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Anne Applebaum has spent decades studying how democracies collapse, how authoritarian systems rise, and why the warning signs are often ignored until it's too late. She reveals why America is entering a dangerous new phase, and what happens next! Anne Applebaum is a staff writer at The Atlantic and has hosted its Autocracy in America podcast. She is also a senior fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University and the School of Advanced International Studies. She is also the bestselling author of books such as, ‘Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World'. She explains: ◼️ Why democracies rarely collapse overnight ◼️ Why America may be closer to autocracy than people think ◼️ How elected leaders can slowly take apart the system from within ◼️ Why corruption is one of the clearest warning signs of authoritarianism ◼️ Why Big Tech leaders are bending toward political power ◼️ How America's allies are already preparing for U.S. betrayal ◼️ Why Russia, China, and Iran are challenging the democratic world order ◼️ Why America may never fully go back to normal after Trump Chapters 00:00:00 Intro 00:03:13 Why History Keeps Repeating 00:04:52 Why Democracy Feels So Broken 00:07:21 The Biggest Threats Right Now 00:08:32 Why Democracy Is Rapidly Shifting 00:09:58 Could America Become An Autocracy? 00:11:45 What A Trump Third Term Means 00:14:36 Why Autocracy Appeals To People 00:18:52 Trump's Wealth Changes Everything 00:21:08 Why Global Stability Is Collapsing 00:26:06 Democracy Vs Dictatorship: What Lasts? 00:27:18 Who's Happier: Democracies Or Autocracies? 00:28:44 Would Informed People Choose Democracy? 00:30:25 How Putin Stays In Power 00:32:20 5 Tactics Autocrats Use 00:33:59 Are Tech CEOs Enabling This? 00:37:51 Can America Ever Return To Normal? 00:39:07 Why Nations Are Turning Inward 00:43:37 What This Means For Americans 00:45:19 The Most Dangerous Part Of Dictatorship 00:48:29 Why Trump's Ratings Are Falling 00:50:28 Ads 00:52:31 The 2nd Tactic Autocrats Use 00:57:19 The 3rd Tactic Autocrats Use 00:59:20 The 4th Tactic Autocrats Use 01:05:38 Should Social Media Have Legal Power? 01:12:38 Can Citizens Really Leave China? 01:13:55 The 5th Tactic Autocrats Use 01:14:28 Why ICE Is Breaking Down 01:16:40 Ads 01:17:49 Is The American Empire Declining? 01:21:49 Is Politics Just Human Nature? 01:24:38 Does Democracy Create Extreme Capitalism? 01:26:44 How Democracies Defend Themselves 01:28:18 Is Mainstream Media Politically Biased? 01:31:59 Why Journalism Matters More Than Ever 01:33:29 How Algorithms Control Your Reality 01:34:37 Anne's Personal Political Journey 01:41:05 What Regime Change Really Feels Like 01:44:36 Anne's Toughest Setback Follow Anne: Youtube - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/4pTtMb1 Instagram - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/1GOn8p5 X - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/8M5yUMK Website - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/GGmhcYf You can purchase Anne's book, ‘Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World', here: https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/D07471h Sponsors: Stan - Visit https://coach.stan.store/?ref=stevenbartlett&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=episode5 Wispr - Get 14 days of Wispr Flow for free at https://wisprflow.ai/steven
Russia has crossed the threshold of losing more soldiers than it's able to mobilise. Some troops are paying their commanders to get a spot at the back of the Russian forces. Others are deserting entirely. And when soldiers do return home, they often bring the violence with them.President Putin controls a powerful pro-war narrative, which helped rationalise this war of choice to his people. But are the effects of this propaganda beginning to wane? And after a harsh winter, what has changed within Ukraine?As Russia fails to bring this war to a close, and the world moves to phase out fossil fuels, Russia's main export, how much longer can Russia hold on to the pretence of global superpower status?Guest: Peter Pomerantsev -- Kiev-born writer; political analyst; senior fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University; co-director of the Arena Initiative; co-founder of The Reckoning Project; author of Nothing is True and Everything is Possible and This Is Not Propaganda.Geraldine's further reading recommendations:The Closing of the Russian Mind: How Putin's Ideology Took the Nation Hostage, by Andrei Kolesnikov.Inside the belly of the beast, by Noonie Minogue.Russia Starts Here: Real Lives in the Ruins of Empire, by Howard Amos.Get in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.auFind all the episodes of Global Roaming on ABC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts.
