Constitutional Reform Podcast

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Frank Trentmann, professor of history at Birkbeck, University of London, to discuss his latest book, Out of the Darkness: The Germans, 1942–2022. They chat about how a nation whose past has been marked by mass murder, a people who cheered Adolf Hitler, reinvented themselves, and by how much. Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/554959/out-of-the-darkness-by-frank-trentmann/Show Notes:Literary Review: David Blackbourn – “A Mercedes in Every Garage”https://literaryreview.co.uk/a-mercedes-in-every-garageNew York Review of Books: Timothy Garton Ash – “Big Germany, What Now?”https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/05/23/big-germany-what-now-timothy-garton-ash/The New Statesman: Brendan Simms – “What it means to be German”https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2023/12/meaning-modern-germany-brenadan-simmsThe Times: Oliver Moody – “Out of the Darkness by Frank Trentmann review — how Germans became good (and rather complacent)”https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/out-of-the-darkness-by-frank-trentmann-review-9rc5n8kbd?region=globalTimes Literary Supplement: Ben Hutchinson – “New moral order”https://www.the-tls.co.uk/history/twentieth-century-onwards-history/after-the-nazis-michael-h-kater-out-of-the-darkness-frank-trentmann-book-review-ben-hutchinsonThe Wall Street Journal: Ian Brunskill – “‘Out of the Darkness' Review: War Crimes and Remembrance”https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/out-of-the-darkness-review-war-crimes-and-remembrance-0b830556The Washington Post: Bryn Stole – “An ambitious history of Germany interrogates the country's moral makeover”https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/04/18/out-darkness-germans-nazis-legacy-frank-trentmann-review/

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by David L. Roll, founder of the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation, to discuss his latest book, Ascent to Power: How Truman Emerged from Roosevelt's Shadow and Remade the World. They chat about Truman's struggles to emerge as president in his own right after his accidental ascension to the office and how Truman's decisions during these pivotal years changed the course of the world in ways so significant we live with them today.Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/690665/ascent-to-power-by-david-l-roll/Show Notes:Foreign Affairs: Jessica T. Mathews – “Review: ‘Ascent to Power: How Truman Emerged From Roosevelt's Shadow and Remade the World'”https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/ascent-power-how-truman-emerged-roosevelts-shadow-and-remade-worldWall Street Journal: Robert W. Merry – “'Ascent to Power' Review: Harry Truman's Moment”https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/ascent-to-power-review-harry-trumans-moment-e5654cb0

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Harold Holzer, director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, to discuss his latest book, Brought Forth on This Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration. They chat about the immigration situation in the United States in the 30 years leading up the Civil War, how immigrants forever altered the country's demographics, culture, and voting patterns, how tensions over immigration broke apart the Whig Party and lead to the formation of the Republican Party, and how Lincoln evolved into a champion for immigration. Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/558372/brought-forth-on-this-continent-by-harold-holzer/

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Brian VanDeMark, professor of history at the United States Naval Academy, to discuss his latest book, Kent State: An American Tragedy. They chat about the context of the divided cultural landscape of America during the Vietnam War and heightened popular anxieties around the country, how the shootings came to take place, the reductive narratives that ensued, the victims of the shooting, and the impact of that day on the Guardsmen who were there. Get the book here: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324066255Show Notes:Los Angeles Review of Books: Tom Zoellner – “Yelling ‘Fire' on a Crowded Knoll”https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/yelling-fire-on-a-crowded-knoll/Los Angeles Times: Chris Vognar – “A meticulous, pain-filled history of the senseless slaughter at Kent State”https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-08-05/brian-vandemark-kent-state-an-american-tragedyNational Review: Paul Baumann – “What Happened at Kent State?”https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2024/10/what-happened-at-kent-state/Times Literary Supplement: John McMillian – “Civil unrest”https://www.the-tls.co.uk/regular-features/in-brief/kent-state-brian-vandemark-book-review-john-mcmillian

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by David Reynolds, emeritus professor of international history at Christ's College, Cambridge University, to discuss his latest book, Mirrors of Greatness: Churchill and the Leaders Who Shaped Him. They reevaluate Churchill's life by viewing it through the eyes of his allies and adversaries like Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, FDR, Chamberlain, Attlee, De Gaulle, and Gandhi, as well as his own family. They also chat about Churchill's lifelong struggle to overcome his political failures and his evolving grasp of what “greatness” truly entailed.  Get the book here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/david-reynolds/mirrors-of-greatness/9781541620209/?lens=basic-booksShow Notes:The Wall Street Journal: Robert D. Kaplan – “‘Mirrors of Greatness' Review: Churchill's Personal Diplomacy”https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/mirrors-of-greatness-review-churchills-personal-diplomacy-c8e300e3Washington Examiner: Sean Durns – “Making history with Winston Churchill”https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2838794/making-history-with-winston-churchill/

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Tyson Reeder, assistant professor of history at Brigham Young University, to discuss his new book, Serpent in Eden: Foreign Meddling and Partisan Politics in James Madison's America. They chat about the espionage, shadow diplomacy, foreign scheming, and domestic backstabbing in the formative years of the American republic, and how an infant nation adjusting to rancorous partisan politics, aggravated by the untested and imperfect new tools of governance and the growing power of media, was exploited by foreign powers to advance their own agendas. Get the book here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/serpent-in-eden-9780197628591?cc=us&lang=en&Show Notes:Law & Liberty: Sam Negus – “The Old World and the Young Republic”https://lawliberty.org/book-review/the-old-world-and-the-young-republic/The Wall Street Journal: Mark G. Spencer – “‘Serpent in Eden': Foreign Spies and False Allies”https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/serpent-in-eden-review-spies-lies-and-false-allies-5a34e6e8

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Richard Carwardine, Emeritus Rhodes Professor of American History and Distinguished Fellow of the Rothermere American Institute at Oxford University, to discuss his new book, Righteous Strife: How Warring Religious Nationalists Forged Lincoln's Union. They chat about how the tensions surrounding the moral quandary of slavery cracked the United States in half, and even formed rifts within the North itself, how Lincoln proclaimed more days of national fasting and thanksgiving than any other president before or since, and how these pauses for spiritual reflection provided the inspirational rhetoric and ideological fuel that sustained the war.Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/24975/righteous-strife-by-richard-carwardine/

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Jeffrey Edward Green, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy at the University of Pennsylvania, to discuss his new book, Bob Dylan: Prophet Without God. They chat about how Green sees Dylan as a modern-day prophet, but a prophet of diremption rather than a prophet of salvation. They also discuss how Dylan has made novel contributions to the meaning of self-reliance, the quest for rapprochement between the religious and non-religious, and the problem of how ordinary people might operate in a fallen political world.Get the book here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/bob-dylan-9780197651742?cc=us&lang=en&

