Town Hall Seattle Civics Series artwork

Town Hall Seattle Civics Series

409 episodes - English - Latest episode: 15 days ago - ★★★★ - 11 ratings

The Civics series at Town Hall shines a light on the shifting issues, movements, and policies, that affect our society, both locally and globally. These events pose questions and ideas, big and small, that have the power to inform and impact our lives. Whether it be constitutional research from a scholar, a new take on history, or the birth of a movement, it's all about educating and empowering.

Society & Culture News education ideas policy townhall civics community government growth history movements
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed

Episodes

252. Omar G. Encarnación with ChrisTiana ObeySumner: The Case for Gay Reparations

September 01, 2021 19:13 - 48 minutes - 44.9 MB

In the last two decades, many nations have adopted “gay reparations,” or policies intended to make amends for a history of discrimination, stigmatization, and violence on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The United States, however, has been reluctant to embrace any form of gay reparations, making the country something of an outlier among Western democracies. Professor and author Omar G. Encarnación joined us for a presentation, in conversation with CEO of Epiphanies of ...

251. Sasha Issenberg with Aditi Roy: A Chronicle of America’s Quarter-Century Struggle Over Marriage Equality

August 25, 2021 19:49 - 57 minutes - 53.6 MB

On June 26, 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled that state bans on gay marriage were unconstitutional, making same-sex unions legal across the United States. But the road to that momentous decision was much longer than many know. Author Sasha Issenberg introduced a definitive account in this presentation that discussed his book The Engagement: America’s Quarter-Century Struggle Over Same-Sex Marriage, in conversation with CMBC Reporter Aditi Roy. The story begins, Issenberg shared, in Hawaii ...

250. Annette Gordon-Reed with Marcus Harrison Green: The History and Future of Juneteenth

August 19, 2021 22:59 - 57 minutes - 53.5 MB

On June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, the end of legalized slavery in the state was announced. Since then, a certain narrative and lore has emerged about Texas. But as Juneteenth verges on being recognized as a national holiday, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annette Gordon-Reed—herself a Texas native and the descendant of enslaved people—reworks the traditional “Alamo” framework, forging a new and profound narrative of her home state with implications for all. In conversation with South ...

249. Charles R. Wolfe with Steve Scher: Strategies for Creating and Enhancing Distinctive City Culture

August 17, 2021 02:07 - 1 hour - 75 MB

Somewhere, between character and caricature, there exists an authentic and unique urban place, believes urbanism consultant and author Charles R. Wolfe. One that blends global and local, old and new. Yet, in a dramatically changing world dominated by crises of climate change, maintaining public health, and social justice, finding such places—and explaining their relevance—may be easier said than done. In conversation with interviewer Steve Scher, Wolfe joined us to introduce a comprehensi...

248. Industrialized Agriculture: A Fight for Human Rights in India with Arjun Singh Sethi, Navyug Gill, and Manpreet Kaur Kalra

August 12, 2021 04:51 - 1 hour - 57 MB

India is in a crisis. In September 2020, the Indian government passed three new agricultural bills that deregulate and privatize India’s agricultural industry. Since then, farmers and farmworkers across India have taken to the country’s capital, staging the largest protest in human history. By prioritizing corporations over people and the planet, many believe these laws further environmental degradation and economic oppression, deepening an already stark wealth disparity. These protests are ...

247. Virtual Civic Cocktail: One Guilty Verdict – What’s Next?

August 09, 2021 22:23 - 56 minutes - 53.1 MB

The guilty verdict against Derek Chauvin, the police officer who murdered George Floyd, was celebrated as a victory for racial equity progress in our country. As our nation continues to wrestle with racial equity, what local progress has been made? What have our leaders learned from the protests and calls for reform over the past several years? Are there steps we can take as a community to create a more equitable community for all? Join us for a virtual Civic Cocktail program with our hos...

