Phil is joined by Morten Hoi Jensen, literary critic and author of the forthcoming "The Master of Contradictions Thomas Mann and the Making of The Magic Mountain," to discuss Thomas Mann's 1914 "Thoughts in Wartime" and Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address The Manifesto: Thomas Mann, "Thoughts in Wartime" https://www.nyrb.com/products/reflections-of-a-nonpolitical-man The Art: Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address https://www.nps.gov/linc/learn/historyculture/lincoln-second-inaugural.h...
Jun 28, 2025•1 hr 17 min
Jake and Phil discuss Clement Greenberg's 1939 "Kitsch and the Avant-Garde" alongside Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" and Leonard Cohen's "Chelsea Hotel No. 2" The Manifesto: Clement Greenberg, "Avant-Garde and Kitsch" https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1606923282/slcschoolsorg/wumlyaskvhhzawsvbbzc/Avant-GardeandKitsch.pdf The Art: Taylor Swift, "I Knew You Were Trouble" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNoKguSdy4Y Leonard Cohen, "Chelsea Hotel No. 2" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
May 27, 2025•1 hr 21 min
Jake and Phil discuss Teilhard de Chardin's 1946 Some Reflections on the Spiritual Repercussions of the Atom Bomb and Charles Mingus' "Oh Lord Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me," off of his 1962 album Oh Yeah. The Manifesto: Teilhard de Chardin - "Some Reflections on the Spiritual Repercussions of the Atom Bomb" https://www.religion-online.org/book-chapter/chapter-8-some-reflections-on-the-spiritual-repercussions-of-the-atom-bomb/ The Art: Charles Mingus - "Oh Lord Don't Let Them Drop T...
May 01, 2025•1 hr 5 min
Jake and Phil discuss David Jones 1939 essay on Hitler, courtesy of Thomas Dilworth's "David Jones and Fascism," alongside Gregor von Rezzori's "Troth," from his Memoirs of an Anti-Semite The Manifesto: Thomas Dilworth, "David Jones and Fascism" https://www.jstor.org/stable/3831437 The Art: Gregor von Rezzori, "Troth," from his Memoirs of an Anti-Semite https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1969/04/26/memoirs-of-an-anti-semite...
Mar 27, 2025•1 hr 37 min
Phil and Jake discuss Witold Gombrowicz's "Against Poets" and Czeslaw Milosz's "Ars Poetica?" The Manifesto: Witold Gombrowicz, "Against Poets" https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.12987/9780300183399-006/html?lang=en&srsltid=AfmBOopUFE9LX61sfmOAYszduQw78uOlvfHGgFOUPvi-0afjm9eQ2nhI The Art: Czeslaw Milosz, "Ars Poetica?" https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49455/ars-poetica-56d22b8f31558...
Feb 27, 2025•1 hr 10 min
Jake and Phil discuss Phil's New York Times essay "Trump, Hegseth, and the Honor of the American Military" and Homer's "Embassy to Achilles" The Manifesto: Phil Klay, "Trump, Hegseth, and the Honor of the American Military" https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/02/opinion/trump-hegseth-military-morality.html The Art: Homer, "Embassy to Achilles" https://www.penguinbookshop.com/book/9780140275360...
Jan 25, 2025•1 hr 13 min
Jake and Phil discuss Thomas Hardy’s The Oxen, TS Eliot’s Journey of the Magi, and The Pogues Fairytale of New York Thomas Hardy - The Oxen https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53215/the-oxen-56d232503c32d TS Eliot - Journey of the Magi https://poetryarchive.org/poem/journey-magi/ The Pogues - Fairytale of New York https://youtu.be/j9jbdgZidu8?si=AWYk4ya5bFPUyFtd...
Dec 21, 2024•53 min
Jake and Phil are joined by Ross Douthat, New York Times columnist and author of the forthcoming Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious, to discuss Ross' essay "Is the World Ready for a Religious Comeback" and Christian Wiman's 2008 essay in the American Scholar, "My Bright Abyss" The Manifesto: Ross Douthat, "Is the World Ready for a Religious Comeback" https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/19/opinion/religion-atheism-books.html The Art: Christian Wiman, My Bright Abyss https://theamericanscholar....
Nov 26, 2024•1 hr 31 min
Jake and Phil discuss Leon Trotsky's "Communist Policy Toward Art" and Gogol's "The Overcoat" The Manifesto: Leon Trotsky - "Communist Policy Toward Art" https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1924/lit_revo/ch07.htm The Art Gogol - "The Overcoat" https://www.fountainheadpress.com/expandingthearc/assets/gogolovercoat.pdf...