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Yuval Levin, the director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he also holds the Beth and Ravenel Curry Chair in Public Policy, to discuss his new book, American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation―and Could Again. They chat about  the Constitution's true genius and reveals how it charts a path to repairing America's fault lines. They also discuss the Constitution's exceptional power to facilitate constructive disagreement, negotiate resolutions to disputes, and forge unity in a fractured society.Get the book here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/yuval-levin/american-covenant/9780465040742/?lens=basic-booksShow Notes:The Atlantic: Yuval Levin – “What's Wrong With Congress (And How to Fix It)”https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/06/congress-reform-filibuster-constitution/678604/Commentary: Tal Fortgang – “We Are the Reformers We've Been Waiting For”https://www.commentary.org/articles/tal-fortgang/american-covenant-constitution/The Dispatch: Ben Rolsma – “The Constitution That Binds Us”https://thedispatch.com/article/the-constitution-that-binds-us/Law & Liberty: Charles C.W. Cooke – “A Roadmap—If We Want It”https://lawliberty.org/book-review/a-roadmap-if-we-want-it/Law & Liberty: John G. Grove – “The Latent Wisdom in Our Constitution”https://lawliberty.org/book-review/the-latent-wisdom-in-our-constitution/Law & Liberty: Mark Landy – “How the Constitution Unifies the Country”https://lawliberty.org/book-review/how-the-constitution-unifies-the-country/Law & Liberty: Scott Yenor – “Can Our Constitutional Order be Revived?”https://lawliberty.org/book-review/can-our-constitutional-order-be-revived/National Review: Matthew J. Franck – “The Constitution We Still Need”https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2024/08/the-constitution-we-still-need/Washington Examiner: Michael M. Rosen – “Yuval Levin's constitutional glue”https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/premium/3064559/constitutional-lore/Washington Free Beacon: - Robert P. George – “A Constitution, If You Can Keep It”https://freebeacon.com/culture/a-constitution-if-you-can-keep-it-2/The Washington Post: Ramesh Ponnuru – “The Constitution was supposed to be a uniter, not a divider”https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/06/18/yuval-levin-american-covenant-review-essay/

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Christine Rosen, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and media commentary columnist at Commentary, to discuss her new book, The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World. They chat about how digital technologies offer novelty and convenience, but also transform our sense of self and warp the boundaries between virtual and real, and what the costs of these technologies are. They also discuss whether face-to-face communication, sense of place, authentic emotion, and even boredom are at risk of becoming extinct.Get the book here: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393241716Show Notes:National Review: Ian Tuttle – “Losing Ourselves in a Disembodied World”https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2024/12/losing-ourselves-in-a-disembodied-world/The Wall Street Journal: Meghan Cox Gurdon – “‘The Extinction of Experience' Review: Devices and Distraction”https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/the-extinction-of-experience-review-devices-and-distraction-398139bcWashington Examiner: Mark Judge – “Being human in a digitally disembodied world”https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/community-family/3125777/being-human-in-a-digitally-disembodied-world/

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Jonathan W. White, professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University, to discuss his new book, co-authored with William J. Griffing, A Great and Good Man: Rare, First-Hand Accounts and Observations of Abraham Lincoln. They chat about the excerpts of the more than 200 previously unpublished accounts written by men and women who lived during the Civil War featured in the book, what the writers thought about Lincoln, and how these letters and diaries shed new life on Lincoln's life, his contemporary reputation during the war and before his assassination, and how his death instantaneously turned Lincoln into a revered martyr.  Get the book here: https://www.reedypress.com/shop/a-great-and-good-man-rare-first-hand-accounts-of-abraham-lincoln/ 

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Andrew Leigh, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, Treasury and Employment, and Federal Member for Fenner in the Australian Parliament, to discuss his book How Economics Explains the World: A Short History of Humanity. They chat about how ingenuity, greed, and desire for betterment have determined our past, present, and future. They also discuss why Europe colonized Africa instead of the other way around, what happened when countries erected trade and immigration barriers in the 1930s, and how property rights drove China's growth surge in the 1980sGet the book here: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/how-economics-explains-the-world-andrew-leigh?variant=42112692453410

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Cara Rogers Stevens, associate professor of history at Ashland University, to discuss her book Thomas Jefferson and the Fight against Slavery. They chat about the evolution of Jefferson's views on race and slavery, his legislative attempts to put the practice on a pathway to extinction in Virginia beginning in the colonial period, the antislavery intentions of his lone book, Notes on the State of Virginia, and how he tried to persuade younger slaveholders to embrace emancipation.Get the book here: https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700635979/Show Notes:The Imaginative Conservative: Bradley J. Birzer – “Redeeming (Mostly) Thomas Jefferson”https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2024/07/thomas-jefferson-cara-rogers-stevens-fight-slavery-bradley-birzer.html

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by renowned historian Richard Overy to discuss his new book, Why War? They chat about why has war been such a consistent presence throughout the human past, and indeed in the human present, and what are the major drivers and motivations for war, how each has contributed to organized conflict, and whether humanity will ever evolve away from organized conflict. They also discuss the impulses embedded in human biology and psychology, the incentives to conflict developed through cultural evolution, and how competition for resources, or conflicts stirred by the passions of belief, the effects of ecological stresses, the drive for power in leaders and nations, and the search for security all contribute to this phenomenon that is unique human.Get the book here: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324021742Show Notes:The Telegraph: James Holland – “Why humanity's appetite for war will never be sated”https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/non-fiction/why-war-richard-overy-review/Times Literary Supplement: Edward N. Luttwak – “Battle grounds” https://www.the-tls.co.uk/politics-society/politics/why-war-richard-overy-book-review-edward-luttwakThe Wall Street Journal: Dominic Green – “‘Why War?' Review: Nature, Nurture and Violence”https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/why-war-review-nature-nurture-and-violence-e0babb7f

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Anthony Eames, director of scholarly initiatives at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, non-resident fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and professorial lecturer at the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University, to discuss his new book, A Voice in Their Own Destiny: Reagan, Thatcher, and Public Diplomacy in the Nuclear 1980s. They chat about how the administrations of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher used innovations in public diplomacy to build back support for their foreign policy agendas at a moment of widespread popular dissent. They also discuss how ow competition between the governments of Reagan and Thatcher, the Anglo-American antinuclear movement, and the Soviet peace offensive sparked a revolution in public diplomacy.Get the book here: https://www.umasspress.com/9781625347107/a-voice-in-their-own-destiny/

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Sergey Radchenko, Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, to discuss his new book, To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power. They chat about how the Soviet struggle with the United States and China reflected its irreconcilable ambitions as a self-proclaimed superpower and the leader of global revolution, and how this tension drove Soviet policy throughout the second half of the 20th Century. They also discuss whether Soviet foreign policy was motivated more by Marxist-Leninist ideology or by traditional Russian imperialism and security concerns. Get the book here: https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/history/diplomatic-and-international-history/run-world-kremlins-cold-war-bid-global-power?format=HBShow Notes:The Bulwark: Brian Stewart – “Going to War for Respect”https://www.thebulwark.com/p/review-radchenko-run-world-going-war-for-respectFinancial Times: Edward Luce – “To Run the World — Moscow's quest for power and parity with the US”https://www.ft.com/content/e8dc41b9-98a7-4ca0-8092-79d64249694aForeign Affairs: John Lewis Gaddis – “Why Would Anyone Want to Run the World?”https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/why-would-anyone-run-world-cold-warForeign Policy: Casey Michel – “Putting the Cold War on the Couch”https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/05/19/radchenko-gorbachev-krushchev-cold-war-psychology/The New Statesman: Serhii Plokhy – “Russia's great-power complex”https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2024/06/russias-great-power-complexThe Spectator: Rodric Braithwaite – “China's role in Soviet policy-making”https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/chinas-role-in-soviet-policy-making/

