What happens when a ghostwriter/collaborator looks on as the subject of her latest book becomes the lede of a story neither one of them set out to tell?

That's the question at the heart of this conversation with journalist Kate Andersen Brower, co-author of the New York Times best-seller We the Women: The Hidden Heroes Who Shaped America, written with "60 Minutes" correspondent and former "CBS Evening News" anchor Norah O'Donnell.

We the Women presents a vivid portrait of the unsung women throughout American history who have changed the ways we work and live—a book Melinda French Gates calls "a vital reminder of the importance of women's contributions to our history, and a call to action for anyone committed to carrying forward the work that they began."

About that call to action: in the aftermath of the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 25, 2026, O'Donnell sat with President Trump for a lengthy "60 Minutes" interview, during which the president berated her for having the temerity to ask him to respond to the gunman's manifesto. The president called her "horrible" and "a disgrace." O'Donnell pushed back, and by the Monday morning of our podcast interview, the heated exchange was making headlines and filling social media feeds all over the world.

"It was tremendous to watch," observes Brower, "and I hope that it inspired some younger women watching to want to become journalists, and to want to ask these tough questions."

Kate Andersen Brower knows what it means to work the political beat. A former White House reporter for Bloomberg News during the Obama administration, she has written for The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Time, and The Washington Post. She is the author of the #1 New York Times best-seller The Residence, which was adapted into the hit Netflix series of the same name by producer Shonda Rhimes, as well as numerous other books, including First Women, First in Line, and Team of Five.

Join us for a candid conversation on what it takes to speak truth to power—and then, to find a way to write about it.

Learn more about Kate Andersen Brower:

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