Oct 28, 2024•1 hr 14 min
Phil and Jake discuss Joan Didion's "Politics in the New Normal America" and Robinson Jeffers "Fire on the Hills" The Manifesto: Joan Didion, Politics in the New Normal America https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2004/10/21/politics-in-the-new-normal-america/ The Art: Robinson Jeffers, Fire on the Hills https://ronnowpoetry.com/contents/jeffers/FireontheHills.html For more on Jeffers in Czechoslovakia, see The Warm Reception of Robinson Jeffers’s Poetry in Cold War Czechoslovakia, by Petr Kopecky h...
Sep 27, 2024•49 min
Jake and Phil are joined by Nate DiMeo, podcaster and author of the forthcoming The Memory Palace, to discuss the Riot Grrrl Manifesto, Steve Albini's The Problem with Music, and The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years The Manifestos: Kathleen Hanna, The Riot Grrrl Manifesto https://actipedia.org/project/riot-grrrl-manifesto Steve Albini, The Problem with Music https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-problem-with-music The Art: Penelope Spheeris - The Decline of Western Civilizati...
Aug 30, 2024•1 hr 31 min
Phil and Jake are joined by Anastasia Berg and Rachel Wiseman, the authors of What Are Children For? On Ambivalence and Choice, to discuss David Benatar's 1997 paper "Why It Is Better Never to Come into Existence," alongside Paul Schrader's 2017 film First Reformed. The Manifesto: David Benatar - "Why It Is Better Never to Come into Existence" https://www.jstor.org/stable/20009904 The Art: Paul Schrader - First Reformed https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6053438/ Anastasia Berg and Rachel Wiseman - Wh...
Jul 25, 2024•2 hr 4 min
Jake and Phil are joined by the poet and critic Alice Gribbin to discuss Ezra Pound's The Serious Artist and Eliot Weinberger's The Life of Tu Fu The Manifesto: Ezra Pound, The Serious Artist https://archive.org/details/literaryessaysof00poun/page/n5/mode/2up The Art: Eliot Weinberger, The Life of Tu Fu https://www.ndbooks.com/book/the-life-of-tu-fu/ For more of Alice's writing: https://www.alicegribbin.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=substack_profile...
Jun 28, 2024•1 hr 49 min
Jake and Phil are joined by Sam Kimbriel, director of the Aspen Institute's Philosophy and Society Initiative, to discuss Wallace Stegner's 1987 novel Crossing to Safety.
May 30, 2024•59 min
Jake and Phil are joined by the novelist and chronicler of post-secular religious movements, Tara Isabella Burton, to discuss J.R.R. Tolkien's 1939 essay “On Fairy-Stories” and Christina Rossetti's 1862 poem, "Goblin Market." The manifesto: https://ieas-szeged.hu/downtherabbithole/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Tolkien-On-Fairy-Stories.pdf The Art: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44996/goblin-market Tara's new novel, Here In Avalon : https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Here-in-Avalon/Tara-...
Apr 29, 2024•1 hr 23 min
Phil and Jake are joined by the Matt Gallagher, author of Daybreak, to discuss George Orwell's "Looking Back on the Spanish War", and Benjamin Busch's photographs from Ukraine, "Nine Dialogues: Conflict in Context" The Manifesto: George Orwell, "Looking Back on the Spanish War" https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/looking-back-on-the-spanish-war/ The Art: Benjamin Busch, "Nine Dialogues: Conflict in Context" https://www.wlajournal.com/copy-of-busch...
Mar 30, 2024•1 hr 11 min
Jake and Phil are joined by the novelist and essayist Jared Marcel Pollen to discuss Vaclav Havel’s “The Power of the Powerless” and The Velvet Underground’s second album, White Light/White Heat The Manifesto: https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/wp-content/uploads/1979/01/the-power-of-the-powerless.pdf The Art: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJy0LP8iYPg&list=PLaVHibd49QFIsKywss9Jh0rati5skWEYD Jared's essay, The Metaphysician-in-Chief, in Liberties https://libertiesjournal.com/articles/the-m...
Feb 28, 2024•1 hr 22 min
Jake and Phil discuss "How Money Culture Hurts the American Family," by Ian Marcus Corbin, and episode seven of the first season of Girls The Manifesto: Ian Marcus Corbin, "How Money Culture Hurts the American Family" https://www.capita.org/money-culture Girls, Welcome to Bushwick a.k.a. The Crackcident https://www.hbo.com/girls/season-1/7-welcome-to-bushwick-a-k-a-the-crackcident...
Jan 26, 2024•1 hr 12 min
Jake and Phil are joined live at Fairfield University by the great critic and essayist George Scialabba to discuss Last Men and Women At a time of war, impending ecological disaster, and partisan rage, our commitments to the modern, liberal order are being questioned like never before. Do we understand ourselves best as individuals or as members of a community? Must we renew our absolute commitment to political freedoms, or accept greater state control to deal with the dangers and allures of new...
