Trotsky & the Wild Orchids

Andrew and Ray are back from summer break! In this episode Andrew provides an update on his book before the conversation transitions to the New Deal's legacy as well as sports and our contemporary moment. For this episode we read Michael Kazin's review of Eric Rauchway's book Why the New Deal Matters and "You can't separate sports and politics," an interview with Dave Zirin in Jacobin. 

Andrew & Ray check in about the Biden administration and discuss New Monetary Theory, the strategic objectives of the American military and how Andrew became a lefty. Kim Hjelmgaard's USA Today article "A Reckoning is Near" and Jed Purdy's "A Possible Majority" in Dissent Magazine. 

Keith Pluymers comes on the show to talk about environmental history, wood in the early modern world, and contemporary environmental politics.

Nicole Hemmer sits down with Ray and Andrew to discuss a range of topics from conservative media and the NYT to public history and "Welcome to Your Fantasy," a podcast about the Chippendales!

Harvey joins Andrew and Ray to discuss the inaugural address as well as Biden's bipartisan hopes. 

Ray and Andrew return from a recording hiatus to have a conversation with the historian Harvey Kaye.

Class reductionism or race reductionism? Listen in as Andrew and Ray speak with Touré Reed about his book Toward Freedom: The Case Against Race Reductionism.

Derek Charles Catsam, professor of history and humanities at University of Texas-Permian Basin, joins Andrew and Ray for a conversation about race, class, and rugby in sports history. For this episode we read Catsam's essays for Africa is a Country. 

Salik Farooqi comes on the show to discuss the pandemic from the perspective of political sociology. For this episode we read: An Organic Crisis is upon Us; On the Concept of History; Gooseberries; Pandemic’s Lesson: Global Capitalism is Uneven and Dangerously Particularistic; The Myth of Sisyphus; and the Wiki on total football. (Links on our website: http://wildorchids.libsyn.com)

Professor Gina Gustavsson from the Department of Government at Uppsala University speaks with Ray and Andrew about Sweden's response to covid19.  Listen in as we consider the meaning of nationalism during a pandemic.

Ray and Andrew discuss our covid19 moment. What are the political implications of this pandemic? How do we understand the CARES Act? And what does all this mean for the future of the left? Listen in as you continue to social distance. 

Andrew and Ray discuss Super Tuesday and the future of Bernie's movement.

Historian Max Felker-Kantor talks about his book Policing Los Angeles: Race, Resistance and the Rise of the LAPD (2018). Listen in as Andrew and Ray consider the rise of the carceral state and the role of police in our society.

Really, Iowa? Andrew and Ray talk about the 2020 Iowa caucus debacle.

Kim Phillips-Fein comes on the show to discuss her book Fear City: New York's Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics. Ray thinks he sounds particularly smart in this episode.

Andrew and Ray talk Corbyn, Trump, Bernie, and our political moment. They also provide a short briefing on the annual U-USIH conference in New York.

Bhaskar Sunkara, founder of Jacobin Magazine, comes on the show to discuss his new book The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality. 

Andrew and Ray discuss 'quit lit,' the humanities, and the state of higher ed. When was the golden era for training and careers in the humanities? And for whom? For this episode we read Andrew Kay's 'Academe's Extinction Event' and a response essay, 'The Humanities Without Nostalgia' by Devin M. Garofalo, Anna Hinton, Kari Nixon, and Jessie Reeder.

Andrew, Ray, and Daniel discuss Game of Thrones and Avengers: End Game. Did GoT decline as in the last few seasons? And what message do we take from Thanos and his attempt to dramatically reduce the population in the universe? 

Historian Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen joins the show to talk about her new book, The Ideas that Made America. Other topics in the conversation include epistemic humility, the methods of intellectual history, as well as the influences that have shaped Jennifer, Ray, and Andrew.

Andrew and Ray reflect on the work of Eric Hobsbawm, a Marxist historian. For this episode we looked at the following material:'Eric Hobsbawm's dangerous reputation,' 'Eric Hobsbawm: a conversation,' 'Man of the extreme century' (interview), 'Indomitable' (review). See also Michael Ignatieff's interview with EH here.

Historian Daniel Bessner joins Andrew and Ray for a discussion of American foreign policy. What would a leftist foreign policy look like? Bessner suggests the ways we might introduce a form of humanitarian intervention without imperial ambitions. See his book Democracy in Exile, and the following essays for more about leftist foreign policy: "Roundtable on Democracy and Exile," "How the Left Should Respond to Ethnic Cleansing in China," "What Does Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Think About the South China Sea," "The Globalist," and a book review titled "Foreign Policy for the Twenty-First Century." Articles linked at our website: http://wildorchids.libsyn.com. 