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Maurice Isserman, Publius Virgilius Rogers Professor of American History at Hamilton College, to discuss his new book, Reds: The Tragedy of American Communism. They chat about the deeply contradictory nature of the history of the Communist Party USA, the history of the American far left, and how the Bolshevik Revolution skewed the American far left. They also discuss CPUSA's unwavering faith in the Soviet Union, how many American communists became involved in espionage on behalf of the USSR, and the organization's decline into political irrelevance. Get the book here:  https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/maurice-isserman/reds/9781541620032/?lens=basic-booksShow Notes:The American Prospect: Harold Meyerson – “Red Weather Vanes”https://prospect.org/culture/books/2024-08-08-red-weather-vanes-isserman-review/The Bulwark: Ron Radosh – “How and Why American Communism Failed”https://www.thebulwark.com/p/communism-failed-maurice-isserman-reds-reviewForeign Policy: Casey Michel: “The Contradictions of America's Communist Party”https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/07/07/communist-party-america-history-illiberal-democracy/The Wall Street Journal: Joseph Epstein – “‘Reds' Review: Communism in the U.S.A.”https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/reds-review-communism-in-the-u-s-a-1e0b14d7

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Sean McMeekin, Francis Flournoy Professor of European History and Culture at Bard College, to discuss his new book, To Overthrow the World: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Communism. They chat about the evolution of Communism from a seductive ideal of a classless society into the ruling doctrine of tyrannical regimes. They also discuss communism's unpopularity as a political form, yet it's endurance as an ideology.Get the book here:  https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/sean-mcmeekin/to-overthrow-the-world/9781541601963/?lens=basic-booksShow Notes:The New Criterion: Gary Saul Morson – “The red star returns”https://newcriterion.com/article/the-red-star-returns/Washington Free Beacon: Harvey Klehr – “The Struggle To Contain Communism … in One Book”https://freebeacon.com/culture/the-struggle-to-contain-communism-in-one-book/

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Spencer D. Bakich, Professor of International Studies and Director of the National Security Program at the Virginia Military Institute, and Senior Fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, to discuss his new book, The Gulf War: George H. W. Bush and American Grand Strategy in the Post-Cold War Era. They chat about how Bush fashioned a grand strategy to bring about a New World Order designed to transform international politics by focusing on great power cooperation through the United Nations, how Bush's strategic beliefs oriented American statecraft in peace and war, and how the war's outcome exposed faulty assumptions about the international system that underpinned that strategy.Get the book here:  https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700636884/the-gulf-war/

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Tevi Troy, Senior Fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center, Senior Scholar at Yeshiva University's Straus Center, and a Visiting Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, to discuss his new book, The Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes Between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry. They chat about how the vast reach of the federal government became a critical fact of life for every business, how companies find themselves navigating a competitive landscape defined by stringent regulations, and how CEOs must influence the legislative and regulatory system. They also discuss how much the modern presidency relies on CEOs for personnel, policy insights, campaign cash, and as potential foils.Get the book here: https://www.regnery.com/9781684515400/the-power-and-the-money/

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Nick Lloyd, Professor of Modern Warfare at King's College London, to discuss his new book, The Eastern Front: A History of the Great War, 1914-1918. They chat about the scale of the conflict, how the most radical aspect of the struggle in the east was that the violence was not confined to combatants, and how the repercussions of the war in the east, including the fall of three great empires and the rise of Bolshevism, were much more profound than the war in the west.Get the book here: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324092711Show Notes:Financial Times: Margaret MacMillan – “The Eastern Front by Nick Lloyd — truth bombs”https://www.ft.com/content/8e29eba7-a91a-40a6-a5e5-47369a7c70ebLiterary Review: Jonathan Boff – “Graveyard of Empires”https://literaryreview.co.uk/graveyard-of-empiresThe Spectator: Tessa Dunlop – “The horrors of the Eastern Front”https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-horrors-of-the-eastern-front/The Telegraph: Simon Heffer – “How the carnage on the Eastern Front transformed the First World War”https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/non-fiction/review-eastern-front-nick-lloyd/The Times: Dominic Sandbrook – “The Eastern Front by Nick Lloyd review: a fresh take on the First World War”https://www.thetimes.com/culture/article/the-eastern-front-a-history-of-the-first-world-war-nick-lloyd-review-fm2z0kkznTimes Literary Supplement: Hew Strachan – “Suicide of empires”https://www.the-tls.co.uk/history/twentieth-century-onwards-history/the-eastern-front-nick-lloyd-book-review-hew-strachanThe Wall Street Journal: William Anthony Hay – “‘The Eastern Front' Review: The Battle Far From the Trenches”https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/the-eastern-front-review-the-battle-far-from-the-trenches-e09b3580

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Michel Paradis, fellow at the Center on National Security and the National Institute for Military Justice and lecture in law at Columbia Law School, to discuss his new book, The Light of Battle: Eisenhower, D-Day, and the Birth of the American Superpower. They chat about how Eisenhower's rise both reflected and was integral to America's rise as a global superpower, his unique facility as a teambuilder, and just what exactly was on the line with Operation Overlord.Get the book here:https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-light-of-battle-michel-paradis?variant=41106434326562Show Notes:Wall Street Journal: Paul Kennedy – “‘The Light of Battle' Review: Eisenhower's Road to Normandy”https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/the-light-of-battle-review-eisenhowers-road-to-normandy-55a76a2f

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Michael Kimmage, Professor of History at the Catholic University of America and non-resident Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, to discuss his new book, Collisions: The Origins of the War in Ukraine and the New Global Instability. They chat about the origins of the war, how it has transformed multiple centers of power and has shifted the direction of major macro-trends in world politics, contributing to the fragmentation of international politics, higher inflation, greater food insecurity, and the general collapse of arms control. Get the book here:https://global.oup.com/academic/product/collisions-9780197751794?cc=us&lang=en&Show Notes:Foreign Affairs: Liana Fix & Michael Kimmage – “Putin's Last Stand”https://www.foreignaffairs.com/russian-federation/putin-last-stand-russia-defeatWall Street Journal: Michael Kimmage – “Trump Is Unlikely to Abandon Ukraine—and Might Dangerously Escalate the War”https://www.wsj.com/politics/trump-is-unlikely-to-abandon-ukraineand-might-even-escalate-the-war-356a2825Wall Street Journal: Michael Kimmage – “Putin's Rogue State”https://www.wsj.com/articles/putins-rogue-state-140d876fWashington Times: Martin Di Caro – “BOOK REVIEW: ‘Collisions: The Origins of the War in Ukraine and the New Global Instability'”https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/mar/7/book-review-collisions-origins-of-war-in-ukraine-a/

