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.
Marking the eight anniversary of the devastating earthquake that rocked Japan and subsequent tsunami that created a disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, we are in conversation with Gregory Jackzo, head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at the time the Fukushima disaster occurred. He recounts the role he played in the American government’s response … Continued
A conversation with Mike Duncan about his book The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic. He explains how the accumulation of inequalities, social prejudice and corruption led the Roman Republic to its fall. Guest: Mike Duncan is one of the foremost history podcasters in the world. His award winning series The History … Continued
A conversation on the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest complete story that we have in the planet, it dates nearly back 5,000 years. It is from Sumer, the southernmost region of ancient Mesopotamia, or modern Iraq today. We talk to Kent H. Dixon about how the stories of Gilgamesh can be found in the old … Continued
Today we bring you a conversation on the life of Henry David Thoreau and his essay on civil disobedience and how he inspired the life of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. He was an ardent naturalist, a manual laborer and inventor, a radical political activist who urged for non-violent political resistance and the principled … Continued
A conversation about the legacy of the most important African American of the nineteenth century: Frederick Douglass. He escaped slavery and became the greatest orator of his day and one of the leading abolitionists and writers of the era. Guest: David W. Blight is Professor of American History and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study … Continued
A conversation on the two presidential impeachments in U.S. history. The first on Andrew Johnson in 1868, and the second on Bill Clinton in the late 1990’s with legal scholar Alan Hirsch. Guest: Alan Hirsch is the chair of the Justice and Law Studies program at Williams College, Massachusetts. He is the author or co-author … Continued
A look at burning political issues and debates and their historical context within the US and worldwide, hosted by Mitch Jeserich.
A conversation on the history of the Russian revolution with historian Neil Faulkner. Seeking to rescue the democratic essence of the revolution from its detractors and deniers, Faulkner laced with first-hand testimony this history. Guest: Neil Faulkner is a historian and archaeologist and the author of numerous books, including A Radical History of the World and most recently, A … Continued
A conversation on the modern history of the U.S.-Russian relations. Is the U.S. in a new Cold War with Russia? And if we are, how dangerous this can be? What’s the actual role of Vladimir Putin, and the 2014 Ukrainian crisis to Donald Trump’s election and today’s unprecedented Russiagate allegations. Guest: Stephen F. Cohen is Professor … Continued
A conversation on the historic Bread and Roses strike in 1912 in Lawrence, Massachusetts. It was a strike led by immigrant female textile workers and organized by the Wobblies. Guest: Steve Early is a lawyer, organizer, union representative, a longtime labor journalist. He is the author of Save Our Unions: Dispatches from a Movement in Distress, The Civil … Continued
