Back in America

Alison Gieschen spent thirty years on a farm, raising horses, raising kids, living in a house her husband Dan built by hand. Then they sold all of it, the furniture, the horses, the house, and moved onto a 43-foot sailboat named Equus to sail around the world. This is the conversation about what that costs and what it gives back. Alison takes Stan back to the last night in the farmhouse, into the...

Jeff Kruszyna has raised over a hundred million dollars for Christian conservative causes. He does it with paper letters that arrive in your mailbox. Twenty years ago, watching the second plane hit the second tower on a television set at SUNY Stony Brook, he changed his major from computer science to political science. He has been writing fundraising letters for America First causes ever since, wi...

  Bryan Mark Rigg failed first grade twice. Today he's a Yale and Cambridge-trained historian, a former Marine Corps officer, and the author of six books on World War II that have rewritten what we thought we knew about the war.                                                                                                                                                                            ...

William Henry Seward was supposed to be president. In 1860, he was the favorite for the Republican nomination until he lost it to a lesser-known prairie lawyer named Abraham Lincoln. Then, while Lincoln sat silent in Springfield for four months after the election, Seward fought alone from the Senate floor to save the Union. C. Evan Stewart, Cornell-trained historian, 40-year securities lawyer, and...

Clifford Brown was a partner at a Beverly Hills law firm when he saw a newspaper ad that changed his life. He gave up most of his income, left his house over the ocean, and joined the U.S. Agency for International Development. For the next 27 years, he worked in Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Colombia, Kyrgyzstan, Guinea, and Peru. In this conversation, Cliff describes bride kidnapping in...

A man's house catches fire. He tells police he ran through the flames saving his belongings. Then detectives pull the data from the pacemaker in his chest. His own heartbeat tells a different story. Andrew Guthrie Ferguson is a professor of law at George Washington University Law School, a former public defender, and the author of Your Data Will Be Used Against You: Policing in the Age of Self-Sur...

Eric Robinson spent twelve years in Christian ministry before leaving the pulpit for the FBI. For twenty-four years, he served as a special agent and SWAT operator, working counterterrorism, human trafficking, crimes against children, and public corruption. He also raised two transgender children inside one of the most conservative law enforcement cultures in the country. In this conversation, Eri...

Recorded on February 25th at the Alliance Francaise in New York, this special French-language episode features Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur in conversation with Emmanuel Saint-Martin at an event organized by French Morning . One of France's very few female rabbis and a bestselling author, Delphine opens up about the firestorm she faced after speaking out on Gaza, the death threats from both sides, th...

A French teenager arrives in Iowa for a year as an exchange student. He falls in love. He spends the next 25 years in France building a career, a family, a life. Then in 2016, his wife gets a job offer in the US, and they move back with their three teenage daughters. What he discovers is that America changed, but more importantly, so did he. This is the story of what makes America fundamentally di...

"What we take for granted is opportunity. Opportunity is just the door being open. Once it's open, you're going to have challenges. But the door is open." Meet Norman Randolph, from Randolph's Shoe Care Service in Hightstown, New Jersey, the man who sees your soul through your shoes. From repairing a diabetic woman's shoes in an emergency to navigating racial perceptions in corporate offices, this...

Recorded live in New York City, this Back in America conversation goes straight at a taboo: employment protection for highly paid engineers. Tech entrepreneur and author Oliver Coste argues that strict dismissal rules in countries like France and Germany make it slow and costly to stop failing projects, which blocks the pivots that fuel disruptive innovation. Coste contrasts Meta’s rapid post–Chat...

Dr. Jon Edwards, ICCF Grandmaster and the 32nd World Correspondence Chess Champion, lays out how elite players win by working alongside AI. He explains why openings run on massive databases, how seven piece tablebases end many debates, and where humans still outplay engines in long, fixed pawn structures. Edwards walks through a months long plan to shift a single pawn, the kind of patient maneuver...

In 1944, a young Black GI shot a white lieutenant on the Ledo Road—and vanished. Months later, Herman Perry reappeared deep in the Indo-Burma jungle, living with a Naga headhunter village, married to the chief’s daughter, speaking the language, and rumored as the “jungle king.” Journalist Brendan I. Koerner , author of Now the Hell Will Start , retraces the greatest manhunt of World War II and the...

