Podcast appearances and mentions of Garry Wills

Hey, podcast listeners! I just dove into an incredible 1987 biography on Ronald Reagan by Garry Wills, hands-down one of the best I've read about him. This isn't just a timeline of Reagan's life—it's like stepping through a time portal into his world, feeling what shaped him. Unlike most Reagan bios that zoom in on his presidency, this one focuses more on what made Reagan, well, Reagan: his boyhood, the Disciples of Christ Church, the political sparks at Eureka College, and his early broadcasting days in Des Moines. In this episode, I'm unpacking two fascinating slices of his story—his lifesaving heroics at Lowell Park on the Rock River and the Black Hawk War's role in the settlement of Dixon and Davenport, where Reagan lived. Trust me, this one's a gem!

Today, we're joined by one of our favorite writers and thinkers, Vinson Cunningham, to discuss his excellent debut novel, Great Expectations, which tells the story of brilliant-but-unmoored young black man, David Hammond, who finds himself recruited — by fluke, folly, or fate — onto a historic presidential campaign for a certain charismatic Illinois senator. A staff writer at the New Yorker, Vinson also worked for Obama's 2008 campaign in his early twenties. (He bears at least some resemblance to his protagonist.) And his novel provides a wonderful jumping-off point for a deep discussion of political theater, the novel of ideas, race, faith,  the meaning of Barack Obama, and the meaning of Kamala Harris. Also discussed: Christopher Isherwood, Saul Bellow, Garry Wills, Ralph Ellison, Marilynne Robinson, Paul Pierce, and Kobe Bryant! If you can't get enough Vinson, check out his podcast with Naomi Fry and Alexandra Schwartz, Critics at Large.  Sources:Vinson Cunningham, Great Expectations: A Novel (2024)— "The Kamala Show," The New Yorker, Aug 19, 2024— "Searching for the Star of the N.B.A. Finals," The New Yorker, June 21, 2024— "Many and One," Commonweal, Dec 14, 2020.Saul Bellow, Ravelstein  (2001) Garry Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg (1992)Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)— Shadow and Act (1964)David Haglund, "Leaving the Morman Church, After Reading a Poem," New Yorker Radio Hour, Mar 25, 2016. Phil Jackson, Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior (1995)Glenn Loury, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative (2024)Matthew Sitman, "Saving Calvin from Clichés: An Interview with Marilynne Robinson," Commonweal, Oct 5, 2017...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon so you can listen to all of our premium episodes!

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comCarville needs no introduction, but he's a legendary consultant, a former CNN contributor, and the author of a dozen books. He currently co-hosts the Politics War Room with Al Hunt, a podcast available on Substack, which you should definitely follow for the election season.For four clips of the highly quotable Carville — on Harris' convention speech, Vance's conversions, Bill Clinton's “pussy business,” and woke condescension toward minorities — pop over to our YouTube page. Other topics: growing up in a poor town famous for its leprosy hospital; one of eight children in an “extremely” Catholic family; the vast majority of his peers were African-American; the woke left's caricatured view of “the marginalized”; the flattening term “communities of color”; NPR; the misnomer “LGBTQIA”; the resilient old queens of the South; progressive orgs paralyzed by young woke staffers; the shocking strength of Harris' acceptance speech; why masculine rhetoric is even more effective coming from a female pol; her immigrant background; her poor management of staff; how she needs to own up to her 2020 views and convey “growth”; the crime issue; the border crisis; Gaza; Starmer and “stability”; Carville leading Wofford to an incredible comeback in his Senate race; teaming up with Begala to guide Clinton to the White House; Bill's profound charm and smarts; his Achilles heel; the sudden implosion of the Church in Ireland; the sex-abuse crisis; Spotlight; how the closet attracts predatory priests; Trump as the antithesis of a Christian; January 6; how Harris is focused on mockery rather than fear; how the race is now “fresh vs. stale”; how Biden was pushed out by big donors and Pelosi; how the timing turned out to be perfect for Harris; how she's avoided the press longer than Palin did; how Walz is further left than Carville; Vance and “childless cat ladies”; common-good conservatism; the difference between cradle Catholics and converts; the Gospels; infallibility; Garry Wills' influence; Trump thrilled by domination; the hatred of elites and foreign wars and offshoring; the snipes at Walz's son; and Carville dealing with ADHD.Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy (the first 102 are free in their entirety — subscribe to get everything else). Coming up: Eric Kaufmann on left-liberal excess, Michelle Goldberg on Harris, David Frum on Trump, Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy on animal cruelty, and Sam Harris for our quadrennial chat before Election Day. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

We took the holiday week off,  so we're sharing an episode from behind the paywall. Coming soon: new episodes on The Biden Problem, SCOTUS, and Israeli illiberalism as an inspiration for the global right. ***In this episode, from January 2024, writer Osita Nwanevu joins for a rip-roaring conversation about legendary prose stylist, "new journalist," and novelist Tom Wolfe. Reviewing a new documentary about Wolfe ("Radical Wolfe" on Netflix), Osita writes, "Behind the ellipses and exclamation points and between the lines of his prose, a lively though often lazy conservative mind was at work, making sense of the half-century that birthed our garish and dismal present, Trump and all."Answered herein: is Tom Wolfe a good writer? What kind of conservative is he? How does his approach compare to other "new journalists" like Joan Didion and Garry Wills? And what's the deal with the white suit?Further Reading:Osita Nwanevu, "The Electric Kool-Aid Conservative," The New Republic, Jan 5, 2023Tom Wolfe, "The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby," Esquire, Nov 1963.— "The Birth of ‘The New Journalism'; Eyewitness Report," New York Magazine, Feb 1972.— "Radical Chic: That Party at Lenny's," New York Magazine, June 1972— The Bonfire of the Vanities (1987)— A Man in Full (1998)— The Kingdom of Speech (2016)Peter Augustine Lawler, "What is Southern Stoicism? An Interview with Professor Peter Lawler,"  Daily Stoic, March 2017...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon to listen to all of our extensive catalogue of bonus episodes!