Blue City Blues leads a conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and historian Anne Applebaum, as she addresses the escalating global threats to democratic institutions and explores pragmatic strategies to counter the rise of authoritarianism. Drawing on her extensive research, Applebaum discusses findings from her critically acclaimed works, including Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism and her latest book, Autocracy, Inc., offering insight into how free societies can prevent the worst-case scenarios now unfolding across the world. Anne Applebaum is a prize-winning historian, a staff writer for The Atlantic, and a senior fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. Her history books include Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine; Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956; and Gulag: A History, which won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction. Her most recent books are the New York Times bestsellers Twilight of Democracy, an essay on democracy and authoritarianism, and Autocracy Inc: The Dictators Who Want to Rule the World. She was a Washington Post columnist for fifteen years and a member of the editorial board. She has also been the deputy editor of the Spectator and a columnist for several British newspapers. For nearly two decades, David Hyde worked for NPR-affiliate KUOW in Seattle, most recently as a Murrow-award-winning politics reporter. He departed in 2024 to dedicate himself full-time to podcasting and other journalism and writing projects. Blue City Blues builds on the success David had creating the Seattle Nice podcast. Each week, Blue City Blues takes a deep dive into the many shared issues facing blue cities. Sandeep Kaushik is a political and public affairs consultant in Seattle. In addition to his extensive strategic advisory, public relations, and political communications work for elected officials leading businesses, associations, governments, and non-profits, he has worked on multiple political campaigns in the Northwest, including numerous issue and ballot measure campaigns. Prior to forming his firm, Sound View Strategies, Sandeep worked as deputy communications director for then-King County Executive Ron Sims, and prior to that as a political columnist/writer for Seattle's alt-weekly, the Stranger, and as the Washington State correspondent for Time Magazine and the Boston Globe. He currently co-hosts two podcasts: Blue City Blues and Seattle Nice. Presented by Town Hall Seattle, Blue City Blues, UW Office of Public Lectures, and UW Evans School of Public Policy & Governance.
In today's episode, we consider what writers, researchers, and scholars say we can learn from the history of polarization in other countries and learn about some of their potential solutions for polarization. Today's episode features researchers Jay J. Van Bavel and Dominic J. Packer, co-authors of The Power of Us: Harnessing Our Shared Identities to Improve Performance, Increase Cooperation, and Promote Social Harmony. We also hear from Dr. Hahrie Han, Professor of Political Science and the Director of the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University; Uriel Epshtein, Executive Director of the Renew Democracy Initiative; Joshua Fryday, Chief Service Officer for the State of California with California Volunteers; and Evan Mawarire, a Zimbabwean clergyman who founded #ThisFlag Citizen's Movement. Read the transcript of this episode Subscribe to Stories of Impact wherever you listen to podcasts Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube Share your comments, questions and suggestions at info@storiesofimpact.org Supported by Templeton World Charity Foundation
This episode defines polarization and explores its causes and effects. Next, we consider what we can learn from the history of polarization in other countries and share the antidotes to polarization that research has uncovered. Finally, we explain why it's important to make a long-term investment in polarization research. Today's episode features researchers Jay J. Van Bavel and Dominic J. Packer, co-authors of The Power of Us: Harnessing Our Shared Identities to Improve Performance, Increase Cooperation, and Promote Social Harmony. We also hear from Alison Taylor, Executive Director at Ethical Systems, a research collaborative affiliated with NYU; Dr. Hahrie Han, Professor of Political Science and the Director of the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University; Uriel Epshtein, Executive Director of the Renew Democracy Initiative; and Joshua Fryday, Chief Service Officer for the State of California with California Volunteers. Read the transcript of this episode Subscribe to Stories of Impact wherever you listen to podcasts Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube
AI can write code, diagnose diseases, design buildings, and create art. Tools like ChatGPT, Claude and autonomous robots are transforming industries once seen as automation-proof, fueling fears of mass job loss. Some argue that machines will become so efficient that they will one day replace most human labor. Others say AI will augment work, not erase it, and historically, people have feared innovation killing jobs, which arguably hasn't come to pass. Now we debate: Will AI Make Work Obsolete? Arguing Yes: Andrew Yang, Founder of the Forward Party, Former Presidential Candidate Simon Johnson, Nobel Prize-winning Economist; Professor of Entrepreneurship and Head of the Global Economics and Management Group at MIT Arguing No: Chris Hughes, Co-Founder of Facebook; Chair of the Economic Security Project; Author of "Marketcrafters" Rumman Chowdhury, CEO of Humane Intelligence PBC; Former U.S. Science Envoy for Artificial Intelligence Emmy award-winning journalist John Donvan moderates Join the conversation on Substack—share your perspective on this episode and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for curated insights from our debaters, moderators, and staff. Follow us on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, Facebook, and TikTok to stay connected with our mission and ongoing debates. The Hopkins Forum is a partnership between Open to Debate and Johns Hopkins University's SNF Agora Institute. This flagship series consists of live debates in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, bringing together diverse perspectives to tackle today's most pressing issues. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On January 29, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, journalist, and author of "Autocracy, Inc." Anne Applebaum and journalist, lawyer, and founder of the "Popular Information" newsletter Judd Legum joined moderator Charlie Sykes, author of the "To the Contrary" newsletter and podcast, for a timely discussion on how political power is being reshaped in the U.S. and globally—and what it means for democracy.The conversation examined how democratic institutions are increasingly undermined through gradual, legal changes that concentrate power, weaken accountability, and reward loyalty over principle. Speakers emphasized that the greatest danger lies not in any single leader, but in systems that normalize corruption, disinformation, and politicized governance.Ukraine emerged as a critical test of democratic resolve, highlighting the global stakes of the moment.The discussion concluded with a clear warning and reminder: democracy does not sustain itself—it survives only when citizens choose to defend it.CALL TO ACTION:Support Joyce Uptown Foodshelf (https://www.joyceuptownfoodshelf.org/)Support MIRAC (https://www.givemn.org/organization/M...)Check out Anne's newsletter “Open Letters, from Anne Applebaum”: https://anneapplebaum.substack.com/Explore Judd's newsletter “Popular Information”: https://popular.info/Visit Charlie's newsletter and podcast “To the Contrary”: https://charliesykes.substack.com/ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:Anne Applebaum is staff writer for The Atlantic and author of the best-selling 2020 book "Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism" and her latest book "Autocracy, Inc." Applebaum is also a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and the SNF Agora Institute, where she co-directs Arena, a program on disinformation and 21st-century propaganda.Judd Legum is the founder and author of "Popular Information", an independent newsletter dedicated to accountability journalism. Popular Information won the 2020 Online Journalism Award for Excellence in Newsletters, and the 2025 David Nyhan Prize for Public Policy Journalism. Its reporting was credited by Bloomberg for bringing a “political reckoning” to corporate America. Previously, Legum founded and served as editor-in-chief of "ThinkProgress", a progressive media outlet. In 2008, Legum was the research director for Hillary Clinton's first presidential campaign. He is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and Pomona College.Charlie Sykes is the author of the Substack newsletter, "To the Contrary", and contributes to The Atlantic and MSNBC. His most recent book, "How the Right Lost Its Mind", published by St. Martin's Press, was released in October 2017.Sykes has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Weekly Standard, The Washington Post, Commentary, The Wall Street Journal, Politico, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Time.com, USA Today, National Review, The New York Review of Books, the New York Daily News, and other national publications. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bigtentnews.substack.com
Last week, a war powers resolution that would require congressional approval for military action in Venezuela died on the Senate floor after Vice President Vance cast the tie-breaking vote. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in cases regarding trans athletes participating in women's sports. And, ICE continues controversial immigration enforcement in Minneapolis. Mike Cosper and Clarissa Moll discuss these headlines, and Mike sits down with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and journalist Anne Applebaum as she shares an analysis on Russia's war in Ukraine. REFERENCED IN THE SHOW: -Listen to the first episode of the new season of Autocracy in America, hosted by Anne Applebaum. GO DEEPER WITH THE BULLETIN: -Join the conversation at our Substack. -Find us on YouTube. -Rate and review the show in your podcast app of choice. ABOUT THE GUESTS: Anne Applebaum is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Gulag: A History. She is staff writer at The Atlantic and a senior fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. Her most recent books include the New York Times best sellers Twilight of Democracy and Autocracy, Inc: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World. She was a Washington Post columnist for 15 years and a member of the editorial board. ABOUT THE BULLETIN: The Bulletin is a twice-weekly politics and current events show from Christianity Today moderated by Clarissa Moll, with senior commentary from Russell Moore (Christianity Today's editor-at-large and columnist) and Mike Cosper (senior contributor). Each week, the show explores current events and breaking news and shares a Christian perspective on issues that are shaping our world. We also offer special one-on-one conversations with writers, artists, and thought leaders whose impact on the world brings important significance to a Christian worldview, like Bono, Sharon McMahon, Harrison Scott Key, Frank Bruni, and more. The Bulletin listeners get 25% off CT. Go to https://orderct.com/THEBULLETIN to learn more. “The Bulletin” is a production of Christianity Today Producer: Clarissa Moll Associate Producer: Alexa Burke Editing and Mix: Kevin Morris Graphic Design: Rick Szuecs Music: Dan Phelps Executive Producer: Erik Petrik Senior Producer: Matt Stevens Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In late September, Senior Editor Will Kaback spoke with two experts on Russia, Ukraine, and the war. In part 2, Will spoke with Anne Applebaum, a staff writer at The Atlantic and a senior fellow at the SNF Agora Institute and the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Applebaum has also written several books on Russia and Ukraine and reported on the rise of autocracy and authoritarianism around the world. Tangle LIVE tickets are available!