Watching America

Winsome Earle Sears has served in Virginia as a Delegate and on the state’s Board of Education. In January, 2022, she became the state’s Lieutenant Governor. Sears, a Republican, is the first woman to hold that office in Virginia, and the first Black woman and Jamaican-born American elected to a statewide position in the state. In this episode of Watching America, host Dr. Alan Campbell focuses mo...

This is a surprising and sometimes difficult conversation about sex addiction with psychologist Nicole Prause; Erica Garza, author of "Getting Off: One Woman's Journey Through Sex and Porn Addiction"; and Charles (a pseudonym), who is heavily involved in Sex Addicts Anonymous. This episode first aired in 2019, almost exactly 3 years ago. We bring this back to our listeners after the recent episode...

Bryan Titman has been a sportsman since he was a child. He received a football scholarship to college, but he ended up pursuing his hearts dream: bull riding. Dr. Alan Campbell spoke with Titman about being a professional bull rider a few days before the PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour competition in Virginia. Campbell (a secret cowboy fanatic) visited the event and spoke with other bull riders...

Dr. Anna Lembke is the Medical Director of Addiction Medicine at Stanford University Medical School. In this episode of Watching America, she talks about her book, “Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence,” an instant bestseller. Listen to this riveting conversation about how the relentless pursuit of pleasure in the modern age paradoxically leads to increased pain and suffering.

Philosopher Jason D. Hill explores the concept of “inherited guilt” through moral and practical lenses in his latest book, “What Do White Americans Owe Black People? Racial Justice in the Age of Post-Oppression.” In this episode of Watching America, Hill speaks with Dr. Alan Campbell about the history of slavery and the three “foundings” of the United States: The Declaration of Independence, the C...

Expected Russian aggression against Ukraine has dominated the news, but the situation may be difficult to understand. On this episode of Watching America, we hear an intimate conversation from a military perspective. Colonel Hennadiy Kovalenko is a “NATO officer in a Ukrainian uniform.” He brings valuable insight to the current crisis, history, and possible future of relations between Ukraine and...

Regret is something we’d all prefer to avoid. Regrettably, we can’t. Bestselling author Daniel Pink has studied regret extensively. On this episode of Watching America, he speaks with host Dr. Alan Campbell about his research, the value of regret, and experiences that bring different types of regret. “You're at a juncture in your life, you can play it safe, or you can take the chance. People don't...

This episode of Watching America harks back to 2019 when host Dr. Alan Campbell asked to interview the show’s senior producer, Gina Gambony. The topic was a “dark night of the soul” Gina experienced during a strange medical phenomenon that lasted the better part of a year. It included mistaken diagnosis, aphasia, brain surgery, Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and a rare disorder called “paraneoplastic syndrom...

According to Faisal Al Mutar, less than 1% of internet content is available in Arabic, creating a bubble of misinformation for many Arabic speakers. Al Mutar came to the United States as a refugee in 2013. In 2017, he founded the nonprofit “Ideas Beyond Borders” to provide educational opportunities to people who have little or no access to information about science, literature, philosophy, and his...

“Journalism tends to look away from people at the end of life, especially at the undramatic end of a long life… Aging may be an ordinary bodily process, but like other bodily processes, it can elicit shame or embarrassment in others, maybe also fear or disgust.” New York Times reporter John Leland is at the end of a very long project--7 years to be exact. His in-depth interviews with six people ov...

Ballet performance appears glamorous and effortless to audiences; in reality, it requires grueling mental and physical discipline. Megan Fairchild believes the skills she learned as a principal ballerina with New York City Ballet can be transferred from the barre and stage to other pursuits. In this episode of Watching America, Fairchild talks about her new book: “The Ballerina Mindset: How to Pro...

Alex Bernstein is a comedian and the award-winning author of the “Miserable” series of books (Miserable Adventure Stories, Miserable Holiday Stories, Miserable Love Stories), and “Plrknib.” His work has appeared at McSweeney’s, NewPopLit, The Big Jewel, The American Bystander, Yankee Pot Roast, Swink, and many others. In this episode of Watching America, we hear an excerpt of his popular story, “B...