Dec 07, 2023•1 hr 21 min
Jake and Phil discuss Josef Skvorecky's "Red Music," an account of playing jazz under Nazism and Communism, alongside Mal Waldron's "Mal Waldron Plays Erik Satie" The Manifesto: Josef Skvorecky, "Red Music" https://harpers.org/archive/1986/03/red-music/ The Art: Mal Waldron, "Mal Waldron Plays Erik Satie" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juNNxsUXvQw...
Nov 27, 2023•1 hr 9 min
Phil talks with poet and translator Philip Metres about the current conflict, the position of a Western observer in regards to what is happening in Gaza, his poem "Remorse for Temperate Speech," as well as his book "Returning to Jaffa." https://philipmetres.com
Oct 30, 2023•1 hr 2 min
Phil asks Jake about the recent conflict in Israel, and they take listener questions.
Oct 28, 2023•1 hr 53 min
Phil is joined by Sam Kimbriel, director of the Aspen Institute's Philosophy and Society Initiative, and Jennifer Shyue, a Spanish language literary translator, to discuss her recently published translation of Augusto Higa Oshiro's The Enlightenment of Katzuo Nakamatsu. https://archipelagobooks.org/book/the-enlightenment-of-katzuo-nakamatsu/
Sep 27, 2023•31 min
Jake and Phil are joined by Walter Kirn to discuss Kirn's essay "The Bullshit" alongside Mark Twain's "My First Lie and How I Got Out of It" The Manifesto: Walter Kirn, "The Bullshit" https://walterkirn.substack.com/p/the-bullshit The Art: Mark Twain's "My First Lie and How I Got Out of It" https://americanliterature.com/author/mark-twain/short-story/my-first-lie-and-how-i-got-out-of-it...
Sep 10, 2023•1 hr 35 min
Jake and Phil are joined by Santiago Ramos, a contributing writer to Commonweal Magazine, to discuss Michael Novak's The Secular Saint and the epilogue to Michel Houellebecq's 1998 novel The Elementary Particles. The Manifesto: Michael Novak, The Secular Saint https://www.amazon.com/theology-radical-politics-Michael-Novak/dp/B0006BZ4H2 The Art: Michel Houellebecq, The Elementary Particles, Epilogue https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/83039/the-elementary-particles-by-michel-houellebecq/...
Aug 09, 2023•1 hr 35 min
Phil is joined by Becca Rothfeld, BD McClay, and Jon Baskin to discuss Norman Rush's 1991 novel Mating, and whether it offers a roadmap for love in the 21st century. Becca Rothfeld is the nonfiction book critic at the Washington Post and an editor at the Point. BD McClay is an essayist and critic who has written for publications like Lapham's Quarterly, The New Yorker, and New York Times Magazine. Jon Baskin is Deputy Editor at Harper's and a founding editor of The Point. The Art: Norman Rush, M...
Jul 12, 2023•1 hr 18 min
Phil is joined by the great novelist, short story writer and essayist Mary Gaitskill to discuss Gaitskill's essay "The Trials of the Young" in the most recent Liberties Journal, alongside the Nirvana songs "Drain You" and "Moist Vagina." The Manifesto: Mary Gaitskill, "The Trials of the Young " https://marygaitskill.substack.com/p/the-despair-of-the-young The Art: Nirvana, "Drain You" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJUpHxlJUNQ Nirvana, "Moist Vagina" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRT6sYzVN78...
Jun 13, 2023•1 hr 20 min
Jake and Phil are joined by Gurwinder Bhogal to discuss Poe's Law and Philip K. Dick's Faith of Our Fathers The Manifesto: "Poe's Law" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law The Art: Philip K. Dick's "Faith of Our Fathers" https://genius.com/Philip-k-dick-faith-of-our-fathers-annotated Also discussed: Gurwinder Bhogal, "The Best Cure for Fake News is Fake News" https://rabbitholemag.com/the-best-cure-for-fake-news-is-fake-news/ Ryan Ruby, A Golden Age? https://www.vinduet.no/essayistikk/a-gol...
May 16, 2023•1 hr 37 min
Jake and Phil are joined by former Michigan Congressman Peter Meijer to discuss longshoreman philosopher Eric Hoffer’s 1951 book, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, and the poem “On Reading Crowds and Power,” by Geoffrey Hill. The Manifesto (an edition with some very cool cover art): The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements https://archive.org/details/truebelieverthou0000hoff/mode/2up The Art: On Reading Crowds and Power https://www.poetryfoundation.o...
Apr 13, 2023•1 hr 51 min
Jake and Phil answer questions from our listeners.
Mar 21, 2023•1 hr 9 min
