KPFA - Letters and Politics

Guest: Mary Annette Pember is a citizen of the Red Cliff Band of Wisconsin Ojibwe. She is currently national correspondent for ICT News, formerly Indian Country Today.  She is the recipient of several awards for her journalism and is the author of Medicine River: A Story of Survival and the Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools. The post A History of Indian Boarding Schools in America appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Clay Risen is a historian and a reporter and editor at The New York Times.  He is the author of several books including The Crowded Hour, a New York Times Notable Book of 2019, and his latest, Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America.   The post The Witch Hunt Against the Left in the 1940s appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Gregory P. Downs is a history professor at the University of California, Davis. He is the author of several books including his latest, in collaboration with Anthony E. Kaye (1962-2017), Nat Turner, Black Prophet: A Visionary History. Anthony E. Kaye (1962–2017) taught history at Pennsylvania State University and was the vice president of scholarly programs at the National Humanities Center. An influential scholar of Atlantic slavery and American history, he served as an associate editor of The Journal of the Civil War Era. His final book, Nat Turner, Black Prophet, was completed with the assistance of Gregory P. Downs, a professor of history at the University of California, Davis.   Featured image: Discovery of Nat Turner by William Henry Shelton on Wikipedia.     The post A History of Nat Turner's Slave Revolt appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Corinna Barrett Lain is the S. D. Roberts & Sandra Moore Professor of Law at the University of Richmond School of Law. She is the author of Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection. The post Lethal Injections & The Hidden Torture of Executions appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Michael Albertus is professor of political science at the University of Chicago. The author of four previous books, his writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, and elsewhere. He is the author of Land Power: Who Has It, Who Doesn't, and How That Determines the Fate of Societies. The post Land & Power appeared first on KPFA.

A look at burning political issues and debates and their historical context within the US and worldwide, hosted by Mitch Jeserich. The post Letters and Politics – May 26, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

Host Mitch Jeserich reads excerpts of the Iliad by Homer and translated by Emily Wilson. Emily Wilson is a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She has been named a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome in Renaissance and early modern scholarship, a MacArthur Fellow, and a Guggenheim Fellow. In addition to Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, she has also published translations of Sophocles, Euripides, and Seneca. Support KPFA!! Ancient Tales 3-Pack $250 The post The Iliad: War, Rage, and Sorrow appeared first on KPFA.

Mitch Jeserich reads excerpts from the classic writings The Way of Chuang Tzu translated by Thomas Merton. Thomas Merton composed a series of his own versions of the classic sayings of Chuang Tzu, the most spiritual of Chinese philosophers. Chuang Tzu, who wrote in the fourth and third centuries B.C., is the chief authentic historical spokesperson for Taoism and its founder Lao Tzu (a legendary character known largely through Chuang Tzu's writings). Indeed it was because of Chuang Tzu and the other Taoist sages that Indian Buddhism was transformed, in China, into the unique vehicle we now call by its Japanese name―Zen.   Excerpts from THE WAY OF CHUANG TZU by Thomas Merton, copyright ©1965 by The Abbey of Gethsemani. Reproduced by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp. The post The Taoist & Christian: The Way of Chuang Tzu appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Laurence Rees is an award-winning English historian and documentary filmmaker. He has authored several books including The Holocaust: A New History, Hitler and Stalin,  Auschwitz: A New History, and his latest, The Nazi Mind: Twelve Warnings from History. The post Understanding the Psychology of Nazis appeared first on KPFA.

Ariel Dorfman is a Chilean-American author, born in Argentina. He is a prominent human rights activist who worked as press and cultural advisor to Salvador Allende in the final months before the 1973 military coup, and later spent many years in exile. He is the Walter Hines Page Emeritus Professor of Literature at Duke University and the author of many books including his latest, Allegro: A Novel. The post Ariel Dorfman on the Role of Beauty During Times of Chaos appeared first on KPFA.

