This Is Hell!

Today we have on James Wilt, author of, “Drinking Up the Revolution: How to Smash Big Alcohol and Reclaim Working-Class Joy.” James is a writer and PhD candidate based in Winnipeg, Canada. James discusses how working class people form their relationship with drugs and alcohol when these are commodified by big business interests as well as the way in which enforcement of norms surrounding drugs and...

Dorothy Roberts is an award-winning author and expert on the interplay of gender, race, and class in legal issues concerning reproduction, bioethics, and child welfare. She is a professor of law and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. Chuck Mertz interviews Roberts about her latest book, TORN APART: How the child welfare system destroys black families—and how abolition can build a safer w...

Historian Steve Fraser talks about his Tom Dispatch article "The Trump Supreme Court is Nothing New," about how the Supreme Court has over time been used to kneecap the democrat process in the U.S., and how it's been originally designed to provide that function to uphold the rule of the powerful against the masses. https://tomdispatch.com/the-trump-supreme-court-is-nothing-new/

Steve Fraser talks about his Tom Dispatch article "The Trump Supreme Court is Nothing New." Chuck complains about the hell of a week he's had. Seb presents another Past inside the Present, in which he muses about what 9/11 means in the age of Covid. We reveal this week's Question from Hell! (anniversary edition), and this week's Hangover Cure.

Chuck Mertz talks with Sean O'Leary about his writing for the Ohio River Valley Institute on the impact of the natural gas industry on Appalachian Americans. Also including this week's Hangover Cure, Rotten History, and Introducing this week's Question from Hell. Featuring a first announcement of musical artists performing at This Is Hell's listener appreciation party on September 17th, 2022. Sean...

Brianna Muir wrote the Sapiens article, "An Archaeology of Personhood and Abortion: Opinions about fetal personhood and abortion have fluctuated enormously throughout history and differ in surprising ways between cultures." Brianna is a master’s student in biological anthropology at the University of Central Florida. As an emerging bioarchaeologist, she is interested in how integrative approaches...

William Deresiewicz is a writer and former professor of English at Yale University. William discusses his article "Why I Left Academia (Since You're Wondering)" published August 17th 2022 on Quillete.com with host Chuck Mertz. New responses to the Question From Hell and this week in Rotten History

We have on Tarence Ray from the Trillbilly Worker's Party podcast to discuss the devastating effects of recent flooding in Eastern Kentucky and how the government response affected the poor and working class.

The return of economist Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic Policy and Research. Dean is on to discuss his most recent writing, including, “Structuring the Economy to Give Money to the Rich Is Inflationary.”

Penny M. Von Eschen is author of the new book, “Paradoxes of Nostalgia: Cold War Triumphalism and Global Disorder since 1989.” Penny is the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of American Studies and Professor of History at the University of Virginia and author of, “Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War,” and “Race against Empire: Black Americans and Anticolonialism, 1937–1957....

Sociologist Laura Mauldin talks about her Baffler article "Care Tactics: Hacking an Ableist World," we introduce this week's Question from Hell!, and bring you your Hangover Cure for this Monday. Also, producer Seb gives another history lesson on the Nazis, and the Holocaust - and why we need to remember it.

Gender and Sexuality studies scholar Heather Berg talks about her Boston Review article "Freedom, Not Benefits Sex workers are labor’s vanguard. The left ignores them at its peril." We have the winning answer to this week's Question from Hell!, and producer Seb introduces his rebranded segment "The Past inside the Present" with the first half of a two-parter on the most fun topic of all: the Holoc...

Algernon Austin, Director for Race and Economic Jusice at the Center for Economic and Policy research discusses his recent writing including, "Black People Need Better Options than the Morgue or Mass Incarceration," "Black People (And Everyone Else) Should Avoid Crypto," "Only Radical Changes Will Make Rents Affordable," and "Black Children are Disproportionately Harmed by Extremist Gun Rights Pol...

Chuck is back from his vacation! Today he talked to journalist Steven Thrasher about his book "The Viral Underclass The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide." We also have your Hangover Cure, this week in Rotten History, and some of your answers to the Question from Hell!.

Producer Dan introduces two interviews with activist and scholar Norman Finkelstein, talking about the Israeli siege of Gaza. We also crown this week's winning answer to the Question from Hell!.

Producer Lindsey presents a 2020 interview with Labor historian Tamara Fernando on disease and East Indian pearl fisheries, and what those early capitalist labor conditions in relation to diseases can tell us about the still-current moment.

Producer Seb introduces a 2016 interview with postcolonial studies scholar Ashley Dawson on capitalism powered extinction events around the globe. He also has some answers to this week's Question from Hell! and tries (without success) to come up with a valid hangover cure.

Producer Lindsey plays a 2015 interview with science journalists Elizabeth Grossman and Valerie Brown on the failure of government regulatory agency and corporate greed in the chemical industry and how those things are making everyone sicker and less safe.

Producer Dan introduces two interviews with Kurdish activist Dilar Dirik, talking about the movement for Kurdish liberation and how that movement's politics represent an alternate vision to the neoliberal world order.

Producer Dan plays two interviews from the vault that deal with the U.S. war in Iraq, and the subsequent rise of ISIS in the region.

We welcome investigative journalist Amanda Sperber back to the program to talk about her recent Baffler article "Prelude to a Redeployment - Listening for signs of the Americans in Kismayo, Somalia." After the interview we present a brand new Moment of Truth with Jeff Dorchen, and declare the winning answer to this week's Question from Hell!. https://thebaffler.com/latest/prelude-to-a-redeployment...

Sociologist Raul Perez talks about his book "The Souls of White Jokes: How Racist Humor Fuels White Supremacy," we have this week in Rotten History, and read more of your answers to this week's Question from Hell!.

We welcome Gerald Horne back to the show to talk about most recent book "The Counter-Revolution of 1836 - Texas Slavery & Jim Crow and the Roots of U.S. Fascism." Stay tuned and learn of this week's whale-snack sized hangover cure, hear this week's Question from Hell!, and learn from Seb's Soapbox about some of the origins of Whiteness.

We welcome legal scholar and lawyer William E. Forbath to the program to talk about his book "The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution." Chuck muses about 26 years of running God's favorite radio program with Jeff Dorchen in this week's Moment of Truth, and we declare the winning answer to this week's Question from Hell!

We welcome law scholars Dre Cummings and Kalvin Graham to talk about their work published in Tulsa Law Review about the relationship between race massacres and capitalism. We also have This Week in Rotten History, and more of your answers to this week's Question from Hell!