Letters and Politics – June 5, 2023

Letters and Politics

A look at burning political issues and debates and their historical context within the US and worldwide, hosted by Mitch Jeserich.

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Guest: Kelsy Burke is an award-winning sociologist of religion, gender, sexuality, and politics in the United States.  Her research has examined a wide range of topics, including debates over pornography, religious freedom laws and LGBT rights, evangelical women’s ministries, and the Christian sex advice industry.  She is the author of Christians Under Covers: Evangelicals and Sexual … Continued


Part 1. The Debt Ceiling Deal  Guest: John Nichols is the national affairs correspondent for The Nation Magazine. He is the author of the book Coronavirus Criminals and Pandemic Profiteers:  Accountability for those who Caused the Crisis.  His latest piece in The Nation is The Revolutionary Fight to “Begin the World Over Again” Did Not … Continued


Guest: David Maraniss is an associate editor at The Washington Post and a distinguished visiting professor at Vanderbilt University. He has won two Pulitzer Prizes for journalism and was a finalist three other times.  Among his bestselling books are biographies of Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Roberto Clemente, and Vince Lombardi, Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World, They Marched into … Continued


The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura (1863—1919)–scholar, well-known art critic, and curator of the Chinese and Japanese art collection at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts–devoted his life to the preservation and reawakening of traditional Japanese culture. Tea was first used as a medicine and an alchemical elixir by the ancient Chinese Taoists, who … Continued


The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura (1863—1919)–scholar, well-known art critic, and curator of the Chinese and Japanese art collection at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts–devoted his life to the preservation and reawakening of traditional Japanese culture. Tea was first used as a medicine and an alchemical elixir by the ancient Chinese Taoists, who … Continued


The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura (1863—1919)–scholar, well-known art critic, and curator of the Chinese and Japanese art collection at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts–devoted his life to the preservation and reawakening of traditional Japanese culture. Tea was first used as a medicine and an alchemical elixir by the ancient Chinese Taoists, who … Continued


Host Mitch Jeserich tells the story of the oldest democracy we have account of, how it started and evolved 500 thousand years ago in ancient Athens. KPFA is offering a limited edition of The Trial of Socrates by I.F. Stone In unraveling the long-hidden issues of the most famous free speech case of all time, noted author … Continued