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On Democracy and Bullshit with Hélène Landemore
Today I’m speaking with Hélène Landemore, Professor of Political Science at Yale University, about Democracy and Bullshit, with a special focus on he…
3 months, 3 weeks ago
Ethan W. Ris, "Other People's Colleges: The Origins of American Higher Education Reform" (U Chicago Press, 2022)
Episode 175
For well over one hundred years, people have been attempting to make American colleges and universities more efficient and more accountable. Indeed, …
3 months, 3 weeks ago
Miranda S. Spivack, "Backroom Deals in Our Backyards: How Government Secrecy Harms Our Communities and the Local Heroes Fighting Back" (The New Press, 2025)
Winner of the Studs and Ida Terkel Prize
A groundbreaking look at how ordinary people are fighting back against their local and state governments to …
4 months ago
David Garland, "Law and Order Leviathan: America’s Extraordinary Regime of Policing and Punishment" (Princeton UP, 2025)
The United States has long been an international outlier, with a powerful business class, a weak social state, and an exceptional gun culture. In Law…
4 months ago
Joseph P. Viteritti, "Radical Dreamers: Race, Choice, and the Failure of American Education" (Oxford UP, 2025)
Seventy years after Brown v. Board of Education and demands to desegregate public schools, race and class remain the most reliable predictors of educ…
4 months ago
Christopher Ali, "Farm Fresh Broadband: The Politics of Rural Connectivity" (MIT, 2021)
Episode 215
As much of daily life migrates online, broadband—high-speed internet connectivity—has become a necessity. The widespread lack of broadband in rural A…
4 months, 1 week ago
Shoshana Walter, "Rehab: An American Scandal" (Simon and Schuster, 2025)
In Rehab: An American Scandal (Simon and Schuster, 2025), Pulitzer finalist Shoshana Walter exposes the country’s failed response to the opioid cri…
4 months, 1 week ago
Ihnji Jon, "Cities in the Anthropocene: New Ecology and Urban Politics" (Pluto Press, 2021)
Episode 41
Climate change is real, and extreme weather events are its physical manifestations. These extreme events affect how we live and work in cities, and s…
4 months, 1 week ago
David T. Beito, "FDR: A New Political Life" (Open Universe, 2025)
Episode 222
David Beito's new book brings to bear the latest historical scholarship to shed light on the life and achievements of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Prof…
4 months, 1 week ago
Muhammad H. Zaman, "Infected: How Power, Politics, and Privilege Use Science Against the World’s Most Vulnerable" (The New Press, 2025)
Episode 11
In Infected: How Power, Politics, and Privilege Use Science Against the World’s Most Vulnerable (The New Press, 2025), Professor Muhammad H. Zaman re…
4 months, 1 week ago