Is our education system ready for AI—or still grading with yesterday’s rules? In this episode of Back in America, Stan talks with Shahid, an award-winning fractional CTO and CISO with 35+ years in regulated industries, from medical devices to federal health tech. He argues that AI isn’t just a tool; it’s a colleague, a co-student, and a force multiplier—if teachers and teams learn context engineer...

In this episode of Back in America, I sit down with Clayton Weimers, Executive Director of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) USA, to talk about the state of press freedom in America and beyond. From the decline of local journalism to the rise of AI in newsrooms, we explore the paradox of living in an age of information abundance while losing access to trustworthy reporting. Clayton explains why the...

“Leave all your hope, family, and dreams behind.” That’s the banner Darryl Burton saw when he first walked into Missouri State Penitentiary—infamously known as the “bloodiest 47 acres in America.” He was 22. He was innocent. In this episode of Back in America , Darryl shares his extraordinary story: how a false accusation, coached jailhouse informants, and prosecutorial misconduct stole nearly 25...

In this episode, Stan speaks with Prof. Maurice Wallace of Rutgers University about the enduring impact of James Baldwin, the evolution of Black American vernacular, and the complex relationship America has with its history of slavery and race. Prof. Wallace explores Baldwin’s profound influence on his own academic journey, how language and sound shape Black cultural identity, and why America cont...

For over a century, a small group of dedicated cowboys has upheld a fading American tradition: the Highwood Mountains cattle roundup. In this episode of Back in America, we explore Only Roundup Remains, a documentary capturing the grit, camaraderie, and deep generational ties that keep this way of life alive. Filmmakers Brian Liu and Andrew Labens, alongside the cowboys themselves, share their jou...

A green card interview is supposed to be the last step before legal residency—but what if it’s actually a setup? This episode of Back in America features filmmakers Sam and David Cutler Kreutz discussing their short film, " A Lien ," a story about a couple navigating the complexities of the US immigration system. The conversation delves into the film's themes of family, the "banal cruelty" of the...

What does the First Amendment mean in a modern, diverse America? In this episode of Back in America, host Stan Berteloot speaks with Knox Thames, an international human rights lawyer, advocate, and author with over 20 years of experience across U.S. administrations. Thames, who served as the Special Advisor for Religious Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia, unpacks the historical ro...

Host Stan Berteloot welcomes Coco Kee, entrepreneur, blockchain pioneer, and host of the Blockchain Asia Podcast. Coco shares her journey from studying literature and theater at Peking University to becoming a leading figure in cryptocurrency. Coco discusses on the 2024 U.S. elections and offers a unique perspectives on theChinese-American voters. Exploration of the surprising connections between...

In this episode of Back in America , Stan Berteloot sits down with David Reaboi , a national security expert, media analyst, and Claremont Institute Fellow, known for his incisive takes on political warfare and influence operations. Dubbed a “right-wing Twitter pugilist” by Politico , David shares his unique perspective on some of the most contentious issues shaping the United States today. We dis...

Cia analyst interview with Host Stan Berteloot welcomes David McCloskey, a former CIA analyst and bestselling author. They discuss David's career in intelligence, focusing on geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. David shares insights on current conflicts involving Israel, Lebanon, and Iran. The role of intelligence services in global crises is explored. They delve into the challenges of under...

In this episode of Back in America, Stan Berteloot explores the extraordinary life of Tom Peine, who left a corporate career in Germany to become a deputy sheriff in the deserts of Arizona. At 40, Tom stepped into an entirely new world, navigating America’s complex gun culture, immigration, and race dynamics from the front lines of law enforcement. His story challenges assumptions about identity,...

In this provocative episode of Back in America , we sit down with Dr. Patti Fletcher, author of “Disruptors: Success Strategies for Women Who Break the Mold.” Dr. Fletcher challenges traditional notions of empowerment and exposes the systemic barriers holding women back in 2024 America. Drawing from her personal journey—including her family’s legacy of overcoming adversity during the Armenian geno...