Story in the Public Square

For all the pages and documents in libraries and archives around the world, there are some stories that remain veiled in mystery. Through her historical fiction, award-winning author Dolen Perkins-Valdez helps us understand events and people largely lost to the passage of time.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The history of American-Iranian relations is complex, sometimes contradictory, and repeatedly violent. Author Scott Anderson explains that history with a special focus on the Islamic revolution in Iran, the fracture that followed, and its continued relevance today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

American audiences know the history of slavery in the United States—from 1619 to the emancipation proclamation. Historian Carrie Gibson reminds us that slavery in the Western hemisphere predates the British colonies of North America, lasted decades after the end of the American Civil War, and was punctuated by perpetual resistance, especially from enslaved persons themselves. See omnystudio....

The human mind has difficulty comprehending just how much money one billion dollars actually is. The New York Times’ Steven Rich is part of a reporting team that has unpacked the power of billionaires in American communities and American politics—where their influence is substantial. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Journalist Stuart Jeffries explores the concept of stupidity from the ideas of ancient philosophers to today’s age of AI, examining how it has been defined throughout history and how it is monetized and exploited in contemporary culture. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After the Cold War, some hoped that the end of superpower competition would usher in a world of lasting peace and cooperation. Former CIA operations officer Sean M. Wiswesser saw where that hope faded only to be replaced by a new era of espionage and covert affairs. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There is a curious debate about the health of American elections. Some allege they are sick. Others say they are thriving. Fair-elections advocate Rebekah Caruthers peels away competing claims to help us understand the real challenges to American voting rights today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s easy, in this 250th Anniversary year of the Declaration of Independence, to find things that divide Americans. But best-selling author Colin Woodard says we’re still bound together as a people by the ideals of our founding. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Writing and creative expression are a frequent topic on this show, but scholar Naomi S. Baron challenges all of us to consider the joy, the practice, and even the challenge of reading, especially in a world where artificial intelligence can do the reading for us. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Senator Wendell Ford of Kentucky once said, “we can disagree without being disagreeable.” Harvard Kennedy School professor and author Julia Minson has made a career out of how to disagree better—and she has the science to back her claims. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Journalists play a vital role in the health of a free society. But The New York Times’ David E. McCraw isn’t a journalist, he’s a lawyer, reporting from the frontlines of the battle for freedom of the press. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This year’s Academy Awards nominations have almost everything: fast cars, conspiracies, classic tales, monsters, intrigue, and nature. It’s a remarkable collection of films and pre-eminent film critic and awards columnist Pete Hammond has reviewed them all. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Go to the movies or visit the bookstore and you’ll see that war stories are everywhere—whether the protagonists are gods, super-heroes, or human beings. But author and West Point professor Elizabeth D. Samet warns that the appeal of the good war story obscures the complexity of conflict and shapes the way we view current international tensions. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy i...

The war in Vietnam was the first war in U.S. history fought by a fully-integrated military. But award-winning author and journalist Wil Haygood says that the challenge beyond the battlefield was that American society was not as fully integrated as the fighting force that served it—and that difference had impacts in Vietnam and at home See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Democratic societies can choose to either let the arts remain the domain of elite society—or a shared expression of community accessible to all. Pam Breaux and Todd Trebour are champions of the arts, on a mission to make them accessible to the largest number of Americans. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Literature’s power comes from its ability to see not just from the eyes of the hero, but the villain, too. Author Megha Majumdar brings us into that literary world with a tale of scarcity and desperation set in the not-too-distant future of her native Kolkata, India. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anyone who pays even passing attention to world news has heard the term “sanctions” every time a foreign crisis threatens a larger conflict. But few understand the power of these weapons to wage economic warfare with devastating effect. Global energy policy researcher Edward Fishman explains that power with skill and insight. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From World War II through the Cold War, and into this century, the Voice of America and its journalists demonstrated the strength and power of a free society and the weakness of America’s enemies. Now, Patsy Widakuswara—a seasoned veteran of VOA—finds herself at the heart of a legal battle over the future existence of the Voice of America.  See omnystudio.com/listener for pr...

Some are concerned that the advantages autocracies like Russia and China have over democracies like the United States are insurmountable. But Ambassador Michael McFaul argues that it’s just the opposite—that it’s the very messiness of American democracy that is the source of our greatest strength.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As a candidate in 2016 and 2024, Donald Trump promised to crack down on undocumented immigrants—and after one year in office, the president has moved fast. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Caitlin Dickerson says that the policies and their implementation come with a very high price—for the immigrants and even for U.S. officials.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informatio...

It’s easy to be skeptical of idealistic notions of American power, the indispensable nation that some have talked about, when the history of the last 25 years is of misguided conflicts in the Middle East and a democratic backsliding at home. But through it all, Washington Post columnist Shadi Hamid takes readers through a compelling case for American power.  See omnystudio.com/listener...

Nearly one in four doctors in the U.S. is foreign-born—many from South Asia—and they often serve in rural and underserved urban communities where American physicians are scarce. Harvard medical historian Eram Alam describes the public health challenges posed when immigrants are frequently met with suspicion in the communities they serve. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informat...

As 2025 draws to a close, we look back on the major stories that shaped public life in the last year with Evelyn Farkas of the McCain Institute at Arizona State University. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

During the Renaissance, ruling families like the Medicis funded the creation of great works of art that dazzle us to this day. In the modern era, the ability of democracies to fund the arts is often contentious and even controversial. Arts advocate Erin Harkey discusses the value of art in public life. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An alarming number of Americans are receptive to the lure of conspiracy thinking. Pollster Stephen Clermont unpacks the most popular conspiracy theories and what they tell us about current American politics. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.