Garry Wills' opinion piece at The Washinton Post, "The real alien menace is Trump's plague of suspicion and fear." The attacks on Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. We're joined by John Dombroski, founder and president of Grand Canyon Planning. Producer David Doll and Seth discuss one's sartorial choices in arguing before The Supreme Court. A federal appeals court ruled against Liam Morrison, a student whose Massachusetts school forbade him from wearing a T-shirt with the message “There Are Only Two Genders.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon to listen to this premium episode, and all of our bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/knowyourenemyWriter Osita Nwanevu joins for a rip-roaring conversation about legendary prose stylist, "new journalist," and novelist Tom Wolfe. Reviewing a new documentary about Wolfe ("Radical Wolfe" on Netflix), Osita writes, "Behind the ellipses and exclamation points and between the lines of his prose, a lively though often lazy conservative mind was at work, making sense of the half-century that birthed our garish and dismal present, Trump and all."Answered herein: is Tom Wolfe a good writer? What kind of conservative is he? How does his approach compare to other "new journalists" like Joan Didion and Garry Wills? And what's the deal with the white suit?Further Reading:Osita Nwanevu, "The Electric Kool-Aid Conservative," The New Republic, Jan 5, 2023Tom Wolfe, "The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby," Esquire, Nov 1963.— "The Birth of ‘The New Journalism'; Eyewitness Report," New York Magazine, Feb 1972.— "Radical Chic: That Party at Lenny's," New York Magazine, June 1972— The Bonfire of the Vanities (1987)— A Man in Full (1998)— The Kingdom of Speech (2016)Peter Augustine Lawler, "What is Southern Stoicism? An Interview with Professor Peter Lawler,"  Daily Stoic, March 2017

For our final main episode of 2023, we're dipping back into the Wills well to discuss Garry's under-appreciated 2010 book, Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State.  Joining us is our great friend Erik Baker, lecturer in the History of Science Department at Harvard University and an editor at The Drift magazine. In Bomb Power, Garry Wills elegantly demonstrates how the imperatives of secretly conceiving, building, and deploying the nuclear bomb fundamentally changed American democracy — massively empowering the presidency, disempowering Congress, and setting the nation on a permanent war footing. At the same time, secrecy and deception metastasized through the American system, enabling the rise of extra-judicial assassinations, coup plotting, domestic surveillance, torture, and clandestine war.  "Secrecy emanated from the Manhattan Project like a giant radiation emission..." writes Wills, "Because the government was the keeper of the great secret, it began specializing in secret keeping.” Also discussed: Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer  (2023), Henry Kissinger (RIP), Bush and Obama, Snowden, Ellsberg, and the ways in which Bomb Power is a profoundly Catholic book. Enjoy!Sources:Garry Wills, Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State (2010)Daniel Ellsberg, The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear Planner (2017)Barton Gellman, Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the American Surveillance State (2021)Archbishop John Wester, "Living in the Light of Christ's Peace: A Conversation Toward Nuclear Disarmament," Jan 11, 2022Erik Baker, "Daniel in the Lion's Den: On the Moral Courage of Daniel Ellsberg," The Baffler, June 17, 2023John Schwenkler and Mark Souva, "False Choices: The Unjustifiable Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki," Commonweal, Oct 14, 2020...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

For this week's episode of The Time of Monsters, I'm doing a joint podcast with the crew from Know York Enemy (Sam Adler-Bell and Matt Sitman) talking about the legacy of the Kennedy family. Our talk is based on our shared love for Garry Wills' The Kennedy Imprisonment, a revelatory book about not just the Kennedy family but the nature of 'great man politics.'Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode, Matt and Sam welcome the Nation's Jeet Heer to the podcast to continue their journey into the work of Garry Wills—in particular, Wills's under-appreciated 1982 masterpiece, The Kennedy Imprisonment: A Meditation on Power. The book might be thought of as a sequel to his earlier Nixon Agonistes (1970). As Wills puts it in his introduction to the most recent edition of The Kennedy Imprisonment, "I had written a book about Nixon, and it was not a biography, but an attempt to see what could be learned about America from the way Nixon attracted or repelled his fellow countrymen. Why not do the same thing for the Kennedys?"The result of Wills's efforts is a devastating portrait of an Irish-Catholic family who strove to be accepted at the most rarified heights of American society—and then, when they weren't, relentlessly pursued political power. Along the way, the family patriarch, Joseph Kennedy, used his money and influence to create a series of myths surrounding his sons, most of all the son who would become president, John F. Kennedy. It is these myths at which Wills takes aim, showing how Joseph Kennedy bought his second son good press, a heroic war record, and even a Pulitzer Prize. And it was Joseph Kennedy who taught his sons what was expected of them as men: to use and dominate women (many, many women), to valorize virility and daring and risk, and to understand power as enlightened leadership by the best and brightest (most of all, the Kennedys), not as harnessing the popular energy of mass movements. What begins as a book exposing the Kennedy men as wannabe aristocrats bent on conquest, both sexual and political, ends as an indictment of the liberalism they came to represent.Sources:Garry Wills, The Kennedy Imprisonment: A Meditation on Power (1982)Garry Wills, Nixon Agonistes: The Crisis of the Self-Made Man (1970)Garry Wills, Bare Ruined Choirs: Doubt, Prophecy, and Radical Religion (1972)Joan Didion, "Wayne at the Alamo," National Review, Dec 31, 1960Hugh Kenner, The Mechanic Muse (1988)Hugh Kenner, The Pound Era (1971)Richard E. Neustadt, Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents: The Politics of Leadership from Roosevelt to Reagan (1960)John Leonard, "Camelot's Failure," New York Times, Feb 25, 1982Norman Mailer, "Superman Comes to the Supermarket," Esquire, Nov 1960...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

Did the French left wing just run away at Salamanca? Well not exactly. Garry Wills continues his forensic reappraisal of what happened to the troops of Maucune & Thomierres' division after initially being broken. We discuss the French rearguard, and the tantalising clues that have been missed about the French last stand at Salamanca. Twitter: @zwhitehistory | @Caseshotpublish Use code Glory23 to save 20% on ‘Glory is fleeting', the book containing the chapter this talk is based on. Available here: https://www.helion.co.uk/military-history-books/glory-is-fleeting-new-scholarship-on-the-napoleonic-wars.php Buy Garry's books: https://www.helion.co.uk/people/garry-david-wills.php?sid=248533482b70b0602a0c16471b04cb9f

Have we completely misunderstood a key part of the story of the Battle of Salamanca? Garry Wills joins me in a two parter to discuss the eye-opening inconsistencies in the accounts of the battle, and how he has unearthed clues that change our understanding of what unfolded in what was arguably Wellington's greatest victory. Twitter: @zwhitehistory | @Caseshotpublish Use code Glory23 to save 20% on ‘Glory is fleeting', the book containing the chapter this talk is based on. Available here: https://www.helion.co.uk/military-history-books/glory-is-fleeting-new-scholarship-on-the-napoleonic-wars.php Buy Garry's books: https://www.helion.co.uk/people/garry-david-wills.php?sid=248533482b70b0602a0c16471b04cb9f