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Frank W. Garmon Jr., assistant professor of American studies at Christopher Newport University, to discuss his new book, A Wonderful Career in Crime: Charles Cowlam's Masquerades in the Civil War Era and Gilded Age. They chat Cowlam's career as convict, spy, detective, congressional candidate, adventurer, con artist, and serial bigamist and how his life managed to intersect with Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, and Ulysses S. Grant. They also discuss the mid-19th Century's economic system that was dependent upon trust and personal relationships and how Cowlam exposed the liabilities of the political system constructed on the same foundations.Get the book here:https://lsupress.org/9780807182666/a-wonderful-career-in-crime/

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by James Davison Hunter, LaBrosse-Levinson Distinguished Professor of Religion, Culture and Social Theory and Executive Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia, to discuss his new book, Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of America's Political Crisis. They discuss how our historic sources of national solidarity have now largely dissolved, why a deepening political polarization is the most obvious sign of this, how the true problem is not polarization per se but the absence of cultural resources to work through what divides us, and how all political regimes require some level of unity, and if it cannot be generated organically, it will be imposed by force. They also chat about whether this problem can be fixed and whether or not the Enlightenment-era institution that is liberal democracy survive in a post-Enlightenment world.Get the book here:https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300274370/democracy-and-solidarity/Show Notes:City Journal: Fred Bauer – “A Renewed Union?”https://www.city-journal.org/article/a-renewed-unionThe Hedgehog Review: James Davison Hunter – “Dissent and Solidarity”https://hedgehogreview.com/issues/america-on-the-brink/articles/dissent-and-solidarityNational Catholic Reporter: Michael Sean Winters – “New book examines cultural roots of our political crisis” & “From 'culture wars' to 'cultural exhaustion': James Davison Hunter diagnoses our cultural ills”https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/ncr-voices/new-book-examines-cultural-roots-our-political-crisis-0https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/ncr-voices/culture-wars-cultural-exhaustion-james-davison-hunter-diagnoses-our-culturalNew York Times: David Brooks – “The Deep Source of Trump's Appeal”https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/11/opinion/trump-biden-authoritarianism.html

In Episode 154 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with Sam Rosenfeld, co-author of The Hollow Parties: The Many Pasts and Disordered Present of American Party Politics.Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Sam Rosenfeld, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director, Public Affairs and Policy Research Initiative at Colgate University, to discuss his new book, co-authored with Daniel Schlozman, The Hollow Parties: The Many Pasts and Disordered Present of American Party Politics. They discuss how party hollowness lies at the heart of our democratic discontents and how the nation's parties became so dysfunctional. They also chat about the history of the party system in the United States, how today's fractious party politics arose from the ashes of the New Deal order in the 1970s, how the 1968 DNC transformed presidential nominations but failed to lay the foundations for robust, movement-driven parties, and how, in Rosenfeld's estimation, modern American conservatism hollowed out the party system, deeming it a mere instrument for power.Get the book here: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691248554/the-hollow-partiesShow Notes:Capital Research Center: Michael E. Hartmann – “Donors, The Hollow Parties, Distance, And Democracy”https://capitalresearch.org/article/donors-the-hollow-parties-distance-and-democracy/The New Republic: Ben Metzner – “The Decay of America's Political Parties”https://newrepublic.com/article/184302/decay-americas-political-parties-schlozman-rosenfeld-interviewNew York Times: Sam Rosenfeld and Daniel Schlozman – “The Republican Party Has Devolved Into a Racket”https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/18/opinion/politics/republican-party-trump-racket.htmlPolitico: Ian Ward – “Democrats Are Feckless and Republicans Are Chaotic. Here's Why.”https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/05/01/hollow-political-parties-donald-trump-00155297Reason: J.D. Tuccille – “Hollow Major Parties Preside Over a Politics of 'Fear and Loathing'”https://reason.com/2023/08/07/hollow-major-parties-preside-over-a-politics-of-fear-and-loathing/Semafor: Davie Wiegel – “Why political parties desperately need to make a comeback”https://www.semafor.com/article/05/10/2024/why-political-parties-desperately-need-to-make-a-comebackWashington Examiner: Ben Jacobs – “Political party crashers”https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/magazine-life-arts/3010630/political-party-crashers/

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Sean A. Mirski, Visiting Scholar at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, to discuss his new book, We May Dominate the World: Ambition, Anxiety, and the Rise of the American Colossus. They discuss how the United States became a regional hegemon in the century following the Civil War, which no other great power in the modern era has managed to achieve. They also chat about what America's rise to hegemon status can teach us about the United States faces from China, Russia, and Iran today.Get the book here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/sean-a-mirski/we-may-dominate-the-world/9781541758438/?lens=publicaffairsShow Notes:The Spectator: David J. Garrow – “Visiting a forgotten chapter in American history”https://thespectator.com/book-and-art/visiting-forgotten-chapter-american-history-sean-mirski/Washington Examiner: Jackson Lopez – “Review: We May Dominate the World by Sean Mirski”https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2441248/review-we-may-dominate-the-world-by-sean-mirski/

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Robert K.D. Colby, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Mississippi, to discuss his new book, An Unholy Traffic: Slave Trading in the Civil War South. They discuss how Southerners made the internal slave trade a cornerstone of Confederate society, a bulwark of the Rebel economy, and a central part of the experience of the Civil War. They also chat about how slave trading helped Southerners survive and fight the war by using this commerce to navigate food shortages and mitigate the demands of military service and other hardships on the home front. Get the book here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/an-unholy-traffic-9780197578261?cc=us&lang=en&Show Notes:The Guardian: Rich Tenorio – “An Unholy Traffic: how the slave trade continued through the US civil war”https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/28/robert-colby-unholy-traffic-slave-trade-civil-war

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by award-winning novelist, critic, and biographer D.J. Taylor to discuss his new book, Who Is Big Brother? A Reader's Guide to George Orwell. They discuss Orwell's books, life and thought, including his conflicted relationship with religion to his competing anti-imperialism and fascination with empire. They also discuss Taylor's recently released, completely overhauled biography, Orwell: The New Life.Get the books here: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300272987/who-is-big-brother/ & https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Orwell/D-J-Taylor/9781639364510Show Notes:The Critic: Andrew Doyle – “The making of a modern prophet”https://thecritic.co.uk/The-making-of-a-modern-prophet/First Things: John Wilson – “The Lure of Orwell”https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2023/05/the-lure-of-orwellThe Guardian: Blake Morrison – “Orwell by DJ Taylor review – a very English socialist”https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jun/01/orwell-by-dj-taylor-review-a-very-english-socialistLaw & Liberty: Theodore Dalrymple – “Orwell's Arresting Ambiguities”https://lawliberty.org/book-review/orwells-arresting-ambiguities/Literary Review: David Dwan – “An Unsociable Socialist”https://literaryreview.co.uk/an-unsociable-socialistThe Spectator: Camilla Cassidy – “Will we ever know the real George Orwell?”https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/will-we-ever-know-the-real-george-orwell/The Times: John Carey – “Orwell: The New Life by DJ Taylor review — great writer, terrible husband”https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/orwell-the-new-life-by-dj-taylor-review-great-writer-terrible-husband-0t8w7qrlxWall Street Journal: Dominic Green – “‘Orwell' Review: A Fresh Biography of Truth's Champion”https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/orwell-review-champion-of-an-ordinary-truth-e439ecf9

