KPFA - Letters and Politics

The Brothers Who Forged A Pan Indian Confederation To Fight US Expansion

Guest: Peter Cozzens, historian and author of the book Tecumseh and the Prophet: The Shawnee Brothers Who Defied a Nation. The post The Brothers Who Forged A Pan Indian Confederation To Fight US Expansion appeared first on KPFA.

The Complex Lives of Roe v. Wade

Guest: Joshua Prager is an investigative reporter and author of the book The Family Roe: An American Story. The post The Complex Lives of Roe v. Wade appeared first on KPFA.

The Neanderthal: Love, Art & Culture (Re-broadcast)

Guest: Rebecca Wragg Sykes is an archaeologist, author and Honorary Fellow in the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool.  Her new book, KINDRED: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art  won the 2021 PEN Hessell-Tiltman prize for history; awarded Book of the Year by Current Archaeology; selected as one of 2021’s 100 Notable Books by The New York Times.  She is co-founder of the influential TrowelBlazers project, highlighting women in archaeology and the e...

Fascism: History, Ideology, Resistance & The French Presidential Elections

Part I. French Presidential Elections Guest: Tony Cross is an independent journalist and lecturer in Paris, a veteran of Radio France Internationale and Pacifica’s late Free Speech Radio News. His writing is available at TheRavingReporter.com. On Tweeter @tonycrossjourno. Part II. Fascism: History, Ideology, Resistance Guest: Paul Mason is an award-winning writer, broadcaster, and film-maker.  Previously Economics Editor of Channel 4 News, his books include PostCapitalism, Clear Bright Future...

A History of Free Speech: From Antiquity to the Internet

Guest: Jacob Mchangama is the founder and executive director of the Danish think tank Justitia and the host of the podcast Clear and Present Danger: A History of Free Speech. He is the author of the book Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media.     Front page Image: The Death of Socrates 1787. Wikimedia Commons The post A History of Free Speech: From Antiquity to the Internet appeared first on KPFA.

The Battle that Ended a Civil War and Made the Roman Empire

Guest: Barry Strauss is a professor of history and classics at Cornell University, The Corliss Page Dean Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and a leading expert on ancient military history. He has written or edited several books, including The Battle of Salamis, The Trojan War, The Spartacus War, Masters of Command, The Death of Caesar, Ten Caesars, and his latest, The War that Made the Roman Empire: Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian at Actium.   The post The Battle that Ended a Civil War and M...

The Political Economy of Climate Change

Guest: Aviva Chomsky is a professor of history and the coordinator of Latin American Studies at Salem State University. She is the author of several books including Undocumented; They Take Our Jobs!; and her latest, Is Science Enough?: Forty Critical Questions About Climate Justice.  Aviva Chomsky has been active in the Latin American solidarity and immigrants’ rights movements for over 30 years. The post The Political Economy of Climate Change appeared first on KPFA.

On Autism

Guest: Dr. Devon Price is a social psychologist and professor at Loyola University Chicago’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. He has autism and he is the author of Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity. The post On Autism appeared first on KPFA.

The Ideas That Begin Underground

Guest: Gal Beckerman is the senior editor for books at The Atlantic. Formerly an editor at The New York Times Book Review.  He is the author of When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone, which won the National Jewish Book Award and the Sami Rohr Prize and was named a best book of the year by The New Yorker and The Washington Post.  His latest is The Quiet Before: On the Unexpected Origins of Radical Ideas. On tweeter: @galbeckerman     The post The Ideas That Begin Underground appeared first on ...

The Cryptocurrency Craze with Laura Shin

Guest: Laura Shin is a writer, crypto journalist, and podcaster. A former senior editor at Forbes, host of the podcast Unchained and Unconfirmed and author of the book The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze.   The post The Cryptocurrency Craze with Laura Shin appeared first on KPFA.

Constance Baker Motley: Civil Rights Queen

Part I. Constance Baker Motley: Civil Rights Queen Guest: Tomiko Brown-Nagin is Dean of Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School, and Professor of History at Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences.  She is the author of Courage to Dissent  that won the Bancroft Prize in 2011, her latest book is Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality. Part II. Geniuses at War Guest:...

The Vagina: A History

Guest: Rachel E. Gross is an award-winning science journalist and the author of the latest book Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage. She writes for BBC Future, the New York Times, and Scientific American. The post The Vagina: A History appeared first on KPFA.

