Patrick Radden Keefe, Author of Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
Paul Farmer CBE, CEO of Mind
Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of Coursera
Adm. Timothy J. Keating, USN (Ret.) and Brig. Gen. Robert S. Spalding III, USAF (Ret.)
An Update on Therapies and VaccinesPatrick Radden Keefe discusses his gripping historical account of the bitter conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles, and the true crime story at the center of his most recent book, Say Nothing.
On the resistance he encountered from sources telling his story: “I made seven trips over to Northern Ireland and was knocking on doors and interviewing people and what I encountered was a kind of a wall of silence – that there was a sense that these things are better not discussed. You do have peace now, but I think a lot of people feel like the price of peace is silence, that it’s better not to look back at the things that happened in the past. And so, for me as a reporter, that's a huge challenge.”
On the potential impact of Brexit on the Good Friday Agreement: “I think growing up I'd always assumed that everybody in the Republic of Ireland would just be longing for the day when Ireland could reunify, but if you actually talk to people in the Republic of Ireland, they’re a lot more ambivalent…. I think there's a sense that they may not want the North, which I think actually only further compounds the divisions in the North – that there is this fear that nobody wants them. But Gerry Adams and others have called for a referendum. I think you probably could see a referendum in the coming years. And it's really interesting to wonder how that may pan out.”