Guests: Tiny (Lisa) Gray-Garcia aka “PovertySkola” is a formerly unhoused, incarcerated, revolutionary journalist, lecturer, poet, visionary, teacher and single mama of Tiburcio, daughter of a houseless, disabled mama Dee, and the co-founder of POOR Magazine/Prensa POBRE/PoorNewsNetwork. Victoria Montaño is a Po-scholar, interdisciplinary artist focussing on Indigenous Solidarity across seas and borders, Queer liberation, the Land Back Movement, and reawakening/reclamation of Ancestral Knowledge. They were born, raised and are  sustained in the Village of Huchiun which is now known as part of Oakland, Ca. Vick  carries lineages from the Yo'eme and Mexikah Nahua peoples.   ​ The post Resisting Occupation Across the Continent appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Paul Cooper is a podcaster, a historian, and the author of Fall of Civilizations: Stories of Greatness and Decline.  He writes, produces, and hosts the Fall of Civilizations podcast which explores the collapse of different societies through history. The post Fall Of Civilizations: A Conversation with Paul Cooper appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Natalie Lawrence, author of Enchanted Creatures: Our Monsters and Their Meaning. The post What Monsters Tell Us About Us appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Kelly Lytle Hernández is the Thomas E. Lifka Endowed Chair in History and the director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA.  She is a 2019 MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient and the author of the award-winning books Migra!, City of Inmates, and her latest, Bad Mexicans Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands winner of the 2023 Bancroft Prize in American History. The post The Mexican Revolution and The Migrants Who Sparked it appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Adam Shatz is the US editor of the London Review of Books and author of The Rebel's Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon.  He is the host of the podcast Myself with Others. The post The Life & Works of Frantz Fanon appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: William Dalrymple is the author of The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire. The post The Corporate Origins of Colonialism: The East India Company appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: William Dalrymple is a historian, curator, broadcaster and critic. He is the author of The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World. The post How Ancient India Changed The World: From Buddhism to Math appeared first on KPFA.

Violet Moller is a critically acclaimed and award-winning historian and author of Inside the Stargazer's Palace: The Transformation of Science in 16th-Century Europe. The post When Science & Magic Intermingled appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Jacqueline Jones is the Ellen C. Temple Chair in Women's History and the Mastin Gentry White Professorship in Southern History at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the winner of the Bancroft Prize for Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow.  Her latest book is Goddess of Anarchy: The Life and Times of Lucy Parsons, American Radical. The post The Life & Times of Lucy Parsons appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Robert Ovetz is a lecturer in Political Science and Public Administration at San José State University. He writes about the politics of the labor movement, work, and the crisis of capitalism at the turn of the 20th century. He is the author of the book When Workers Shot Back: Class Conflict from 1877 to 1921.  The post When Workers Shot Back appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Peter Fritzsche, professor of history at the University of Illinois and author of the book Hitler's First Hundred Days: When Germans Embraced the Third Reich. The post Hitler's First 100 Days appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Greg Grandin is a Professor of History at Yale University and Pulitzer Prize–winning historian, author of many books including The End of the Myth; The Empire of Necessity; Fordlandia; and his latest, América, América: A New History of the New World. The post America: What's In A Name? appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Daisy Dunn is an award-winning classicist and the author of The Missing Thread: A Women's History of the Ancient World.  Her website is www.daisydunn.co.uk. The post Women In The Ancient World appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Natalie Lawrence, author of Enchanted Creatures: Our Monsters and Their Meaning. The post What Monsters Tell Us About Us appeared first on KPFA.

Guest:  Geoffrey R. Stone is the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago.  He is the author or co-author of many books on constitutional law, including Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime; A Legacy of Discrimination: The Essential Constitutionality of Affirmative Action; and The Free Speech Century.     The post A Constitutional Look at Trump and the Courts appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Mary Jo McConahay is a journalist who has covered the Church for many years. She is the author of the book Playing God: American Catholic Bishops and The Far Right. Featured photo: Wikimedia The post The Legacy of Pope Francis and the Future of the Catholic Church appeared first on KPFA.

A look at burning political issues and debates and their historical context within the US and worldwide, hosted by Mitch Jeserich. The post Letters and Politics – April 17, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Elizabeth Minnich is Distinguished Fellow at the American Association of Colleges & Universities. She was Hannah Arendt's Teaching Assistant at The Graduate Faculty of The New School University in New York. She is the author of The Evil of Banality: On The Life and Death Importance of Thinking.     The post The Banality of Evil & the Dangers of Mindless Complicity appeared first on KPFA.

