The 21st Show

Millions of Americans are in relationships with people who have different political views. University of Illinois researcher Emily Van Duyn has spent years exploring how people navigate those relationships — and how those relationships, in turn, shape their politics. Van Duyn joins us to talk about her new book, Hearts Divided: How Politics Shape Our Closest Connections. We discuss how couples han...

Leaving prison is supposed to mean a person's debt to society has been paid. But for many people coming home from Illinois prisons, the first problem is figuring out where to sleep that night. The Home for Good Act (House Bill 624), would create a statewide program offering rental assistance, support services and new housing for people leaving state prison who are found to be at risk of homelessne...

Illinois House Democrats expanded their supermajority in last week's election — and now they're looking for a new leader. Speaker of the House Emanuel “Chris” Chris Welch says he won't seek another term as speaker after 26 House Democrats called for change, following months of criticism over his handling of sexual harassment allegations against former Rep. Harry Benton and complaints about how he...

From “da Bears” in Chicago to “Hahvahd Yahd” in Boston, our accents shape how the world hears us — and how it judges us. Linguist Valerie Fridland explores how and why in her new book, "Why We Talk Funny: The Real Story Behind Our Accents," which traces how American speech patterns took shape over centuries and why they're still shifting today.

A year after his first visit to The 21st Show, retired U.S. diplomat Eric Whitaker returned to talk about the world as it is now. The former ambassador to Niger grew up in DeKalb and North Aurora and studied at the University of Illinois. He says the U.S. has "unilaterally diplomatically disarmed," pulling back from alliances while China and Russia move into the space it left behind. Whitaker talk...

Democrats won decisively across the country Tuesday, and Illinois was no exception. Gov. J.B. Pritzker won a third term, defeating Republican Darren Bailey for the second time. Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton won the race to succeed U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin. Chicago Tribune political writer Dan Petrella joins The 21st Show to sort through the results. Topics include where Stratton fits in a changing Democr...

Civic education is an essential part of democracy. But political scientist Lindsey Cormack argues American schools are not up to the task — which means parents have to take matters into their own hands. On this Election Day, we're listening back to our conversation with Cormack about her book, How to Raise a Citizen. We also talk about DCinbox, her database of the official email newsletters member...

Abraham Lincoln is often said to be the subject of more books than anyone except Jesus. So what's left to say about the 16th president? Plenty, according to Jonathan W. White, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin who calls himself an “accidental” Lincoln scholar. White edited Why Lincoln: Preserving an American Legacy, a new collection in which Lincoln scholars explain why they keep co...

Election Day is less than a week away, and one of the biggest choices before Illinois voters is who will succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin. Democratic Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton is facing Republican Don Tracy, a former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, and Whitfield Harrington Jr., a Chicago pastor running with the American Center Party. Our conversations covered the war in Iran, Amer...

Among the choices before voters in this year's election — which is less than a week away — is who should be the governor of Illinois. Incumbent Democrat J-B Pritzker is seeking a third term. He’s once again being challenged by Republican Darren Bailey, representing his party for the second election in a row. And there’s also an independent campaign from Collin Corbett, a former Republican politica...

U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood has represented Illinois' 14th Congressional District since 2019. Today the 14th encompasses a large triangle in north-central Illinois, bounded by Joliet, DeKalb, and LaSalle-Peru. The Democrat joined us live ahead of next week’s midterm elections, in which she’s facing a challenge from Republican Jim Marter (with whom we spoke on Sept. 21, 2026). We talked with Underwo...

Americans have spent years arguing about how police, paramedics, and other emergency personnel respond when dispatched to help people in crisis. But UChicago researcher Rebecca Neusteter says that conversation overlooks an important part of our public safety system: the 9-1-1 call center. She says too often, emergency call centers default to sending police, when a different type of response would...

Illinois-based writer Daniel Kraus has been having a remarkable year. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his novel Angel Down. Another, Whalefall, was made into a movie that hit theaters last week. And he's published his first book of nonfiction, about how the classic horror film Night of the Living Dead (1968) saved his life. Kraus talks about researching how someone could survive being swallowed by a s...

Harvest season is well underway across Illinois. According to the USDA, 63% of corn and 66% of soybeans had been harvested as of Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. It’s been an expensive year, especially with the high cost of diesel and other inputs. We’ll talk about that and the outlook for next year.

Tuesday night was the only scheduled debate in the campaign to be the next U.S. Senator from Illinois. Republican Don Tracy faced off against Democratic Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton. We’ll recap what happened with Illinois public radio reporter Mawa Iqbal.

Whitfield Harrington Jr., a pastor from Chicago, is running to be the next U.S. Senator from Illinois. He registered as the candidate of the American Center Party, which he also founded as a state party (not to be confused with any other American Center Party). Harrington faces steep odds against Democratic nominee Juliana Stratton, who is also the lieutenant governor; and Republican nominee Don T...

Tony Goldberg has traveled the globe investigating diseases that can move between animals and people. Sometimes that means studying the parasites that attack him along the way, including a tick that hitched a ride from Uganda up his nose. Goldberg is based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison but was educated in part at the University of Illinois, where he's giving a free public lecture at 4 p.m...

With just weeks until the Nov. 3 midterm elections, many people are worried about what could happen — from federal agents at polling places to the president trying to "cancel" the vote. Amanda Carpenter of Protect Democracy, a nonprofit working against authoritarianism in America, says some of those fears are unfounded, while others are worth preparing for. Carpenter says President Donald Trump ca...

This week in Chicago the two major-party candidates for Illinois governor faced off in their only debate: Democratic incumbent Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and his second-time Republican challenger Darren Bailey. We’ll talk about what happened with Illinois Public Radio’s Mawa Iqbal.

NPR’s Daniel Burke and Scott Detrow spent a year researching the backstory of how an altar boy from Illinois became the leader of the global Catholic Church. To do that, they talked with more than a hundred people on six continents about Robert Prevost — from his childhood in Dolton, to seminary in Michigan and Chicago, through his time in Peru and Rome. Their book is American Pope: Leo XIV’s Road...

Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton is the Democratic nominee for U.S. senator from Illinois, seeking to succeed Sen. Dick Durbin when his term ends in January 2027. In an interview recorded Friday, we talked about the war in Iran, what she means when she says we ought to “abolish ICE,” and what Democrats should prioritize if they regain control of the U.S. Senate.

Illinois native Bill Odenkirk has written for “The Simpsons” and “Futurama.” Now he’s bringing a theatrical production to Champaign — exploring the question of whether we are alone in the universe. It stars (among others) his older brother, Bob Odenkirk, of “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul.” And it features a real-life astrophysicist who’s made some bold claims about whether aliens may have al...

Republican Congressman Mike Bost is running for another term in Illinois’ 12th District, which includes roughly the bottom third of Illinois. We’ll talk with him about gas prices, the war in Iran, cuts to Medicaid, and why he won't debate his Democratic opponent, Julie Fortier. You can also listen to our interview with Foriter from Aug. 18, 2026.

Artificial intelligence is everywhere, from internet searches to event flyers to customer service phone calls. But what effect is it having on people who use it, and the way we interact with the world — and each other?

Joshua Johnson was the host NPR’s flagship talk program, 1A. He also had shows on MSNBC and NBC News Now. Today he’s delivering satirical news for The Onion. Beyond that work, Johnson is also thinking through the ways Americans can better connect across some of our deepest divides. To that end, he created “The Resolution Game,” and gave a TED Talk earlier this year titled “Idiots Are Everywhere. H...