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Kurt Weyland, Mike Hogg Professor in Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin, to discuss his new book, Democracy's Resilience to Populism's Threat: Countering Global Alarmism. They discuss how populist leaders can only destroy democracy under special, restrictive conditions, which many never face. They also chat about how left-wing populists typically suffocate democracy only when benefitting from huge revenue windfalls, whereas right-wing populists must perform the heroic feat of resolving acute, severe crises.Get the book here: https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/politics-international-relations/comparative-politics/democracys-resilience-populisms-threat-countering-global-alarmism?format=HBShow Notes:National Constitution Center: Democracy, Populism, and the Tyranny of the Minority (VIDEO)https://constitutioncenter.org/news-debate/podcasts/democracy-populism-and-the-tyranny-of-the-minority

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by David Blackbourn, Cornelius Vanderbilt Distinguished Chair of History Emeritus at Vanderbilt University, to discuss his new book, Germany in the World: A Global History, 1500-2000. They discuss the existence of a distinctly German presence in the world centuries before its unification. They also chat about Germany's leading role in creating modern universities and its sinister involvement in slave-trade economies, as well as how Germany has maintained its pivotal place for the world, even after its tragic and criminal Twentieth Century. Get the book here: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781631491832Show Notes:The Guardian: Neal Ascherson – “Germany in the World by David Blackbourn review – a rich and full-throated account of the past 500 years”https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jul/02/germany-in-the-world-by-david-blackbourn-review-a-rich-and-full-throated-account-of-the-past-500-yearsLiterary Review: Iain Bamforth – “From Brandenburg to Brazil”https://literaryreview.co.uk/from-brandenburg-to-brazilLondon Review of Books: Richard J. Evans – “Not So Special”https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n05/richard-j.-evans/not-so-special

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by David Stahel, senior lecturer in history at the University of New South Wales, to discuss his new book, Hitler's Panzer Generals: Guderian, Hoepner, Reinhardt and Schmidt Unguarded. They discuss the significance of the unpublished wartime correspondence of these generals and what it reveals about their personalities, their private fears, and the public pressures they were under. They also chat about their response to the criminal dimension of the Nazi way of war as well as their role as leading military commanders conducting large-scale operations.Get the book here: https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/history/military-history/hitlers-panzer-generals-guderian-hoepner-reinhardt-and-schmidt-unguarded?format=HBShow Notes:The Past: Calum Henderson – “Hitler's Panzer Generals: Guderian, Hoepner, Reinhardt, and Schmidt unguarded”https://the-past.com/review/books/hitlers-panzer-generals-guderian-hoepner-reinhardt-and-schmidt-unguarded/

In Episode 147 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with Nigel Biggar, author ofColonialism: A Moral Reckoning.Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Nigel Biggar, Emeritus Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at the University of Oxford, to discuss his new book, Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning. They discuss whether the British Empire was driven primarily by greed and the lust to dominate, whether we should speak of “colonialism and slavery” in the same breath, and whether the Empire was essentially racist. They also chat about whether the Empire was driven by economic exploitation, whether it was essentially violent, and whether colonial government was or was not illegitimate. Get the book here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-World-That-Wasnt/Benn-Steil/9781982127824Show Notes:The Critic: Robert Lyman – “The British empire, for good and ill”https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/march-2023/the-british-empire-for-good-and-ill/First Things: Nigel Biggar – “A Christian Defense of American Empire”https://www.firstthings.com/article/2022/10/a-christian-defense-of-american-empireThe Guardian: Kenan Malik – “Colonialism by Nigel Biggar review – a flawed defence of empire”https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/20/colonialism-a-moral-reckoning-by-nigel-biggar-review-a-flawed-defence-of-empireLaw & Liberty: Sumantra Maitra – “Was the British Empire Really a Force for Good?”https://lawliberty.org/book-review/was-the-british-empire-really-a-force-for-good/Literary Review: Jonathan Sumption – “Cruel Britannia?”https://literaryreview.co.uk/cruel-britanniaNational Post: Peter Shawn Taylor – “Peter Shawn Taylor: Colonialism contained 'good things as well as bad.' Why can't we just accept that?”https://nationalpost.com/opinion/colonialism-contained-good-things-as-well-as-bad-why-cant-we-just-accept-thatNational Review: Andrew Roberts – “The Upside of Empire”https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2023/07/31/the-upside-of-empire/The New Statesman: Tomiwa Owolade – “Nigel Biggar's whitewashing of empire”https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2023/03/nigel-biggar-whitewashing-empirePublic Discourse­: Samuel Gregg – “Reckoning with Colonialism”https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2023/05/88467/Quadrant: Matthew White – “A Moral Reckoning of the British Empire”https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2023/05/a-moral-reckoning-of-the-british-empire/Quillette: John Lloyd – “Colonialism and Its Discontents”https://quillette.com/2023/02/06/colonialism-and-its-discontents/The Spectator: David Crane – “Failing to denigrate Britain's entire colonial record has become a heinous crime”https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/failing-to-denigrate-britains-entire-colonial-record-has-become-a-heinous-crime/The Telegraph: Tim Stanley – “Colonialism by Nigel Biggar review: defending the British empire, this book is spoiling for a fight”https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/colonialism-nigel-biggar-review-defending-british-empire-book/Times Literary Supplement: David Arnold – “In defence of empire”https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/colonialism-nigel-biggar-book-book-review-david-arnold/Wall Street Journal: Tunku Varadarajan – “‘Colonialism' Review: Empire Without Apology”https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/colonialism-review-empire-without-apology-80ecc195Washington Free Beacon: Douglas Murray – “The Upsides of Empire”https://freebeacon.com/culture/the-upsides-of-empire/

In Episode 146 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with Scott Walter, author ofArabella: The Dark Money Network of Leftist Billionaires Secretly Transforming America. Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Scott Walter, president of the capital Research Center, to discuss his new book, Arabella: The Dark Money Network of Leftist Billionaires Secretly Transforming America. They chat about what is the Arabella Advisors network, who its chief backers are, how it functions, and what exactly is “dark money.” They also discuss why Arabella is different than right-wing “dark money” networks, and what impact it has on American politics and policy. Get the book here: https://www.encounterbooks.com/books/arabella/Show Notes: Wall Street Journal: Scott Walter – “Inside the Left's Web of ‘Dark Money'”https://www.wsj.com/articles/inside-the-lefts-web-of-dark-money-11603408114