246. Mickey Huff and Andy Lee Roth: Project Censored’s State of the Free Press

August 05, 2021 08:00 - 1 hour - 61.7 MB

How healthy is journalism in the United States today? Andy Lee Roth and Mickey Huff of Project Censored joined us for a conversation on this topic, espousing their view of corporate media biases, censorship, and the importance of independent journalism, and the state of the free press. Project Censored was founded in 1976 by Dr. Carl Jensen at Sonoma State University to research and publicize news media censorship in the news, and to develop students’ critical thinking skills and media li...

245. Nesrine Malik and Ece Temelkuran: Making Progress in a Moment of Inequity and Division

July 28, 2021 00:15 - 58 minutes - 54.2 MB

In 2016, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump declared: “I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct.” This led many after his victory to blame “identity politics” for his win. When Trump was banned from Twitter, he claimed it was an assault on free speech. Columnist Nesrine Malik contended that both of these things were myths, and joined us to explain how these arguments over lies impact the struggle for greater equality in society. In a presentation with nov...

244. Brad Stone with Karen Weise: The Evolution of Jeff Bezos and Amazon

July 20, 2021 23:54 - 1 hour - 57.5 MB

Jeff Bezos’ empire, once housed in a garage, now spans the globe. Between services like Whole Foods, Prime Video, and Amazon’s cloud computing unit AWS, plus Bezos’ ownership of The Washington Post, it’s nearly impossible to go a day without encountering its impact. Many argue we live in a world run, supplied, and controlled by Amazon and its founder. But how did this man and his company come to dominate such a large part of modern commerce? Sometimes called Amazon’s biographer, journal...

243. Virtual Civic Cocktail—Downtown Seattle: Rebuilding a Troubled Superstar

July 14, 2021 22:26 - 58 minutes - 54.4 MB

What’s the state of downtown Seattle? How are businesses and other sectors navigating the ongoing impact of the pandemic, recent protests, lack of affordable housing, and other social and economic factors? Hear perspectives from leaders including Bob Donegan, President of Ivar’s, and Brian Surratt, Vice President of Real Estate Development and Community Relations for Alexandria Real Estate and former director of the City of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development, on the history of the Emer...

242. Danielle Sered and Nikkita Oliver: Violence, Incarceration, and a Road to Repair

July 02, 2021 02:29 - 1 hour - 59 MB

Although over half the people incarcerated in America today have committed violent offenses, the focus of reformers has been almost entirely on nonviolent and drug offenses. Danielle Sered takes aim at issues of mass incarceration, insisting that we cannot just critique violence and mass incarceration, but must build practical, moral solutions to displace them. She joined us, drawing from her book Until We Reckon to grapple with the question of restorative approaches to violent crime in c...

241. Kate Aronoff with Bill McKibben: How Capitalism Broke the Planet and How We Fight Back

June 23, 2021 23:24 - 1 hour - 56 MB

It has become impossible to deny that the planet is warming, and that governments must act. But some believe that a new denialism is taking root in the halls of power, shaped by decades of neoliberal policies and centuries of anti-democratic thinking. One such is journalist Kate Aronoff, who has written about the climate change fight in her book Overheated: How Capitalism Broke the Planet and How We Fight Back. Aronoff joined us, in conversation with author and environmentalist Bill McKibb...

240. Combating Racial Animus Against the AAPI Community: Solutions for Change

June 16, 2021 23:55 - 1 hour - 70.3 MB

Xenophobia and bigotry against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community are on the rise in cities throughout the country, including Seattle. With nearly 4,000 hate crimes reported in the last 12 months, this trajectory became impossible to ignore when six Asian women were killed in a shooting in Atlanta. Why did this happen? What were the stepping stones that led to this increase in violence? Could those stepping stones have been influenced by a president who used bigoted a...

239. Senator Mazie K. Hirono with Viet Thanh Nguyen: An Immigrant Daughter’s Story

June 10, 2021 02:32 - 1 hour - 57.2 MB

A young girl was raised on a rice farm in rural Japan when, at seven years old, her mother left her abusive husband and sailed with her two elder children to Hawaii, crossing the Pacific in steerage in search of a better life. That young girl would become the first Asian-American woman and the only immigrant serving in the United States Senate. Senator Mazie K. Hirono joined us to share from her deeply personal memoir, Heart of Fire: An Immigrant Daughter’s Story, which traces her remarka...