A look at burning political issues and debates and their historical context within the US and worldwide, hosted by Mitch Jeserich. The post Letters and Politics – April 15, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Yanis Varoufakis, a former finance minister of Greece, is leader of the MERA25 party and Professor of Economics at the University of Athens.  He is the author of several books including his latest, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism.   Photo by Kurt Cotoaga on Unsplash The post Yanis Varoufakis: Trade War is Class War appeared first on KPFA.

Part 1. On Executive Powers and the Courts Guest: Erwin Chemerinsky is the dean of the law school at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of many books on constitutional law including his latest, No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United States.  His latest opinion piece in The New York Times is We Should All Be Very, Very Afraid Part 2. Cuts to Medical Research  Guest: Chris Beyrer is Gary Hock Distinguished Professor in Global Health and Professor of Medicine at Duke University.  He is Associate Director of Global HIV at the Duke Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and  Affiliate Faculty at Duke Human Vaccine Institute.  Dr Beyrer is a medical doctor and epidemiologist who has worked extensively on the front lines of HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 prevention, treatment, and research.   Photo by Sebastian Pichler on Unsplash The post Erwin Chemerinsky on Executive Powers and the Courts. Then, Cuts to Medical Research appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Cedric de Leon is Professor of Sociology and Labor Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and author of Freedom Train: Black Politics and the Story of Interracial Labor Solidarity. The post How Black Labor Created An Interracial Movement appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Jeanne Carstensen is an award-winning journalist. She is the author of A Greek Tragedy: One Day, a Deadly Shipwreck, and the Human Cost of the Refugee Crisis. The post A Greek Tragedy: the Human Cost of the Refugee Crisis appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Dean Baker is a Senior Economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research.   He is the author of several books, including Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer. His blog, Beat the Press, provides commentary on economic reporting.   Photo by lonely blue on Unsplash   The post Dean Baker on Trump's Confusion with Tariffs and Taxes appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Nancy Altman is the President of Social Security Works.org.  She is the author of The Truth About Social Security: The Founders' Words Refute Revisionist History, Zombie Lies, and Common Misunderstandings; The Battle for Social Security: From FDR's Vision to Bush's Gamble; and the coauthor with Eric Kingson of Social Security Works For Everyone!: Protecting and Expanding America's Most Popular Social Program. Her latest article can be found in counterpunch: The Greatest Threat to Social Security in Its 90 Year History.       The post The Greatest Threat to Social Security in Its 90 Year History appeared first on KPFA.

A look at burning political issues and debates and their historical context within the US and worldwide, hosted by Mitch Jeserich. The post Letters and Politics – April 2, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

Host Mitch Jeserich analysis and calls from listeners about the action of Senator Cory Booker in the Senate Floor.   The post Live: Senator Cory Booker Protesting the Trump Administration's Policies on the Senate Floor appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Miriam Pawel is an award-winning reporter and editor who spent twenty-five years working for Newsday and the Los Angeles Times. She is the author of The Crusades of Cesar Chavez: A Biography.    The post Cesar Chavez & the Farmworkers' Struggle appeared first on KPFA.

Part 1. Gutting the Federal Work Force Guest: Eric Blanc is a professor of labor studies at Rutgers University, Eric Blanc is author of the substack Labor Politics as well as the new book We Are the Union: How Worker-to-Worker Organizing is Revitalizing Labor and Winning Big. Blanc is an organizer trainer for the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee.   Part 2. Advocating for Gender Diversity in Sports Harrison Browne is the first transgender athlete in professional hockey. He is the appointed inclusion leader for the NWHL advisory board and special ambassador for the National Hockey League's Hockey Is for Everyone initiative.  He is the author with Rachel Browne of the forthcoming book Let Us Play: Winning the Battle for Gender Diverse Athletes. Rachel Browne is an award-winning investigative journalist and documentary producer whose work appears has several outlets including VICE News, POLITICO, and many others. She is coauthor with Harrison Browne of Let Us Play: Winning the Battle for Gender Diverse Athletes.      The post Gutting the Federal Work Force. Then, Advocating for Gender Diversity in Sports appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Linda Gordon is Professor Emerita of History at New York University. She is the winner of two Bancroft Prizes for best book in American history, most lately she is the author of Seven Social Movements That Changed America. The post A History of Twentieth Century Social Movements appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Ruth Conniff is Editor-in-chief of the Wisconsin Examiner.  She is the author of “Milked: How an American Crisis Brought Together Midwestern Dairy Farmers and Mexican Workers” which won the 2022 Studs and Ida Terkel award from The New Press.   Photo: Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead on Public domain     The post Ruth Conniff: First 64 Days of the Trump Regime & Nihilism in the Wisconsin Supreme Court appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Lyndal Roper is Regius Professor of History at the University of Oxford.  She is the author of several books including, Martin Luther: Renegade and Prophet; Witch Craze, and her latest, Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants' War. The post The German Peasant's War appeared first on KPFA.