In Episode 145 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with Hyrum Lewis, co-author ofThe Myth of Left and Right: How the Political Spectrum Misleads and Harms America. Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Hyrum Lewis, associate professor of history at Brigham Young University-Idaho, to discuss his new book (co-authored with his brother, Verlan), The Myth of Left and Right: How the Political Spectrum Misleads and Harms America. They chat about how, the book declares, there is no enduring philosophy, disposition, or essence uniting the various positions associated with the “liberal” and “conservative” ideologies of today—there is nothing other than tribal loyalty holding together the many disparate positions that fly under the banners of "liberal" and "conservative." They also discuss how the political spectrum came to the United States from Europe in the 1920s, and how the left and right have evolved in so many unpredictable and contradictory ways.Get the book here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-myth-of-left-and-right-9780197680629?lang=en&cc=usShow Notes: Acton Institute: Jonathan Leaf – “Getting Beyond Right-Wing and Left-Wing”https://rlo.acton.org/archives/124983-getting-beyond-right-wing-and-left-wing.htmlDeseret Magazine: Hyrum Lewis – “The myth of left and right”https://www.deseret.com/2024/1/15/24002083/the-myth-of-left-and-right-politics/The Public Discourse: Andrew Busch – “The Tribal, and Philosophical, Basis of the Left and Right in American Politics”https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2023/05/88878/Reason: Jesse Walker – “The Left-Right Spectrum Is Mostly Meaningless”https://reason.com/2023/05/21/the-left-right-spectrum-is-mostly-meaningless/The University Bookman: Lee Trepanier – “Essentially Lying About the Left and Right”https://kirkcenter.org/reviews/essentially-lying-about-the-left-and-right/Washington Examiner: Oliver Traldi – “Busting the myth of Left and Right”https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/education/2573215/busting-the-myth-of-left-and-right/

In Episode 144 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with John M. Owen IV, author ofThe Ecology of Nations: American Democracy in a Fragile World Order. Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by John M. Owen IV, Ambassador Henry J. and Mrs. Marion R. Taylor Professor of Politics, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture and the Miller Center of Public Affairs, at the University of Virginia, to discuss his new book, The Ecology of Nations: American Democracy in a Fragile World Order. They chat about “ecosystem engineering”, how liberalism may have evolved in ways that are no longer conducive to its own survival, and the ways Owen believes liberalism should be reimagined to better confront the autocratic threat coming from China, Russia, and others. Get the book here: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300260731/the-ecology-of-nations/Show Notes: American Enterprise Institute: “Discussing American Democracy and a Fragile World Order with John M. Owen IV” (VIDEO)https://www.aei.org/events/discussing-american-democracy-and-a-fragile-world-order-with-john-m-owen-iv/The Hedgehog Review: John M. Owen IV – “To Make the World Select for Democracy”https://hedgehogreview.com/issues/america-on-the-brink/articles/to-make-the-world-select-for-democracy

In Episode 143 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with Martyn Rady, author ofThe Middle Kingdoms: A New History of Central Europe. Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Martyn Rady, Masaryk Professor Emeritus of Central European History at University College London, to discuss his new book, The Middle Kingdoms: A New History of Central Europe. They chat about how Central Europe has been more than just a fault line between the east and west and how the region developed its own cohesive identity and produced tremendous accomplishments in politics, society, and culture. They go on to discuss how Central Europeans launched the Reformation and Romanticism, developed the philosophy of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, and advanced some of the twentieth century's most important artistic movements. Get the book here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/martyn-rady/the-middle-kingdoms/9781541619784/?lens=basic-booksShow Notes: The Critic: Victor Sebestyen – “Why central Europe has always mattered”https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/august-september-2023/why-central-europe-has-always-mattered/Financial Times: Ivan Krastev – “Shadowlands of empire: central Europe's nervous east-west gaze”https://www.ft.com/content/bb9fbe29-00bc-47bf-946b-456ab77e3fa1Literary Review: Tim Blanning – “Emperors, Mystics & Tomcats”https://literaryreview.co.uk/emperors-mystics-tomcatsThe New Criterion: Jeremy Black – “Middle march”https://newcriterion.com/article/middle-march/The Spectator: Peter Frankopan – “Central Europe has shaped our culture for centuries – yet we still find the region baffling”https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/central-europe-has-shaped-our-culture-for-centuries-yet-we-still-find-the-region-baffling/The Telegraph: Noel Malcolm – “Fish, tobacco and bureaucrats: a mad, marvellous history of central Europe”https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/the-middle-kingdoms-by-martyn-rady-review-a-mad-marvellous/Times Literary Supplement: Larry Wolff – “Among the dogmen”https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-middle-kingdoms-martyn-rady-book-review-larry-wolff/The Wall Street Journal: Robert D. Kaplan – “‘The Middle Kingdoms' Review: Europe's Eternal Battlefield”https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/the-middle-kingdoms-review-europes-eternal-battlefield-1a0d92a2The Washington Free Beacon: Jakub Grygiel – “From World Wars to the Cold War to Ukraine: How Central Europe Survives”https://freebeacon.com/culture/from-world-wars-to-the-cold-war-to-ukraine-how-central-europe-survives/

In Episode 142 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with John C. McManus, author ofTo the End of the Earth: The US Army and the Downfall of Japan, 1945. Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by John C. McManus, Curators' Distinguished Professor of U.S. military history at Missouri University of Science and Technology, to discuss his new book, To the End of the Earth: The US Army and the Downfall of Japan, 1945. They chat about the Philippines campaign, Okinawa, and the increasingly fanatical zeal and suicidal determination of the Japanese imperial forces. They also discuss major characters like MacArthur, Kreuger, Eichelberger, and Buckner as well as the incredible logistical hoops entailed in fielding a major army in the far-flung reaches of the Pacific. Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/702467/to-the-end-of-the-earth-by-john-c-mcmanus/Show Notes: Wall Street Journal: Jonathan W. Jordan – “‘To the End of the Earth' Review: Defeating Japan”https://www.wsj.com/articles/to-the-end-of-the-earth-review-defeating-japan-1df44c74

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Peter Heather, chair of medieval history at King's College, London, to discuss his new book, Christendom: The Triumph of a Religion, AD 300-1300. They chat about how a small sect of isolated and intensely committed congregations became a mass movement centrally directed from Rome, the Church's chameleonlike capacity for self-reinvention, and how nothing was inevitable about Christianity's rise and dominance in Europe. Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/546307/christendom-by-peter-heather/Show Notes: City Journal: Edward Short – “Fair Triumph, or Foul?”https://www.city-journal.org/article/fair-triumph-or-foulLiterary Review: Costica Bradatan – “Onward Christian Emperors”https://literaryreview.co.uk/onward-christian-emperorsNew York Times: Paul Elie – “Looking at Early Christianity Through a Different Lens”https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/31/books/review/christendom-peter-heather.htmlPublic Discourse: Robert Wilken – “ The History behind the Formation of Christendom”https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2023/07/89727/The Spectator: Eleanor Myerson – “The rocky path to Christian dominance in Europe”https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-rocky-path-to-christian-dominance-in-europe/The Telegraph: Peter Stanford – “How 4th-century Christianity radically reinvented itself from a marginal sect to a world power”https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/how-4th-century-christianity-radically-reinvented-marginal-sect/Times Literary Supplement: Diarmid MacCulloch – “Kingdom of God”https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-formation-of-christendom-judith-herrin-christendom-peter-heather-book-review-diarmaid-macculloch/Washington Examiner: Diane Scharper – “How Christianity Happened”https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/magazine-life-arts/376645/how-christianity-happened/