238. Colin Jerolmack with Ralph Kisberg: Fracking, Freedom, and Community in An American Town

June 02, 2021 22:18 - 53 minutes - 50.2 MB

The United States is the only country in the world where property rights commonly extend “up to heaven and down to hell,” which means that landowners have the exclusive right to lease their subsurface mineral estates to petroleum companies. Shale gas extraction—commonly known as fracking—is often portrayed as an energy revolution that will transform the American economy and geopolitics. But in greater Williamsport, Pennsylvania, landowners leasing their subsurface mineral estates and frack...

237. Morris Pearl and Erica Payne: The Patriotic Millionaires Explore the Rigging of The US Economy

May 26, 2021 22:27 - 49 minutes - 46 MB

The vast majority of American—71 percent—believe the economy is rigged in favor of the rich. Guess what? They’re right! And Morris Pearl and Erica Payne would know—they’re some of America’s wealthiest “class traitors,” and they joined us to take us on an engaging and enlightening insider’s tour of the nation’s tax code, which is where they say everything starts. With insight from their book Tax the Rich!: How Lies, Loopholes, and Lobbyists Make the Rich Even Richer, Pearl and Payne explai...

236. Cass Sunstein: Falsehoods and Free Speech In An Age of Deception

May 19, 2021 22:34 - 55 minutes - 51.3 MB

Lying has been a part of society since the beginning. Over the past decade, however, it has become increasingly clear that damaging lies and falsehoods are amplified as never before through social media platforms that reach billions. Lies have abounded: about COVID-19, about vaccines, about public officials, about products. And unfriendly governments have circulated lies in order to create chaos in other nations. In the face of these problems, renowned legal scholar Cass Sunstein probes th...

235. Virtual Civic Cocktail: The State of Our Democracy – Next Steps for the Democratic Party

May 13, 2021 04:45 - 57 minutes - 53.4 MB

What’s ahead for Republicans, Democrats, and Independents when it comes to civics in our country and communities? How can we work together when parties are often divided themselves? This April Civic Cocktail continues an intended multi-part, multi-party series begun in February. With a new administration in the White House, local leaders discuss the next steps for the Democratic Party in D.C., bridging the political divide, and how their national work impacts communities here in Washingt...

234. Kerry Killinger and Linda Killinger with Enrique Cerna: How the Last Financial Crisis Informs Today

May 05, 2021 23:42 - 59 minutes - 55.7 MB

In 2008, the American economy collapsed, taking with it millions of Americans’ jobs, homes, and life savings. The ensuing financial crisis was devastating, and many are still feeling its effects today. But despite the crisis, the US government has yet to implement policies that would prevent a repeat of the Great Recession. Why is that? Kerry Killinger, the former CEO of Washington Mutual Bank, and Linda Killinger, the former vice chair of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, joine...

233. Nicholas Freudenberg and Mark Bittman: Modern Capitalism and the Future of Health

April 28, 2021 18:47 - 54 minutes - 51.1 MB

Freedom of choice lies at the heart of American society. Every day, individuals decide what to eat, which doctors to see, who to connect with online, and where to educate their children. Yet, many Americans don’t realize that these choices are illusory at best. By the start of the 21st century, every major industrial sector in the global economy was controlled by no more than five transnational corporations, and in about a third of these sectors, a single company accounted for more than 40...

232. Alec MacGillis with Margaret O’Mara: Winning and Losing in One-Click America

April 22, 2021 21:36 - 57 minutes - 53.5 MB

In 1937, the famed writer and activist Upton Sinclair published a novel bearing the subtitle A Story of Ford-America. He blasted the callousness of a company worth “a billion dollars” that underpaid its workers while forcing them to engage in repetitive and sometimes dangerous assembly line labor. Eighty-three years later, the market capitalization of Amazon. com has exceeded one trillion dollars, while the value of the Ford Motor Company hovers around thirty billion. We have, Alec MacGillis...