What Is A War Crime? & How We Remember Wars

Part 1.  What Is A War Crime? Guest: Rebecca Gordon, teaches at the University of San Francisco. She is the author of Mainstreaming Torture, American Nuremberg: The U.S. Officials Who Should Stand Trial for Post-9/11 War Crimes and is currently working on a new book about the history of torture in the United States called The House That Torture Built. She is a regular contributor to TomDispatch.com.   Part 2. How We Remember Wars Elizabeth D. Samet is the author of No Man’s Land: Preparing ...

Letters and Politics – April 5, 2022

The Meaning of Tyranny

Guest: Andrew Fiala is professor of philosophy and director of the Center for Ethics at California State University, Fresno.  He is the author of a number of books, including a widely used ethics textbook,  Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues, 9th edition (co-authored with Barbara MacKinnon). His latest book is Tyranny from Plato to Trump: Fools, Sycophants, and Citizens.     The post The Meaning of Tyranny appeared first on KPFA.

Michael Lewis on Baseball, Financial Capitalism & The Failure of Government

Guest: Michael Lewis is the best-selling author of Liar’s Poker, Moneyball, The Blind Side, The Big Short, The Undoing Project, The Fifth Risk and his latest, The Premonition: A Pandemic Story.  He is the host of the podcast, Against the Rules.     The post Michael Lewis on Baseball, Financial Capitalism & The Failure of Government appeared first on KPFA.

Letters and Politics – April 4, 2022

Anarchists & Communists In Asia’s Anti-Colonialist Movements

Guest: Moon-Ho Jung is Professor of History at the University of Washington and the author of Coolies and Cane: Race, Labor, and Sugar in the Age of Emancipation, and most recently, Menace to Empire: Anticolonial Solidarities and the Transpacific Origins of the US Security State.  The post Anarchists & Communists In Asia’s Anti-Colonialist Movements appeared first on KPFA.

The Origins of Globalization Including the Creation of Kievan Rus’

Guest: Valerie Hansen is the Stanley Woodward Professor of History at Yale University, where she teaches Chinese and world history.  She is the author of The Silk Road: A New History and The Open Empire, her latest is The Year 1000: When Explorers Connected the World, and Globalization Began. The post The Origins of Globalization Including the Creation of Kievan Rus’ appeared first on KPFA.

Marx & Shakespeare In Love: How Shakespeare Influenced Marx & What Marxism Says About Shakespeare

Guest: Christian Smith is an independent researcher based in Berlin and he is the author of the book Shakespeare’s Influence on Karl Marx: The Shakespearean Roots of Marxism. Photo: Canaletto on Wikimedia The post Marx & Shakespeare In Love: How Shakespeare Influenced Marx & What Marxism Says About Shakespeare appeared first on KPFA.

The Money and Guns Behind The War

Guest: Andrew Feinstein is Founding Director of Shadow World Investigations. He is the author of The Shadow World and After the Party and he was the writer for the 2016 documentary film also called The Shadow World. The post The Money and Guns Behind The War appeared first on KPFA.

The Politics Behind Confirming Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson & Sentencing Child Pornographers

Part 1. The Politics Behind Confirming Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Guest: John Nichols is National Affairs Correspondent for The Nation and author of several books including Coronavirus Criminals and Pandemic Profiteers: Accountability for Those Who Caused the Crisis. Part 2. Sentencing Child Pornographers Guest: Alissa Ackerman is a professor of criminal justice at CSU Fullerton and a sex crimes expert. She is cohost of the podcast Beyond Fear and author of Healing from Sexual Violence: the ...

Richard Wolff on a New Era of Financial Warfare

Guest: Richard Wolff is a renown Marxist economist and host of Economic Update. He also teaches at the New School University and is the co-founder of Democracy At Work.   Photo credit: Richard Wolff at the People’s Forum, 2018. The post Richard Wolff on a New Era of Financial Warfare appeared first on KPFA.

Anti-War Activist Medea Benjamin with Another View of the War

Part 1. Another View of the War with Medea Benjamin. Guest: Medea Benjamin is an Anti-War activist and co-founder of Code Pink. She is the author of Drone Warfare (OR Books, 2012), Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the U.S.-Saudi Connection (OR Books, 2016), and, Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran (OR Books, June 11, 2021). Part 2. After The Revolution: Leon Trotsky Guest: Bertrand M. Patenaude author of the book Trotsky: Downfall of a Revolutionary. He is...

