Vince Houghton is the historian and curator of the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. He is also the host and creative director of the Museum's podcast, SpyCast . His new book is Nuking the Moon: And Other Intelligence Schemes and Military Plots Left on the Drawing Board . Houghton explains how the Cold War spawned fantastical science fiction-like weapons programs and plans by the United States government and the Pentagon such as atomic bomb-powered spacecraft, nuking the moon, psychic ...
Feb 08, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 272
Rabbi Michael Lerner is editor of Tikkun , chair of the Network of Spiritual Progressives, and rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue-Without-Walls in Berkeley, California. He is the author of eleven books, including The Left Hand of God and Jewish Renewal: A Path to Healing and Transformation . His most recent book is Revolutionary Love . Rabbi Lerner reflects on what it means to be a truth-teller and moral human being who has fought for human rights and dignity for more than five decades. Rabbi Lerner...
Feb 01, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 271
William Cohan is a New York Times bestselling author of several books about finance and Wall Street which include, Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World and House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street . His most recent book is Why Wall Street Matters . Cohan is also a special correspondent at Vanity Fair and a columnist for the New York Times . His writing has been featured be The Financial Times , The Atlantic , The Nation , Bloomberg BusinessWeek , F...
Jan 24, 2020•46 min•Ep. 270
Harvey J. Kaye is the Ben & Joyce Rosenberg Professor of Democracy and Justice Studies at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay. He is the author of many books including The American Radical, Are We Good Citizens?; Thomas Paine and the Promise of America ; and The Fight For The Four Freedoms: What Made FDR And The Greatest Generation Truly Great . Professor Kaye explains how the history of American democracy is, at its core, a radical project that can rejuvenate and empower the American peop...
Jan 17, 2020•58 min
Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a historian at New York University who specializes in authoritarianism, aesthetics, cultural politics, and Italian history. She is the author of numerous books including an upcoming project on authoritarianism and political strongmen. Ben-Ghiat is also a regular contributor to CNN, The Atlantic, and The Huffington Post. Professor Ben-Ghiat explains how Donald Trump is continuing to wear down America's democratic institutions – and the public – to a point where authoritarian rul...
Jan 09, 2020•37 min•Ep. 268
Psychiatrist Dr. David Reiss is the guest on this week's very special New Year's 2020 episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show which focuses on goal setting, making and keeping personal resolutions and promises, self-reflection, and forging our best way in life during these very challenging and perilous times. Dr. Reiss is a longtime friend of The Chauncey DeVega Show . He is a contributor to the bestselling book The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a ...
Jan 01, 2020•39 min•Ep. 267
This week's special Christmas holiday season episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show focuses on the new movie Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Chauncey DeVega and his fellow Star Wars expert and life traveler Bill the Lizard offer a very critical and spoiler-filled discussion of The Rise of Skywalker and the movie's many problems with plot, narrative, characters, and emotion. They are also deeply concerned with how The Rise of Skywalker , specifically, and the Kylo Ren-Rey relationship, more genera...
Dec 25, 2019•51 min•Ep. 266
Stephen Kinzer is the author of many books including Overthrow and All the Shah's Men . His new book is Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control . Kinzer explains how the CIA conducted horrific experiments involving LSD and other drugs during the Cold War with the goal of determining if they could destroy the human mind and then reprogram it for their own purposes. Kinzer also explores the daily life of the CIA's "poisoner in chief" Sidney Gottlieb – a man who had a...
Dec 20, 2019•54 min•Ep. 265
There are two guests on this week's very special December fundraising-month episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show . Ronald E. Purser is a Professor of Management at San Francisco State University. His new book is McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality . Purser is also the author of the widely-read essay at the Huffington Post," Beyond McMindfulness ". Purser explains how neoliberalism and its gangster capitalists use "mindfulness" as a way of creating a compliant, lo...
Dec 13, 2019•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 264
Chris Hedges is the author of numerous award-winning and bestselling books including "Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle," "Death of a Liberal Class," "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning," "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America" and "Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt." His newest book is "America: The Farewell Tour." Hedges explains how Trumpism, white right-wing Christian Evangelicals, white supremacists and other right-wing groups a...