231. Christopher Sebastian Parker with Lance Bennett and Kenan Block: What the Attack on the Capitol Means for the Future of American Democracy

April 16, 2021 04:05 - 1 hour - 56.8 MB

On January 5, the run-off election in Georgia flipped the state and created opportunity for a Democrat-led Senate. On January 6, armed insurrectionists stormed the United States Capitol Building, resulting in dozens of injuries and several fatalities. UW Professor Christopher Sebastian Parker believes that Donald Trump as chief executive was making matters worse. Yet despite Trump no longer being in office, there seems to be reticence to reckon with the true impact of the actions on January ...

230. Virtual Civic Cocktail—The State of Our Democracy: Bridging the Political Divide in WA

April 07, 2021 23:01 - 59 minutes - 55.7 MB

Many believe that partisan politics has created a roadblock in efforts to reach across the aisle and forge ahead. Nationally, the chasm separating Democrats and Republicans can be felt to be vast, but what about here in Washington state? Is it possible that similar divisive politics could be holding up progress beneficial to all? If so, what are recommendations for characteristics and qualities needed in future leaders to govern more effectively? Join Town Hall Seattle and Seattle CityClub...

229. Abdul El-Sayed and Micah Johnson: A Citizen’s Guide to Medicare for All

March 31, 2021 23:19 - 55 minutes - 52.1 MB

The coronavirus pandemic reignited a debate that has been raging for years: healthcare. There are few issues as consequential in the lives of Americans as healthcare. Every single American will interact with the healthcare system, and most people will find that interaction less than satisfactory. And yet for every dollar spent in our economy, 18 cents goes to healthcare, leaving many to ask: what are we paying for, exactly? Doctors Abdul El-Sayed and Micah Johnson joined us to present a s...

228. Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire with Diane Ravitch: The Threat to Public Education and the Future of School

March 25, 2021 19:20 - 1 hour - 60.5 MB

Betsy DeVos may be the most prominent face of the seeming push to dismantle public education, but educational policy experts Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider believe she’s part of a larger movement that’s been steadily gaining power for decades. While support for public education today is stronger than ever, Berkshire and Schneider argue, the movement to save our schools remains fragmented, variable, and voluntary while those who seem set on tearing down the public school system are uni...

227. Jesse Hagopian and Denisha Jones: Black Lives Matter at School

March 17, 2021 22:55 - 1 hour - 56.6 MB

How can educators help destroy entrenched inequalities and enact the values of Black Lives Matter in their classrooms, schools, and communities? Jesse Hagopian and Denisha Jones, both educators and members of the Black Lives Matter at School movement, joined us to discuss this question. They believe that the United States is in the midst of an urgent moral and legal crisis over the safety, liberty, and well-being of Black young people. In an edited collection, Black Lives Matter at Scho...

226. Sara Sinclair with Gladys Radek and Althea Guiboche: Voices from Indigenous North America

March 11, 2021 01:25 - 59 minutes - 55.6 MB

“Over the last three years in cities and on reserves and reservations across the continent, I have listened to Native people’s stories of loss, injustice and resilience. They are stories that echo Chief Peguis’ story. In myriad ways, each narrator’s life had been shaped by that same struggle: how to share space with a settler nation whose essential aim is to take all that is ours.” These are words from an article oral historian Sara Sinclair wrote for Salon last year, speaking about her mi...

225. Julia Gillard and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala with Jacqueline Miller: Real Lessons from Women in National Leadership

March 04, 2021 21:24 - 59 minutes - 55.2 MB

Women make up fewer than ten percent of national leaders worldwide, and behind this eye-opening statistic lies a pattern of unequal access to power. Julie Gillard and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, both political leaders in their own countries, set about exploring this gender bias in their book Women and Leadership: Real Lives, Real Lessons. Gillard and Okonjo-Iweala joined us to discuss the conversations they had with internationally recognized women leaders, including Jacinda Ardern, Hillary Rodh...

