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Letters & Politics seeks to explore the history behind today’s major global and national news stories. Hosted by Mitch Jeserich.
On today’s show, Mitch Jeserich talks to Erica Benner, author of the book Be Like the Fox: Machiavelli in his world. In her book, Benner argues that Machiavelli is probably one of the most misunderstood thinkers of all times. She sets the record straight: far from the ruthless “Machiavellian” henchman that people think he was, Machiavelli emerges here … Continued
Today Mitch Jeserich is in conversation with James C. Scott about how the agrarian societies were born. Scott argues that early cities were so miserable that these early states went to war in order to capture slaves to keep the cities operating and that is a big reason why slavery was so endemic to the so-called civilized world. James … Continued
Today Mitch Jeserich is in conversation with Timothy Snyder about the new threats our political order faces and how we might stop it from happening. Timothy Snyder is the Levin Professor of History at Yale University. He is the author of Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin and Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning. His latest book is On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons … Continued
Today host Mitch Jeserich spends the hour with renowned economist Richard Wolff to talk about the turbulent situation of the US markets, the nature of the national debt, interest rates, cryptocurrencies and more. Richard Wolff is a professor of economics at New School University in New York City and host of Economic Update. Please keep KPFA alive, click … Continued
Today Mitch Jeserich is in conversation with Jeffrey C. Stewart, professor of Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of the book The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke. In his book, professor Stewart offers a splendid biography of the enigmatic father of the Harlem Renaissance, Alain Leroy Locke, one of the greatest … Continued
Today host Mitch Jeserich interviews Barnard professor Rosalind Rosenberg, author of the book Jane Crow: The Life of Pauli Murray. Pauli Murray was the first African American to earn a JSD from Yale Law School and her legal work on the 14th amendment provided the groundwork for Brown v. Board and inspired Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s … Continued
In the first part of today’s show, Mitch Jeserich talks with Patrick Blanchfield about the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, the same gun that was used to kill every 17 people yesterday at a Florida high-school. Follow Patrick Blanchfield on Twitter at @PatBlanchfield. Then, we are in conversation with Christine Hong about what the winter Olympics mean diplomatically for North Korea, … Continued
Today, Mitch Jeserich is in conversation with Sunaina Maira, Professor of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Davis, and author of the book Boycott!: The Academy and Justice for Palestine. She explains the whys and the wherefores of the boycott movement against Israel, and other historic boycotts as the one against South Africa and the one … Continued
On today’s show, we are in conversation with Bart D. Ehrman, renowned religious scholar and author of the book The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World, about the spread of Christianity throughout the Western world. He relates the history of how the Roman Empire went from being a polytheistic pagan society, that now and … Continued
Today we are in conversation with Ganesh Sitaraman about the history of wealth inequality and how it threatens our government institutions. He is a professor of law at Vanderbilt Law School and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. He has been a longtime advisor to Senator Elizabeth Warren, serving as her policy director and … Continued
