Bookstack

How did the Republican Party end up resembling a nationalist populist movement? Matthew Continetti joins host Richard Aldous to talk through the rise and development of modern conservatism, and to discuss his new book, The Right: The Hundred Year War for American. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.co...

Today’s sexual ethics, meant to be liberating, seem to be instead driving a wave of dissatisfaction and unease among young people. Washington Post columnist Christine Emba joins host Richard Aldous to unpack what’s going on, and discuss her new book Rethinking Sex: A Provocation. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit w...

Why another book on Watergate? Garrett M. Graff joins host Richard Aldous to tell a wilder, weirder, darker version of the incident than we are accustomed to hearing—as detailed in his new book Watergate: A New History. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe

What is the nature and value of disagreement, especially in today’s social media-infused landscape? Lee Siegel joins host Richard Aldous to talk about all this, and his new book, Why Argument Matters. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe

How does modern authoritarianism work? Daniel Treisman joins host Richard Aldous to talk Putin, Xi, Lee Kwan Yew, and the tools of modern state control—all discussed in his new book, co-authored with Sergei Guriev, Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit w...

With the Ukraine War heading into its fifth week, Christopher M. Smith joins host Richard Aldous to talk about the roots of Ukraine’s turn to the West, American policymaking at the State Department, and his new book Ukraine’s Revolt, Russia’s Revenge. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subsc...

Chris Armstrong joins our host Richard Aldous to talk about how existing governing institutions are failing to address one of our most important natural resources: the oceans. Listen to the conversation, and read Armstrong’s new book, A Blue New Deal: Why We Need a New Politics for the Oceans. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus epi...

Elon Musk once said that the future cannot be predicted, it can only be discovered. This week, Sebastian Mallaby joins host Richard Aldous to talk about innovation, technology, markets, and his new book The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion...

What’s it like to be a part of history? With the 50th anniversary of Nixon’s famous trip to China taking place this year, Dwight Chapin joins host Richard Aldous to talk about his new book, The President’s Man: Memoirs of Nixon’s Trusted Aide. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe

Walter F. White led two lives: one as a leader of the NAACP in the early twentieth century, and the other as a white newspaperman who covered lynching crimes in the Deep South. This week, A. J. Baime joins host Richard Aldous to discuss his new book, White Lies: The Double Life of Walter F. White and America's Darkest Secret. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subsc...

Happy Presidents’ Day! On the show this week, Iain Dale and Alvin Felzenberg join host Richard Aldous to talk about The Presidents: 250 Years of American Political Leadership, a collection of essays by a range of academics, historians, journalists and serving politicians, on all 45 men who have held the office over the last 250 years. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with ot...

How do we best think about the abolition movement—as a tepid first step towards righting a historic injustice or a moral breakthrough despite its flaws? Linda Hirschman joins host Richard Aldous to talk about her new book The Color of Abolition: How a Printer, a Prophet, and a Contessa Moved a Nation. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to b...

What to do about the billionaire class? New York Times’ Global Economics Correspondent Peter S. Goodman joins host Richard Aldous to talk about inequality and wealth centralization in the 21st century, as well as his new book, Davos Man: How the Billionaires Devoured the World. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www...

What drove Hitler to declare war on the United States after Pearl Harbor, and what, if anything, can that fateful decision to kick off a truly world war tell us about today’s dangerous moment? Brendan Simms and Charlie Laderman join host Richard Aldous to discuss their new book, Hitler’s American Gamble: Pearl Harbor and Germany’s March to Global War. This is a public episode. If you'd like to dis...

George Washington was a farmer, first and foremost. Bruce A. Ragsdale joins host Richard Aldous this week to talk about what new perspectives this underexamined fact sheds on Washington as a leader, the early republic, and the role of slavery in American society. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.com...

Why study the Great Books? The question is not only out of favor these days, it is rarely even asked any more. Roosevelt Montas joins host Richard Aldous for our fiftieth episode to offer a spirited defense of the tradition, and to talk about his new book, Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter For a New Generation. This is a public episode. If you'd like to dis...

Happy New Year! Why did classical music in America become and stay white? And what could be done to change that? Joseph Horowitz joins host Richard Aldous to discuss his new book, Dvorak’s Prophecy and the Vexed Fate of Black Classical Music. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe

Is intellectual integrity in today’s academia possible? Jason L. Riley joins host Richard Aldous to talk about his new book on Thomas Sowell, one of America's most influential conservative thinkers. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe

As another COVID winter looms, Brendan Borrell joins host Richard Aldous to discuss his new book The First Shots, about the epic, and inspiring scientific and bureaucratic race to find a vaccine and save the world. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe

The origins of the luxury hotel and of modern theater, the start of Gilbert and Sullivan’s career, the roots of Oscar Wilde celebrity—Olivia Williams joins host Richard Aldous to discuss her new book, The Secret Life of the Savoy: Glamour and Intrigue at the World’s Most Famous Hotel. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, vi...

Alfred Thayer Mahan would feel right at home in today’s geopolitical landscape: all of the great struggles of our time are playing out atop, within, and below the world’s oceans. Bruce Jones joins host Richard Aldous this week to discuss what the struggle for global supremacy might look like, as outlined in his new book, To Rule the Waves. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this wi...

What’s it really like working for Donald Trump? Fiona Hill joins host Richard Aldous to talk about her new book, There Is Nothing For You Here: Finding Opportunity in the 21st Century, her harrowing time at the White House, growing up poor in England, and the roots of our current political dysfunction. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to...

Just because no history is completely determined by one decision does not mean that NATO expansion in the 1990s could not have been handled better. Mary Sarotte, the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Distinguished Professor of Historical Studies at Johns Hopkins SAIS joins host Richard Aldous to discuss her new book, Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate. This is a...

Climate change, pandemics, social upheaval, technological change—all these things are uprooting our modern conceptions of what a settled life can and should be. This week, Parag Khanna joins host Richard Aldous to talk about all this and his new book Move: The Forces Uprooting Us. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit...

What does the life of Oscar Wilde tell us about #metoo and predatory celebrity culture, in Victorian England and today? More than you might imagine, and in surprising ways at that. This week, Matthew Sturgis joins host Richard Aldous to talk about his new book, Oscar Wilde: A Life, to discuss all this and more. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get a...