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comJon is the chief national correspondent for Yahoo News and the host of “The Long Game” podcast. His first book was Camelot's End: Kennedy v Carter and the Fight that Broke the Democratic Party, and his new book is Testimony: Inside the Evangelical Movement that Failed a Generation. You can also follow Jon's writing on his substack, Border-Stalkers, and on his website, jonwardwrites.org.For two clips of our convo — on the joys of being evangelical Christian, and the sexual struggles of male evangelicals — pop over to our YouTube page. Other topics: Jon growing up in the Jesus Movement in the '70s and '80s; speaking in tongues; the insecurity of evangelicals toward mainstream culture; Catholic hymns vs the music of evangelicals; Catholicism as anti-subjective and anti-emotional compared to evangelicalism; when the Southern Baptist Convention tolerated abortion; the evangelical and Catholic alliance after Roe v. Wade; Paul Weyrich; Reinhold Niebuhr; Frederick Buechner; structural sin; Calvinism and predestination; Saint Francis; the indifference of Jesus toward gender roles; same-sex marriage and the Mormon settlement over it; Garry Wills' Constantine's Sword; Kevin Hasson's The Right to Be Wrong; how Christians should embrace political loss; Christianism and Trump; and the crosses wheeled out on January 6.Heads up that the Dish is taking Holy Week off as our spring break. See you back on the pod the Friday after the Good one. Happy Easter and Passover!

A year ago, I made a list of books on religion that I found very engaging when I read then.  I wanted to share those with you, but it took me a year to get the podcast ready.  These are not books on religion in a conventional sense, the kind of thing that might remind you of your religion class when you were 12.  These are serious books by scholars and intellectuals.  They are intellectually provocative. There are twelve of these.  Three deal with Islam, two are by Garry Wills, one of my favorite writers, and six focus upon Christianity in one way or another.  And as I say in the podcast, please remember that I am a political scientist, not a theologian or a minister. I hope you consider reading one or more of these.  You will be glad you did. 

As the end of the year approaches, Matt and Sam are once again answering questions from you, their beloved listeners. Like previous mailbag episodes, there was an abundance of excellent questions that were submitted. Topics include: the possibilities for the religious left, white Christian nationalism, your hosts' literary habits and favorite novels, conspiracy theories—and more. For those who especially enjoy this type of episode, check out the next KYE bonus episode on Patreon, which will take up even more listener questions!Sources:Hannah Gold, "The Loud Parts," Harper's, October 2022Jewish Currents, "The Jews" (On the Nose podcast episode), November 23, 2022Alastair Roberts, "On Thomas Achord," Alastair's Adversaria, November 27, 2022Rod Dreher, "The Thomas Achord – Alastair Roberts Mess," The American Conservative, November 27, 2022Matthew Sitman, "Whither the Religious Left?" New Republic, April 15, 2021Ned Rorem, Lies: A Diary, 1986-1999 (2002)Breece D'J Pancake, The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake (2002)Breece D'J Pancake, "Trilobites," The Atlantic, December 1977Andre Dubus, Selected Stories (1995)Janet Malcolm, "I Should Have Made Him for a Dentist," New York Review of Books, March 2018John le Carré, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963)Art Shay, Album for an Age: Unconventional Words and Pictures from the Twentieth Century (2000)...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes

"What is best and weakest in America goes out to reciprocating strength and deficiencies in Richard Nixon." It's difficult to think of a more electric meeting of author and subject than Garry Wills and Richard Nixon, a meeting that produced what might be the best book ever written about American politics, Wills's Nixon Agonistes: The Crisis of the Self-Made Man. What begins as reporting from the campaign trail during the 1968 presidential contest—where Wills introduces us to Nixon, George Wallace, Nelson Rockefeller, and more—eventually becomes a profound meditation on the fate of liberalism in the United States. Wills found in Nixon the key to unlocking the reigning—but by then faltering—myths of their country's history and self-understanding, and what they reveal about each other. Along the way he discusses the complex psychological dance between Nixon and Dwight Eisenhower; takes us on a tour of Nixon's hometown, Whittier, California; describes the Republicans' "southern strategy"; examines the roiling anger and protests over the Vietnam War; and offers on-the-ground reportage from the 1968 conventions (the GOP's in Miami, the Democrats', infamously, in Chicago). Matt and Sam try to make sense of it all and ponder what Nixon Agonistes might say about how we got here and where we're going. Sources:Garry Wills, Nixon Agonistes: The Crisis of the Self-Made Man (1970)                           Confessions of a Conservative (1979)                           Outsider Looking In: Adventures of an Observer (2010)Kevin Phillips, The Emerging Republican Majority (1968)Tom Wolfe, The New Journalism (1973)KYE, "Joan Didion, Conservative,  (w/ Sam Tanenhaus)" Jan 13, 2022  ...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!                                      

In "What Paul Meant," author Garry Wills writes about Paul and how his intentions were consistent with the teachings of Jesus instead of corrupting them as has been argued. This discussion took place on a 2006 episode of "Conversations On The Coast with Jim Foster" originating in San Francisco, California.

Rick Perlstein is the author of a series of books on the rise of the American right, sprawling works of narrative history that are both rigorously-researched and highly entertaining. Among them is Before the Storm, which examines the band of conservative activists who spearheaded Barry Goldwater’s failed 1964 Presidential campaign, and Nixonland, which chronicles how Richard Nixon exploited the backlash to the 1960s to forge a powerful new brand of conservative politics. On today’s show, Rick talks about another historian who has deeply influenced him: Garry Wills. Wills is the author of more than fifty books, on subjects ranging from Augustine’s Confessions to John Wayne to Ronald Reagan. Like Rick, Wills began his career as a journalist and never received a PhD in history. In this conversation, Rick talks about the qualities he most admires in Wills, among them his unpredictability and his lack of deference to power. He also discusses the importance of morality in both their work, and how Rick’s views of the conservative movement have evolved over time. Primary Sources is a co-production of Public Books and Type Media Center. Our show’s executive producer is Caitlin Zaloom, the founding editor of Public Books. Our producer is DJ Cashmere. Our engineer is Jess Engebretson. Special thanks to Kelley Deane McKinney, the publisher and managing editor of Public Books and Taya Grobow, executive director of Type Media Center. Our theme music is “Kitty in the Window,” composed by Podington Bear (Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License). View full episode notes and a transcript here.

