Madison's Notes

Madison's Notes

episodes
Foster Care, Family, and Social Class: A Conversation with Rob Henderson

March 14, 2024

Foster Care, Family, and Social Class

Rob Henderson
Hosted by Annika Nordquist

Robert Kim Henderson, a recently-minted psychology PhD from Cambridge and prominent essayist, had a troubled childhood. A victim of child abuse, he wa…

Freedom in the Academy: A Conversation with Niall Ferguson

March 5, 2024

Freedom in the Academy

Niall Ferguson
Hosted by Annika Nordquist

Finishing off our series on freedom of speech, renowned historian Niall Ferguson discusses ideological conflict both between America and China and wit…

Leadership in Business, Leadership Abroad: A Conversation with Dave McCormick *96

February 28, 2024

Leadership in Business, Leadership Abroad

David McCormick
Hosted by Annika Nordquist

Dave McCormick *96 has enjoyed incredible success in a wide variety of arenas: after graduating from West Point, where he competed as a varsity wrestl…

Jewish War Ethics, Ancient to Contemporary: A Conversation with Rabbi Shlomo Brody

February 13, 2024

Jewish War Ethics, Ancient to Contemporary

Shlomo Brody
Hosted by Annika Nordquist

How should we think about violent accounts in the Bible? Why did Gandhi urge the Jews to turn a blind eye to anti-Semitism during World War II? What i…

Colorblindness and the Classics: A Conversation with Andre Archie

January 30, 2024

Colorblindness and the Classics

Andre Archie
Hosted by Annika Nordquist

Why has Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision of a color-blind society suffered so many recent setbacks? Classical philosopher Andre Archie argues that we n…

Free to Investigate: Dr. Scott Atlas on the Freedom in the Sciences

January 16, 2024

Free to Investigate

Scott W. Atlas
Hosted by Annika Nordquist

Can we have science without freedom of speech? Dr. Scott Atlas's professional work and personal experiences bring to light an important and often unde…

Roman Politics, Familiar Yet Foreign: A Conversation with Jed Atkins

January 2, 2024

Roman Politics, Familiar Yet Foreign

Jed W. Atkins
Hosted by Annika Nordquist

How are Roman political assumptions similar to versus different from our own? What did the Founding Fathers get right and wrong about the Ancients? Ho…

Speech Unbound: A Conversation with Nadine Strossen

December 19, 2023

Speech Unbound

Nadine Strossen
Hosted by Annika Nordquist

What (and why) can and can't we say? What do empirical examples both at home and abroad tell us about how we should protect freedom of speech? How do …

The Adversity of Diversity: A Conversation with Carol Swain

December 12, 2023

The Adversity of Diversity

Carol M. Swain
Hosted by Annika Nordquist

Today, we have a BONUS episode of Madison's Notes: the Madison Program's Executive Director Dr. Shilo Brooks sits down with Dr. Carol Swain to talk ab…

Unwoke: A Discussion with Senator Ted Cruz

December 5, 2023

Unwoke

Ted Cruz
Hosted by Annika Nordquist

How do we defeat woke ideology and the threat it poses to free speech? Senator Ted Cruz '92 joins Madison's Notes to discuss his latest book, Unwoke: …

Providence and Power: Rabbi Meir Soloveichik on Jewish Statesmanship from King David to David Ben Gurion

November 21, 2023

Providence and Power

Meir Y. Soloveichik
Hosted by Annika Nordquist

For thousands of years, the Jewish people lacked a political state; yet, what can we say about the Jewish tradition of statesmanship? What makes it di…

Speak Freely: The Princeton Principles

November 7, 2023

Speak Freely: The Princeton Principles

Keith Whittington and Donald Downs
Hosted by Annika Nordquist

Kicking off our new monthly series on freedom of speech, Keith Whittington and Donald Downs discuss the Princeton Principles for a Campus of Free Inqu…

Sparta, Athens, Ukraine, Israel: A Conversation with Paul Rahe on Proxy Wars

October 24, 2023

Sparta, Athens, Ukraine, Israel

Paul A. Rahe
Hosted by Annika Nordquist

Proxy wars like those in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and now Ukraine have played major roles in military history. Historian Paul Rahe takes us back to one o…

The History of Liberalism: A Conversation with Alan Kahan ‘80

October 10, 2023

The History of Liberalism

Alan S. Kahan
Hosted by Annika Nordquist

What is liberalism, and what thinkers shaped it? Does it take a stance on moral and religious issues? What is its relationship with nationalism and po…

The Civic Bargain: A Conversation with Josiah Ober on Ancients and Moderns

September 26, 2023

Bargaining for Democracy

Josiah Ober
Hosted by Annika Nordquist
Listen:

Amidst increasing acrimony and political strain, many worry that democratic governance has an expiration date. To answer these concerns, Josiah Ober l…

Religion and Politics in the Lord of the Rings

September 12, 2023

Religion and Politics in the Lord of the Rings

Rachel Fulton Brown
Hosted by Annika Nordquist
Listen:

J.R.R. Tolkien's masterwork The Lord of the Rings delighted so many of us as children, yet it and its vast body of accompanying work, such as the Silm…

How Should Protestants Engage With Natural Law Theory? A Conversation on the Work of Robert P. George with Andrew T. Walker

August 29, 2023

How Should Protestants Engage With Natural Law Theory?

Andrew T. Walker
Hosted by Annika Nordquist

Natural law theory is known to be more emphasized among Catholics than Protestants. Why is that the case, and should it be? Do Protestants need to foc…

Paratroopers in the Pacific: A Conversation with James Fenelon

August 15, 2023

Paratroopers in the Pacific

James M. Fenelon
Hosted by Annika Nordquist
Listen:

In the final episode of Season 3, Annika sits down with James Fenelon, a veteran-turned-historian, who served in the Army for over a decade and is a…

Talking Clarence Thomas: A Conversation with Amul Thapar

August 1, 2023

Talking Clarence Thomas

Amul Thapar
Hosted by Annika Nordquist

As the last few months of landmark Supreme Court decisions have showcased, Clarence Thomas is one of the most important men in America. To wrap up our…

Mere Natural Law: A Conversation with Hadley Arkes

July 18, 2023

Mere Natural Law

Hadley Arkes
Hosted by Annika Nordquist

What is natural law, and what does it have to do with originalism? Why does the Right defend religion yet so often struggle to define it? Next up in o…