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Stasiland: Stories from behind the Berlin Wall (Anna Funder)
Episode 87
Of why those who opposed Communism when it ruled are forgotten or dishonored, while those who supported it paid no price (yet). (The written version of this review was first published January 13, 201…
Published on 5 years, 10 months ago
Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World (Laura Spinney)
Episode 86
A year ago, I offered thoughts on the next pandemic, in particular its possible effects on society and the reaction of the government. This review seems timely now. (The written version of this revie…
Published on 5 years, 10 months ago
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America (Richard Rothstein)
Episode 85
An exploration of twentieth-century government's role in African American segregation and its subsequent ill effects. (The written version of this review was first published August 15, 2017. Written …
Published on 5 years, 10 months ago
The Beekeeper’s Lament: How One Man and Half a Billion Honey Bees Help Feed America (Hannah Nordhaus)
Episode 84
Of bees, and today's agriculture, and atrazine, and cheap food. (The written version of this review, in web, PDF, and ebook formats, can be found here.)
Published on 5 years, 11 months ago
The Accursed Tower: The Fall of Acre and the End of the Crusades (Roger Crowley)
Episode 83
Straight history today, not politics, in the form of Christian (and Muslim) heroism at the final end of the Crusades. (The written version of this review, in web, PDF, and ebook formats, can be found…
Published on 5 years, 11 months ago
Why Liberalism Failed (Patrick J. Deneen)
Episode 82
Thoughts, from two years ago now, on Patrick Deneen's seminal work, the first major work of post-liberalism in the modern era. (The written version of this review was first published December 19, 201…
Published on 5 years, 11 months ago
Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress (Steven Pinker)
Episode 81
My review of @sapinker's "Enlightenment Now." A mixed bag, as usual with Pinker, lurching wildly from Very Good to Very Bad. (The written version of this review was first published February 16, 2018.…
Published on 5 years, 11 months ago
Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics is Destroying American Democracy (Jonah Goldberg)
Episode 80
Peerless NeverTrumper Jonah Goldberg instructs us how to view the world. (The written version of this review was first published May 2, 2018. Written versions, in web and PDF formats, are available h…
Published on 5 years, 11 months ago
Nemesis: Alcibiades and the Fall of Athens (David Stuttard)
Episode 79
Of Men of Destiny, and of the protean Alcibiades, man of glory and contradiction, and of what his life says to us today. (The written version of this review, in web, PDF, and ebook formats, can be fo…
Published on 5 years, 11 months ago
Ages of Discord: A Structural-Demographic Analysis of American History (Peter Turchin)
Episode 78
I am skeptical of the art of predicting the future based on the past, but Peter Turchin offers a compelling theory in this 2016 book—including predicting that 2020 will be a very bad year. (The writt…
Published on 5 years, 11 months ago