Sarah Weinman's new book—Scoundrel: How a Convicted Murderer Persuaded the Women Who Loved Him, the Conservative Establishment, and the Courts to Set Him Free—is a gripping true crime story, and perhaps the tale of an ill-fated love triangle.  It also is a story about William F. Buckley, Jr., who defied expectations to show mercy to a death-row prisoner, Edgar Smith, after finding out that he supposedly read National Review. In this episode, Weinman joins Matt and Sam to talk about this fascinating, half-forgotten episode from a key period in Buckley's life and career—how Smith and Buckley met; what Buckley did for him; the role played by Sophie Wilkins, Smith's editor at Knopf, in what happened; and the sad ending toward which it all careened.Sources:Sarah Weinman, Scoundrel: How a Convicted Murderer Persuaded the Women Who Loved Him, the Conservative Establishment, and the Courts to Set Him Free (Ecco Press, February 2022)Sam Adler-Bell, "The Conservative and the Murderer," New Republic, March 7, 2022Christopher Buckley, Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir (Twelve Books, May 2009)Garry Wills, "Daredevil," Atlantic, July/August 2009Sophie Wilkins, trans., The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil (1930, 2017)Alexander Chee, "Mr. and Mrs. B," Apology Magazine, Winter 2014...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

Two Crisis Magazine articles one by Michael Warren Davis January 3, 2022 and Rev.Robert A.Sirico February, 1,2001 We explore the "Confessions of a Modernist "And the "Strange spiritual journey of Gary Wills". --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ned-jabbar/message

When Joan Didion died at the age of 87 in December, her early conservatism figured into a number of obituaries and commentaries, but was rarely discussed in detail. Matt and Sam turned to Sam Tanenhaus, William F. Buckley, Jr.'s biographer and knower of all things National Review, to discuss Didion's early writing for the magazine, her roots in California conservatism,  and how her politics changed—and didn't—over the course of her long career.  Along the way, they discuss why she loved Barry Goldwater and hated Ronald Reagan, why she finally stopped writing for National Review, and how she compares to other writers from that era—from Norman Mailer and Tom Wolfe to Gore Vidal and Garry Wills. Sources:Joan Didion: "On Self-Respect,"  Vogue,  1961‘I want to go ahead and do it,' (Review of Mailer), NYTimes, Oct 7, 1979"The Lion King," (Review of Dinesh D'Souza), NYRB, Dec 18, 1997"New York: Sentimental Journeys,"  NYRB, Jan 17, 1991. "John Wayne: A Love Song," Saturday Evening Post, 1965Slouching Toward Bethlehem (1968)The White Album  (1979)Salvador (1983)Political Fictions (2001)Where I Was From  (2003)A collection of Didion's National Review Writing Commentary on Joan Didion:Ross Douthat, "Try Canceling Joan Didion," NYTimes, Jan 5, 2022Parul Sehgal, "The Case Against the Trauma Plot," NYTimes, Dec 27,  2021Louis Menand, “Out of Bethlehem,” New Yorker, Aug 17, 2015Stephen Schryer, "Writers for Goldwater,"  Post45, Jan 20, 2020Haley Mlotek, "It's All in the Angles," The Nation, June 15, 2021Caitlin Flanagan, "The Autumn of Joan Didion," The Atlantic, Feb 15, 2021Jacob Bacharach, "Joan Didion Cast Off the Fictions of American Politics," The New Republic, Dec 27, 2021...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

With another year of the podcast, the pandemic, and American decline in the rearview, we turn to Know Your Enemy's absurdly brilliant listeners for guidance and intellectual stimulation. That's right, folks, it's a mailbag episode! And thanks to you, our cups runneth over with fascinating questions. Along the way, we discuss the intellectual legacy of one-time National Review wunderkind Garry Wills; why Bill Buckley never wrote a great book; right-wing half-wit propagandists like Ben Shapiro and Charlie Kirk; conservative feminism; Richard Nixon's role in conservative history; Vatican II; Bob Dylan's artful incoherence; our favorite books; and our favorite bourbons. We also take a few minutes to discuss listener feedback from our last episode with Nate Hochman. We are truly blessed with the most curious, sophisticated, and intellectually voracious listeners in the podcast game. We love you freaks so very much. So strap in! Like the year 2021, it's a wild ride, with many twists, turns, and digressions. Further Reading:Matthew Sitman, "There Will Be No Buckley Revival," Commonweal, Jul 28, 2015. Garry Wills, "Daredevil," Atlantic, Aug 2009.                             Bare Ruined Choirs (1979)                             Confessions of a Conservative (1979)                            John Wayne's America  (1997) Sam Adler-Bell, "The Radical Young Intellectuals Who Want to Take Over the American Right," New Republic, Dec 2, 2021. Leonard Coen, Beautiful Losers (1966)Kaya Oakes, The Defiant Middle (2021)Christopher Isherwood, The Berlin Stories (1945)Janet Malcolm, Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession (1982)Dan Georgakas & Marvin Surkin, Detroit: I Do Mind Dying (1998)Norman Rush, Mating (1991)..and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

Matt and Sam dedicate an entire episode to an under appreciated but indispensable figure in the founding of post-war conservatism: Frank Meyer, the father of "fusionism."Meyer was  a man of  contradictions: an ex-communist ideologue who longed for consensus; a cantankerous, unyielding debater who kept his friends and rivals close; a bohemian, individualist Jew who argued vociferously for freedom and against repressive orthodoxies, but who converted to Catholicism on his death bed. In this episode, we explore his life, work, and legacy — including a close reading of his most famous book, In Defense of Freedom: A Conservative Credo. Along the way, we ask some big questions: Why was it so important for Meyer to find a philosophical justification for fusing the traditional and libertarian strains of the conservative movement? How did he go about doing it? And did it work? Today, many — especially younger — conservatives consider fusionism to be a dead consensus, a marriage of erstwhile convenience in which one partner, economic libertarians, got everything they wanted, while the other, Christian traditionalists, have seen unfettered capitalism and licentious liberalism destroy the precious permanent things they had hoped to conserve: Church, family, and community.  As the seams of the fusionist alliance fray, we look back to the man who conceived it in the first place. This one is for the nerds. We hope you enjoy it! Further Reading: Frank S. Meyer, In Defense of Freedom: A Conservative Credo (Regnery, 1962)George H. Nash, The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945 (Basic Books, 1976)Jeffrey Hart, The Making of the American Conservative Mind: National Review and Its Times (ISI Books, 2006)Garry Wills, Confessions of a Conservative (Doubleday, 1979)Kevin J. Smant, Principles and Heresies: Frank S. Meyer and  the Shaping of the American Conservative Movement (ISI Books, 2002)Various, "Against the Dead Consensus," First Things, March 21, 2019Frank S Meyer, "The Twisted Tree of Liberty," National Review  Jan 16, 1962L. Brent Bozell Jr. "Freedom or Virtue," National Review, Sept 11, 1962...and don't forget to subscribe on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes! 

Military historian and wargamer Garry Wills discusses his interest in the smaller battles of the 1792-1815 period - and why looking at the records of a regiment or battalion provide just as much interest and insight as looking at the bigger-picture progress of an entire campaign. Garry is on Twitter @CaseshotPublish and is the author of Wellington's First Battle - Combat at Boxtel, on the 1794 action, and Wellington at Bay: The Battle of Villamuriel on the 1812 battle on the retreat from Burgos.

