Bookstack
Biweekly conversations between Richard Aldous, a Bard College professor and distinguished historian, and authors discussing their newest books. Each episode focuses on the ideas, research, and stories behind recent publications, offering listeners an in-depth look at contemporary nonfiction and historical works. The podcast is part of the Persuasion community, bringing intellectual discourse to a broader audience.
Episodes
Episode 190: Antonia Senior on the Cambridge Five
Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST. Grab a coffee, settle onto the couch, and see your weekend out with a deep dive into the best new book releases…This week, Richard talks to Antonia Senior, author of Stalin’s Apostles: The Cambridge Five and the Making of the Soviet Empire (Public Affairs).Host: Richard AldousProducer: Bhaasita AthaniFollow Persuasion on X,
Episode 189: Laurence Jurdem on George H. W. Bush
Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST. Grab a coffee, settle onto the couch, and see your weekend out with a deep dive into the best new book releases…This week, Richard talks to Laurence Jurdem, author of 41: George H. W. Bush and the End of the American Establishment (Bombardier).Host: Richard AldousProducer: Bhaasita AthaniFollow Persuasion on X, LinkedIn, In
Episode 188: Liaquat Ahamed on 1873
Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST. Grab a coffee, settle onto the couch, and see your weekend out with a deep dive into the best new book releases…This week, Richard talks to Liaquat Ahamed, author of 1873: The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World (Penguin Press).Host: Richard AldousProducer: Bhaasita AthaniFollow Persu
Episode 187: Ian Shapiro on How Politicians Broke Our World
Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST. Grab a coffee, settle onto the couch, and see your weekend out with a deep dive into the best new book releases…This week, Richard talks to Ian Shapiro, author of After the Fall: From the End of History to the Crisis of Democracy, How Politicians Broke Our World (Basic Books).Host: Richard AldousProducer: Bhaasita AthaniFol
Episode 186: Odd Arne Westad on the Coming Storm
Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST. Grab a coffee, settle onto the couch, and see your weekend out with a deep dive into the best new book releases…This week, Richard talks to Odd Arne Westad, author of The Coming Storm: Power, Conflict, and Warnings from History (Henry Holt).Host: Richard AldousProducer: Bhaasita AthaniFollow Persuasion on X, LinkedIn, Insta
Episode 185: Michael Mandelbaum on the American Way of Foreign Policy
Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST. Grab a coffee, settle onto the couch, and see your weekend out with a deep dive into the best new book releases…This week, Richard talks to Michael Mandelbaum, author of The American Way of Foreign Policy: Ideology, Economics, Democracy (Oxford University Press).Host: Richard AldousProducer: Bhaasita AthaniFollow Persuasion
Episode 184: Frank Dikötter on How Communism Conquered a Quarter of Humanity
Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST. Grab a coffee, settle onto the couch, and see your weekend out with a deep dive into the best new book releases…This week, Richard talks to Frank Dikotter, author of Red Dawn Over China: How Communism Conquered a Quarter of Humanity (Bloomsbury).Host: Richard AldousProducer: Bhaasita AthaniFollow Persuasion on X, LinkedIn,
Episode 183: Steve Israel on the Einstein Conspiracy
Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST. Grab a coffee, settle onto the couch, and see your weekend out with a deep dive into the best new book releases…This week, Richard Aldous talks to Steve Israel, author of The Einstein Conspiracy (Compass Rose Publishing).Host: Richard AldousProducer: Bhaasita AthaniFollow Persuasion on X, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube to
Episode 182: Christopher Clark on A Scandal in Königsberg
Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday. Grab a coffee, settle onto the couch, and see your weekend out with a deep dive into the best new book releases…This week, Richard Aldous talks to Christopher Clark, author of A Scandal in Königsberg (Penguin).Follow Persuasion on X, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube to keep up with our latest articles, podcasts, and events, as well as
Episode 181: Hélène Landemore on Politics Without Politicians
Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST. Grab a coffee, settle onto the couch, and see your weekend out with a deep dive into the best new book releases…This week, Richard Aldous talks to Hélène Landemore, author of Politics Without Politicians: The Case for Citizen Rule (Thesis).Host: Richard AldousProducer: Bhaasita AthaniFollow Persuasion on X, LinkedIn, Instag
