The Close Read Podcast

Editor Charles Kesler and Associate Editor Spencer Klavan discuss the stimulating new winter 2022/23 CRB. Listen in for reflections on Dr. Kesler's own editor's note and the speech from which it was adapted, discussing the continuity between today's "New Right" and the young conservative movement of the 1950s and '60s. Plus: a survey of ten more CRB  essays, covering topics from Benjamin Netanyahu...

To close out the Fall 2022 issue, Spencer is joined by Anthony Daniels (pen name Theodore Dalrymple), a British physician, psychiatrist and prolific author of excellent books. They discuss the history of psychiatric treatment in the West, particularly its blatant barbarism until recently, where we've moved from barbarism to aggressive apathy as the mentally ill have been emptied from asylums to th...

Dr. Charles Murray, F. A. Hayek Chair Emeritus in Cultural Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Spencer to expand on his most recent essay for the  CRB  on how diversity and ethnic differences affect large democratic countries like the U.S. Dr. Murray discusses some of the evidence for his argument, as well as some ways in which these difficult truths can be applied to politics toda...

Cornell Professor and Hoover Institution Corliss Page Dean Fellow Barry Strauss joins Spencer to discuss his newest essay for the CRB on Caesar and the fall of the Roman republic. Strauss analyzes Caesar’s character and political calculations within the larger Roman political world. This naturally turns to contemporary discussion of what conditions would need to be met for a Caesar to emerge today...

Editor Charles Kesler and Associate Editor Spencer Klavan discuss the thought-provoking new fall 2022 CRB, including Michael Anton’s retrospective on the nuclear near-misses of 1983, Douglas Jeffrey's thoughtful insights into Merle Haggard's life, and Dr. Kesler’s own discussion of what 2022 might mean for 2024. Plus: how closely does the Late Roman Republic parallel us today? This is a public epi...

Harvard Professor and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Harvey C. Mansfield joins Spencer to discuss the state of woke dogma and groupthink at American universities. Mansfield reflects on the value of dissent for students who may be privately reconsidering the group mentality, which leads to broader discussion about the morality of equality and what we ought to do to shed the yoke of wokeism's inhe...

Claremont Senior Fellow Christopher Caldwell joins Spencer to discuss Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and America’s involvement in it. Caldwell’s brief outline of Ukraine’s history with Russia leads them to a broader discussion of why Ukraine became the flash point for Russia’s ire, and how Americans are inclined to narrativize the war. As the conflict rages on in new and ill-defined ways, wh...

Editor Charles Kesler and Associate Editor Spencer Klavan discuss the wide range of summer’s new CRB, including Chris Caldwell’s thorough analysis of America’s oblique but profound involvement in Ukraine, Michael Anton’s notes from quarantine in Dubai, and Dr. Kesler’s own essay on the several distinct generations of “voting rights”—a term which is gradually coming to imply representation by race...

Professor Daniel J. Mahoney joins Spencer to discuss his thorough rebuttal to The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story. Exposing the Project’s willful ignorance and spiteful misinformation leads the two into a broader assessment of American education. The 1619 Project’s architects have engineered a comprehensive assault upon American history teaching from the earliest grades on upward—Professor Mahone...

Professor Allen C. Guelzo joins Spencer to discuss his review essay on Alan Taylor’s deflationist histories of America. Along the way, the two discuss the nature of history as a discipline in America and Europe, the true character of the United States, and the moral responsibilities of the historian. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bo...

Enemies abroad and unrest at home: Editor Charles Kesler and Associate Editor Spencer Klavan discuss the wide range of spring’s new CRB, including Mark Helprin’s in-depth analysis of the war in Ukraine, Nathan Pinkoski’s careful examination of how Spain’s republic self-destructed, and Dr. Kesler’s own comments on the precarity of Court-made rights. Plus: an excerpt from Klavan, Sr.’s new book. Thi...

Nathan Pinkoski, research fellow and director of academic programs at the Zephyr Institute, joins Spencer to discuss the Spanish Civil War and its implications for modern America. Contrary to the simple morality tale most people learn in school, the history of Spain’s Civil war was a complex demonstration of how a republic can die from self-inflicted wounds. Americans would do well to take note. T...

