This Is Hell!

Stefania Maurizi is an investigative journalist currently contributing to the major Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano after working for the last 14 years for la Repubblica, consistently rated among the top two Italian newspapers, and for the italian newsmagezine l’Espresso. She has worked with Julian Assange and his organization WikiLeaks since 2009, teaming up with large teams of international me...

Filmmaker and journalist Esmé von Hoffman talks with Chuck Mertz about her recent article "I Heard it was Safe" published by The Lever. Also featuring a new Past Inside the Present from Sebastian Wuepper and this week's Hangover Cure. Esmé von Hoffman runs Chalk Circle Films and is an award-winning filmmaker who draws on her experience in journalism, theater, and the visual arts to bring a fresh a...

We despair with too few replies to this week's needlessly complicated Question from Hell!, reveal big news about the This is Hell! Team, and play the final Best of 2022 interview from January last year with Roberto Lovato talking about the implications of legalizing drugs and criminalizing psychodelics for people that have consumed them for hundreds of years.

Our latest 'Best of 2022' interview is with organizer and author Tracy Rosenthal who wrote The New Republic article, “Inside LA’s Homeless Industrial Complex,” which she argues exists not of some failure of homelessness policy but an example of the system working exactly as intended.

We replay listener-chosen Best of 2022 interview with CD Davidson-Hiers and Jeff Vandermeer on their article "Is Florida Becoming a Failed State?" published October 11th, 2022 by The Nation. Also featuring this week's Hangover Cure and new responses to the Question from Hell! www.thenation.com/article/society/…a-hurricane-ian/ CD Davidson-Hiers is a native Floridian who grew up on a 40-acre horse...

From October, Brian Mier, editor and contributor to, “Year of Lead: Washington, Wall Street and the New Imperialism in Brazil,” co-editor of Brasilwire, Brazil correspondent for TeleSur English's News Program, From the South, and co-host on Brazil 24/7. Brian was on to discuss his most recent writing at the time, “Media Spins Lula Victory As Defeat,” which was posted just before Lula da Silva won...

We replay a listener chosen favorite interview from 2022 with Dorothy Roberts, an award-winning author and expert on the interplay of gender, race, and class in legal issues concerning reproduction, bioethics, and child welfare. She is a professor of law and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. Chuck Mertz interviews Roberts about her latest book, TORN APART: How the child welfare system d...

Live from Sebastian's living room where he hasn't calibrated his mic correctly, here's the Best of 2022 for Boxing Day with an interview from July 2022 with writer Kate Manne on abortion rights and pregnancy criminalization.

We continue our Best of 2022 series, wherein we revisit the very best interviews of the past year. This week we return to our interview with Gerald Horne, author of, “The Counter-Revolution of 1836: Texas Slavery & JIm Crow and the Roots of U.S. Fascism.” Gerald continues his dynasty of repeated appearances on our year-end best-of round-ups! Moreover, this week's Question From Hell contest reaches...

We replay a listener chosen favorite interview from 2022 with Laura Mauldin who is a writer, sociologist, and interdisciplinary scholar based in New York City. The interview was initially recorded August 22, 2022 and discusses Mauldin's article "Care Tactics" published by the Baffler https://thebaffler.com/salvos/care-tactics-mauldin

The Listeners (you) chose this August interview with Heather Berg, Assistant Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at Washington University St. Louis. Dr. Berg talked about her Boston Review article "Freedom, not Benefits: Sex Workers are the Vanguard of Labor. The Left ignores them at its own Peril." We also feature an somewhat new Past inside the Present, present this week's Question from He...

Michael Hawthorne is on to talk about his investigation into "Forever chemicals: They’re in your drinking water and likely your food. Michael is a Pulitzer-finalist investigative reporter who focuses on the environment and public health for the Chicago Tribune.

Our planned interview is rescheduled for tomorrow. Today we review Rotten History and new answers to the Question from Hell. We play back an interview with Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law, recorded August 5th, 2020. https://thisishell.com/interviews/1214-victoria-law-maya-schenwar

We welcome environmental scholar Leslie Kern to talk about her new book "Gentrification is Inevitable - And other Lies." We also present you this week's (long) Question from Hell!, and have another Icelandic hangover cure. Producer Sebastian has this week's Past Inside the Present, in which he details some of the reasons for Germany's awkward relationship with Israel.

Today's guest had to reschedule, so we replay a past episode, Lindsey has a hellride to work and is called to play back a musical episode featuring artist Wesley WIllis, recovered from the vaults by producer Dan Hill.

Lawyer and activist Flint Taylor returns to the program to discuss his recent article in the Police Misconduct and Civil Rights Law Report "The Wrongful Conviction of Johnnie Lee Savory. Taylor’s work in fighting against police torture in Chicago over the past 29 years has been instrumental in obtaining the conviction and imprisonment of police torture ringleader Jon Burge and the precedent settin...

We welcome Associate Professor of Media and Communication Matthew Crain to the show to talk about his Boston Review article "How Capitalism and not a Few Bad Actors Destroyed the Internet." We also present this week's Question from Hell!, have a brand new Hangover Cure, and producer Sebastian talks about how railroad strikes getting cracked down upon by the government is a tradition in this countr...

Mick Dumke is a reporter for ProPublica. His work has focused on politics and government, including investigations of local and federal gun policies, secret police databases and corruption at Chicago City Hall. Mick is on to discuss his reporting on the growing Chicago Housing Authority scandal. Mick's most recent article on the topic at ProPublica is headlined, "Chicago Officials Withhold Key Fin...

Chuck Mertz speaks with science writer Spencer Roberts and political economist Jan Dutkiewicz about their New Republic Article, "How the Meat Industry Undermines Effective Climate Policy". https://newrepublic.com/article/168766/meat-industry-lobbying-climate This week in Rotten History and new responses to the Question from Hell! Spencer Roberts is a science writer, ecologist, musician, and engine...

Chuck returns to the studio, we have this week's Hangover Cure where Sebastian mispronounces Icelandic names, an all new Question from Hell! for the week, and a brand new installment of The Past inside the Present, talking about the connection between billionaire worship, the Puritans and the history of the prosperity gospel movement. Chuck welcomes historian, writer, and activist Austin McCoy to...

Board Operator Dan selects a Golden Oldie from the This is Hell! vaults while Chuck recuperates from the Creeping Crud. In this selection, Dr. Monique Morris talks about how racism and sexism collide to criminalize Black girls. After which, this week's Question From Hell contest culminates thunderously.

Producer Lindsey Gorry replays an interview from 2019 with political scientist Thea Riofrancos while Chuck recovers from Covid-19. More info on Thea Riofrancos work here: http://www.theariofrancos.com/about And find her on twitter here: https://twitter.com/triofrancos

Chuck is out sick this week, so the producers run the show in Limbo Mode. Sebastian presents a 2015 interview with South African political economist Patrick Bond, talking about the FIFA bribery scandals of which the now (in 2022) ongoing world cup in Qatar is a fruit.

We speak with political science scholar, Nojang Khatami who is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Justitita Center for Advanced Studies at Goethe University Frankfurt. Beginning in the fall of 2023, he will be Assistant Professor of Political Science at Fordham University. Nojang is on to talk about his Boston Review article, “The Lifeblood of Iranian Democracy: From street demonstrations to song, dance...

Alec Karakatsanis joins Chuck Mertz to discuss his piece "Warning to Journalists About Elite Academia" published at https://equalityalec.substack.com/ . Alec is the founder and executive director of Civil Rights Corps and Author of Usual Cruelty. New responses to the Question from Hell and this week in Rotten History.