Guest: Matt Grossmann is a Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University. He is author of several books including Asymmetric Politics and his latest Red State Blues: How the Conservative Revolution Stalled in the States. Guest: DD Guttenplan, Editor of the Nation magazine. … Continued


In her compelling exploration of language, archaeology, and early medieval literature, Max Dashu illuminates hidden cultural heritages. She shows that the old ethnic names for “witch” signify ‘wise woman, ‘ ‘prophetess, ‘ ‘diviner, ‘ ‘chanter, ‘ ‘herbalist, ‘ and ‘healer.’  Today we talk to Max Dashu about her book Witches and Pagans: Women in European … Continued


A conversation on the Luddites with Peter Linebaugh author of Ned Ludd & Queen Mab: Machine-Breaking, Romanticism, and the Several Commons of 1811-12. The book tells us about the anonymous and scorned 19th-century loom-breakers of the English midlands into the front ranks of an international, polyglot, many-colored crew of commoners resisting dispossession in the dawn … Continued


A conversation with archaeologist and Marxist historian Neil Faulkner about the Russian Revolution. He is the author of the book A People’s History of the Russian Revolution. About the Book Faulkner debunks the myths that continues to shroud the Russian revolution, showing how a mass movement of millions, organized in democratic assemblies, mobilized for militant … Continued


A conversation with Stephen Greenblatt talking about the psychological roots, and the twisted consequences of tyranny from the study of Shakespeare’s tyrannical leaders: Richard III, Macbeth, Lear, Coriolanus, and the societies they rule over. Guest: Stephen Greenblatt is a Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University, a world-renowned Shakespeare scholar, and the author of several books … Continued


Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston tells the tragic story of the last survivor of the slave trade transported from Africa to America. This important book offers insight into the pernicious legacy of slavery in the U.S. and an invaluable contribution to the history and culture of this country. … Continued