Episode 180: Nicolas Stavros Niarchos on the Elements of Power
Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST. Grab a coffee, settle onto the couch, and see your weekend out with a deep dive into the best new book releases…This week, Richard talks to Nicolas Stavros Niarchos, author of The Elements of Power: A Story of War, Technology, and the Dirtiest Supply Chain on Earth (Penguin Press).Host: Richard AldousProducer: Bhaasita Atha
Episode 179: Georgios Varouxakis on the West
Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST. Grab a coffee, settle onto the couch, and see your weekend out with a deep dive into the best new book releases…This week, Richard Aldous talks to Georgios Varouxakis, author of The West: A History of an Idea (Princeton University Press).Host: Richard AldousProducer: Bhaasita AthaniFollow Persuasion on X, LinkedIn, Instagra
Episode 178: Geoffrey Ward on the American Revolution
Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST. Grab a coffee, settle onto the couch, and see your weekend out with a deep dive into the best new book releases…For our first episode of 2026, Richard talks to Geoffrey Ward, author of The American Revolution: An Intimate History (Knopf).Host: Richard AldousProducer: Bhaasita AthaniFollow Persuasion on X, LinkedIn, Instagra
Episode 177: Kori Schake on the State and the Soldier
Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST. Grab a coffee, settle onto the couch, and see your weekend out with a deep dive into the best new book releases…This week, Richard talks to Kori Schake, author of The State and the Soldier: A History of Civil-Military Relations in the United States (Polity).Host: Richard AldousProducer: Bhaasita AthaniFollow Persuasion on X
Episode 176: Shadi Hamid on American Power
Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST. Grab a coffee, settle onto the couch, and see your weekend out with a deep dive into the best new book releases…This week, Richard talks to Shadi Hamid, author of The Case for American Power (Simon & Schuster).Bookstack is a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Host: Richard AldousProducer: Bhaasita AthaniFollow Per
Episode 175: Sven Beckert on Capitalism
Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST. Grab a coffee, settle onto the couch, and see your weekend out with a deep dive into the best new book releases…This week, Richard talks to Sven Beckert, author of Capitalism: A Global History (Penguin Press).Bookstack is a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Host: Richard AldousProducer: Bhaasita AthaniFollow Pers
Episode 174: Vanessa Williamson on the Price of Democracy
Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST. Grab a coffee, settle onto the couch, and see your weekend out with a deep dive into the best new book releases…This week, Richard talks to Vanessa Williamson, author of The Price of Democracy: The Revolutionary Power of Taxation in American History (Basic Books).Bookstack is a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.H
Episode 173: Phillips O'Brien on War and Power
Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST. Grab a coffee, settle onto the couch, and see your weekend out with a deep dive into the best new book releases…This week, Richard talks to Phillips O’Brien, author of the new book, War and Power: Who Wins Wars—And Why (Public Affairs).Bookstack is a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Host: Richard AldousProducer:
Episode 172: Phillip and William Taubman on McNamara at War
Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST. Grab a coffee, settle onto the couch, and see your weekend out with a deep dive into the best new book releases…This week, Richard Aldous talks to Phillip Taubman and William Taubman, authors of the new book, McNamara at War: A New History (Norton).Bookstack is a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Host: Richard Al
Episode 171: Scott Anderson on the Iranian Revolution
Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST. Grab a coffee, settle onto the couch, and see your weekend out with a deep dive into the best new book releases…This week Richard talks to Scott Anderson, author of the new book, King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation (Doubleday).Bookstack is a production of Americ
Episode 170: Simon Ball on A Modern History of Assassination
Bookstack returns after the summer with Richard talking to author Simon Ball about his new book, Death to Order: A Modern History of Assassination (Yale University Press).Bookstack is a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Host: Richard AldousProducer: Bhaasita AthaniFollow Persuasion on X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and YouTube to keep up with our latest articles, podcasts, and events, as well a
Episode 169: Ross Benes on Why 1999 Was the Year Low Culture Conquered America
In this week’s episode, Richard talks to Ross Benes, author of 1999: The Year Low Culture Conquered America and Kickstarted Our Bizarre Times (University Press of Kansas).Bookstack is a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Host: Richard AldousProducer: Bhaasita AthaniFollow Persuasion on X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and YouTube to keep up with our latest articles, podcasts, and events, as well a
Episode 168: Karen Elliott House on Mohammed Bin Salman and the Transformation of Saudi Arabia
This week Richard talks to Karen Elliott House, author of the new book, The Man Who Would Be King: Mohammed Bin Salman and the Transformation of Saudi Arabia (Harper).Bookstack is a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Host: Richard AldousProducer: Bhaasita AthaniFollow Persuasion on X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and YouTube to keep up with our latest articles, podcasts, and events, as well as up
Episode 167: Joan C. Williams on How the Left Lost the Working Class
In today’s episode of Bookstack, host Richard Aldous sits down with Joan C. Williams, award-winning scholar of social inequality and author of Outclassed: How the Left Lost the Working Class and How to Win Them Back (St. Martin's Press). Bookstack is now a production of American Purpose at Persuasion. Host: Richard Aldous Producer (for the last time): Laura SilvermanFollow Persuasion on X (Twitter
Episode 166: Bryan Burrough on How Texas Gunfighters Made the West Wild
In today’s episode of Bookstack, host Richard Aldous sits down with Bryan Burrough, acclaimed journalist, podcaster, and author of The Gunfighters: How Texas Made the West Wild (Penguin Random House).Bookstack is now a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Host: Richard AldousProducer: Laura SilvermanFollow Persuasion on X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and YouTube to keep up with our latest articles
Episode 165: Marc Fasteau and Ian Fletcher on U.S. Industrial Policy
In today’s episode of Bookstack, host Richard Aldous sits down with Marc Fasteau and Ian Fletcher — board members of the Coalition for a Prosperous America and co-authors of Industrial Policy for the United States: Winning the Competition for Good Jobs and High-Value Industries (Cambridge University Press).Bookstack is now a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Host: Richard AldousProducer
Episode 164: Edward Luce on the Life of Zbig, America's Great Power Prophet
In today’s episode of Bookstack, host Richard Aldous sits down with Edward Luce, U.S. National Editor at the Financial Times and author Zbig: The Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America’s Great Power Prophet (Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster).Bookstack is now a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Host: Richard AldousProducer: Laura SilvermanFollow Persuasion on X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and
Episode 163: Matthew C. Klein on Why Trade Wars are Class Wars
In today’s episode of Bookstack, host Richard Aldous sits down with Matthew C. Klein, economist, writer behind The Overshoot on Substack, and co-author. with Michael Pettis, of Trade Wars Are Class Wars: How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace (Yale University Press).Bookstack is now a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Follow Persuasion on X (
Episode 162: Jonathan Rauch on Christianity's Broken Bargain with Democracy
In this episode of Bookstack, host Richard Aldous sits down with Jonathan Rauch, journalist and author of Cross Purposes: Christianity's Broken Bargain with Democracy (Yale University Press).Bookstack is now a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Follow Persuasion on X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and YouTube to keep up with our latest articles, podcasts, and events, as well as updates from excell
Episode 161: Nicole Karlis Explores Your Brain on Altruism
In this episode of Bookstack, host Richard Aldous sits down with Nicole Karlis, award-winning journalist and author of Your Brain on Altruism: The Power of Connection and Community During Times of Crisis (University of California Press). Bookstack is now a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Follow Persuasion on X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and YouTube to keep up with our latest articles, podca
