NOW looks at this question with guests Walter Isaacson and Simon Schama.

		Walter Isaacson Walter Isaacson, is the outgoing chairman and CEO of CNN and the incoming president of The Aspen Institute, "an international non-profit organization dedicated to informed dialogue and inquiry on issues of global concern." He is also the author of KISSINGER: A BIOGRAPHY and the co-author of THE WISE MEN: SIX FRIENDS AND THE WORLD THEY MADE, and he is currently writing a biography of Benjamin Franklin due out in early July. Isaacson's background spans more than 25 years of journalism in which he's worked in a variety of roles from newspaper reporter and columnist to magazine editor. Before working at CNN, Isaacson served as editorial director at TIME, Inc., overseeing a number of special projects including the TIME 100, an end-of-the-century project involving six special issues and television shows, which culminated with a choice of a Person of the Century. His work has included cover stories on Bill Gates, Andrew Grove, and Madeleine Albright, as well as an essay on Albert Einstein, TIME's choice for Person of the Century. ADWEEK Magazine named him Editor of the Year in 1995. Born in New Orleans, Isaacson began his journalism career as a reporter for THE SUNDAY TIMES OF LONDON and then as a reporter and city hall columnist for the NEW ORLEANS TIMES-PICAYUNE/STATES-ITEM. Isaacson joined TIME in 1978 as a national affairs writer in New York and moved to Washington as a political correspondent covering the presidential campaigns of Ronald Reagan and Ted Kennedy. He is a graduate of Harvard College and of Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Read an interview with Walter Isaacson from WNYC's ON THE MEDIA. Walter Isaacson speaks with Terence Smith on the NEWSHOUR WITH JIM LEHRER.
		Simon Schama Simon Schama is one of the most widely read historians of our time, a global best seller, and a noted art and literary critic. Among those best sellers are his two volumes on the HISTORY OF BRITAIN — his native land. The third volume was published in December of 2002. He is also the writer and narrator of many highly-regarded TV films, on topics including Western art, Rembrandt, landscape, and a fifteen-part series on the history of Britain. From 1995-1998, he was art critic and cultural essayist for THE NEW YORKER magazine. Simon Schama is University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University. Books by Simon Schama CITIZENS: A CHRONICLE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION DEAD CERTAINTIES THE EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES: AN INTERPRETATION OF DUTCH CULTURE IN THE GOLDEN AGE A HISTORY OF BRITAIN : AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, 3500 B.C.-1603 A.D A HISTORY OF BRITAIN, VOLUME II: THE WARS OF THE BRITISH 1603-1776 A HISTORY OF BRITAIN: THE FATE OF EMPIRE 1776-2002 PATRIOTS AND LIBERATORS, winner of the Wolfson Prize for History. REMBRANDT'S EYES More by and about Simon Schama "The Dead and the Guilty," THE GUARDIAN Historical Works HISTORY OF BRITAIN Television Series Review of REMBRANDT'S EYES
	Related Stories: Select One View from CairoMuslims in the U.S. MidEast Media Egyptian Students Speak Full Archive Previous Page