America and Beyond with Paul Starobin

America and Beyond with Paul Starobin

episodes

Veteran journalist Paul Starobin is a former Moscow bureau chief for Business Week and a former contributing editor of The Atlantic. He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and many other publications. His latest book, Putin’s Exiles: Their Fight for a Better Russia (Columbia Global Reports) will be published in January. His three previous books are A Most Wicked Conspiracy: The Last Great Swindle of the Gilded Age (PublicAffairs, 2020); Madness Rules the Hour: Charleston, 1860 and the Mania for War (PublicAffairs, 2017); and After America: Narratives for the Next Global Age (Viking, 2009). Paul lives with his family in Orleans, Massachusetts on the elbow of Cape Cod.

On Fiorello La Guardia and Why He Still Matters: A Discussion with Author Terry Golway

April 19, 2024

On Fiorello La Guardia and Why He Still Matters

Terry Golway
Hosted by Paul Starobin

Has any American mayor ever made a greater stamp on the public consciousness than the Little Flower, Fiorello La Guardia, mayor of New York City from …

On Monsters, Goddesses and Myths: A Discussion with Author Katherine Marsh

April 13, 2024

On Monsters, Goddesses and Myths: A Discussion with Author Katherine Marsh

Katherine Marsh
Hosted by Paul Starobin

“We’re not monsters, Mom. We’re goddesses—smart, fearless, and beautiful.” That’s the voice of Ava, the superpowered protagonist of Katherine Marsh’s …

Looking into the Heart of Arizona: A Discussion with Author Tom Zoellner

March 21, 2024

Looking into the Heart of Arizona

Tom Zoellner
Hosted by Paul Starobin

In Rim to River: Looking into the Heart of Arizona (University of Arizona Press, 2023), Tom Zoellner, a fifth-generation Arizonan, takes the reader on…

On America’s Blind Spot Towards the Palestinians: A Discussion with author Khaled Elgindy

March 9, 2024

On America’s Blind Spot Towards the Palestinians

Khaled Elgindy
Hosted by Paul Starobin

In their handling of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process over the decades, U.S. officials have displayed a “systemic blind spot” by alleviating pres…

Putin's Exiles: Their Fight for a Better Russia

February 7, 2024

Putin's Exiles: Their Fight for a Better Russia

Paul Starobin
Hosted by Paul Starobin

Since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, some one million Russians have fled the country and gone into exile. Motivated by opposition to …

On Authoritarianism: A Discussion with Author and Political Scientist Matthew C. MacWilliams

January 29, 2024

On Authoritarianism

Matthew C. MacWilliams
Hosted by Paul Starobin

Nearly half of Americans “are inconsistent supporters of democracy and democratic institutions,” Matthew C. MacWilliams writes at the start of his boo…

On Zionism and the Left: A Discussion with Author and Cultural Critic Susie Linfield

January 22, 2024

On Zionism and the Left

Susie Linfield
Hosted by Paul Starobin

“How has it come to this? How has ‘Zionist’…become the dirtiest word to the international Left?” Susie Linfield poses that ripe question at the outse…

On Native American Warfare: A Discussion with Author and Historian Wayne E. Lee

December 24, 2023

On Native American Warfare

Wayne E. Lee
Hosted by Paul Starobin

How did Native Americans make war, not with European settlers, but amongst themselves? Historian Wayne E. Lee, a professor at the University of North …

On “Henry Kissinger and His World” with author Barry Gewen

November 30, 2023

On “Henry Kissinger and His World”

Barry Gewen
Hosted by Paul Starobin
Listen:

In my talk with Barry Gewen on his 2020 book, The Inevitability of Tragedy: Henry Kissinger and His World (W. W. Norton, 2020), we explore the dispara…

Greil Marcus, "Folk Music: A Bob Dylan Biography in Seven Songs" (Yale UP, 2022)

November 20, 2023

Folk Music

Greil Marcus
Hosted by Paul Starobin

Greil Marcus is perhaps the world’s foremost interpreter of Bob Dylan. This podcast focuses on Marcus’ latest Dylan book, Folk Music: A Bob Dylan Biog…

Where Have All the Democrats Gone?

November 16, 2023

Where Have All the Democrats Gone?

Ruy Teixeira and John B. Judis
Hosted by Paul Starobin
Listen:

In 2002, John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira published The Emerging Democratic Majority (Scribner). Now the pair are back with Where Have All the Democrats…

On Wars: A Discussion with Michael Mann

October 31, 2023

On Wars

Michael Mann
Hosted by Paul Starobin
Listen:

“Irrationality rules” in war, Michael Mann writes in his magisterial 2023 book, On Wars (Yale UP, 2023), a history that begins with the Roman Republic…

The Unquiet Legacy of Jewish Radical Meir Kahane, with author Shaul Magid

October 19, 2023

The Unquiet Legacy of Jewish Radical Meir Kahane

Shaul Magid
Hosted by Paul Starobin
Listen:

In the wake of the massacre of Israeli civilians by Hamas in October, 2023 I spoke with Shaul Magid, author of Meir Kahane: The Public Life and Politi…

On the Secrets of Writing Historical Fiction with Burt Solomon, author of "The Murder of Andrew Johnson"

October 2, 2023

On the Secrets of Writing Historical Fiction

Burt Solomon
Hosted by Paul Starobin
Listen:

The Murder of Andrew Johnson (Forge, 2023) is the third in Burt Solomon’s John Hay Mystery trilogy. Our conversation explores the art and craft of wri…

The Shadow War between America and Russia

September 13, 2023

The Shadow War between America and Russia

George S. Beebe
Hosted by Paul Starobin
Listen:

Western analysts and media often assess the prospect that Moscow might use nuclear weapons as the war in Ukraine grinds on, possibly to a flailing Rus…

On the (Still Bright) Future of Nostalgia

August 24, 2023

On the (Still Bright) Future of Nostalgia

Peter Fritzsche
Hosted by Paul Starobin
Listen:

I am joined on “America and Beyond” by historian Peter Fritzsche for an appreciation of The Future of Nostalgia (Basic Books), the landmark book publi…