Episode 160: Nir Arielli on 10,000 Years of Dead Sea History
In this episode of Bookstack, host Richard Aldous sits down with Nir Arielli, international historian and author, to discuss his new book, The Dead Sea: A 10,000 Year History (Yale University Press).Bookstack is now a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Follow Persuasion on X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and YouTube to keep up with our latest articles, podcasts, and events, as well as updates fro
Episode 159: Wolfgang Münchau on Germany Going Kaput
In this week’s episode of Bookstack, host Richard Aldous sits down with economist and financial journalist Wolfgang Münchau to discuss his new book, Kaput: The End of the German Miracle (Swift Press).Bookstack is now a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Follow Persuasion on X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and YouTube to keep up with our latest articles, podcasts, and events, as well as updates fr
Episode 158: Tevi Troy on the Epic Clashes between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry
In this week’s episode of Bookstack, host Richard Aldous sits down with Tevi Troy, presidential historian, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Heath and Human Services, and prolific author to discuss Troy’s new book, The Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes Between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry (Skyhorse Publishing). Bookstack is now a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Follow
Episode 157: Katherine C. Epstein on How Theft of 20th Century Tech Built the National Security State
In this week’s episode of Bookstack, host Richard Aldous sits down with Katherine C. Epstein, associate professor of history at Rutgers University-Camden and author of the new book, Analog Superpowers: How Twentieth-Century Technology Theft Built the National Security State (The University of Chicago Press).Bookstack is now a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Follow Persuasion on X (Twi
Episode 156: Lindsay Chervinsky on John Adams' Republic-Forging Precedents
In this week’s episode of Bookstack, host Richard Aldous talks to presidential historian Lindsay M. Chervinsky, author of the new book, Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic (Oxford University Press).Note: this episode was recorded in early January 2025.Bookstack is now a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Follow Persuasion on X (Twitter), LinkedIn
Episode 155: Michael Mandelbaum on the Titans of the Twentieth Century
In this week's episode of Bookstack, host Richard Aldous talks to Michael Mandelbaum, author of the new book, The Titans of the Twentieth Century: How They Made History and the History They Made (Oxford University Press).Bookstack is now a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Follow Persuasion on X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and YouTube to keep up with our latest articles, podcasts, and events,
Episode 154: Caitlin Rivers on the Hidden Science of Fighting Outbreaks
In this week's episode of Bookstack, host Richard Aldous talks to Johns Hopkins epidemiologist Caitlin Rivers, PhD, about her new book, Crisis Averted: The Hidden Science of Fighting Outbreaks (Viking). Bookstack is now a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Follow Persuasion on X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and YouTube to keep up with our latest articles, podcasts, and events, as well as updates
Episode 153: Hyrum Lewis on the Myth of Left and Right
In this week’s episode of Bookstack, recorded in the week post-U.S. presidential election, host Richard Aldous chats with American historian Hyrum Lewis about his latest book, co-written with his brother Verlan Lewis, The Myth of Left and Right: How the Political Spectrum Misleads and Harms America (Oxford University Press)Bookstack is now a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Follow Pers
Episode 152: Admiral James Stavridis on the U.S. Navy, NATO, and the Human Story
In this week’s episode of Bookstack, host Richard Aldous chats with Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret.), former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, about his latest book, The Restless Wave: A Novel of the United States Navy (Penguin Random House).Bookstack is now a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Follow Persuasion on X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and YouTube to keep up with our latest arti
Episode 151: Sean McMeekin on the Rise and Fall (and Rise) of Communism
