Letters and Politics – June 16, 2025
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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Letters and Politics
10:00 AM Pacific Time: Monday - Thursday
Letters & Politics seeks to explore the history behind today’s major global and national news stories. Hosted by Mitch Jeserich.
Host Mitch Jeserich recounts the story of a protest known as the “Bath Riots.” The riots are known to have been started by Carmelita Torres and lasted from January 28 to January 30 and were sparked by new immigration policies at the El Paso–Juárez Immigration and Naturalization Service office, requiring Mexicans crossing the border to take de-lousing … Continued
Guest: Caroline Fraser is the author of Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, which won the Pulitzer Prize as well as the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Heartland Prize, and the Plutarch Award for best biography of the year. She is also the author of God’s Perfect Child: Living and Dying in the … Continued
Guest: David Bacon is a photojournalist, author, political activist, and union organizer. His work focuses on labor issues, particularly those related to immigrant labor. He has written several books and numerous articles on the subject. He is the author of The Children of NAFTA, Communities Without Borders, Illegal People, The Right to Stay Home, and In the … Continued
Guests: Sonali Kolhatkar is an award winning journalist, broadcaster, writer, and author. She is the founder, host, and executive producer of Rising Up With Sonali that airs at KPFK, KPFA and the Pacifica Radio stations. She is also a Senior Editor at YES! Media, and the author most recently of Talking About Abolition: A Police-Free … Continued
Guest: Emily Hauser is a senior lecturer in classics and ancient history at the University of Exeter, UK. She is the author of three novels reimagining the women of Greek myth: For the Most Beautiful, For the Winner, and For the Immortal. She is also the author of How Women Became Poets, and most recently, of … Continued
Guest: Mark Blyth is a political economist and professor at Brown University. He is an expert on Global Finance & Banking and the author of several books including Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea, and his latest, Inflation: A Guide for Users and Losers, coauthored with Nicolò Fraccaroli.
Guest: Mary Annette Pember is a citizen of the Red Cliff Band of Wisconsin Ojibwe. She is currently national correspondent for ICT News, formerly Indian Country Today. She is the recipient of several awards for her journalism and is the author of Medicine River: A Story of Survival and the Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools.
Guest: Clay Risen is a historian and a reporter and editor at The New York Times. He is the author of several books including The Crowded Hour, a New York Times Notable Book of 2019, and his latest, Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America.
Guest: Gregory P. Downs is a history professor at the University of California, Davis. He is the author of several books including his latest, in collaboration with Anthony E. Kaye (1962-2017), Nat Turner, Black Prophet: A Visionary History. Anthony E. Kaye (1962–2017) taught history at Pennsylvania State University and was the vice president of scholarly programs … Continued
Guest: Corinna Barrett Lain is the S. D. Roberts & Sandra Moore Professor of Law at the University of Richmond School of Law. She is the author of Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection.