American Politics

American Politics

episodes

Interviews with scholars of American politics about their new books.

Leigh Gilmore, "The #MeToo Effect: What Happens When We Believe Women" (Columbia UP, 2023)

April 27, 2024

The #MeToo Effect

Leigh Gilmore
Hosted by Jane Scimeca

The #MeToo movement inspired millions to testify to the widespread experience of sexual violence. More broadly, it shifted the deeply ingrained respo…

Dana Gorzelany-Mostak, "Tracks on the Trail: Popular Music, Race, and the US Presidency" (U Michigan Press, 2023)

April 26, 2024

Tracks on the Trail

Dana Gorzelany-Mostak
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

From Bill Clinton playing his saxophone on The Arsenio Hall Show to Barack Obama referencing Jay-Z's song "Dirt Off Your Shoulder," politicians have u…

Anu Bradford, "Digital Empires: The Global Battle to Regulate Technology" (Oxford UP, 2023)

April 24, 2024

Digital Empires

Anu Bradford
Hosted by Jake Chanenson

The global battle among the three dominant digital powers―the United States, China, and the European Union―is intensifying. All three regimes are raci…

Gary S. Cross, "Free Time: The History of an Elusive Ideal" (NYU Press, 2024)

April 23, 2024

Free Time

Gary S. Cross
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Free time, one of life’s most precious things, often feels unfulfilling. But why? And how did leisure activities transition from strolling in the park…

Michael J. Graetz, "The Power to Destroy: How the Antitax Movement Hijacked America" (Princeton UP, 2024)

April 23, 2024

The Power to Destroy

Michael J. Graetz
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

The anti-tax movement is "the most important overlooked social and political movement of the last half century", according to our guest Michael J. Gra…

Rogers M. Smith and Desmond King, "America’s New Racial Battle Lines: Protect Versus Repair" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

April 21, 2024

America’s New Racial Battle Lines

Rogers M. Smith and Desmond King
Hosted by Ursula Hackett

What is happening to the politics of race in America? In America’s New Racial Battle Lines: Protect Versus Repair (U Chicago Press, 2024), Rogers Sm…

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 …

Words of Attack: Rhetoric Against Liberal Democratic Values with James McAdams

April 17, 2024

Words of Attack

James McAdams

With a presidential campaign in the US just around the corner and populist and authoritarian thinkers gaining broader platforms, University of Notre D…

Melvin L. Rogers, "The Darkened Light of Faith: Race, Democracy, and Freedom in African American Political Thought" (Princeton UP, 2023)

April 15, 2024

The Darkened Light of Faith

Melvin L. Rogers
Hosted by Lilly Goren

Political Theorist Melvin L. Rogers has a deep and rich new book delving into the work of a host of different African American political thinkers. But…

Seth D. Kaplan, "Fragile Neighborhoods: Repairing American Society, One Zip Code at a Time" (Little, Brown Spark, 2023)

April 14, 2024

Fragile Neighborhoods

Seth D. Kaplan
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

The neighborhoods we live in impact our lives in so many ways: they determine who we know, what resources and opportunities we have access to, the qua…

Stewart Lawrence Sinclair, "Space Rover" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

April 13, 2024

Space Rover

Stewart Lawrence Sinclair
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In 1971, the first lunar rover arrived on the moon. The design became an icon of American ingenuity and the adventurous spirit and vision many equated…

Joseph M. Thompson, "Cold War Country: How Nashville's Music Row and the Pentagon Created the Sound of American Patriotism" (UNC Press, 2024)

April 6, 2024

Cold War Country

Joseph M. Thompson
Hosted by Katie Coldiron

Country music maintains a special, decades-long relationship to American military life, but these ties didn't just happen. This readable history revea…

Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, "The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market" (Bloomsbury. 2023)

April 5, 2024

The Big Myth

Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway

In their bestselling book Merchants of Doubt, Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway revealed the origins of climate change denial. Now, in The Big Myth: Ho…

Diane Winston, "Righting the American Dream: How the Media Mainstreamed Reagan's Evangelical Vision" (U Chicago Press, 2023)

April 1, 2024

Righting the American Dream

Diane Winston
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

After two years in the White House, an aging and increasingly unpopular Ronald Reagan looked like a one-term president, but in 1983 something changed.…

Teresa Ghilarducci, "Work, Retire, Repeat: The Uncertainty of Retirement in the New Economy" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

March 30, 2024

Work, Retire, Repeat

Teresa Ghilarducci
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

The issue of the future of Social Security, on which millions of Americans depend, produced great political theater at the State of the Union address.…

Paul Carter, "Richard Nixon: California's Native Son" (U Nebraska Press, 2023)

March 29, 2024

Richard Nixon

Paul Carter
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Born in Yorba Linda and raised in Whittier, California, Nixon succeeded early in life, excelling in academics while enjoying athletics through high sc…

Françoise N. Hamlin and Charles W. McKinney, "From Rights to Lives: The Evolution of the Black Freedom Struggle" (Vanderbilt UP, 2024)

March 29, 2024

From Rights to Lives

Françoise N. Hamlin and Charles W. McKinney
Hosted by Mickell Carter

Broadly speaking, the traditionally conceptualized mid-twentieth-century Civil Rights Movement and the newer #BlackLivesMatter Movement possess some s…

Jeanelle K. Hope and Bill V. Mullen, "The Black Antifascist Tradition: Fighting Back from Anti-Lynching to Abolition" (Haymarket Books, 2024)

March 29, 2024

The Black Antifascist Tradition

Jeanelle K. Hope and Bill V. Mullen

The story of the fight against fascism across the African diaspora, revealing that Black antifascism has always been vital to global freedom struggles…

Party People: Candidates and Party Evolution: A Discussion with Allan Sikk and Philipp Köker

March 27, 2024

Party People: Candidates and Party Evolution

Allan Sikk and Philipp Köker
Hosted by Tim Haughton

Contemporary politics is characterized by the rise (and fall) of many new parties. But what tools do political scientists have to map and measure elec…

William W. Parsons and Regina M. Matheson, "The Pink Wave: Women Running for Office After Trump" (NYU Press, 2023)

March 26, 2024

The Pink Wave

William W. Parsons and Regina M. Matheson
Hosted by Deidre Tyler

How and why the election of Donald Trump inspired more women to enter politics. Donald Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidentia…