectors....

This week, I sat down with former Army Ranger captain Sean Parnell for a conversation about his new book, Outlaw Platoon.

I began our conversation by asking him about the U.S. soldier's deadly rampage in Afghanistan over the weekend.

The full conversation airs Monday March 26th on PBS....

This week, I sat down with Game Change director Jay Roach for a conversation about the film in advance of its premiere on HBO.

Among the topics discussed were the film's treatment of Sarah Palin and reaction to the movie thus far.

The full conversation airs Friday night on PBS....

This week, I sat down with former Google executive Wael Ghonim for a conversation about his role in the Arab Spring movement and the new book "Revolution 2.0"

The full two-part conversation airs Tuesday and Wednesday nights on PBS.

Earlier today in a conversation with Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, I ask her assessment on President Obama's now controversial speech given over the weekend to the Congressional Black Caucus.

The full conversation airs tonight on PBS.

For more information, visit

This evening, I spoke with journalist and author Ron Suskind about his new book Confidence Men.

In addition to the details in the book itself, I also asked him about the media reaction to the text thus far.

The full conversation airs tonight on PBS.

During my conversation today with Michael Moore, I asked the Oscar-winning filmmaker about the alarming new numbers out last week regarding poverty in America.

The full conversation airs tonight on PBS. For more, visit pbs.org/tavis.

Over the last six months, I've had the privilege of talking to a group of African American teenage boys whose stories are often lost in all the heated rhetoric about how to fix our public schools. These boys could easily have added their lives to the historically high dropout rate...

This evening, I spoke with former New York Times columnist Bob Herbert in advance of President Obama's address on jobs Thursday night.

The full conversation airs tonight on PBS.

Recently, Congressman James Clyburn appeared on my radio program The Tavis Smiley Show from PRI and was asked about the scant representation of people of color and women on the congressional super committee.

The entire conversation airs this weekend on public radio stations...

Recently, I sat down with California Congressman Xavier Becerra for his first national television appearance since being named a member of the bi-partisan deficit super committee.

I began our conversation by asking him about the wisdom of delegating these budget deficit talks to such a small group of elected...

Today, I spoke with Wall Street whistleblower Harry Markopolos, whose dogged investigation led to the downfall of Bernie Madoff. His best-selling book, No One Would Listen, is now the basis for the new documentary Chasing Madoff.

I closed our conversation by asking if anything like this could happen again.

I just spoke with Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND), on my nationally syndicated radio program, The Tavis Smiley Show from PRI, to discuss the 'Gang of Six' proposal. He's chair of the Budget Committee and a member of the so-called 'Gang of Six'.

When asked whether a deal could be reached...

Today, I spoke at length with former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger about his new book, On China.

We discussed a number of critical issues facing China including the intersection of environmental and economic forces.

The full conversation airs tonight on PBS.

During an extended, rare conversation with philanthropist and author, George Soros, I asked him to assess President Obama's foreign policy as it relates to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, given that he had been so critical of the policy during the Bush administration.

The full conversation airs tonight on...

This evening, I sat down for an extensive conversation in New York with Mayor Michael Bloomberg. I asked the Mayor for his assessment of President Obama as the election season begins and whether or not he believes the president deserves a second term.

The full conversation airs tonight on PBS....

Just days from now, Dr. Manning Marable was scheduled to appear on my PBS program to discuss his epic biography of Malcolm X. Dr. Marable passed away on Friday, April 1.

The book, in stores today, is his magnum opus -- a book over two decades...

Earlier today, I spoke with former Washington, DC school chancellor Michelle Rhee about a wide-range of subjects including a front-page USA Today story this morning questioning the validity of test scores in DC.

The full conversation airs Tuesday night on PBS....