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Alexi is out, so Ryan briefly discusses how the coronavirus pandemic blows apart the conservative/libertarian conception of freedom, and illustrates the value of a socialist version of same. Hope you all had a good holiday, and enjoy!

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Thanks to popular demand, we are unlocking this one for everyone. We couldn't decide how we wanted to tackle such a gigantic book, so we decided we'd each pick out 10 quotes that drove us furthest up the wall, and talk about them. Enjoy! Support the show here!

Today we are talking with Steven Klein , a professor of political theory at King's College London, about his book The Work of Politics . How does the welfare state interact with traditional conceptions of political activity and struggle? Klein has complex and interesting answers to this question. Enjoy!

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Today we've got philosopher David Livingstone Smith on to discuss his book On Inhumanity . We discuss how people can come to believe others are less than human, how that is related to various atrocities, whether the entire idea of "races" should be abolished, and more. Enjoy!

What happens after Trump? We've got The New Republic's Osita Nwanevu on to discuss his recent article on why the left should take to the streets immediately, broader questions of political possibility, how American democracy might be defended, and more. Enjoy!

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Today we've got Matt Sitman , who is co-host of the excellent Know Your Enemy podcast , associate editor at Commonweal , and editorial board member of Dissent , on to discuss the quite remarkable papal encyclical from a few weeks ago. We talk the politics of Catholicism, how Pope Francis relates to his predecessors, how to live well in such a terrible age, and more. Enjoy!

On this episode we discuss the LARB symposium on Martin Hägglund's book This Life. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing !

Today we've got Professor Robert Vitalis on to discuss his book Oilcraft , and how a mistaken understanding of how the oil supply works has bedeviled both imperialists and anti-imperialists. Enjoy! PS: Alas, despite our best efforts we once again had a few audio glitches, thanks it seems this time to internet connection problems. Apologies!

In the second half of our latest bonus episode we discuss the presidential debate, the Amy Coney Barrett nomination, and judicial theories of originalism. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing !

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Today we've got Daniel Bessner , University of Washington professor and recently inaugurated Foreign Exchanges columnist , on to discuss various foreign policy topics: the motivations and functioning of the American empire, how we should think about China regarding the Uyghur abuses and climate change, and how one might go about rolling back the imperial system. Enjoy!

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Today we've got Marshall Steinbaum from the University of Utah to discuss whether socialism and antitrust (or antimonopoly) inherently trade off, or can complement each other. The Gabriel Winant review of Goliath we discuss can be found here . Enjoy! PS: Unfortunately we had some more technical glitches during recording. Apologies, but everything should be reasonably comprehensible.

Today we've got Professor Harvey Kaye on to discuss his book The Fight for the Four Freedoms: What Made FDR and the Greatest Generation Truly Great . We discuss the radical content of this doctrine, how the Democratic Party has forgotten its own history, and how the "Greatest Generation" has been sanitized by morons like Tom Brokaw. Enjoy!

Today we've got Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on to talk about his new book, Healing Politics . We discuss the coronavirus pandemic, health care reform, the experience growing up in an immigrant community, what he's learned from his faith, and more. Enjoy!

Today we've got political philosopher Meena Krishnamurthy on to talk about her writings on Martin Luther King, Jr. We discuss distrust and solidarity, how individualism strangles American government, how his thought bears on the Black Lives Matter movement, and more. Enjoy! Her article on the democratic value of distrust can be found here . (PS: Apologies for the occasionally scratchy audio, there...

We discuss Peter Beinart's argument that black politicians can't be as progressive as white ones in this preview. To hear the whole thing, subscribe here !

Today we've got Dave Dayen of The American Prospect on to talk about his new book Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power . Enjoy!

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Here we've got Tobi Olowe , host of the Impressions of America podcast , on to talk about the life and legacy of Ayn Rand, and her eponymous institute's decision to get on the coronavirus welfare train. Enjoy!   PS: The very funny Whittaker Chambers review of Atlas Shrugged can be found here .