Oggi tralasciamo i soliti argomenti, per parlare di sport. ♦ Gli sport professionistici sono sempre più legati alla religione. Alcuni anni fa Garry Wills dichiarò su Easton (Pennsylvania) Express: “Lo sport è sia un grande business che una politica simbolica. In base al principio che più un'attività è oscura, più ha bisogno di una benedizione alternativa, Dio è giunto sulla graticola appena in tempo. […] Solo Dio può spiegare e perdonare in guerra. Così i guerrieri lo invocano con fervore. Quindi, a modo loro, fanno i quarterback. […] Abbiamo trasformato il business nel nostro Dio. Lui è Moloch, a cui noi offriamo in sacrificio uomini. Questo consacra gli infortuni della domenica pomeriggio”, quando si giocano le partite di calcio. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/corgiov/message

Today on The Editors, Rich, Charlie, Alexandra, and Jim discuss the bipartisan infrastructure bill, the horrific Surfside building collapse, and Garry Wills's sophomoric NYT op-ed.

1794. October. November. December. Three months in which the Polish uprising is crushed for good… The plantation owners win a victory for slavery on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe… And in Holland the French outflank an increasingly beleaguered British army. This is episode 12 of the Napoleonic Quarterly – covering three months in which the Polish question which has hung over Europe since 1792 is answered decisively and brutally. [14:15] - Adam Zamoyski reflects on the disaster of 1794 for Poland - 'Finis Poloniae', or 'the end of Poland' in effect. [29:15] - Christy Pichichero on how diseases and deals with the British led to very different outcomes on Martinique, Guadeloupe and Saint-Domingue in 1794. [48:48] - Garry Wills describes the very bleak situation faced by the British fighting in Holland during this three months. Plus Charles Esdaile and Alex Mikaberidze are on hand as always to pick over the latest state of play and assess the situation as 1795 approaches.

1794. July. August. September. Three months in which Maximilien Robespierre appears to sleepwalk his way to the guillotine... The British and the Austrians are going backwards fast in the Low Countries... And in the Mediterranean British forces finally wrest a useful prize from the French. This is episode 11 of the Napoleonic Quarterly – covering three months in which the Terror finally consumes its own. [08:50] - Marisa Linton on the Thermidorean reaction and Robespierre's grisly end. [21:30] - Garry Wills on Allied struggles as the Austrians check out of the Low Countries for good. [41:25] - Rachel Blackman-Rogers on the British capture of Corsica - and its implications for power politics in the Western Mediterranean. Plus Charles Esdaile and Alexander Mikaberidze contribute their usual commentary throughout. There is a rogue rumble of thunder in this episode somewhere... see if you can spot it...

The author of 13 acclaimed books, including New York Times nonfiction bestsellers Case Closed, Why America Slept and God's Bankers. Posner was a finalist for the Pulitzer in History. “A merciless pit bull of an investigator” concluded the Chicago Tribune. The New York Times said his latest book (2020), PHARMA, was “a withering and encyclopedic indictment of a drug industry that often seems to prioritize profits over patients…[it] reads like a pharmaceutical version of cops and robbers." Posner was one of the youngest attorneys (23) ever hired by Cravath, Swaine & Moore. A Political Science major, he was a Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, where he was also a national debating champion. At Hastings Law School, he was an Honors Graduate and was the Law Review's Associate Executive Editor. He was a litigation associate at the Wall Street law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore before leaving in 1981 to co-found Posner & Ferrara, a New York public interest law firm. Several years of a pro bono legal representation on behalf of surviving twins of Nazi experiments at the Auschwitz death camp led him to coauthor his first book in 1986, MENGELE: The Complete Story, a bestselling and critically acclaimed biography of the infamous Nazi “Angel of Death,” Dr. Josef Mengele. Read a profile on Gerald on how the Mengele book led to him to leave the law. Publishers Weekly explains how he changed from being a Wall Street lawyer to a bestselling nonfiction author. In the past, he was a regular panelist on HistoryCENTER, the History Channel's Sunday current events program. He has been a freelance writer for many news magazines, and a regular contributor to NBC, the History Channel, CNN, FOX News, CBS, and MSNBC. He is represented by BrightSight Group for lectures about investigative journalism and his books. His wife, author, Trisha Posner, works with him on all projects. Garry Wills calls Posner "a superb investigative reporter” and the Los Angeles Times says he is “a classic -style investigative journalist.” “Painstakingly honest journalism,” concluded The New York Times. “Posner, a former Wall Street lawyer, demolishes myths through a meticulous re-examination of the facts," reported the Chicago Tribune. "Meticulous research," Newsday. John Martin, former national correspondent for ABC News says “Posner is one of the most successful investigators I have encountered in thirty years of journalism.” Praise for Posner comes from all sides of the political spectrum. “One of America's finest investigative reporters,” according to MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. “Gerald Posner is maybe the best known and most thorough investigative journalist in this country. There aren't many left,” says FOX News's Tucker Carlson. Anthony Lewis in The New York Times: "With 'Killing the Dream, he has written a superb book: a model of investigation, meticulous in its discovery and presentation of evidence, unbiased in its exploration of every claim. And it is a wonderfully readable book, as gripping as a first-class detective story." Jeffrey Toobin in the Chicago Tribune: "Unlike many of the 2,000 other books that have been written about the Kennedy assassination, Posner's Case Closed is a resolutely sane piece of work. More importantly, 'Case Closed' is utterly convincing in its thesis, which seems, in light of all that has transpired over the past 30 years, almost revolutionary....I started Case Closed as a skeptic - and slightly put off by the presumptuous title. To my mind historical truth is always a slippery thing. The chances of knowing for sure what happened in any event - much less one as murky as the Kennedy assassination - seem remote. But this fascinating and important book won me over. Case closed, indeed."