A Leftist Critique on the Anti-War Left Concerning Ukraine

Guest: Bill Weinberg is an award-winning 30-year veteran journalist in the fields of human rights, indigenous peoples, drug policy, ecology and war.  He is the author of Homage to Chiapas: The New Indigenous Struggles in Mexico (Verso Books, 2000), among other books.  He covers world affairs as he describes from a dissident-left point of view on his website and podcast  CounterVortex.org.  He was also a 20 year producer at Pacifica Radio Station WBAI in New York.   Photo by Gayatri Malhotra ...

Another View on the War in Ukraine with Gerald Horne

Guest: Dr. Gerald Horne holds the Moores Professorship of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston.  His research has addressed issues of racism in a variety of relations involving labor, politics, civil rights, international relations and war. He is the author of several books including his latest, The Dawning of the Apocalypse: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism, and Capitalism in the Long Sixteenth Century. He has a piece at The Black Agend...

Two Views on YouTube Banning RT America

Part 1. Two Views on YouTube Banning RT America Guest: Lee Camp hosted the program on RT America called Redacted Tonight.  He was laid off after RT America shut down on March 1st after it was dropped by numerous cable and satellite providers.  Spotify also stopped platforming his podcast.  He still has a YouTube page dedicated to his show called Moment of Clarity with Lee Camp.   Part 2: Another Perspective on YouTube Banning RT America Guest: Jessica González is the co-CEO of the media act...

Financial Warfare in a Neoliberal World

Guest: Robert Pollin is Distinguished Professor of Economics and Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He is author of several books including his latest, Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal: The Political Economy of Saving the Planet, co-authored with Noam Chomsky.   Photo by Giovanni Gagliardi on Unsplash The post Financial Warfare in a Neoliberal World appeared first on KPFA.

The Corporate Origins of Colonialism

Guest:  William Dalrymple is a Scottish historian and award wining author of several books including,  In Xanadu, City of Djinns, From the Holy Mountain, The Age of Kali, White Mughals, The Last Mughal and, most recently, The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire.  The post The Corporate Origins of Colonialism appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA Special -Vijay Prashad: Another View on the War In Ukraine

Guest: Vijay Prashad is the Director of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research which describes itself as an international, movement-driven institution focused on stimulating intellectual debate that serves people’s aspirations.  He is also the author of such books as The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World and The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South, and his latest, Washington Bullets.   Photo by Miha Rekar on Unsplash The post KPFA Special -Vi...

KPFA Special – Ukrainian Marxist Fighting For Her Home

Guest: Yuliya Yurchenko is Senior Lecturer in Political Economy at the Political Economy, Governance, Finance and Accountability Institute, University of Greenwich, UK.  She is author of the book, Ukraine and the Empire of Capital: from Marketisation to the Armed Conflict (2018) Pluto Press.   The post KPFA Special – Ukrainian Marxist Fighting For Her Home appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA Special – A Recent History of Russia, Ukraine, and the West

Guest: Tony Wood is a political and social historian most recently, of modern Latin America. His current work focuses on transnational radical debates on race, class, and nation in the 1920s and 1930s, tracing connections between Mexico, Cuba, and the Soviet Union. Wood is an specialist on Russia and the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and is the author of Chechnya: The Case for Independence, and Russia without Putin: Money, Power and the Myths of the New Cold War. The post KPFA ...

KPFA Special – A History of the Spanish Civil War, the Rise of Fascism in Spain, and the Infighting Among the Left

Guest: Adam Hochschild is the author of several books including, King Leopold’s Ghost, To End All Wars, and Spain In Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939 among others. The post KPFA Special – A History of the Spanish Civil War, the Rise of Fascism in Spain, and the Infighting Among the Left appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA Special – Stalin: from Revolutionary to Authoritarian

Guest: Ronald Grigor Suny is the William H. Sewell Jr. Distinguished University Professor of History and Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan. He is the author of several books including, Stalinism and the Fate of the Soviet Experiment, Stalin: Passage to Revolution, and They Can Live in the Desert But Nowhere Else: A History of the Armenian Genocide. The post KPFA Special – Stalin: from Revolutionary to Authoritarian appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA Special – Kievan Rus To The Fall of The Soviet Union: A History of Ukraine

Guest: Ronald Grigor Suny is the William H. Sewell Jr. Distinguished University Professor of History at the University of Michigan and professor emeritus of political science and history at the University of Chicago. His many books include They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else: A History of the Armenian Genocide (Princeton); The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States, Stalin: Passage to Revolution, and his latest, Stalinism and the Fate of the Soviet Experiment ...

