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Letters & Politics seeks to explore the history behind today’s major global and national news stories. Hosted by Mitch Jeserich.
Today, Mitch Jeserich is in conversation with Mike Duncan, creator of the award-winning podcast series The History of Rome and Revolutions, about his new 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 … Continued
On today’s show we are in a conversation with Jack Weatherford, renown scholar on Genghis Khan. He argues in his book, Genghis Khan and the Quest for God, that Genghis Khan inspired Thomas Jefferson for the Freedom of Religion principle. Letters & Politics and KPFA are offering the following items as thank-yous for donations: MP3 CD: Letters … Continued
On today’s show, host Mitch Jeserich is in conversation with Depression-era scholar Robert S. McElvaine about the trickle-down economics approach and massive tax cuts of the 1920s that preceded the Great Depression. Robert McElvaine is a professor of History at Millsaps College in Mississippi, he is author of the book The Great Depression: America, 1929-1941. His latest piece … Continued
Today, our host Mitch Jeserich is in conversation with Gigi Sohn, who was the senior advisor to former-FCC Chair Tom Wheeler when he implemented net neutrality rules in 2015. We discuss the upcoming vote regarding net neutrality, which would also end the ability of the FCC to oversee how telecommunications provide internet. Then, our … Continued
Today our host Mitch Jeserich is in conversation with renowned religious scholar and public intellectual Reza Aslan. He is the author of the recently published New York Times best-selling book God: A Human History, which investigates our humanizing impulse in relation to the divine. We have a conversation on the evolution of religion and the changing image of God, … Continued
We begin today’s show by speaking with John Nichols, Washington correspondent for The Nation magazine, about the ongoing political battles in D.C. In conversation with our host Mitch Jeserich, Nichols discusses tax reform, the battle over the directorship of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the threat to net neutrality. We then speak with Blaire Briody, award-winning journalist and author … Continued
Today our host Mitch Jeserich is in conversation with Hatem Baziam, lecturer of Near East Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, about the recent terror attack in which over 300 people were killed at a Sufi mosque in Egypt. We discuss the role of Sunni and Shi’a communitarian tensions in the attack, as well as potential political … Continued
Today our host Mitch Jeserich is in conversation with Stephen Kinzer, author of the new book The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire, which investigates the beginnings of American imperialism overseas. Stephen Kinzer is an award-winning foreign correspondent–he served as The New York Times bureau chief in Turkey, Germany, and Nicaragua, … Continued
On today’s show William A. Pelz joins our host Mitch Jeserich to discuss his new book A People’s History of Modern Europe, which combats mainstream views of history and seeks to reveal the forgotten and neglected moments central to the development of modern Europe. We discuss the notorious figure Maximilien Robespierre, the underlying nature of the French Revolution, … Continued
Today our host Mitch Jeserich speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Stephen Greenblatt about his new book The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve, which delves into the creation stories that are woven into the fabric of our modern lives. He is presently the John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. Then we speak … Continued