This is a podcast interview with Rev. Craig B. Mousin, founder and former Director of the Midwest Immigrant Rights Center and an Adjunct Faculty member at DePaul University's College of Law and The Grace School of Applied Diplomacy. Inspired by the Rev. Dr. Silvester S. Beaman's benediction from the inauguration of President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on January 20, 2021, this podcast urges those seeking to reform immigration law to seek our common humanity. Recognizing the whirlwind of changes in immigration and refugee law from 2017 to the present, the podcast suggests we have to consider what we owe to those who have contributed to the growth of our nation as we reconsider how best to reform our nation's laws. To listen to the benediction of the Rev. Dr. Silvester S. Beaman, Pastor of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Wilmington, Delaware, see: bethelwilmington.orgTo read more of how Abraham Lincoln understood his motivation for the Emancipation Proclamation, see, Garry Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg, The Words That Remade America, (Simon & Schuster, New York, N.Y., 1992) pp. 143-44.For a compilation of the many changes that occurred within immigration law and policy since 2017 and some of the projected proposals for change, see: www.aila.org/advo-media/issues/all/first-100-days

This is a podcast interview with Rev. Craig B. Mousin, founder and former Director of the Midwest Immigrant Rights Center and an Adjunct Faculty member at DePaul University’s College of Law and The Grace School of Applied Diplomacy. Inspired by the Rev. Dr. Silvester S. Beaman’s benediction from the inauguration of President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on January 20, 2021, this podcast urges those seeking to reform immigration law to seek our common humanity. Recognizing the whirlwind of changes in immigration and refugee law from 2017 to the present, the podcast suggests we have to consider what we owe to those who have contributed to the growth of our nation as we reconsider how best to reform our nation’s laws. To listen to the benediction of the Rev. Dr. Silvester S. Beaman, Pastor of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Wilmington, Delaware, see: https://bethelwilmington.org To read more of how Abraham Lincoln understood his motivation for the Emancipation Proclamation, see, Garry Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg, The Words That Remade America, (Simon & Schuster, New York, N.Y., 1992) pp. 143-44. For a compilation of the many changes that occurred within immigration law and policy since 2017 and some of the projected proposals for change, see: https://www.aila.org/advo-media/issues/all/first-100-days

In this episode I look at What is Conservatism, Frank Meyer's collection of essays by mid-20th century conservative thinkers. The essays I focus on give a deeper analysis of the ways in which the state is dependent upon the particular traditions of a people, and the traditions of the people are dependent on a transcendent shared appraisal of reality. The authors I focus on include Russell Kirk, Garry Wills, and Stanley Parry.More at natureandthenation.com

"Music is worth living for," Andrew W.K. sings in his latest rock anthem. In this second episode on the weirdness of music, JF and Phil focus on two works steeped in ambiguity and paradox: Bob Dylan's "Jokerman," from the landmark post-Christian album Infidels, and Franz Liszt's "Mephisto Waltz, No. 1: The Dance at the Village Inn," inspired by an episode in the Faust legend. If this conversation has a central theme, it may be music's power to unhinge every fixed binary, from God and the Devil to culture and nature. Music, as exemplified in these pieces, can put us in touch with the abiding mystery of the eternal in the historical, the unhuman in the human... The hills are alive! REFERENCES Bob Dylan, "Jokerman" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XSvsFgvWr0) Franz Liszt, “Mephisto Waltz no. 1,” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaBa9q3u9H0) performed by Boris Berezovsky Andrew WK, "Music is Worth Living For" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdW3UJ7lQvU) Leonard Cohen, “The Future” (https://genius.com/Leonard-cohen-the-future-lyrics) C.G. Jung, [Aion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aion:ResearchesintothePhenomenologyoftheSelf)_ Douglas Rushkoff, Testament (http://www.rushkoff.com/books/testament/) The Guardian, “Carthaginians sacrificed own children, archaeologists say” (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/jan/21/carthaginians-sacrificed-own-children-study) Garry Wills, "Our Moloch" (https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2012/12/15/our-moloch/) Minoan snake goddess (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoan_snake_goddess_figurines) statues Richard Wagner, Parsifal http://www.monsalvat.no/ T.S. Eliot, The Wasteland (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47311/the-waste-land) Daniel Albright, Untwisting the Serpent: Modernism in Music, Literature, and Other Arts (https://www.amazon.com/Untwisting-Serpent-Modernism-Music-Literature/dp/0226012549) Beckett, Not I (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4LDwfKxr-M) Nikolaus Lenau (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolaus_Lenau), German Romantic poet Wolgang von Goethe, Faust, Part 1 (https://www.amazon.com/Faust-Part-Oxford-Worlds-Classics/dp/019953621X), translated by David Luke Weird Studies, Episode 3: Sin: "Ecstasy, and the White People" (https://www.weirdstudies.com/3)

Welcome to The Spiritual Brewpub Podcast, a safe haven for ex-evangelicals or anyone restless about their faith or religion in general. In Episode 2, the topic is: Contrasting the Original Jesus Movement with Christianity - or The Difference Between Jesus and Christianity.  How it will help you: This episode will help you understand logical reasons you may have rejected evangelicalism, fundamentalism, church, and/or parts of the Bible, even though you still see the wisdom of Jesus. It will give you ideas on how to reconcile it all. Understand how the positive things you saw/see in Jesus got you into a religious system that turned out to be abusive. Then learn to differentiate the historical Jesus movement from the corruption found in modern religion and many churches so you can decide how to reconstruct or come to terms with your faith and experience.  Bonus Blurb: Learn the pitfalls of religion by hearing the "10 Reasons Beer is Better than Religion."  Quote of the Week: The quote comes from Garry Wills, Author of "What Jesus Meant." A critic of both evangelicalism and some liberal streams of religion, Garry helps us avoid religioius traps and focus on what matters most. 

What does the Qur’an actually say about veiling women? Does it justify religious war? Garry Wills, one of America’s greatest religious scholars, leads us through an insightful and erudite study of these questions and more in this opportunity to learn together about Islam’s most sacred text. In What the Qur’an Meant, Wills turns his Pulitzer Prize-winning writing and lifetime of religious study to help combat the false information too often spread about the Islamic faith. Through the eyes of a sympathetic outsider, Wills will help us frame a night of interfaith dialogue and empathetic curiosity. Presented by Town Hall Seattle and Seattle University as part of the Arts & Culture series. Recorded live at Seattle University by Town Hall Seattle Monday October 9, 2017

How can we engage with Muslims around the world without really understanding what they believe? On studying the Qur'an, religious scholar Garry Wills found that many of our perceptions of Islam are false or distorted. Most surprisingly, Islam is a very inclusive religion, more so than Judaism or Christianity. What's more, the Qur'an gives women more property rights than early Christian women had. Don't miss this important talk.

How can we engage with Muslims around the world without really understanding what they believe? On studying the Qur'an, religious scholar Garry Wills found that many of our perceptions of Islam are false or distorted. Most surprisingly, Islam is a very inclusive religion, more so than Judaism or Christianity. What's more, the Qur'an gives women more property rights than early Christian women had. Don't miss this important talk.

Trust and faith help any relationship, including the relationship between citizens and their government. What happens when trust is at a record low, and faith seems to be in mutually incompatible beliefs in a polarized society? Garry Wills, professor emeritus at Northwestern University, and an author of many books on faith and on politics, reflects on how the challenges of democracy and faith, and how America might seek a better path.