Heartland's Tim Benson is once again joined by friend of the podcast H.W. Brands, the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin, to discuss his new book, Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics. They chat about how, while the Framers viewed political parties a fatal threat to republican virtues, parties emerged even before the ink on the Constitution was dry. They then discuss all things Federalist vs. Antifederalist/Republican, how contentious the political battles between them were, but yet how, despite all this, peaceful transfers of power continued. Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/713058/founding-partisans-by-h-w-brands/Show Notes: Wall Street Journal: Adam Rowe – “‘Founding Partisans' and ‘A Republic of Scoundrels': Opportunists and Patriots”https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/founding-partisans-and-a-republic-of-scoundrels-opportunists-and-patriots-b61dbf2fWashington Post: C.W. Goodyear – “American political discord is as old as America itself”https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/12/06/founding-partisans-political-book-review/

The Heartland Institute's Tim Benson is joined by Ian Buruma, Paul W. Williams Professor of Human Rights and Journalism at Bard College, to discuss his new book, The Collaborators: Three Stories of Deception and Survival in World War II. They chat about the backstory behind the three subjects of the book—Felix Kersten, Yoshiko Kawashima, and Friedrich Weinreb—and why all three have been vilified and mythologized. They also discuss the three subjects' varying levels of culpability for the crimes committed by the people and regimes they served.Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/659322/the-collaborators-by-ian-buruma/Show Notes: The Guardian: Matthew Reisz – “The Collaborators by Ian Buruma review – intriguing study of the frenemy within”https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/12/the-collaborators-three-stories-of-deception-survival-world-war-ii-by-ian-buruma-review-intriguing-study-of-the-frenemy-withinNew York Times: Lesley M.M. Blume – “Amoral Traitors? War Heroes? Survivors? Depends Whom You Ask.”https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/11/books/review/the-collaborators-ian-buruma.htmlThe Times: Ben McIntyre – “The Collaborators by Ian Buruma review — three stories of deception and survival in the Second World War”https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-collaborators-by-ian-buruma-review-jljr2msmdTimes Literary Supplement: Josh Ireland – “Unholy compromises”https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-collaborators-ian-buruma-book-review-josh-ireland/Wall Street Journal: Diane Cole – “‘The Collaborators' Review: They Dealt With the Devil”https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-collaborators-book-review-world-war-ii-history-they-dealt-with-the-devil-8a1cad6bWashington Post: Scott Martelle – “For three liars during WWII, deception proves to be both good and evil”https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/05/03/world-war-ii-collaborators-book/

In Episode 139 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with Ronald C. White, author ofOn Great Fields: The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by return guest Ronald C. White, senior fellow at the Trinity Forum, to discuss his new book, On Great Fields: The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. They chat about Chamberlain's early days in Maine, his studying to become a minister, and a how a childhood stutterer ended up being fluent in nine languages. They also discuss his Civil War heroism, his turn as governor of Maine, and how he made a civilian life of meaning after having experienced the extreme highs and lows of war.Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/566059/on-great-fields-by-ronald-c-white/Show Notes: C-SPAN: On Great Fields (VIDEO)https://www.c-span.org/video/?531806-2/on-great-fieldsHistoryNet: Dave Kindy – “This Son of Maine Was Much More Than a Civil War Hero”https://www.historynet.com/interview-on-great-fields-chamberlain/Wall Street Journal: Randall Fuller – “‘On Great Fields': Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Professor and Hero”https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/on-great-fields-joshua-lawrence-chamberlain-professor-and-hero-af8c509cOutro music: Aswad, Warrior Charge, War Ina Babylon: An Island Reggae Anthology, 2009

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Joanne Paul, Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Sussex, to discuss her new book, The House of Dudley: A New History of Tudor England. They chat about who were the Dudleys, how they gained prominence, then lost it all, then gained prominence once again, and then finally lost it all again. They also discuss how the family's fortunes seemed to mirror those of their Tudor benefactors, why the Dudley men would want to play such a dangerous game, and how the Dudley women kept the family together when family fortunes had fallen. Get the book here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-House-of-Dudley/Joanne-Paul/9781639366125Show Notes: Literary Review: Mathew Lyons – “They courted trouble”https://literaryreview.co.uk/they-courted-troubleThe Spectator: Elizabeth Goldring – “The machinations of the Dudleys make Game of Thrones look tame”https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-machinations-of-the-dudleys-make-game-of-thrones-look-tame/The Telegraph: Noel Malcolm – “How the Dudleys played Tudor snakes and ladders – and lost spectacularly”https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/dudleys-played-tudor-snakes-ladders-lost-spectacularly/The Times: Gerard DeRoot – “The House of Dudley by Joanne Paul review — how to get ahead (or lose your head) in Tudor England”https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-house-of-dudley-by-joanne-paul-review-jg3rvf0zsWall Street Journal: Catherine Ostler – “‘The House of Dudley' Review: Tudor Game of Thrones”https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-house-of-dudley-review-playing-the-tudor-game-of-thrones-8d74f2a6

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Laurie Winer, founding editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books, to discuss her new book, Oscar Hammerstein II and the Invention of the Musical. They chat about why Winer believes Hammerstein more than anyone else invented the musical. They also discuss his relationship with collaborators Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers and how Hammerstein's optimistic humor, openness to strangers, and rejection of bitterness contributed to a vision that orchestrated a collective reimagining of America. Get the book here: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300223798/oscar-hammerstein-ii-and-the-invention-of-the-musical/Show Notes: Los Angeles Review of Books: Tim Riley – “A Poet of the Anticipation of Joy: On Laurie Winer's ‘Oscar Hammerstein II and the Invention of the Musical'”https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/a-poet-of-the-anticipation-of-joy-on-laurie-winers-oscar-hammerstein-ii-and-the-invention-of-the-musical/New York Times: Brad Leithauser – “A Cockeyed Optimist: Oscar Hammerstein Was No Stephen Sondheim”https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/08/books/review/oscar-hammerstein-ii-and-the-invention-of-the-musical-laurie-winer.html

