Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchWhen meritocracy wins, everybody loses
Episode 259
In The Meritocracy Trap, Daniel Markovits argues that meritocracy — a system set-up to expand opportunity, reduce inequality and end aristocracy — ha…
6 years, 5 months ago
Nikole Hannah-Jones on the 1619 project, choosing schools, and Cuba
Episode 258
“The truth is that as much democracy as this nation has today” writes Nikole Hannah-Jones “it has been borne on the backs of black resistance.”
Hannah…
6 years, 5 months ago
Randall Munroe, the genius behind XKCD
Episode 257
I’m not usually a fanboy on this podcast, but this episode is the exception.
I love the web-comic XKCD. I’ve had prints of it hanging in my house for …
6 years, 5 months ago
Julián Castro's quiet moral radicalism
Episode 256
I’m careful about inviting politicians onto this podcast. Too often, questions go unanswered, and frustrated emails flood my inbox. So I only bring o…
6 years, 6 months ago
Political animals (with Leah Garcés)
Episode 255
Imagine, for a moment, what it’s like to be an animal rights activist. Tens of billions of animals are being tortured and slaughtered every year. It …
6 years, 6 months ago
John McWhorter thinks we're getting racism wrong
Episode 254
Hello everyone. I'm Jane Coaston, senior politics reporter at Vox with a focus on conservatism (Ezra will be back from vacation next week).
"Antiraci…
6 years, 6 months ago
The rocky marriage between libertarians and conservatives
Episode 253
Hello, everybody! I'm Jane Coaston, senior politics reporter at Vox with a focus on conservatism.
Today, I'm speaking with Conor Friedersdorf, a staff…
6 years, 6 months ago
A mind-bending, reality-warping conversation with John Higgs
Episode 252
I don’t usually begin interviews with the question “who the hell are you?” But, then again, not every guest is John Higgs.
I fell into Higgs’s work by…
6 years, 6 months ago
Jia Tolentino on what happens when life is an endless performance
Episode 251
The introduction to Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion, hit me hard. In her investigation of how American politics and cultur…
6 years, 6 months ago
The original meaning of “identity politics” (with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor)
Episode 250
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is an associate professor of African-American Studies at Princeton University and the author of multiple books, including mos…
6 years, 6 months ago