12 Years a Slave screenwriter John Ridley discusses Garry Wills’s 1968 profile, “Martin Luther King Jr Is Still on the Case!”

Join Dr. Carlos as he explores if American intervention has gone too far? A companion to Oliver Stone's ten-part documentary series of the same name, this guide offers a people's history of the American Empire: “a critical overview of US foreign policy…indispensable” (former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev); “brilliant, a masterpiece!” (Daniel Ellsberg); “Oliver Stone's new book is as riveting, eye-opening, and thought-provoking as any history book you will ever read. It achieves what history, at its best, ought to do: presents a mountain of previously unknown facts that makes you question and re-examine many of your long-held assumptions about the most influential events” (Glenn Greenwald).In November 2012, Showtime debuted a ten-part documentary series based on Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick's The Untold History of the United States. The book and documentary looked back at human events that, at the time, went underreported, but also crucially shaped America's unique and complex history over the twentieth centuryFrom the atomic bombing of Japan to the Cold War and fall of Communism, this concise version of the larger book is adapted for the general reader. Complete with poignant photos, arresting illustrations, and little-known documents, The Concise Untold History of the United States covers the rise of the American empire and national security state from the late nineteenth century through the Obama administration, putting it all together to show how deeply rooted the seemingly aberrant policies of the Bush-Cheney administration are in the nation's past and why it has proven so difficult for Obama to change course.In this concise and indispensible guide, Kuznick and Stone (who Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Garry Wills has called America's own “Dostoevsky behind a camera”) challenge prevailing orthodoxies to reveal the dark truth about the rise and fall of American imperialism.Peter Kuznick is professor of history and director of the award-winning Nuclear Studies Institute at American University and is currently serving his fourth term as distinguished lecturer with the Organization of American Historians. He has written extensively about science and politics, nuclear history, and Cold War culture.

On June 23, 1858, the Catholic Church removed 6-year-old Edgardo Mortara from his family in Bologna. The reason they gave was surprising: The Mortaras were Jewish, and Edgardo had been secretly baptized. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of little Edgardo and learn how his family's plight shaped the course of Italian history. We'll also hear Ben Franklin's musings on cultural bigotry and puzzle over an unexpected soccer riot. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and all contributions are greatly appreciated. You can change or cancel your pledge at any time, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation via the Donate button in the sidebar of the Futility Closet website. Sources for our feature on Edgardo Mortara: David I. Kertzer, The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, 1997. Bruce A. Boyer and Steven Lubet, "The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara: Contemporary Lessons in the Child Welfare Wars," Villanova Law Review 45 (2000), 245. Steven Lubet, "Judicial Kidnapping, Then and Now: The Case of Edgardo Mortara," Northwestern University Law Review 93:3 (Spring 1999), 961. Donald L. Kinzer, "Review: The American Reaction to the Mortara Case, 1858-1859," Mississippi Valley Historical Review 44:4 (March 1958), 740-741. Alexander Stille, "How a Jewish Boy's Baptism Changed the Shape of Italy: The Notorious Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara," Forward, Aug. 1, 1997. "Pope John Paul Faces Politics of Sainthood," Associated Press, Sept. 2, 2000. Ellen Knickmeyer, "Pope Moves Two Toward Sainthood," Spartanburg [S.C.] Herald-Journal, Sept. 4, 2000. Garry Wills, "The Vatican Monarchy," New York Review of Books, Feb. 19, 1998. Garry Wills, "Popes Making Popes Saints," New York Review of Books, July 9, 2013. Justin Kroll, "Steven Spielberg Boards Religious Drama ‘Edgardo Mortara’," Variety, April 17, 2014. Ben Franklin's "Remarks Concerning the Savages of North-America" was published in 1784 by Franklin's Passy Press in France. This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener Tommy Honton, who sent these corroborating links (warning: these spoil the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

12 Years a Slave screenwriter John Ridley discusses Garry Wills’s 1968 profile, “Martin Luther King Jr Is Still on the Case!”

Nancy Gibbs, editor of TIME magazine, leads a conversation with: Michael Gerson, a nationally syndicated columnist whose writing appears twice weekly in 'The Washington Post'; Matt Malone, president and editor in chief of America Media, which publishes 'America: The National Catholic Review'; and Garry Wills, professor, historian, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author ("Why I Am a Catholic" and "The Future of the Catholic Church with Pope Francis"). This conversation took place in July at the Aspen Ideas Festival.

Weekly JourneywithJesus.net postings, read by Dan Clendenin. Essay by Dan Clendenin: *"Reckless Desperadoes"* for Sunday, 17 May 2015; book review by Dan Clendenin: *The Future of the Catholic Church with Pope Francis* by Garry Wills (2015); film review by Dan Clendenin: *Happy People; A Year in the Taiga* (2010, Russia); poem selected by Dan Clendenin: *Lost, All in Wonder* by Thomas Aquinas.

Randy Boyagoda discusses his recently published biography of Richard John Neuhaus. Richard John Neuhaus (1936-2009) was one of the most influential figures in American public life from the Civil Rights era to the War on Terror. His writing, activism, and connections to people of power in religion, politics, and culture secured a place for himself and his ideas at the center of recent American history. William F. Buckley, Jr. and John Kenneth Galbraith are comparable — willing controversialists and prodigious writers adept at cultivating or castigating the powerful, while advancing lively arguments for the virtues and vices of the ongoing American experiment. But unlike Buckley and Galbraith, who have always been identified with singular political positions on the right and left, respectively, Neuhaus’ life and ideas placed him at the vanguard of events and debates across the political and cultural spectrum. For instance, alongside Abraham Heschel and Daniel Berrigan, Neuhaus co-founded Clergy Concerned About Vietnam, in 1965. Forty years later, Neuhaus was the subject of a New York Review of Books article by Garry Wills, which cast him as a Rasputin of the far right, exerting dangerous influence in both the Vatican and the Bush White House. This book looks to examine Neuhaus’s multi-faceted life and reveal to the public what made him tick and why.

If there is a single point of cognitive dissonance in our world today, it revolves around change.  We love change.  We think we like to embrace the new, and yet we fear change.  We hang on to a the past, forgetting that the past, that feels oh so comfortable, is but a floating endpoint of much previous change.So to the Catholic Church. For the Church, constant change has been one of its most basic things. Most everything catholics think about dogma and doctrine in the church today, was once revolutionary.Clearly Pope Francis understands this, with his admonition that grace must overtake laws.  That’s what distinguished historian Garry Wills writes  about in The Future of the Catholic Church with Pope FrancisMy conversation with Gary Wills: 

Weekly JourneywithJesus.net postings, read by Daniel B. Clendenin. Essay: *"If The Lord is God, Follow Him:" Elijah and the Prophets of Baal* for Sunday, 2 June 2013; book review: *Why Priests? A Failed Tradition* by Garry Wills (2013); film review: *The GateKeepers* (2012, Israel); poem review: *A Nation* by Czeslaw Milosz.