224. Virtual Civic Cocktail—The State of Our Democracy: Next Steps for the Republican Party

February 25, 2021 02:49 - 46 minutes - 43.2 MB

What’s ahead for Republicans, Democracts, and Independents when it comes to civics in our country and communities? How can we work together when parties are often divided themselves? This February Civic Cocktail is the first of an intended multi-part, multi-party series. Join CityClub as they explore a few—certainly not all—of the varying viewpoints within the Republican Party with a discussion between the Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson and local Republican leader Bill Bryant, mod...

224. Civic Cocktail—The State of Our Democracy: Part 1 – Next Steps for the Republican Party

February 25, 2021 02:49 - 46 minutes - 43.2 MB

What’s ahead for Republicans, Democracts, and Independents when it comes to civics in our country and communities? How can we work together when parties are often divided themselves? This February Civic Cocktail is the first of an intended multi-part, multi-party series. Join CityClub as they explore a few—certainly not all—of the varying viewpoints within the Republican Party with a discussion between the Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson and local Republican leader Bill Bryant, mod...

223. Thom Hartmann: The Hidden History of the American Oligarchy

February 18, 2021 00:12 - 1 hour - 59.5 MB

The United States was born in a struggle against the oligarchs of the British aristocracy, and ever since then the history of America has been one of dynamic tension between democracy and oligarchy, asserts author Thom Hartmann. And much like the shock of the 1929 crash woke America up to glaring inequality and the ongoing theft of democracy by that generation’s oligarchs, Hartmann believes that the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 has laid bare how extensively oligarchs have looted our nation’s...

222. Sarah Jaffe with Kathi Weeks: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone

February 10, 2021 22:12 - 1 hour - 56.4 MB

You’re told that if you “do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” Whether it’s working for “exposure” and “experience,” or enduring poor treatment in the name of “being part of the family,” all employees are pushed to make sacrifices for the privilege of being able to do what we love. But Sarah Jaffe, a preeminent voice on labor, inequality, and social movements tells us that work won’t love us back, and advocates for the liberating power of recognizing that. In conversatio...

221. John Ghazvinian: A History of America and Iran, From Allies to Adversaries

February 03, 2021 05:47 - 59 minutes - 55 MB

How did the US and Iran lapse from a once-friendly relationship to that of hostile enemies? Historian John Ghazvinian joined us to discuss the answer, the two-centuries-long entwined histories of Iran and America. With support from his book America and Iran: A History, 1720 to Present, he shared years of archival research to lead us through the four seasons of US-Iran relations: the “spring” of mutual fascination; the “summer” of early interactions; the “autumn” of close strategic ties; an...

220. Astra Taylor with E. Tammy Kim: The Case for Economic Disobedience and Debt Abolition

January 28, 2021 01:48 - 58 minutes - 54.4 MB

Even before a national pandemic that sent the country into a crisis, almost 40% of Americans wouldn’t be able to cover a $400 emergency. Nearly a third of Americans have medical debt, and over half have defaulted on it. Student loan debt has surpassed $1.6 trillion, and the average college graduate has $32,000 in student loans, going up every year. The Debt Collective argues that access to debt has masked stagnating wages and deepening inequality, and they join us with a call to action. Do...

219. Elliott Young with Mayra Machado: How the United States Made the World’s Largest Immigrant Detention System

January 22, 2021 21:46 - 1 hour - 57.1 MB

Today over half a million immigrants are caged each year, some serving indefinite terms in what history professor Elliott Young argues is the world’s most extensive immigrant detention system. These men, women, and children remain almost completely without rights, unprotected by law and the Constitution, and their status as outsiders, even though many have lived and worked in this country for years, has left them vulnerable to the most extreme forms of state power. Young offered a broad hi...

218. Michael Eric Dyson with Robin DiAngelo: Reckoning with Race in America

January 13, 2021 20:59 - 1 hour - 75.2 MB

The night of May 25, 2020 changed America. George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was killed during an arrest in Minneapolis when a white cop suffocated him. The video of that night’s events went viral, sparking the largest protests in the nation’s history and the sort of social unrest we have not seen since the sixties. While Floyd’s death was certainly the catalyst, many believe it was the fuse that lit a powder keg that has been filling since America’s promising but perilous beginning. ...