In this week’s episode, host Richard Aldous talks to fellow Bard College historian Sean McMeekin about his new book, To Overthrow the World: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Communism (Basic Books).Bookstack is now a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Follow Persuasion on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube to keep up with our latest articles, podcasts, and events, as well as updates from excell
Episode 150: Marsha E. Barrett on the Fight to Save Moderate Republicanism
Bookstack is back with its 150th episode! On this week's show, host Richard Aldous talks to Marsha E. Barrett, assistant professor of history at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, about her new book, Nelson Rockefeller's Dilemma: The Fight to Save Moderate Republicanism (Three Hills/Cornell University Press). Bookstack is now a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Follow Persuasi
Episode 149: Clara Bingham on How Women's Liberation Transformed America
On this week's episode of Bookstack, host Richard Aldous is joined by Clara Bingham to discuss her new book, The Movement: How Women's Liberation Transformed America 1963-1973.Bookstack is now a production of American Purpose at Persuasion.Follow Persuasion on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube to keep up with our latest articles, podcasts, and events, as well as updates from excellent writers across
Episode 148: James Graham Wilson on America's Cold Warrior
Bookstack is back! On today's episode, host Richard Aldous talks to James Graham Wilson, historian at the U.S. Department of State, about James's new book, America's Cold Warrior: Paul Nitze and National Security from Roosevelt to Reagan (Cornell University Press). This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.c
Episode 147: Louise Story and Ebony Reed on the Black-White Wealth Gap in America
The typical Black American family has fifteen cents of wealth for every comparable dollar that a White American family holds. Exploring the historical expansion of the wealth gap, journalists Louise Story and Ebony Reed join Richard Aldous to reveal how their investigation into the U.S. financial system uncovered scores of setbacks that continue to perpetuate that gap. The result of their careful
Episode 146: Peter S. Goodman on How We Ran Out of Everything
The global pandemic unmasked not just the many vulnerabilities in the world’s supply chain, but also its hidden innerworkings. Reporting on the world from an economic lens for over twenty-five years, award-winning New York Times journalist Peter S. Goodman joins Richard Aldous to share insights from his latest book, How the World Ran Out of Everything (https://www.harpercollins.com/products/how-th
Episode 145: Michel Paradis on Eisenhower’s Enduring Legacy
How did Dwight D. Eisenhower, a man of simple Kansas-bred beginnings, inspire implicit trust by his historical peers, from FDR and Churchill, to Stalin and DeGaulle? And how did he become a shaper of a new world order, asserting America’s post-war dominance? Michel Paradis, author of The Light of Battle: Eisenhower, D-Day, and the Birth of the American Superpower (https://www.harpercollins.com/pro
Episode 144: James Davison Hunter on Democracy, Solidarity, and the Future of America
Is there hope to be found amidst the current political climate? How to generate solidarity in an atmosphere of growing difference? Renowned sociologist James Davison Hunter tackles these questions in his new book, Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of America's Political Crisis (https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300274370/democracy-and-solidarity/). Hunter joins Richard Aldous in th
Episode 143: Sulmaan Wasif Khan on the Taiwan Standoff
When President Joe Biden stated in 2022 that the United States would defend Taiwan military in the event of a Chinese invasion, he crossed a line of ambiguity that had been purposefully danced around for decades. And yet, even though such a scenario would pit two nuclear powers against each another, “The United States does not know why Taiwan is important to it,” argues Sulmaan Wasif Khan. He join
Episode 142: Diana McLain Smith on Bringing Americans Together
In divided times, many Americans are sealing themselves off from those who think differently. Diana McLain Smith tells a different story in her new book, Remaking the Space Between Us: How Citizens Can Work Together to Build a Better Future for All (https://www.remakingthespace.org/book), focusing on the tens of thousands reaching out to fellow Americans across the divides to promote understanding
Episode 141: Adriana Carranca on the New Wave of Latin American Missionaries