Michial Farmer holds forth with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour on the subject of intellectuals. Starting with some historical and lexical discussions of waht an intellectual means as opposed to a philosopher, an academic, a scholar, or a scientist, the trio focuses in on the public intellectual and specifically the Christian public intellectual as a particular character in the story of the life of the mind. Among the texts, intellectuals, and other realities on the table are Augustine, Byron, "The Twilight of the Intellectuals," N.T. Wright, Garry Wills, George Will, David Brooks, and Cornelius van Til.

Michial Farmer holds forth with David Grubbs and Nathan Gilmour on the subject of intellectuals. Starting with some historical and lexical discussions of waht an intellectual means as opposed to a philosopher, an academic, a scholar, or a scientist, the trio focuses in on the public intellectual and specifically the Christian public intellectual as a particular character in the story of the life of the mind. Among the texts, intellectuals, and other realities on the table are Augustine, Byron, "The Twilight of the Intellectuals," N.T. Wright, Garry Wills, George Will, David Brooks, and Cornelius van Til.

Weekly JourneywithJesus.net postings, read by Daniel B. Clendenin. Essay: *Religious Faith: Worthless or Faultless?* for Sunday, 2 September 2012; book review: *Font of Life; Ambrose, Augustine, and the Mystery of Baptism* by Garry Wills(2012); film review: *I Am Because We Are* (2008, Malawi); poem review: *From the Bridge* by Claribel Alegria.

Weekly JourneywithJesus.net postings, read by Daniel B. Clendenin. Essay: *Notes from New York on Christ and Culture: "Transformed Nonconformity"* for Sunday, 21 August 2011; book review: *Augustine's "Confessions": A Biography* by Garry Wills (2011); film review: *Unknown Pleasures* (2002, China); poem review: *Pilgrim's Prayer* by Codex Calixtinus.

Weekly JourneywithJesus.net postings, read by Daniel B. Clendenin. Essay: *The Parallel Universe of the People of God* for Sunday, 20 February 2011; book review: *Outside Looking In; Adventures of an Observer* by Garry Wills (2010); film review: *Inception* (2010); poem review: *Amoretti LXVIII: Most Glorious Lord of Life* by Edmund Spenser.

Weekly JourneywithJesus.net postings, read by Daniel B. Clendenin. Essay: *Heaven: Our "Enduring Fascination"* for Sunday, 14 November 2010; book review: *Bomb Power; The Modern Presidency and the National Security State* by Garry Wills (2010); film review: *Countdown to Zero* (2010); poem review: *All Ye Joyful* by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Bookish and retiring, Garry Wills has been an outsider in the academy, in journalism, even in his church. With his journalist's eye for detail, he brings history to life, from the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War protests to the presidential campaigns of Nixon, Carter, and Clinton.Professor of history emeritus at Northwestern University, Garry Wills has written many bestselling works, including Lincoln at Gettysburg, What Jesus Meant, and Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State. Recorded On: Wednesday, October 27, 2010

  Edition #346 At war at home and abroad   Act 1: The Word - Afghanistan - Colbert Report Act 2: Afghans may not like having families killed - Counterspin Act 3: Local harlot exposes face - The Onion Act 4: Morbid milestone in Afghanistan - The Progressive Act 5: Obama caves in on military trials - Young Turks Act 6: Garry Wills on presidential bombing power - Colbert Report Act 7: Options for terror trials - Counterspin Act 8: Liz Cheney's Al-Qaeda 7 commercial - Daily Show Act 9: Obama Admin - Torture is not illegal - Young Turks Act 10: Marc Thiessen interview - Daily Show Act 11: Biggest conspiracy ever - Rachel Maddow   Bonus iPhone/iPod Touch App Content: Iraqracy - Colbert Report   Music: Meet Me On The Equinox - Death Cab for Cutie Daffodil Lament - The Cranberries Killing for love - José González Lights out - Santigold Moment Of Tranquillity - Apoptygma Berzerk Love like a bomb - Oasis You or your memory - The Mountain Goats John Adams theme song - HBO Born Slippy - Underworld Run on - Moby   Produced by: Jay!   Thanks for listening! Check out the Best of the Left iPhone/iPod Touch App in the App Store! Visit us at www.BestOfTheLeft.com Contact me directly at Jay@BestOfTheLeft.com Vote for us and leave comments at www.PodcastAlley.com or Review the show on iTunes.  

Weekly JourneywithJesus.net postings, read by Daniel B. Clendenin. Essay: *Giving Wealth, Getting Faith* for Sunday, 13 April 2008; book review: *What The Gospels Meant* by Garry Wills (2008); film review: *The Tunnel* (2001, German); poem review: *Now With Creation's Morning Song* by Prudentius.

Weekly JourneywithJesus.net postings, read by Daniel B. Clendenin. Essay: *I Am What I Am: Listening to Isaiah, Paul, and Peter* for Sunday 4 February 2007; book review: *What Paul Meant* by Garry Wills (2006); film review: *Angela* (2002, Italian); poem review: *The Storm* by George Herbert.

Weekly JourneywithJesus.net postings, read by Daniel B. Clendenin. Essay: *This Is What We Preach*, for Easter Sunday 16 April 2006; book review: *What Jesus Meant* by Garry Wills (2006); film review: *Walk the Line* (2005); poem review: *The Resurrection* by Mary Ann Bernard.

Is the death penalty moral? How does Christianity affect views on the death penalty? If religious belief comes into conflict with democratically-arrived at decision of the community, how is that conflict to be resolved? Author and adjunct Professor of History at Northwestern University, Garry Wills, explores these questions in this lecture presented as part of the Voices series at UC Santa Barbara. Series: "Voices" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 7008]

Is the death penalty moral? How does Christianity affect views on the death penalty? If religious belief comes into conflict with democratically-arrived at decision of the community, how is that conflict to be resolved? Author and adjunct Professor of History at Northwestern University, Garry Wills, explores these questions in this lecture presented as part of the Voices series at UC Santa Barbara. Series: "Voices" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 7008]

Is the death penalty moral? How does Christianity affect views on the death penalty? If religious belief comes into conflict with democratically-arrived at decision of the community, how is that conflict to be resolved? Author and adjunct Professor of History at Northwestern University, Garry Wills, explores these questions in this lecture presented as part of the Voices series at UC Santa Barbara. Series: "Voices" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 7008]