217. Tamara Payne: An Unprecedented Portrait of the Life of Malcolm X

December 17, 2020 07:42 - 1 hour - 56.4 MB

In 1990, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Les Payne embarked on a nearly thirty-year-long quest to interview anyone he could find who had actually known Malcolm X. His goal was ambitious: to transform what would become over a hundred hours of interviews into an unprecedented portrait of Malcolm X, one that would separate fact from fiction. Following Payne’s unexpected death in 2018, his daughter Tamara Payne heroically completed the biography. Presented by the Northwest Afri...

216. Steve Davis with Chelsea Clinton: Channeling Outrage to Spark Practical Activism

December 09, 2020 21:38 - 1 hour - 56.5 MB

It feels like every day there’s something new to be outraged about, or a new piece of information about something that is already outrageous. But how can those feelings of outrage be used productively to create real change? Global social innovation leader Steve Davis believes he has the answer. In order to provide guidance on harnessing our outrage, Davis joined us in conversation with author and global health advocate Chelsea Clinton to discuss the ideas shared in his book Undercurrents:...

215. The History of Housing Segregation Today: How the Legacy of Redlining Impacts Seattle’s Housing Crisis

December 03, 2020 03:43 - 1 hour - 88 MB

Segregation in America—the incessant kind that continues to dog our major cities and has contributed to so much recent social strife—is the byproduct of explicit government policies at the local, state, and federal levels, researcher Richard Rothstein argues. He believes this is especially true for the racial segregation in our neighborhoods. In this presentation with the Housing Development Consortium of Seattle-King County, Rothstein joined us to share findings from his book The Color o...

214. Eddie Cole with Shaun Scott: Campus Activism and the Struggle for Black Freedom

November 25, 2020 19:50 - 58 minutes - 54.3 MB

College campuses in the mid-twentieth century are an oft-forgotten battle ground in the fight for (and against) civil rights. Professor Dr. Eddie Cole believes the role of campus activism in the fight for social equality has been overlooked. In conversation with writer and historian Shaun Scott, Cole joined us with findings from his meticulously researched new book The Campus Color Line: College Presidents and the Struggle for Black Freedom. Focusing on the period between 1948 and 1968, h...

213. Ronald Chew with Naomi Ishisaka: My Unforgotten Seattle

November 19, 2020 06:00 - 55 minutes - 52 MB

For more than five decades, Ron Chew has fought for Asian American and social justice causes in Seattle. He joined us for this livestreamed presentation to share stories from his deeply personal memoir My Unforgotten Seattle. In conversation with journalist Naomi Ishisaka, Chew documented the tight-knit community he remembers, describing small family shops, chop suey restaurants, and sewing factories now vanished. He untangled the mystery of his extended family’s journey to America during...

212. Derek W. Black with Katherine Dunn: Public Education and the Assault on American Democracy

November 15, 2020 05:20 - 1 hour - 56.9 MB

From funding, to vouchers, to charter schools, public education policy has become a political football. Many feel that we are in the midst of a full-scale attack on our nation’s commitment to public education. And constitutional law scholar Derek W. Black contends that this assault threatens not just public education, but democracy itself. In this livestreamed presentation, Black shared from his book Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education and the Assault on American Democracy. He offered an...

211. Senator Sherrod Brown with Dow Constantine: Eight Progressive Senators Who Changed America

November 04, 2020 02:57 - 56 minutes - 52.4 MB

Hugo Black, Glen Taylor, George McGovern, Robert F. Kennedy, Herbert Lehman, Theodore Francis Green, Al Gore, William Proxmire, Sherrod Brown. Did you know the common thread is a desk? Current desk occupant and Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown joined us to share stories of those who preceded him. Utilizing anecdotes and history from his book Desk 88: Eight Progressive Senators Who Changed America, he presented eight portraits of political courage that tell the triumphs and failures of the Progr...

