12:00 PM Pacific Time: Mondays - Wednesdays
Acclaimed program of ideas, in-depth analysis, and commentary on a variety of matters—political, economic, social, and cultural—important to progressive and radical thinking and activism. Against the Grain is co-produced and co-hosted by Sasha Lilley and C. S. Soong.
Christopher Bache, a professor emeritus of philosophy and religious studies, discusses his twenty-year psychedelic journey, a journey documented in his book “LSD and the Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven.”
The rich have not been so powerful and mind-bogglingly wealthy since the Gilded Age of the late 19th century. Yet their grip on society has often been shrouded in a veil of adulation, enabled by a media that celebrates them rather than holding them to account. Economist Rob Larson discusses the multimillionaire and billionaire class, … Continued
Norma Wong discusses her book “When No Thing Works: A Zen and Indigenous Perspective on Resilience, Shared Purpose, and Leadership in the Timeplace of Collapse.”
History is being made right now, both by the Trump administration, attempting to slash the federal workforce and the public services it provides, and by federal workers and their supporters resisting those efforts in the offices and the streets. Federal worker Mark Smith discusses a day of action called by the newly formed Federal Unionists … Continued
Every year, more than 80,000 African Americans die prematurely. The medical establishment relies on genetics or dietary patterns to explain such appalling numbers. But sociologist George Lipsitz argues that black people, as well as Native Americans and Latinos, are made sick by where they live — and that the most important cause of health hazards … Continued
The prominent sociologist, writer, and U.C. Berkeley professor emeritus Michael Burawoy passed away on February 3. We present excerpts from three interviews with Burawoy, about marketization and commodification (from 2016), Pierre Bourdieu and Karl Marx (2019), and W. E. B. Du Bois’s understanding of the period of Reconstruction (2023). In Memoriam: Michael Burawoy Michael Burawoy, … Continued
The far right has been on the march not only in the United States, but in Italy, Hungary, France and elsewhere, united by racist nationalism, authoritarian populist rhetoric, and a call for law and order. Jordan Camp reflects on the work of Antonio Gramsci, who analyzed the rise of fascism while languishing in Mussolini’s prisons, … Continued
Commercial sex and imperialism — army bases and brothels — have often gone hand in hand. But in the early 20th century an emergent U.S. empire defined itself as rooted in sexual purity. Historian Eva Payne describes how a heavy price for this notion of American exceptionalism was paid by women in the United States, … Continued
It’s an open secret that there’s an affinity between members of law enforcement and far right. White supremacist and fascist groups count police in their ranks, and many in law enforcement — from the federal down to the local level — turn a blind eye to the activities of the far right, while targeting anti-fascist … Continued
U.S. imperialism has produced migration, sometimes to places you wouldn’t expect. According to Emily Mitchell-Eaton, the Marshall Islands and Arkansas are both central to the workings of empire. The perceptions of longtime residents of demographically transformed cities like Springdale, Arkansas reflect geographical imaginaries that occlude the fact of U.S. empire. Emily Mitchell-Eaton, New Destinations of … Continued