Thanks to American missionaries’ successes around the globe, the face of evangelicalism is no longer White America. In Soul by Soul: The Evangelical Mission to Spread the Gospel to Muslims (https://globalreports.columbia.edu/books/soul-by-soul/), Adriana Carranca reveals an extraordinary tale that has been under the radar: Missionaries from Latin America are leading the way in spreading the Gospel
Episode 140: David L. Roll on President Harry Truman
Harry Truman was educated in Missouri public schools, never went to college, and spent a number of his adult years as a dirt farmer. Yet eleven years after first being elected to the Senate he became President of the most powerful nation on earth in the midst of momentous world events. In his new book Ascent to Power: How Truman Emerged from Roosevelt's Shadow and Remade the World (https://www.pen
Episode 139: Nicholas Shakespeare on Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming heroicized for all the world the British intelligence agent in James Bond. In his new book Ian Fleming: The Complete Man (https://www.harpercollins.com/products/ian-fleming-nicholas-shakespeare?variant=41070483832866), renowned biographer Nicholas Shakespeare digs into the legend of Fleming himself. Like his most famous character, Fleming’s life was colorfully marked by high-stakes int
Episode 138: Seth D. Kaplan on America’s Fragile Neighborhoods
In surveying dysfunction across America, the question arises: Is the source of the trouble at the local or the national level? Seth D. Kaplan has shifted his analytical gaze from fragile nations abroad to examine the fragility of his home country. He believes America’s problems from health to politics are downstream of individuals becoming increasingly disconnected, neighborhood by neighborhood. H
Episode 137: Leah Hunt-Hendrix on the Power of Solidarity
Solidarity has been at the root of social change throughout history, bringing people together across their differences to challenge injustice within societies. In their new book, Solidarity: The Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/740355/solidarity-by-leah-hunt-hendrix-and-astra-taylor/), Leah Hunt-Hendrix and Astra Taylor examine the sociol
Episode 136: Paul Starobin on the Russian Exiles
There are now over a million Russians living in exile, spurred on by the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Unable to safely oppose their own government at home, they often find themselves subject to harassment and disdain as immigrants. In his new book, Putin’s Exiles: Their Fight for a Better Russia (https://globalreports.columbia.edu/books/putins-exiles/), Paul Starobin joins host
Episode 135: Ian Buruma on the Relevance of Spinoza
Rejected in official circles in his day and embraced in modern times by a motley array of admirers, Spinoza was in many ways ahead of his time. His commitment to truth, universal principles, and freedom lie at the heart of Western liberal thinking. As those ideas come under attack on both the left and the right, Spinoza’s philosophical thinking is as relevant as ever. Ian Buruma joins Richard Aldo
Episode 134: Maria Popova on Ukraine and Russia’s Diverging Paths
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine and Russia not only embarked on very different political paths at home, but they viewed the future of their relationship in starkly divergent terms. In [Russia and Ukraine: Entangled Histories, Diverging States](https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?bookslug=russia-and-ukraine-entangled-histories-diverging-states--9781509557363)_, authors Maria
Episode 133: Lorraine Daston on the History of Scientific Collaboration
Large threats to the well-being of humankind such as the pandemic and climate change have cemented the notion that scientists across the globe naturally work together to solve the world’s most pressing problems. In Rivals: How Scientists Learned to Cooperate (https://globalreports.columbia.edu/books/rivals/), historian of science Lorraine Daston traces the trajectory of such cooperation, noting th
Episode 132: David Reynolds on Winston Churchill
Amidst all the positive and negative ink dedicated to Winston Churchill, Cambridge emeritus professor of international history David Reynolds offers a new dimension. He places the leader for whom history was determined by “great men” among the other greats who both inspired and enervated him. Reynolds joins host Richard Aldous to discuss his latest book, Mirrors of Greatness: Churchill and the Lea
Episode 131: Joshua Green on the Populism of the Democratic Party