Singer-songwriter Mike Mattison is an award-winning musician and founding member of Scrapomatic and Tedeschi Trucks Band. Ernest Suarez is the David M. O’Connell Professor of English at the Catholic University of America and the executive director of the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers. They joined forces to create “Poetic Song Verse: Blues-Based Popular Music and Poetry,” a...

Did evolution prepare us for modern times? According to two evolutionary biologists, the modern world is out of sync with our ancient brains and bodies. On this episode of Watching America, Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying discuss their new book, “A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century: Evolution and the Challenges of Modern Life.” Learn more: huntergatherersguide.com

Best-selling author Michael Shellenberger is a Time magazine “Hero of the Environment” and writes on environmental issues for various publications, including the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. He graduated from the Peace and Global Studies program at Earlham College. In this episode of Watching America, we hear about his latest book, “San Fran-Sicko: Why Progressives...

Phil Donahue (The Phil Donahue Show) and Marlo Thomas (That Girl) have been married for 40 years. They authored a book last year titled “What Makes a Marriage Last,” featuring their interviews with 40 couples. In this interview from August 2020, we hear details about some of their most revealing and tender conversations. Dr. Alan Campbell also talks to Phil and Marlo about interesting moments in t...

Engineering professor Leidy Klotz says human beings are wired to add, not subtract. In fact, he says we're twice as disappointed to lose something as we are happy to gain something of the same value. The human aversion to subtraction can result in inferior design, unmanageable amounts of regulations, and a chaotic personal life. In this conversation with Dr. Alan Campbell, Klotz discusses his rese...

Truman Capote’s social life amongst the rich and famous is the latest topic examined by acclaimed biographer, Laurence Leamer. “Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era” looks at the author’s relationships with fabulously wealthy women, and why he betrayed them in the end. Laurence Leamer is an award-winning journalist and author of multiple bestselling biographie...

The Times says Niall Ferguson is the “most brilliant British historian of his generation.” He hails from Scotland precisely, and he’s now a U.S. citizen, just like Watching America’s host, Dr. Alan Campbell. In this conversation between the two British Americans, we hear about Ferguson’s latest book, “Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe.” Ferguson claims that all disasters in some sense are man-made...

Dr. Randall Bell is an economist and a sociologist who boasts the nickname “Master of Disaster.” He’s been a consultant for hundreds of catastrophes, include the biggest tragedies of our time: the World Trade Center attack, Sandy Hook, Hurricane Katrina, the Bikini Atoll Nuclear Test sites, the BP Oil spill, the OJ Simpson trial, the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, and “Heaven's Gate,” to name a few. B...

FAIR (Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism) is a new organization founded by people from diverse backgrounds—its advisory board includes left-leaning thinkers like Steven Pinker to right-leaning economists like Glenn Loury. Many on the board are harder to define ideologically, including the guests on this episode of Watching America. Bion Bartning is the executive director of FAIR. He is half M...

This is an intimate conversation with controversial radio talk show host and author, Larry Elder. We hear about his childhood, his relationship with his father, and his perspective on guns, race, and health care. He’s said publicly on multiple occasions—including in this interview—that he would not run for office. Of course, we know that Elder is indeed running for office right now in California …...

Studies show that loneliness has been on the rise in the United States—even before the pandemic. Social psychologist and lawyer, J. W. “Terry” Freiberg, explores the very real pain of chronic loneliness in his latest award-winning book, “Surrounded By Others, and Yet So Alone.” It’s the third publication in his award-winning series exploring the profound impacts of loneliness. In this episode of W...

Clarissa Ward has been reporting from Afghanistan as the Taliban takes control. Her compelling journalism from the streets of Kabul brings the reality of the situation to the world. Ward spoke about her career as a journalist in hectic environments earlier this year on Watching America. - Growing up between two cultures - two worlds - can teach a kid a lot. But it cannot teach an innate love and t...

Stephen Spielberg’s blockbuster film “Catch Me If You Can” brought the story of con man Frank W. Abagnale into widespread public awareness. But as award-winning author Alan C. Logan reveals, Abagnale’s confessions of his own exploits are hoaxes themselves. Logan’s new book, “The Greatest Hoax on Earth: Catching the Truth, While We Can,” is an exhaustively researched debunking of the myth crafted b...