Left Anchor

We're reposting our episode from last year discussing It's a Wonderful Life, one of our favorite films of all time, and one that has only grown in relevance compared to when we grew up watching it decades past. Enjoy, and we hope everyone has a nice holiday season!

In this preview, Harvey Kaye discusses Josh Hawley's bizarre new book. Subscribe now to listen to the whole thing !

Subscribe now to hear the whole episode!

Today we've got the authors of Carceral Con: The Deceptive Terrain of Criminal Justice Reform on to discuss their book. We discuss some of the downsides of how criminal justice reform has been portrayed in popular media, in particular the downsides of the austerian logic that doing so will save the government money. Enjoy!

Subscribe now to hear the whole episode! Also don't miss Kate's book here .

Today we've got Smith College Assistant Professor of Government Erin Pineda on to talk about her book Seeing Like An Activist: Civil Disobedience and the Civil Rights Movement . We discuss how her work relates to the famous James Scott book Seeing Like a State, how civil disobedience really worked during the civil rights movement, how the movement against police brutality today has been sidetracke...

Subscribe now to listen to the whole episode ! And check out David's podcast series "Meltdown" here .

Subscribe now the hear the full episode !

Today we have Ashley Lucas on to talk about her essay " The End of Rage " about a man named Russell "Maroon" Shoatz. He was a Black Panther and political radical in the 1970s who ended up in prison for killing a police officer, despite a lack of any direct evidence he was the culprit, and later served over 22 years in solitary confinement after attempting to escape. He is now old and has terminal...

Subscribe now to hear the full episode ! Also, don't miss Alex's newsletter .

This time we've got philosopher David Livingstone Smith (last seen here on episode 165 ) to discuss his book Making Monsters: The Uncanny Power of Dehumanization . We talk about the sources of dehumanizing ideology, what purpose it can serve politically, why even Heinrich Himmler couldn't take witnessing a massacre of Jews during the Holocaust, and more. Enjoy!

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After unlocking our episode about the January 6 putsch, Ryan is doing a quick follow-up on our episode with John Ganz from February. This time we're talking about Robert Paxton's book The Anatomy of Fascism in the context of Trump lawyer John Eastman's coup memo , and various aspects of current right-wing culture. Enjoy! Also check out the Adolph Reed essay mentioned here .

We're unfortunately delayed thanks to personal events so we're unlocking this one as a retrospective of our initial thoughts on the January 6 putsch. Tomorrow Ryan will have another episode on the fascism question, so stay tuned!

In this excerpt we make the case against sanctioning Afghanistan. To hear the full episode subscribe here ! 

Today we are talking with Alex from the Providence Leftist Radio Podcast (also see their Patreon here ) about Chapter 5 in Nikolai Bukharin's book Historical Materialism, " The Equilibrium between Society and Nature ," as well as Friedrich Engels' essay " On Authority ." Enjoy!

In this first half of this episode, we talk about the situation in Afghanistan with Lyta Gold , particularly the media freakout about America's imperial humiliation. To hear our following discussion of The Green Knight, subscribe here ! 

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Today we've got Professor Brad Evans to talk about his recent book Ecce Humanitas: Beholding the Pain of Humanity . We discuss his arguments against privileging sacrifice, why liberalism is dead, and how to create something better. Enjoy!

In this preview we discuss the ways that America really is better than Hungary, and the ways that it is an international embarrassment. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing !

Today we've got an interview with Imani Oakley , who is running to represent New Jersey's 10th District in Congress next year. We talk about what the district is like, why she got into politics, the political splits in the Black community, and more. Enjoy! 

In this excerpt, we discuss a (partial) list of one week's worth of climate disasters, and the recent Kim Stanley Robinson book The Ministry for the Future . Subscribe now to hear the full episode ! 

Ryan has been off on vacation for the past 2 weeks, so we are unlocking this one as a treat while we get the next one produced. This time we talk about both the fake smear campaign version of critical race theory as invented by professional conservative liars, and the actual body of thought. Enjoy! Links to articles we mentioned: one by Sam Kriss , one by Damon Linker , and one by John Ganz .

Enjoy this PREVIEW of our latest bonus episode with Trekonomics author and friend of the podcast Manu Saadia Manu joins us to discuss the greatest eco-socialist revolution you've never heard of: "The Coconut Revolution."   Subscribe now to listen to the rest!   

Today we've got historian Matt Karp on to talk about his recent article in Harper's on the 1619 Project and right-wing attempts to suppress anti-racism in the classroom.   Items mentioned in the episode: John Ganz on the 1619 Project ; Frederick Douglass on the 4th of July , America's composite nationality , and his eulogy for Lincoln , and John Mercer Langston on the world anti-slavery movement ....