The Back of the Book

In this special episode, the poet and critic Dana Gioia delivers a talk titled “Conservatives and Culture: A Failure of Imagination.” Recorded as a part of AEI’s American Dream Lecture Series, Gioia’s talk is an important assessment of why the right abdicated the arts, the disastrous consequences of that withdrawal—and how conservatives can reclaim the relevance they once had in American culture....

Chris introduces his brand-new book, 13 Novels Conservatives Will Love (but Probably Haven’t Read). Why should conservatives—or anyone—bother reading fiction? How did Chris select the novels to write about? And which ones did he choose, anyway? The answers to these questions, and many others, are finally revealed!   Show Notes: Chris in The Dispatch: “Why Conservatives—and Everyone Else—Should Rea...

Best-selling author Rod Dreher talks to Chris about his latest book, Living in Wonder: Finding Mystery and Meaning in a Secular Age . Rod explains why we’ve lost the ability to see the transcendent around us and how we can rediscover enchantment. What do UFO’s, demons, and beauty have to do with this? Listen and find out! Show Notes: Rod’s new book: Living in Wonder: Finding Mystery and Meaning in...

Chris’s brother, Father Paul Scalia, joins the show to discuss the significance of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter, and how Catholics in particular celebrate this most important (and for priests, most exhausting) week in the liturgical calendar. Father Scalia also recounts his road to the priesthood, shares his favorite Christian apologists and novelists, and discusses the state of the Cath...

Chris talks to Fisher Derderian, founder and executive director of the Roger Scruton Legacy Foundation, about how politics and patronage shape American art. How did the CIA use abstract expressionism as a cultural weapon during the Cold War? How have culture-shaping institutions and public funds moved from supporting artistic greatness to enforcing political compliance? How can more supporters of...

Tevi Troy, a senior fellow at the Ronald Reagan Institute, talks to Chris about his books  The Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes Between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry  (Regnery History, 2024) and  What Jefferson Read, Ike Watched, Obama Tweeted: 200 Years of Popular Culture in the White House  (Regnery History, 2013). Tevi explains how different titans of the entertainment industr...

Megan Gafford joins Chris to discuss some of her recent writing about the fate of architecture in the 20th century. Art Deco was a beautiful, ornamental style that thrived in the United States in the 1920s and ‘30s. What happened to it—why did modernism displace it and what did we lose in the process? Plus, why do manifestos and fanaticism spoil art? Megan and Chris also discuss the architectural...

Novelist Aaron Gwyn joins the show to discuss the fiction of Cormac McCarthy. Why is McCarthy’s  Blood Meridian  a great American novel? What does Gwyn make of recent revelations about McCarthy’s personal life? Plus, Gwyn reads from and discusses his compelling new novella,  The Cannibal Owl . What is the history, and what are the Comanche traditions, behind the work? Gwyn, who teaches creative wr...

Daniel Asia , a composer, author, and president of  The Center for American Culture & Ideas , joins Chris to discuss his musical career (including his new opera), advise newbies on where they can start enjoying classical music (his answer will surprise you), and consider the place of high art in the United States. Is there a tension between democracy and excellence? Is there anything the new a...

Author Ward Farnsworth joins Chris to discuss his Classical English series, as well as his books on Stoicism and the Socratic Method. What—and how—can we learn from the style, rhetoric, and argument of great writers from the long 19th century? How are the ancient Stoics comparable to modern cognitive psychologists? And how can the Socratic method be an antidote for stupidity? Plus, Chris explains...

Chris’s guest is the poet and fiction writer Sally Thomas, who shares a few of her poems and discusses some of her stories. Sally and Chris also talk about her development as a writer, why she enjoys writing formal poetry, and what she does when her short-story characters won’t leave her alone.  Sally is the author of  The Blackbird and Other Stories  (Wiseblood, 2024) and the forthcoming poetry c...

New York Times  columnist Ross Douthat joins Chris to discuss his serialized fantasy novel,  The Falcon’s Children . What inspired one of America’s most important political observers to write a work of fantasy, and to serialize it on Substack? What are his hopes for the project? And why is fantasy such a compelling literary genre? Show Notes Ross’s novel,  The Falcon’s Children   Ross on Game of T...

Chris talks to philosophy professor and competitive trail, road, and ultramarathon runner Sabrina B. Little about virtue ethics, athletics, and her book  The Examined Run: Why Good People Make Better Runners . How can distance running—and sports in general—form us into virtuous people? Conversely, what vices can they shape? What does it mean to live the good life? And what’s so bad about “no pain,...

Chris speaks to Keith O’Brien about the life and legacy of Pete Rose. O’Brien is the author of  Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball  (Pantheon, 2024). Keith interviewed Rose for his remarkable book and has insights about the legend you won’t hear from anyone else. At the top of the episode, Chris shares his memories of Pete Rose, who died on Septembe...

The sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live is about to embark on its 50th season. How has the show lasted so long? How has it reflected and shaped our culture? Who are its best cast members, what are its funniest sketches, and who or what’s been over- or underrated? Find out during Chris’s conversation with Scot Bertram and Christian Schneider, the co-hosts of “ Wasn’t That Special: 50 Years of Sa...

Father Damian Ference, a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Cleveland, joins Chris to discuss his new book,  Understanding the Hillbilly Thomist: The Philosophical Foundations of Flannery O’Connor’s Narrative Art . What did the great American novelist and short-story writer mean when she called herself a “hillbilly Thomist”—how did the thirteenth-century Catholic philosopher shape her art? Father D...

Chris talks to AEI Senior Fellow and  Commentary  columnist Christine Rosen about her new book,  The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World . How have new technologies shaped our interactions with each other and the physical world? Have they changed our understanding of what it means to be human? Plus, Christine talks about her favorite science fiction. Links Keats: “ Ode on...