When NASA accepted its first class of civilian astronauts in 1978, it welcomed a historic group marked by many firsts: the first American woman, the first African American, the first Jewish person, the first Asian American, the first gay person, and the first mother. This week, Meredith Bagby, author of The New Guys: The Historic Class of Astronauts That Broke Barriers and Changed the Face of Space Trave ( https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-new-guys-meredith-bagby?variant=40424020279330)...
Apr 06, 2023•25 min
Such was the prestige of cabinet members during the Roosevelt Administration that a 19-gun salute accompanied their arrival to a city. Joining Richard Aldous this week is author of Unlikely Heroes: Franklin Roosevelt, His Four Lieutenants, and the World They Made ( https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250274694/unlikelyheroes ), Derek Leebaert, who shines a new light on FDR’s inner circle of four—Harry Hopkins, Harold Ickes, Frances Perkins, and Henry Wallace—and FDR himself, who together helped u...
Mar 28, 2023•27 min
From climate change to the potential of artificial intelligence, there are plenty of reasons to doubt the viability of human life on Earth. Adam Kirsch, author of The Revolt Against Humanity: Imagining a Future Without Us ( https://globalreports.columbia.edu/books/the-revolt-against-humanity/ ), spoke with a diverse array of people who all agree on one thing: The future of the planet may not lie in the hands of humans. Kirsch joins host Richard Aldous to share the perspectives of those who belie...
Mar 20, 2023•29 min
American statesmen often argue that the U.S. role in Asia is indispensable to maintaining peace on the continent. Van Jackson, author of Pacific Power Paradox: American Statecraft and the Fate of the Asian Peace ( https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300257281/pacific-power-paradox/ ), counters that America has just as often been Asia’s arsonist as its savior. He joins host Richard Aldous to discuss the complex role America plays on both sides of Asian stability. This is a public episode. If you'...
Mar 15, 2023•30 min
From the Cold War and collapse of communism to the rise of globalization and recent financial crises, James E. Cronin, author of Fragile Victory: The Making and Unmaking of Liberal Order ( https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300247855/fragile-victory/ ), posits that these events have caused a constant reinvention of a liberal order that once seemed unshakeable. Cronin joins Richard Aldous for a discussion on the emergence of a new international order in the face of the election of Trump, the Rus...
Mar 01, 2023•32 min
To mask or not to mask? U.S. citizens received different messaging about the degree of the Covid-19 threat and how to respond to it depending on who they were listening to. In the end, the different choices people made largely cleaved to partisan positions. In Pandemic Politics: The Deadly Toll of Partisanship in the Age of Covid ( https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691218991/pandemic-politics ), lead author Shana Kushner Gadarian (with Sara Wallace Goodman and Thomas B. Pepinsky) j...
Feb 21, 2023•29 min
The transformation of the Chinese economy over the last four decades is typically thought of as near-miraculous. Yet the facts and figures that make up that picture are those that have filtered down from the Chinese Communist Party. In China After Mao: The Rise of a Superpower ( https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/china-after-mao-9781639730513/ ), Frank Dikötter’s wide-ranging research pulls back the curtain to reveal a much less tidy—and much more mixed—picture. This is a public episode. If you'd lik...
Feb 13, 2023•30 min
A number of stories of individual acts of German resistance to the Nazis have come to light over the years. What is little known is that a network of individuals — from average civilians to those within the highest reaches of government and the military — coordinated efforts in a sustained attempt to undermine the Third Reich. Tom Dunkel, author of White Knights in the Black Orchestra: The Extraordinary Story of the Germans Who Resisted Hitler ( https://www.hachettebooks.com/titles/tom-dunkel/wh...
Feb 06, 2023•27 min
In War by Other Means: The Pacifists of the Greatest Generation ( https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/676744/war-by-other-means-by-daniel-akst/ ) Who Revolutionized Resistance, author Daniel Akst traces the founding of the American progressive movement back to when the United States was on the brink of war. Akst joins Richard Aldous to discuss how four unlikely real-life characters in the time of World War II—David Dellinger, Dorothy Day, Dwight MacDonald, and Bayard Rustin—created the spar...
Jan 30, 2023•33 min
Catapulted into the spotlight with his marriage to Marilyn Monroe, American playwright Arthur Miller’s life had more complexity and nuance than his claim to pop culture fame. Theatre critic and author John Lahr joins Richard Aldous to talk about Miller, the subject of his latest book—the man behind 20th century masterpieces like The Crucible, Death of a Salesman, and All My Sons. Do Miller’s plays offer an exploration of timeless themes or are they just time capsules that reflect the era in whic...
Jan 23, 2023•35 min
Based on newly declassified material, The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, and the World on the Brink by William Inboden plunges readers into the uncertainty of the late Cold War when the Soviet Union’s fate was far from a fait accompli. In conversation with Richard Aldous, Inboden explores Reagan’s thinking in trying to achieve a negotiated surrender that saw both a nuclear drawdown and a peaceful end to the Soviet system. The Peacemaker avoids a hagiographic retelling of the Reagan yea...
Jan 17, 2023•27 min
In The Subplot ( https://www.meganwalsh.co.uk/book ), Megan Walsh explores China’s diverse literary landscape, which ranges from underground comics and surrealist works to migrant-worker poetry and the less-regulated world of online fiction. She joined Richard Aldous to discuss how China’s modern literary culture offers a window into the lives of its citizens and a country grappling with shifting norms. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access ...
Dec 19, 2022•23 min
To meet today’s economic challenges, a reappraisal of America’s free-market ideology might be in order. Jacob Soll, author of Free Market: The History of an Idea ( https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/jacob-soll/free-market/9780465049707/ ), spoke with Richard Aldous about the world’s constantly evolving free-market ideologies and how they have functioned throughout different eras, from ancient Rome to today. In a work that took eight years of research to assemble, Free Market offers a lesson in hi...