KPFA Special – The Historical Meaning of The Current Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Guest: Anthony D’Agostino, Professor of History at San Francisco State University, and author of The Rise of Global Powers: International Politics in the Era of the World Wars.   Thank you for Supporting KPFA! Donate Now The post KPFA Special – The Historical Meaning of The Current Russian Invasion of Ukraine appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA Special – After The Revolution: Leon Trotsky

Guest: Bertrand M. Patenaude is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is also a lecturer in history and international relations at Stanford University author of the book Trotsky: Downfall of a Revolutionary. The post KPFA Special – After The Revolution: Leon Trotsky appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA Special – Neil Faulkner on A People’s History of the Russian Revolution

In memorian of Neil Faulkner who died on February 4th 2022 at the age of 64. This was an interview with Neil Faulkner recorded for radio in 2017 about his book A People’s History of the Russian Revolution. Thank you for Supporting KPFA!!     The post KPFA Special – Neil Faulkner on A People’s History of the Russian Revolution appeared first on KPFA.

Fannie Lou Hamer: A Life

Guest: Dr. Keisha N. Blain is an award-winning historian of the 20th century United States with broad  interests in African American History, the modern African Diaspora, and  Women’s and Gender Studies. She is an Associate Professor of History at the University of  Pittsburgh and the president of the African American Intellectual History Society.  She is the author of the book Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America. On Twitter (@keishablain), and on Instagram (@keis...

A History of Terrorism: The Assassination of an Emperor, a Tsar and a Slave Master

A History of Terrorism

Guest: Carola Dietze is Professor for Modern History (Chair) at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany.  She is the author of  the book, The Invention of Terrorism in Europe, Russia, and the United States. The post A History of Terrorism appeared first on KPFA.

The Invention of Terrorism in Europe, Russia, and the U.S.

The U.S. Media Coverage of the Ukraine-Russia Crisis & The Creation of the U.S. Constitution

Part I. The U.S. Media Coverage of the Ukraine-Russia Crisis Guest: Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction.org and founding director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His books include “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death” and  “Made Love, Got War: Close Encounters with America’s Warfare State” (just published in a new edition as a free e-book at MadeLoveGotWar.org).  He was a Bernie Sanders delegate from California to the 2016 and 2020 Demo...

Cedric Robinson and the Making of the Black Radical Tradition

Cedric Robinson and the Black Radical Tradition

Guest: Joshua Myers is an Associate Professor of Africana Studies in the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University.  He is the author of We Are Worth Fighting For: A History of the Howard University Student Protest of 1989 (2019) and his latest, Cedric Robinson: The Time of the Black Radical Tradition (2021), as well as the editor of A Gathering Together: Literary Journal. The post Cedric Robinson and the Black Radical Tradition appeared first on KPFA.

Hunter S. Thompson: from New Journalist to Gonzo Journalism

Guest: Peter Richardson is a writer who has written critically acclaimed books about the Grateful Dead, the iconic rock band; Ramparts magazine, the legendary San Francisco muckraker; and Carey McWilliams, the radical author, journalist, and editor of The Nation magazine. His latest book is Savage Journey: Hunter S. Thompson and the Weird Road to Gonzo.   The post Hunter S. Thompson: from New Journalist to Gonzo Journalism appeared first on KPFA.

Gerald Horne on the Origins of Black History Month

Gerald Horne on the Militant Origins of Black History Month

Guest: Gerald Horne is Moores Professor of History & African American Studies at the University of Houston.  He is the author of more than three dozen books including White Supremacy Confronted: US Imperialism & Anticommunism vs the Liberation of Southern Africa from Rhodes to Mandela, The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism: The Roots of Slavery, and White Supremacy and Capitalism in 17th Century North America and the Caribbean.  His latest is The Bittersweet Science: racism, racketeering, an...

Chris Hedges on the Significance of James Joyce’s “Ulysses”

Chris Hedges on James Joyce’s “Ulysses”

Part I. Guest: Chris Hedges is the former Middle East bureau chief of the New York Times, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and a columnist at ScheerPost.  He is the author of several books, including America: The Farewell Tour, American Fascists and War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning.  His latest piece Heeding the lessons of James Joyce’s “Ulysses,” a century later can be found here. Part II:  The rural-urban divide overtaking the national conversation: The Nebraska Political Landscape  Guest: Ros...