Rich Benjamin is a cultural critic, anthropologist and author of the new memoir "Talk to Me: Lessons from a Family Forged by History." In this interview with "TED Talks Daily" podcast host Elise Hu, Benjamin discusses the power of history in shaping generations — and how the intimate search for answers in his own family’s past helped him tell the story of two nations. (This interview is part of the TED Talks Daily Book Club series, recorded live for the TED Membership program. TED Members are invited to attend live recordings and participate in Q&As with authors. To join in on the fun, sign up at go.ted.com/membership.) (March 7, 2025) If you love watching TED Talks like this one, become a TED Member to support our mission of spreading ideas: https://ted.com/membership Follow TED! X: https://www.twitter.com/TEDTalks Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ted Facebook: https://facebook.com/TED LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ted-conferences TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tedtoks The TED Talks channel features talks, performances and original series from the world's leading thinkers and doers. Subscribe to our channel for videos on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. Visit https://TED.com to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more. Watch more: https://go.ted.com/richbenjamin https://youtu.be/MeWAG1QH5sg TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy: https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization/our-policies-terms/ted-talks-usage-policy. For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com #TED #TEDTalks #Politcs