The remarkable shift in the economic ideas at the heart of the Democratic Party—from the embrace of neoliberalism in the ’90s to the left-wing populism that Joe Biden accommodates today—traces its origins to the 2008 financial crisis. Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders and AOC after her, put the economic frustrations of ordinary Americans at the heart of her policies, making fashionable a populi
Episode 130: Azam Ahmed on Mexico’s Violent Cartels
For tens of thousands of people, living in Mexico today means living in a country where criminal violence begets state-sponsored violence, and where law and justice have so failed ordinary citizens that they often take matters into their own hands. In his new book Fear Is Just a Word: A Missing Daughter, a Violent Cartel, and a Mother's Quest for Vengeance (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books
Episode 129: Raymond Arsenault on John Lewis
Freedom Rider and Congressman John Lewis was widely viewed as a saint no less than a civil rights icon. How to capture the full humanity of such a legendary figure, whose life was intertwined with some of America’s lowest lows and highest highs? Civil rights historian Raymond Arsenault does just that in his new biography, John Lewis: In Search of the Beloved Community (https://yalebooks.yale.edu/b
Episode 128: Joseph S. Nye Jr. on Postwar America
Joseph Nye’s prominent dual roles as policymaker and foreign affairs academic have rendered him one of the most important observers of U.S. foreign policy since World War II. In his new book, A Life in the American Century (https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=a-life-in-the-american-century--9781509560684), the statesman-scholar looks back on the last century’s events from a personal a
Episode 127: Ganesh Sitaraman on Helping Flying Soar
Long gone are the days of steak dinners, piano bars, and free alcohol on flights—not to mention widely expanding markets and strong competition. Vanderbilt Law professor Ganesh Sitaraman looks to the deregulation of the airline industry in the 1970s to explain the relatively dismal state of flying today. In his new book, Why Flying Is Miserable: And How to Fix It (https://globalreports.columbia.ed
Episode 126: Nikki Vargas on the Roads Taken
Travel is exhilarating and enlightening, but what happens when it becomes an escape from things that really matter? For acclaimed travel writer Nikki Vargas, travel has been her work, her dreams—and also her crutch. She joins host Richard Aldous to discuss her new book Call You When I Land (https://www.harpercollins.com/products/call-you-when-i-land-nikki-vargas?variant=41011396214818), a memoir o
Episode 125: Daniel Schulman on the Jewish Titans
Rockefeller, Morgan, and Carnegie are household names, yet much less known are the Jewish “money kings” who came to America in the 19th century. In his new book The Money Kings: The Epic Story of the Jewish Immigrants Who Transformed Wall Street and Shaped Modern America (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/541779/the-money-kings-by-daniel-schulman/), Daniel Shulman tells the story of the poo
Episode 124: John Coates on the New Concentration of Financial Power
The American economy is once again experiencing a concentration of financial power in a few hands, but this time around the actors are much less familiar. As John Coates shows in his new book, The Problem of 12: When a Few Financial Institutions Control Everything (https://globalreports.columbia.edu/books/the-problem-of-twelve/#:~:text=When%20a%20Few%20Financial%20Institutions%20Control%20Everythi
Episode 123: Laurence Jurdem on TR and Henry Cabot Lodge
The ambitious, larger-than-life character of Theodore Roosevelt is the stuff of legend. Outside of his connection with the League of Nations, much less is known about Roosevelt’s closest friend, Henry Cabot Lodge. Equally abundant in intellectual gifts, Lodge helped launch to the presidency the man whose vision he shared of a United States divinely ordained to spread prosperity and peace throughou
Episode 122: Thomas Graham on Seeing Russia Clearly
Was there a moment after the Cold War when the United States “lost” Russia? Thomas Graham, senior director for Russia on the National Security Council under President George W. Bush, looks back to the period between 1991 and 2022 to grapple with what might have been—or, better, what was never meant to be. He joins host Richard Aldous to assess what the United States got wrong about Russia and to d
Episode 121: Uri Kaufman on the Yom Kippur War
The October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel were launched fifty years and a day after the last great surprise assault on the country by its Arab neighbors. At the time of the Yom Kippur War, Israel was not only much poorer and weaker than it is today, but it was completely dependent for military aid on a United States preoccupied with oil and the Soviet threat. Uri Kaufman chronicles the ri
