We talk to John Nichols about the legacy of former president George H.W. Bush, who died this past weekend. Guest: John Nichols, Washington correspondent at the Nation Magazine. Then, A conversation with historian Jane De Hart to explore the judicial philosophy of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Guest: JANE SHERRON DE HART is professor … Continued
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.
On Sunday there were skirmishes between naval ships in the Black Sea in which Russia seized three Ukrainian ships and detained 24 sailors. Ukraine responded by imposing martial law in provinces near the Russian border. All this is happening in pre-election time in which the current Ukraine president Petro Poroshenko is behind in the polls. To … Continued
Latin America was a key ground battle during WWII over ideas, especially when it came to fascism. Today we are in conversation about this history with Mary Jo McConahay. Guest: Mary Jo McConahay is an award-winning journalist who covered the wars in Central America and Latin America and the economics in the Middle East. Her latest book … Continued
New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stood with around 200 protesters in Representative Nancy Pelosi’s office demanding a Green New Deal to get to 100 percent renewables because our lives depend on it. Guest: Christopher D. Cook is an award-winning journalist who writes for the Nation, Harper’s, The Atlantic, The Christian Science Monitor, Mother Jones, and The Economist. He is the author of Diet for a Dead Planet: Big … Continued
A conversation with Anna Feigenbaum about the history of Tear Gas and its development as a chemical weapon during WWI, and its reclassification as a crowd control agent pushed by chemical companies and law enforcement agencies. Today, Tear Gas is being used against people protesting for their rights and against immigrants who try to get asylum at … Continued
Letters and Politics – November 22, 2018
A look at burning political issues and debates and their historical context within the US and worldwide, hosted by Mitch Jeserich.
Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire
A conversation with Professor 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’s the role of climate change and pandemic diseases in the collapse of Rome’s power. Guest: Kyle Harper is a historian of the classical world … Continued
A follow up of the effects of the air quality on the health of Californians two weeks after the Camp fire in Butte County and the Woolsey fire in Malibu started. Guest: Dr. Kari Nadeau is the Director of the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford University. She is one of the nations … Continued
A conversation with Robert K. Brigham about how the US continued the Vietnam war and conducted peace negotiations. Its length was doubled for nothing but the ego and poor judgment of a single figure: Henry Kissinger. Guest: Robert K. Brigham is the Shirley Ecker Boskey Professor of History and International Relations at Vassar College. He is author of several … Continued
The U.S. political and military intervention in Honduras can be accounted from the United Fruit company and the exploitation of resources in the “bananeras” or plantations; to the use of the Honduran territory for military purposes: to maintain control of the region, to overthrow a democratic elected president in Guatemala in the 1950’s; and to overthrow … Continued