Chris Flannery, Senior Fellow at the Claremont Institute, contributing editor of the  Claremont Review of Books , and author of  The American Story  podcast, joins Spencer to discuss the enduring wisdom and meticulous composition of Abraham Lincoln’s speeches. These are words that were intended for posterity, so it pays to turn to them in our perilous moment as we fight for America’s future. This...

In his latest editor’s note, Dr. Kesler identifies an emerging conflict between the anti-American Left, and the “post-American” Right. Spencer and Dr. Kesler discuss the conservative movement’s past and future as illustrated in essays from the issue. Plus: the CRB takes on the delicate subject of race in America. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get...

Is there a God? Can we believe? Or has science disproven all that? A prevailing assumption in the academy is that your life means no more than that of a jellyfish. Dr. Leonard Sax joins Spencer to explain how that mindset is crippling young adults, and to discuss a new book by Dr. Stephen C. Meyer on the Return of the God Hypothesis. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with oth...

Mark Helprin, novelist and senior fellow of the Claremont Institute, joins Spencer to discuss America’s—and the West’s—apparent death wish. By making us as vulnerable as possible abroad, while simultaneously mimicking the authoritarianism of our supposed enemies at home, our leaders are flirting with disaster. What will come next—and is there any hope for the future? This is a public episode. If y...

Dr. William Voegeli, senior editor of the  Claremont Review of Books , joins Spencer to analyze the Left’s increasingly dangerous relationship with crime. Urban Democrats have embraced a counterintuitive policy preference, enabling astonishingly high crime rates rather than working to reduce them. At the heart of it all is an urgent need to explain away violent crime as a cry for help from the per...

Jeffrey Anderson, former Trump appointee to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, joins Spencer to analyze the dubious science of mask mandates. Anderson’s essay, which was featured on Tucker Carlson Tonight, identifies how masks have been used to make Americans more submissive and erode our form of government. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get acces...

Glenn Ellmers, Claremont Institute senior fellow and author of the new book  The Soul of Politics , joins Spencer to discuss the enduring relevance of Harry V. Jaffa’s life and scholarship for our challenging political times. Plus: is the modern academy unmaking our best and brightest? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, v...

The  CRB ’s Summer edition is wide-ranging, covering topics including masking, crime, and a prescient editor’s note about the fiasco that is Afghanistan’s fall. Join Dr. Kesler and Spencer as they discuss the significance of the collapse of Kabul, a brief history of how we got there, and what lessons can be gleaned from it all. Plus: an overview of the whole edition. This is a public episode. If y...

Andrew Roberts, author of the new book  Churchill: Walking with Destiny , joins Spencer to discuss the legacy of Winston Churchill and the lessons we can draw from his greatness. Plus: a sneak peek at Roberts’s forthcoming defense of King George III. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claremontinstitute.substack.com...

Dr. James Poulos, executive editor of  The American Mind , joins Spencer to discuss humanity's identity crisis as machines and algorithms—piloted by Big Tech—threaten to usurp us as rulers of the earth. In a world increasingly dominated by invisible technology, the question becomes: who will catechize the bots? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get a...

Professor James Hankins joins Spencer to discuss China's present position on the world stage, where it's trying to go, and how the U.S. should respond. Hankins, a professor of history at Harvard University, uses China's ancient past to paint a nuanced picture of modern China's political situation. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus...

The Right has been grappling with an identity crisis for some time. President Trump seems to have ushered in a new era—but an era of what, exactly? Daniel McCarthy, editor of Modern Age  and a 2020 Lincoln Fellow, joins Spencer to talk about the Right's present trajectory and where it's likely headed next. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access...

The  CRB ’s winter edition takes a cumulative look at the aftermath of the 2020 election, the dismay among conservatives, and the two radically different philosophies competing for American hearts. Join Dr. Kesler and Spencer as they discuss these major themes, and the deepening rifts beneath the surface of it all. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or g...