Episode 120: Katherine Turk on NOW’s Lesser-Known Feminists
Betty Friedan and many of her NOW co-founders have become household names, but what of the women who built on their pioneering work? In her new book, The Women of NOW: How Feminists Built an Organization That Transformed America (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374601539/thewomenofnow), Katherine Turk looks at the second-wave feminists who broadened the movement to include all women. She joins
Episode 119: Alexandra Hudson on Civility
Engaging with those who are different from us is essential to democratic life and politics. Alexandra Hudson argues that in order to improve the tenor of our interactions we must cultivate civility, which unlike mere politeness entails a respect for others as our moral equals. She joins host Richard Aldous to discuss her new book, The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourse
Episode 118: Joseph Horowitz on the Art-Freedom Nexus
Does the ability to produce great art depend upon living in a free country? For a time the rhetoric emanating from the United States—including from President John F. Kennedy himself—suggested it did. Classical music expert Joseph Horowitz delves into the sources of this Cold War-era hyperbole in his new book, The Propaganda of Freedom: JFK, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and the Cultural Cold War (http
Episode 117: Yascha Mounk on the False Promise of Identity Ideology
Across America, from college campuses to corporate boardrooms, a set of ideas has taken hold affirming race, gender, and sexual orientation as the essential prisms through which we experience life. In his new book, The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/712961/the-identity-trap-by-yascha-mounk/), academic and writer Yascha Mounk explores
Episode 116: Michael S. Roth on Loving Learning
In an era when machines are progressing from thinking for us to learning for us, it’s worth asking what exactly the purpose of learning is. Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University, looks back to students of some of history’s great inculcators to find a more foundational understanding beyond simply the accumulation of knowledge. He sits down with host Richard Aldous to discuss his new book,
Episode 115: Timothy Garton Ash on What It Means to Be European
“Bookstack” returns with renowned Oxford professor of European studies Timothy Garton Ash. In his latest book, Homelands: A Personal History of Europe (https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300257076/homelands/), Ash chronicles the spread of freedom across Europe since 1945 through his personal perspective as an “English European.” He sits down with host Richard Aldous to share his thoughts about th
Episode 114: Tara Isabella Burton on Self Creation across the Ages
Could there really be a straight line between the self-made person of talent and the branded personality made famous by reality TV and the internet? In Self-Made: Creating Our Identities from Da Vinci to the Kardashians (https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/tara-isabella-burton/self-made/9781541789012/?lens=publicaffairs), Tara Isabella Burton shows how the curating of an “authentic” self so
Episode 113: Yasmine El Rashidi on Egypt’s Fortunes
If political activism has died down in Egypt since the 2011 revolution, there is energy bubbling beneath the surface, says Yasmine El Rashidi in Laughter in the Dark: Egypt to the Tune of Change (https://globalreports.columbia.edu/books/laughter-in-the-dark/). The country experiencing its harshest repression in decades is at the same time inhabited by a majority of young people, who, through a new
Episode 112: Hugh Howey on the Silo Series
Hugh Howey created a fantastical post-apocalyptic underground world in the first book of his Silo series, [Wool](https://www.amazon.com/Silo-Saga-Omnibus-Shift-Stories-ebook/dp/B088BBLMGS?ref=astauthormpb)_, off of which Apple TV launched its eponymous series this spring. Howey joins host Richard Aldous to discuss how he explores ideas about humanity and social order through the genre of sci-fi, a
Episode 111: Daniel Gordis on Israel at 75
The State of Israel engenders a wide range of emotions among onlookers, running the gamut from admiration to revulsion. In his new book Impossible Takes Longer (https://www.harpercollins.com/products/impossible-takes-longer-daniel-gordis), Daniel Gordis uses a wide lens to assess where the country is today in light of the goals of those who founded it. He joins host Richard Aldous for a broad look
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