210. Laila Lalami with Viet Thanh Nguyen: Conditional Citizens

October 29, 2020 23:44 - 1 hour - 58 MB

What does it mean to be an American? Author Laila Lalami joinsed us to discuss this question in conversation with fellow author Viet Thanh Nguyen. Drawing from her book Conditional Citizen, she recounted her unlikely journey from Moroccan immigrant to US citizen, using it as a starting point for her exploration of the rights, liberties, and protections that are traditionally associated with American citizenship. Tapping into history, politics, and literature, she interrogated how white supre...

209. Andrew Imbrie with Jen Psaki: Power on the Precipice—The Six Choices America Faces in a Turbulent World

October 21, 2020 21:53 - 57 minutes - 53.3 MB

Is America fated to decline as a great power? Can it recover? Foreign policy expert Andrew Imbrie joined us in conversation with former White House communications director Jen Psaki to weigh in on exactly these questions. With absorbing insight from his book Power on the Precipice: The Six Choices America Faces in a Turbulent World, Andrew introduced an essential guide to renewing American leadership. Though it may seem as though the United States is either destined for continued dominanc...

208. Ambassador Capricia Marshall with Thomas Corrigan: The Power of Diplomacy

October 14, 2020 23:28 - 1 hour - 61 MB

History often appears to consist of big gestures and dramatic shifts. But for every peace treaty signed, someone set the stage, using diplomacy to effect the outcome. Nobody knows this better than Capricia Marshall. Ambassador Marshall joined us to share unvarnished anecdotes from her time as the chief of protocol for President Obama. Pulling from her book Protocol: The Power of Diplomacy and How to Make It Work for You, she told the story of harrowing near misses, exhilarating triumphs, ...

207. Combating Hate: Empathy Through Storytelling

October 08, 2020 01:05 - 1 hour - 82.5 MB

World Without Hate seeks to replace hate and violence with empathy and love, restoring peace through storytelling and empathy education. They called together a panel of speakers from different storytelling backgrounds exploring the ways that empathy and stories help us connect with others. Through the transformative power of compassion, World Without Hate invited us to renew feelings of hope and empowerment in the face of divisive rhetoric and rising hate crimes across our nation. Come to...

206. Senator Chris Murphy with Eric Liu: The Violence Inside Us

October 01, 2020 19:42 - 56 minutes - 52.1 MB

Many in America do not feel safe in spaces that used to be seen as refuges: our churches and schools, our movie theaters and dance clubs, our workplaces and neighborhoods. But this feeling begs the question: Is America destined to always be a violent nation? Pulling from his carefully researched and deeply emotional book The Violence Inside Us: A Brief History of an Ongoing American Tragedy, Senator Chris Murphy joined us via livestream to attempt to answer this question. Telling the story...

205. Alice Wong with Elsa Sjunneson: Disability Visibility in the Twenty-First Century

September 22, 2020 00:38 - 59 minutes - 55.4 MB

One in five people in the United States lives with a disability. Some disabilities are visible, others less apparent—but all are underrepresented in media and popular culture. Just in time for the thirtieth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, activist Alice Wong joined us via livestream in conversation with editor Elsa Sjunneson. Wong shared from her recent book, Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century, a curated anthology of contemporary ...

204. Thom Hartmann: The Hidden History of Monopolies

September 14, 2020 08:00 - 1 hour - 60.1 MB

American monopolies dominate, control, and consume most of the energy of our entire economic system–but we’ve broken the hold of behemoths like these before, author Thom Hartmann says, and we can do it again. In this livestreamed presentation, Hartmann shared how he believes monopolies threaten our systems and economy, and the damage that they have done to so many industries and individuals, pulling from his new book The Hidden History of Monopolies: How Big Business Destroyed the American...

Guests

Eric Liu
2 Episodes
Naomi Klein
1 Episode
Shane Bauer
1 Episode

Books

The Secret History
1 Episode

Twitter Mentions

@bethnoveck 1 Episode
@derekwblack 1 Episode
@lailalalami 1 Episode
@viet_t_nguyen 1 Episode
@ericpliu 1 Episode
@sensherrodbrown 1 Episode
@everyvoicenc 1 Episode
@jbalter 1 Episode