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.
A conversation with political analyst Ryan Grim on how big money took over the Democratic party and the struggle against it. The last thirty years has seen the building of a movement, which first exploded into public view with the largely forgotten presidential run of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a campaign that came dangerously close … Continued
We are in conversation on the intellectual history of ideas in America and how they have been pass down and reuse. We explore the intellectual transformation America, from the Enlightenment, transcendentalism, and Social Darwinism to progressivism, conservatism, and postmodernism. Guest: Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen is the Merle Curti Associate Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison … Continued
Today we are in conversation about the life of English novelist Mary Shelley, who wrote the book Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. A book that is considered in part a Gothic novel and in part, a philosophical novel. We discuss Mary Shelley’s work and her relationship to her mother, the highly influential eighteenth century feminist, … Continued
Today we are in conversation with professor Gary Dorrien about the history of social democracy both in Europe and the United States. He discusses how the fallout from twenty years of neoliberal economic globalism has sparked a surge of interest in the old idea of democratic socialism -a democracy in which the people control the economy … Continued
A conversation with Kyle Harper about one of the most consequential chapters of human history: the fall of the Roman Empire. Central to this issue are question such as how does an empire fall? What was the role of climate change and pandemic diseases in the collapse of Rome’s power. Guest: Kyle Harper is a historian of the … Continued
We are in conversation with Lillian Faderman about her book The Gay Revolution. It begins in the 1950s, when law classified gays and lesbians as criminals, the psychiatric profession saw them as mentally ill, the churches saw them as sinners, and society victimized them with irrational hatred. Against this dark backdrop, a few brave people … Continued
A conversation on the history of the Roe v Wade decision and on the man considered a legal jurist at one time who will right the majority opinion Harry Blackmun. Guest: Linda Greenhouse is Joseph Goldstein Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School and a Pulitzer Prize–winning Supreme Court journalist who is a contributing Op-Ed … Continued
A conversation on re-segregation in American life today. According to author Jeff Chang “resegragation is one of the most under-thought and under-recognized issues of our times. It is a fact that the U.S. is moving towards becoming a “majority-minority” country. In California is already happening. And in the Bay Area we are racially re-segregating at … Continued
As the United States charges Julian Assange under the Espionage Act of 1917 today we dive into the history of this act and even go further back to 1798 and the first Sedition Act in which the political times resemble those of our own. Guest: Geoffrey R. Stone is the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service … Continued
Today, we air a conversation with Pulitzer Prize author and reporter Tony Horowitz in an interview conducted about a week and a half ago talking about a sojourn into the deep South. Tony Horowitz unexpectedly died last Sunday potentially of a heart attack. He wrote extensively throughout his career about the Civil War, and the … Continued