Guests: Raquel E. Aldana is Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis.  Professor Aldana teaches criminal procedure, asylum and refugee law, immigration law and policy, comparative forced displacement, and immigration federalism.   Miguel Tinker Salas is Emeritus professor of History and Latin American studies at Pomona College. He is co-author of Venezuela: Hugo Chavez and the Decline of an Exceptional Democracy and author of Under the Shadow of the Eagles and The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture, and Society in Venezuela. His latest book is Venezuela: What Everyone Needs to Know.   Photo: Soldiers and police officers that staff the CECOT prison in El Salvador on Wikimedia The post Deportations and the Abuse of War Time Powers appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Padraic X. Scanlan is an associate professor at the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources and the Centre for Diaspora & Transnational Studies at the University of Toronto. He is the author of Slave Empire, Freedom's Debtors, and his latest, Rot: An Imperial History of the Irish Famine. The post The Irish Potato Famine and Its Consequences appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Michelle Chen is a contributing writer for The Nation, a contributing editor at Dissent magazine and a co-producer of Dissent's “Belabored” podcast. She can be found on at @meeshellchen Photo: Senator Joseph McCarthy (right) with a map of Communist Party organizations, 1954 on Wikipedia The post The Second Red Scare & Political Deportations appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Loretta J. Ross is an activist, public intellectual, and a professor of women, gender studies, reproductive rights, white supremacy, and human Rights.  She is the author of many books including her latest “Calling In: How to Start Making Change with Those You'd Rather Cancel.” Photo: Center for American Progress's photo (licensed as Attribution-NoDerivs) The post Loretta Ross: Working with Opposition to Affect Change appeared first on KPFA.

Part 1. Deportations In The First Red Scare Guest: Chris Finan is an author and historian.  He worked as a free speech activist for over 40 years and led several groups, including the National Coalition Against Censorship. He is the author of several books, including the award-winning history, From the Palmer Raids to the Patriot Act: A History of the Fight for Free Speech in America.   Part 2. On the History of the First Amendment Guest: Geoffrey R. Stone is the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. He is the author or co-author of many books on constitutional law, including Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime; and The Free Speech Century.     The post Deportations In The First Red Scare appeared first on KPFA.

Guests: Holly S. Cooper is Co-director of the Immigration Law Clinic. She is an expert on immigration detention issues and on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions. Hatem Bazian is a professor of Islamic law and theology at Zaytuna College. He is also a lecturer in the departments of Near Eastern and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.  Most lately, he is the author of Erasing The Human: Collapse of The Postcolonial World and Refugee Immigration Crisis.   The post Mahmoud Khalil's Abduction & Targeting of Universities appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Katrina vanden Heuvel is the editorial director and publisher of The Nation magazine. She served as editor of the magazine from 1995 to 2019.  Her writings can be found at Nation.com.   The post Katrina vanden Heuvel on the Russia-Ukraine War, Trump, and a Potential Peace Deal appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: James K. Galbraith is Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin.  He is also a Senior Scholar with the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College and part of the executive committee of the World Economics Association; and is the author of several books including his latest, Entropy Economics: The Living Basis of Value and Production co-authored with  Jing Chen.   The post James Galbraith on Tariff Wars, Inflation, Recession, & the Politics of the Trump's Economy appeared first on KPFA.

Today, host Mitch Jeserich tells the story of Kuan Yin, then he speaks with Maya Van Der Meer, author of Kuan Yin: The Princess Who Became the Goddess of Compassion. Guest: Maya Van Der Meer is an educator, environmentalist, and long-time Buddhist practitioner. She is the founder of the online education platform Bodhi Kids and the author of the children's book Kuan Yin: The Princess Who Became the Goddess of Compassion, illustrated by Wen Hsu. The post Kuan Yin: The Princess Who Became the Goddess of Compassion appeared first on KPFA.