Episodes

  • Sherrod Brown: "Desk 88"

    Sherrod Brown: "Desk 88"
    Feb 12 2025
    Since his election to the U.S. Senate in 2006, Ohio’s Sherrod Brown has sat on the Senate floor at a mahogany desk with a proud history. In "Desk 88: Eight Progressive Senators Who Changed America", he tells the story of eight of the Senators who were there before him. Listen to his conversation with Michael from 26 November 2019. The book was published on 5 November 2019.
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    16 mins
  • Yoni Appelbaum: "Stuck"

    Yoni Appelbaum: "Stuck"
    Feb 11 2025

    Yoni Appelbaum is a deputy executive editor of The Atlantic and a social and cultural historian of the United States. Before joining The Atlantic, he was a lecturer on history and literature at Harvard University. He previously taught at Babson College and at Brandeis University, where he received his PhD in American history.
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    23 mins
  • Edward Fishman: "Chokepoints"

    Edward Fishman: "Chokepoints"
    Feb 5 2025
    The epic story of how America turned the world economy into a weapon, upending decades of globalization to take on a new authoritarian axis—Russia, China, and Iran. It used to be that ravaging another country’s economy required blockading its ports and laying siege to its cities. Now all it takes is a statement posted online by the U.S. government. In Chokepoints, Edward Fishman, a former top State Department sanctions official, takes us deep into the back rooms of power to reveal the untold history of the last two decades of U.S. foreign policy, in which America renounced the gospel of globalization and waged a new kind of economic war. Listen to his conversation with Michael about "Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare." Original air date 5 February 2025. The book was published on 25 February 2025.
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    26 mins
  • Craig Fehrman: "Author in Chief"

    Craig Fehrman: "Author in Chief"
    Feb 3 2025
    In Craig Fehrman’s groundbreaking work of history, "Author in Chief: The Untold Story of Our Presidents and the Books They Wrote" opens a rich new window into presidential biography. Listen to his conversation with Michael here to experience a different side of Presidents past and present. From volumes lost to history—Calvin Coolidge’s Autobiography, which was one of the most widely discussed titles of 1929—to ones we know from more recent times—Barack Obama’s Dreams from My Father, which was very nearly never published—Fehrman unearths countless insights about the presidents through their literary works. Presidential books have made an enormous impact on American history, catapulting their authors to the national stage and even turning key elections. Original air date 14 February 2020. The book was published on 11 February 2020.
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    16 mins
  • Nicholas Carr: "Superbloom"

    Nicholas Carr: "Superbloom"
    Jan 31 2025
    Michael welcomes Nicholas Carr, author of "Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart," a bracing exploration of how social media has warped our sense of self and society. From the telegraph and telephone in the 1800s to the internet and social media in our own day, the public has welcomed new communication systems. Whenever people gain more power to share information, the assumption goes, society prospers. Superbloom tells a startlingly different story. As communication becomes more mechanized and efficient, it breeds confusion more than understanding, strife more than harmony. A celebrated commentator on the human consequences of technology, Nicholas Carr reorients the conversation around modern communication, challenging some of our most cherished beliefs about self-expression, free speech, and media democratization. Original air date 30 January 2025. The book was published on 28 January 2025.
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    21 mins
  • Fredrik Nystrom: "Lighten the load on your shoulders"

    Fredrik Nystrom: "Lighten the load on your shoulders"
    Jan 29 2025
    He doesn't believe in diets, and says we should exercise less. Meet Dr. Fredrik Nystrom, professor of medicine at Linkoping University in Sweden. He joins Michael with his book "Lighten the load on your shoulders!" Dr. Nystrom is professor and senior consultant in internal medicine in the Department of Health, Medicine and Caring Sciences. Original air date 28 January 2025. The book was published on 29 October 2024.
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    18 mins
  • Tim Harford: "The Data Detective"

    Tim Harford: "The Data Detective"
    Jan 27 2025
    Michael talks with Tim Harford, author of "The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics." Today we think statistics are the enemy, numbers used to mislead and confuse us. That’s a mistake, Tim Harford says in The Data Detective. We shouldn’t be suspicious of statistics—we need to understand what they mean and how they can improve our lives: they are, at heart, human behavior seen through the prism of numbers and are often “the only way of grasping much of what is going on around us.” If we can toss aside our fears and learn to approach them clearly—understanding how our own preconceptions lead us astray—statistics can point to ways we can live better and work smarter. Original air date 10 February 2021.
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    15 mins
  • Brad Meltzer: "The JFK Conspiracy"

    Brad Meltzer: "The JFK Conspiracy"
    Jan 24 2025
    From the New York Times bestselling authors of "The Nazi Conspiracy" and "The Lincoln Conspiracy" comes a true, little-known story about the first assassination attempt on John F. Kennedy, right before his inauguration. What most Americans don’t know is that JFK’s historic presidency almost ended before it began―at the hands of a disgruntled sociopathic loner armed with dynamite, named Richard Pavlick, on December 11, 1960. Listen to Michael's conversation with Brad Meltzer, co-author (w/Josh Mensch) of "The JFK Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Kennedy―and Why It Failed" to learn all about it. Original air date 24 January 2025. The book was published on 14 January 2025.
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    20 mins