Podcast Episodes

Who Killed Jeffrey Young? (No Way Out, Part II)

Episode 33

In part one of our three-part series "No Way Out," Barbara Bradley Hagerty told the story of how Benjamine Spencer was convicted for the murder of Jeffrey Young, and how much of the evidence that led…

Published on 7 years, 10 months ago

No Way Out, Part I

Episode 32

In 1987, Jeffrey Young was robbed and killed, and his body was left on a street in the poor neighborhood of West Dallas. Benjamine Spencer was tried and convicted for the attack.

Spencer was black, 22…

Published on 7 years, 10 months ago

From 'I, Tonya' to 'Cat Person,' Is 'Based On a True Story' Better?

Episode 31

Conor Friedersdorf recently argued in The Atlantic that in this moment, when the truth is bitterly contested, fiction presents us an opportunity. It allows us to step into another person’s perspectiv…

Published on 7 years, 10 months ago

Paul Manafort and How the Swamp Was Made

Episode 30

“Conventional wisdom suggests that the temptations of Washington, D.C., corrupt all the idealists, naïfs, and ingenues who settle there," Franklin Foer writes in his cover story for the March issue o…

Published on 7 years, 11 months ago

Who Gets to be American?

Episode 29

Once again, immigration is at the top of America's legislative agenda, as it has been, seemingly every generation, for much of the nation's history. But while many recent discussions of immigration h…

Published on 7 years, 11 months ago

Bricks, Clicks, and the Future of Shopping

Episode 28

The 'retail apocalypse' is upon us, they say. In the United States, 2017 saw emptied malls, shuttered department stores, and once-iconic brands falling into bankruptcy. Yet retail spending continues …

Published on 7 years, 11 months ago

The Presidential Fitness Challenge

Episode 27

As the anniversary of his inauguration nears, a new book filled with salacious claims about the Trump administration has become a bestseller. Faced with renewed questions about his mental and tempera…

Published on 7 years, 11 months ago

How Has America Changed Since 1968?

Episode 26

As 2018 begins, tensions and tumult in America are high. But before the end of 1968, Conor Friedersdorf reminded us in The Atlantic, "Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy would be assassinate…

Published on 7 years, 11 months ago

Ideas of the Year, 2017 Edition

Episode 25

Every year is impossible to synthesize. Yet 2017 was not just another year. To help us wrangle the chaotic, extraordinary events of the last 12 months into some sort of shape, we posed a question to …

Published on 8 years ago

Putin, Russia, and the End of History

Episode 24

Vladimir Putin just announced, to the surprise of no one, that he will run for reelection as President of Russia. In her January/February 2018 Atlantic cover story, Julia Ioffe writes that Americans …

Published on 8 years ago