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Benn Steil, senior fellow and director of international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations, to discuss his new book, The World That Wasn't: Henry Wallace and the Fate of the American Century. They discuss Wallace's brilliance as a geneticist, his odd obsession with mysticism, and his naivete toward the true nature of the Soviet Union and Soviet communism. They also chat about his collusion with Stalin during his run for the presidency in 1948 and how frequently he was manipulated by Soviet agents and assets during his entire tenure in government service.Get the book here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-World-That-Wasnt/Benn-Steil/9781982127824Show Notes:National Review: Amity Shlaes – “What if Henry Wallace Had Been President?”https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2024/04/what-if-henry-wallace-had-been-president/Wall Street Journal: Michael Barone – “‘The World That Wasn't' Review: When FDR Dumped Wallace”https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/the-world-that-wasnt-review-when-fdr-dumped-wallace-9f93bb24Washington Examiner: Mark Melton – “Henry Wallace: The man who was almost (an awful) president”https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/premium/2892932/henry-wallace-the-man-who-was-almost-an-awful-president/Washington Free Beacon: Richard Norton Smith – “Midwest Mystic or Manchurian Candidate?”https://freebeacon.com/democrats/midwest-mystic-or-manchurian-candidate/Washington Post: George F. Will – “Roosevelt fixed his serious VP mistake. Will Biden?”https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/02/23/franklin-roosevelt-changed-running-mates/

In Episode 134 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with Paul H. Tice, author of The Race to Zero: How ESG Investing Will Crater the Global Financial System. Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Paul H. Tice, retired Wall-Streeter and adjunct professor of finance at New York University's Stern School of Business, to discuss his new book, The Race to Zero: How ESG Investing Will Crater the Global Financial System. They chat about why ESG and “sustainable investing” has swept across Wall Street, why it has received so little pushback so far, and what the consequences of this new scheme will mean for the global financial system. They also discuss what can be done to push back on this attempted ESG orthodoxy. Get the book here: https://www.encounterbooks.com/books/the-race-to-zero/

In Episode 133 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with Joel Selvin, author ofDrums & Demons: The Tragic Journey of Jim Gordon.Heartland's Tim Benson is once again joined by Joel Selvin, long-time rock critic at the San Francisco Chronicle, to discuss his new book, Drums & Demons: The Tragic Journey of Jim Gordon. They chat about why Selvin thinks Gordon is the greatest rock drummer of all time, what makes Gordon so unique as a musician, the impact he's had on American popular music, and his undiagnosed schizophrenia and the tragic second half of his life.Get the book here: https://diversionbooks.com/books/drums-demons/

Heartland's Tim Benson is once again joined by Katja Hoyer, research fellow at King's College London, to discuss her new book, Beyond the Wall: A History of East Germany. They chat about the political, social, and cultural landscape that existed in East Germany, the oppressions and hardships implemented and placed on the East German population by the communist regime, and why East Germans were so into blue jeans. Get the book here: https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/katja-hoyer/beyond-the-wall/9781541602571/Show Notes:Commentary: Clare McHugh – “East of Eden”https://www.commentary.org/articles/clare-mchugh/east-germany-katja-hoyer-matthew-longo/The Critic: David Goodhart – “The country that went to the wall”https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/may-2023/the-country-that-went-to-the-wall/The Economist: “Beyond the Wall adds depth to caricatures of East Germany”https://www.economist.com/culture/2023/03/23/beyond-the-wall-adds-depth-to-caricatures-of-east-germanyThe European Conservative: Jonathon Van Maren – “The Personal Narratives of Hoyer's Beyond the Wall”https://europeanconservative.com/articles/reviews/the-personal-narratives-of-hoyers-beyond-the-wall/Financial Times: Frederick Studemann – “Katja Hoyer: we need to hear ‘the whole story' about East Germany”https://www.ft.com/content/3f26324f-081c-47de-a168-4fdf03a1e4edForeign Policy: Allison Meakem – “A Tale of Two Germanies”https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/10/01/germany-east-west-reunification-book-review-katja-hoyer-michael-kater/The Guardian: Jacob Mikanowski – “Beyond the Wall by Katja Hoyer review – the human face of the socialist state”https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/02/beyond-the-wall-by-katja-hoyer-review-far-from-the-gdr-of-the-western-imagination-east-germany-1949-1990Literary Review: John Kampfner – “Honecker's Hidden Pleasures”https://literaryreview.co.uk/honeckers-hidden-pleasuresLos Angeles Review of Books: Matthew Longo – “Ostalgie: Revisiting East Germany”https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/ostalgie-revisiting-east-germany/The New Republic: Samuel Clowes Huneke – “The Lost History of East Germany”https://newrepublic.com/article/175286/lost-history-east-germany-katya-hoyer-beyond-wall-book-reviewNew York Times: Kati Marton – “Life During Cold Wartime in East Berlin”https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/05/books/review/beyond-the-wall-katja-hoyer.htmlThe Telegraph: Saul David – “Willkommen to the GDR! A warts-and-all history of East Germany”https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/beyond-wall-katja-hoyer-review-brilliant-warts-and-all-history/The Times: Dominic Sandbrook – “Beyond the Wall by Katja Hoyer review: real life in East Germany”https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/beyond-the-wall-by-katja-hoyer-review-real-life-in-east-germany-qjzx603rtTimes Literary Supplement: Karen Leeder – “Goodbye, GDR!”https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/beyond-the-wall-katja-hoyer-book-review-karen-leeder/

Heartland's Tim Benson is once again joined by Fergus M. Bordewich to discuss his new book, Klan War: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction. They chat about the formation of the Ku Klux Klan and the terroristic violence they committed against both new freed blacks and white Republicans, and how Grant and a Republican Congress went about destroying the Klan and protecting civil rights for newly freedmen in the postbellum South. Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/647165/klan-war-by-fergus-m-bordewich/Show Notes:The Guardian: Rich Tenorio – “Klan War: how Ulysses S Grant took the fight to the extreme right”https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/08/klan-war-ulysses-s-grant-book-fergus-bordewichNational Review: Kevin R. Kosar: “Ulysses S. Grant's Final Battle”https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2024/01/ulysses-s-grants-final-battle/New York Times: Jennifer Szalai – “The President vs. the Klan”https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/11/books/review/klan-war-fergus-bordewich.htmlWall Street Journal: Roger Lowenstein – “‘Klan War' Review: The Agony After Appomattox”https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/klan-war-review-the-agony-after-appomattox-957ed319

Heartland's Tim Benson is once again joined by Jonathan W. White, professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University and winner of the 2023 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize, to discuss his new children's book, My Day with Abe Lincoln. They chat about why he wanted to write a children's book, where he drew his inspiration from, and whether he has plans for any more books in the series.Get the book here:  https://www.reedypress.com/shop/my-day-with-abe-lincoln/

Heartland's Tim Benson is joined by Stephen Walsh, Emeritus Professor of Music at Cardiff University, to discuss his book, The Beloved Vision: A History of Nineteenth Century Music. They chat about the music of the nineteenth century and the Romantic tradition and how it has moved generations of musicians and resonated with countless listeners. They also talk about the ideas that lay behind Romanticism and how Romantic music has become the mainstay of the twentieth and twenty-first century concert and operatic repertoire. Get the book here:  https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Beloved-Vision/Stephen-Walsh/9781639362363Show Notes:Wall Street Journal: Barton Swaim – “‘The Beloved Vision' Review: The Age of Musical Amateurs”https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-beloved-vision-book-review-the-age-of-musical-amateurs-11673629786