Dec 12, 2022•31 min
Ted Kennedy’s life was buffeted by heartbreak: the violent deaths of his three older brothers, his own terrible plane crash, his children’s bouts with cancer, the hideous self-inflicted wounds of Chappaquiddick. Those wounds scarred Ted deeply but also tempered his character, and, eventually, he embarked on a run as legislator that would change America for the better. John A. Farrell joins Richard Aldous to discuss his new biography, Ted Kennedy: A Life. ( https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/book...
Dec 05, 2022•28 min
What’s the best way to determine whether a presidential candidate is truly up to the task? Former Harvard Business School professor Gautam Mukunda joins Richard Aldous to discuss his new book, Picking Presidents: How to Make the Most Consequential Decision in the World. Mukunda outlines his non-partisan set of criteria for how we can evaluate if a presidential candidate would be an effective leader and why some of the worst—and best—leaders are of the “unfiltered” variety. This is a public episo...
Nov 18, 2022•31 min
Many of today’s terrorist groups don’t just use the internet, they exist almost entirely on it. What do the online origins of these movements reveal about how to stop them? Counterterrorism expert Rita Katz joined Richard Aldous to talk about her new book, Saints and Soldiers: Inside Internet-Age Terrorism, From Syria to the Capitol Siege ( https://www.saintsandsoldiersbook.com ), and how the online cultures of these movements—far more than their ideologies and leaders—create today’s terrorists ...
Nov 11, 2022•32 min
Acclaimed German journalists Stefan Aust and Adrian Geiges join Richard to discuss how Xi Jinping took China from the workbench of the world to a global superpower in their new co-authored book, [Xi Jinping: The Most Powerful Man in the World.]( https://www.amazon.com/Xi-Jinping-Most-Powerful-World/dp/1509555145 ) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe...
Oct 31, 2022•30 min
Former Barack Obama speechwriter Cody Keenan joins Richard to discuss the ten crucial days that marked Obama’s presidency and how he played a part in telling the story of America in his new book, Grace: President Obama and Ten Days in the Battle for America ( https://www.harpercollins.com/products/grace-cody-keenan?variant=39970831597602 ). This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe...
Oct 21, 2022•31 min
Guardian correspondent Giles Tremlett joins Richard to discuss Spain's complicated history and search for a national identity in his new book España: A Brief History of Spain. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe
Oct 11, 2022•33 min
Why has Israel played such a foundational role not only in American foreign policy, but in how America sees the world? Walter Russell Mead joins host Richard Aldous to talk about his new book The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People. ( https://www.amazon.com/s?k=arc+of+a+covenant&language=en_US&crid=1ZGOQGY4UEW8S&linkCode=sl2&linkId=3286f711151c99dc51d3db999dfbac32&sprefix=arc+of+a+covenant%2Caps%2C74&tag=americanpurpo-20&ref=as_li_ss_tl ) This is a pub...
Sep 27, 2022•33 min
Misogyny in politics is as old as politics itself. But is there hope for progress? Eleanor Herman, author of Off With Her Head: Three Thousand Years of Demonizing Women in Power, joins host Richard Aldous to talk about her new book. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe
Sep 16, 2022•23 min
Why do rightwing narratives do so well on the internet? Francesca Bolla Tripodi, assistant professor at the School of Information and Library Science at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill joins host Richard Aldous to discuss her new book, The Propagandists’ Playbook: How Conservative Elites Manipulate Search and Threaten Democracy. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe...
Sep 12, 2022•31 min
What’s the future of American power look like? To answer the question, Richard Aldous asked Michael Mandelbaum, author of the new book The Four Ages of American Foreign Policy, to look at how America came to be the power it is today. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe
Aug 27, 2022•36 min
What’s the relationship between the fight over abortion, campaign finance reform, and the rise of Trump? Historian Mary Ziegler joins host Richard Aldous to talk about her new book Dollars for Life: The Anti-Abortion Movement and the Fall of the Republican Establishment. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe...
Jul 30, 2022•34 min
How big is the threat from China really in the telecommunications space? Jonathan Pelson warns host Richard Aldous that we should not underestimate it. Read his new book Wireless Wars: China’s Dangerous Domination of 5G and How We’re Fighting Back. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe...
Jul 22, 2022•32 min
Is all innovation the same? Is there such a thing as toxic disruption? And is there any cause for optimism even as tech has failed to deliver us a utopia? Ariel Ezrachi and Maurice E. Stucke join host Richard Aldous to talk about their new book, How Big Tech Barons Smash Innovation—and How To Strike Back. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe...
Jul 15, 2022•40 min
National security, secrecy, paranoia, suicide, and the rise of modern civil rights—James Kirchick joins host Richard Aldous to talk about the untold story of the nation’s capital, and his new book Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe...
Jul 08, 2022•31 min
On this Fourth of July weekend, historian Thomas S. Kidd joins host Richard Aldous to talk about the contradictions of Thomas Jefferson, as detailed in his new book Thomas Jefferson: A Biography of Spirit and Flesh. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe
Jul 01, 2022•31 min
What we have been doing with China has clearly not been working. How can we course-correct? Renowned Asia scholar Aaron L. Friedberg joins host Richard Aldous to discuss his excellent new book Getting China Wrong. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe
Jun 24, 2022•34 min
With the Federal Reserve making bold moves this week, Lev Menand, author of the new book The Fed Unbound: Central Banking in a Time of Crisis, joins host Richard Aldous to talk about how the makers of monetary policy still need to adapt to the uncertain future. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe...
Jun 17, 2022•33 min