Dec 05, 2019•46 min•Ep. 263
David Cay Johnston has been writing about and observing Donald Trump for more than thirty years. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and author of the bestselling book "The Making of Donald Trump." His recent book is "It's Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration is Doing to America." Johnston explains why the Ukraine scandal should not be a surprise given Donald Trump's many years of success as a white-collar criminal – skills he learned from his father as well...
Nov 28, 2019•55 min•Ep. 262
Timothy Snyder is a professor of history at Yale University and author of the bestselling book On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. Professor Snyder is one of the most insightful and bold truth-tellers about Donald Trump's movement and the dangers of authoritarianism in America and around the world. Dr. Snyder reflects on the health of American democracy in the third year of Trump's presidency. He also shares his concerns about how democracy and the rule of law are continually ...
Nov 21, 2019•20 min•Ep. 261
Christian Picciolini is an award-winning television producer, a public speaker, author, peace advocate, and a former violent extremist. After leaving the hate movement he helped create during his youth in the 1980s and 90s, he began the painstaking process of making amends and rebuilding his life. Christian's life since leaving the white‑power movement over two decades ago has been dedicated to helping others overcome their own hate. He now leads the Free Radicals Project, a global extremism pre...
Nov 14, 2019•47 min•Ep. 260
Tom Nichols is a professor of national security affairs at the United States Naval War College and also teaches at the Harvard Extension School. He is the author of seven books including "No Use: Nuclear Weapons and U.S. National Security" and "The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters." He is also a political columnist for USA Today. Tom Nichols shares what it was like to be targeted by President Donald Trump who slurred him and other "Never Trumper" ...
Nov 07, 2019•47 min•Ep. 259
Cornel West is one of the United States' and the world's leading public intellectuals and truth-tellers. He is Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard University and holds the title of Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. He has also taught at Union Theological Seminary, Yale, Harvard, and the University of Paris. Cornel West is the author of several bestselling books including Race Matters , Democracy Matters , and his memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud . ...
Oct 31, 2019•51 min•Ep. 258
There are three great guests on this very special episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show . Walter Mosley is one of America's greatest writers. He is the author of more than 43 critically acclaimed books, including the major bestselling mystery series featuring Easy Rawlins. His nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times Magazine and The Nation , among other publications. Walter Mosley is the winner of numerous awards, including an O. Henry Award, a Grammy and PEN America's Lifetime Achievement A...
Oct 26, 2019•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 257
Kevin Levin is an award-winning historian and educator whose work has been featured by The Washington Post , The New York Times , The Boston Globe , Wall Street Journal , C-SPAN and NPR . His new book is Searching For Black Confederates: The Civil War's Most Persistent Myth . Levin explains how the Internet has allowed lies and disinformation about American history and the Civil War to spread so easily and the harm that is doing to the country's politics. Levin details why more than 150 years af...
Oct 18, 2019•44 min•Ep. 256
Philip Zimbardo is one of the world's leading authorities on the psychology of cruelty, groupthink, and evil. Most famous for the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment , Dr. Zimbardo has written dozens of books and articles including the powerful and disturbing book The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil . Dr. Zimbardo explains how America under Donald Trump is fully devolving into a state of violence, authoritarianism, and cruelty and the many ways that the Trump regime encourage...
Oct 10, 2019•44 min•Ep. 255
Dr. Justin Frank is a former clinical professor of psychiatry at the George Washington University Medical Center and a physician with more than 40 years of experience in psychoanalysis. He is the author of the bestselling books Bush on the Couch and Obama on the Couch . His newest book is Trump on the Couch . Dr. Frank's work has appeared in Time magazine and the Daily Beast and he has appeared as an expert commentator and guest on MSNBC, CNN, PBS and other outlets. Dr. Justin Frank explains wha...
Oct 02, 2019•22 min•Ep. 254
Ibram X. Kendi is one of America's foremost historians and leading antiracist voices. He is the author of Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive Idea of Racist Ideas in America which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction. His new book is the New York Times bestselling, How to Be an Antiracist . Kendi explains how racism is violence and death. He also highlights how America's moral crisis along the color line is inseparable from capitalism. Kendi warns how Donald Trump is one of America'...