In this episode, Ray explains the intellectual appeal of Reinhold Niebuhr. Andrew remains skeptical. For this episode we read Ray's "A Theology of Limits" (Reviews in American History December 2012), the epilogue in David Hollinger's After Cloven Tongues of Fire, chapter 13 from Niebuhr's The Irony of American History, and "Barthianism and the Kingdom" from Niebuhr's Essays in Applied Christianity.

Following Bloomberg's recent donation of $1.8 billion to Johns Hopkins, Andrew and Ray discuss taxes, philanthropy, education, and even burnt coffee. Plus, hear about Andrew's viral tweet and the controversy it stirred.

A special episode of T&TWO, Andrew and Ray discuss the work of recently deceased historian (and Andrew's dissertation adviser) Leo Ribuffo. For this episode we read Leo's essay "Moral Judgments and the Cold War: Reflections on Reinhold Niebuhr, William Appleman Williams, and John Lewis Gaddis" in Cold War Triumphalism edited by Ellen Schrecker. See also the roundtable on Leo's work at the S-USIH blog.

Elesha Coffman joins Ray and Andrew for a conversation about scholarship in religious history/studies. What role does empathy play in historical analysis? How should we think about the relationship between evangelicals and Trump? Listen in as Andrew and Ray explore these questions (and many more) with Professor Coffman.  

Jefferson Cowie comes on the show to discuss the working class, patriotism, and the state of leftist politics. Ray and Andrew wonder about the American Dream and the resilience of liberalism. For this episode we read Cowie's short essays "Reclaiming Patriotism for the Left" and "How Labor Scholars Missed the Trump Revolt."

Andrew and Ray discuss millennials, student debt, and the New Socialism. See "I Came of Age During the 2008 Financial Crisis. I’m Still Angry About It" by M. H. Miller, "What Does Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Think About the South China Sea?" by Daniel Bessner and "The New Socialists" by Corey Robin.      

In this episode of T&TWO Andrew and Ray talk about Patrick J. Deneen's book Why Liberalism Failed (2018).

Andrew and Ray (and Daniel) discuss their summer activities before moving on to a conversation about the TV series "Black Mirror." For helpful reviews of the series check out articles by Charles Bramesco and Kathryn VanArendonk for Vulture as well as Emily Nussbaum's piece for The New Yorker.  

How did sports get so political? Ray and Andrew discuss the NFL, NBA, NCAA and the ways in which American sports are shaped by patriotism, social activism, pay inequity and much more. Recommended: Howard Bryant's New York Times piece "How Did Our Sports Get So Divisive?" 

Using an article by Touré F. Reed as a springboard, Ray and Andrew discuss Ta-Nehisi Coates, Barack Obama, and the politics of race and class. 

Ray and Andrew battle it out over the films The Young Karl Marx (2017) and Lincoln (2012). Read A. O. Scott's review of The Young Karl Marx after you listen!

Is the college campus closed to free speech? Ray and Andrew offer a sober discussion of the free speech controversy that has recently rocked American universities. Andrew's recent Washington Post essay serves as the springboard for discussion. 

On this episode of Trotsky & the Wild Orchids our hosts, Andrew and Ray, talk about Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. They consider Michael Kazin's critique of Zinn and the larger implications A People's History has for the profession. Is Zinn a gateway drug for historians?

Pete Kuryla comes on the show to discuss his experience teaching history in a prison. 

Andrew and Ray return to the topic of neoliberalism. What does the term mean and how has that meaning changed? What is its analytical value? They address these questions through a discussion of Lawrence Glickman's essay "Everyone was a liberal" as well as the Dissent forum "Debating the Uses and Abuses of 'Neoliberalism'"

Andrew and Ray enter The Upside Down to explore our current fascination with the culture of the 1980s. They consider the popular Netflix programs Stranger Things and The Americans as they discuss culture, politics, and science during the Cold War.

Features a conversation with Mike about his decision to work on a Master of Public Affairs after completing a PhD in American Studies.

Andrew and Ray consider the relationship between liberalism and neoliberalism.

Andrew and Ray talk about the Society for US Intellectual History (S-USIH) annual conference and how it has shaped the field of intellectual history. 

Andrew and Ray draw from Bethany Moreton's book To Serve God and Wal-Mart as they consider the relationship between neoliberalism and higher education. 

Two intellectual historians discuss politics, culture, and the history of ideas in the United States.

In this episode Ray and Andrew discuss Rorty's political theory as well as the Nancy MacLean book Democracy in Chains.