Sep 26, 2019•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 253
Christopher Leonard is a business reporter whose work has appeared in such publications as The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post . He is the author of the bestselling new book Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America . Leonard explains how Charles Koch and his political network were able amass so much power and influence over American life. He also offers insights into Charles Koch's "market based management" philosophy and how it enabled him to ma...
Sep 09, 2019•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 252
Terry Heaton was a television news executive for The Christian Broadcasting Network during the 1980s where he worked primarily on "The 700 Club". Heaton also served as one of Pat Robertson's advisers during his 1988 presidential campaign. Terry Heaton is the author of several books including his most recent, "The Gospel of Self: How Jesus Joined the GOP". Heaton explains how right-wing Christian Evangelicals have come to worship and love Donald Trump, a man who is an unapologetic sinner. Heaton ...
Aug 28, 2019•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 251
There are two guests on this week's special 250th episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show. Chris Arnade is a photographer and contributing writer for the New York Times, Atlantic, Guardian, Washington Post, Financial Times, and Wall Street Journal. His new book is Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America . Arnade reflects on leaving his job as a stock trader on Wall Street and embarking on a quest across America during the rise of Trump in an effort to see just how broken American society is and...
Aug 19, 2019•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 250
Dr. Justin Frank is a former clinical professor of psychiatry at the George Washington University Medical Center and a physician with more than 40 years of experience in psychoanalysis. He is the author of the bestselling books Bush on the Couch and Obama on the Couch. His newest book is Trump on the Couch . Dr. Frank's work has appeared in Time magazine and the Daily Beast and he has appeared as an expert commentator and guest on MSNBC, CNN, PBS and other outlets. Dr. Frank explains how Donald ...
Aug 11, 2019•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 249
Tim Alberta is Politico Magazine's chief political correspondent . He is also the author of the bestselling new book American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump . Alberta explains how the American fascist Donald Trump took over a very willing and eager Republican Party, what it was like to interview Donald Trump, and is the president a political genius, an idiot, or something all together different? Alberta also explains how and why the wicked...
Aug 06, 2019•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 248
Tim Wise is one of America's and the world's leading experts on white privilege and racism. He is the author of numerous books including his most recent Under the Affluence: Shaming the Poor, Praising the Rich and Sacrificing the Future of America . Tim Wise explains why three years into Trump's presidency there are still so many journalists, reporters and other political observers who are "shocked" and "surprised" by his blatant racism and authoritarian behavior. Is Republican strategist Rick W...
Aug 02, 2019•2 min
J. Michael Straczynski is the creator of landmark TV shows such as Babylon 5 and Sense8 . He also wrote comic books such as The Amazing Spider-Man , Thor (both the movie and the comic book), and Superman: Earth One . J. Michael Straczynski was also one of the primary writers for beloved 1980s children's cartoons such as He-Man , She-Ra and The Real Ghostbusters . His new autobiography is Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood . J. Michael Straczynski reflects on an almost unbeli...
Aug 01, 2019•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 247
Dr. Bandy Lee is a forensic psychiatrist and a leading expert on violence at the Yale School of Medicine. She is also the editor of the New York Times bestseller, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President . Dr. Lee and other leading mental health professionals working in conjunction with the World Mental Health Organization, convened an online town hall meeting in anticipation of Mueller's congressional testimony. During that meeting they s...
Jul 24, 2019•3 min
Joy-Ann Reid is the host of "AM Joy" on MSNBC. She is the author of several books including Fracture: Barack Obama, the Clintons and the Racial Divide as well as We Are the Change We Seek: The Speeches of Barack Obama . Her new book is The Man Who Sold America: Trump and the Unraveling of the American Story . Reid explains how Donald Trump has betrayed American democracy, why his violence, racism and other vile behavior is appealing to his supporters, and how he is the human embodiment of Americ...
Jul 22, 2019•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 246
Eve Ensler is an author, Tony Award-winner, playwright and activist. Her award-winning play The Vagina Monologues ran for more than 10 years and has been performed in more than 140 countries. Ensler's new book The Apology is a meditation on the decades of sexual abuse and other violence she endured from her father and on how she finally purged his power over her life through creative confrontation and forgiveness. Ensler reflects on the rise of Donald Trump and America's moral crisis, privilege ...
Jul 14, 2019•57 min•Ep. 245