* We're excited to announce that our third installment of Tangle Live will be held on October 24, 2025, at the Irvine Barclay Theatre in Irvine, California. If you're in the area (or want to make the trip), we'd love to have you join Isaac and the team for a night of spirited discussion, live Q&A, and opportunities to meet the team in person. You can read more about the event and purchase tickets here.Ad-free podcasts are here!To listen to this podcast ad-free, and to enjoy our subscriber only premium content, go to ReadTangle.com to sign up!You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall.This podcast was hosted by Will Kaback and edited and engineered by Jon Lall. Music for the podcast was produced by Jon Lall.Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Lindsey Knuth, Bailey Saul, and Audrey Moorehead. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this week's episode of Politics in Question, Lee and Julia talk with Hahrie Han, a recent MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, about the intricacies of local-level political organizing. Han is a Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University, the Inaugural Director of the SNF Agora Institute, Faculty Director of the P3 Research Lab, and author of Undivided: The Quest for Racial Solidarity in an American Church (Knopf, 2024).What are the mechanics of creating collective action? How is power negotiated and built within social movements? And what role do researchers play in shaping our understanding of political systems and power? These are the questions Lee and Julia explore in this week's episode.Note: This episode is a rebroadcast, originally recorded in October 2024. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Anne Applebaum joins journalist Madeleine Brand for a timely and urgent conversation about Applebaum's latest book, Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World. Together, they explore the growing network of authoritarian regimes, the methods they use to consolidate power, and the global threats they pose to democratic institutions.Anne Applebaum is a staff writer for The Atlantic and a Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and the SNF Agora Institute. Her acclaimed works include Gulag: A History, Iron Curtain, and Twilight of Democracy.Madeleine Brand is the host of Press Play on KCRW, an award-winning daily news and culture program offering deep insight into national and international stories through a Southern California lens.This event is part of the America at a Crossroads virtual series, founded by Jews United for Democracy & Justice and the Community Advocates, Inc., bringing leading voices together to discuss the most pressing issues facing our democracy.
The apparent assassination of Charlie Kirk has both sides of the aisle calling on Americans to ‘lower the temperature' of political rhetoric. But we've been here before – is there actually any chance that happens? We hear why Kirk was so effective in motivating young conservatives and look at what could happen next. Guest: Alex Stone & Lilliana Mason, SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins Professor of Political Science --- Host: David Rind Showrunner: Felicia Patinkin Editorial Support: Donie O'Sullivan & Sean Clark Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Historian Martha S. Jones was looking through a book one day when she found a section mentioning her grandfather. It referred to her grandfather as white. But in reality, her grandfather’s father was a free man of color, and his mother was born enslaved. This wasn’t the first time her family’s racial identity was questioned, so she started writing down her version of her family’s history. It's that history, and her family's relationship to racial identity, that she explores in her new book The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir. GUEST: Martha S. Jones: The Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, Professor of History and Professor at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. Her latest book is The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir. Special thanks to our interns Angelica Gajewski and Kathy Wang. This episode originally aired on March 28, 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Martha S. Jones grew up feeling her Black identity was obvious to all who saw her. But weeks into college, a Black Studies classmate challenged Jones's right to speak. Suspicious of the color of her skin and the texture of her hair, he confronted her with a question that inspired a lifetime of introspection: “Who do you think you are?” Now a prizewinning scholar of Black history, Jones delves into her family's past for answers. In every generation since her great-great-great-grandmother survived enslavement to raise a free family, color determined her ancestors' lives. But the color line was shifting and jagged, not fixed and straight. Some backed away from it, others skipped along it, and others still were cut deep by its sharp teeth. Journeying across centuries, from rural Kentucky and small-town North Carolina to New York City and its suburbs, The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir (Basic Books, 2025) is a lyrical, deeply felt meditation on the most fundamental matters of identity, belonging, and family. Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, professor of history, and a professor at the SNF Agora Institute at the Johns Hopkins University. A prizewinning author and editor of four books, most recently Vanguard, she is past copresident of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians and has contributed to the New York Times, Atlantic, and many other publications. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Reighan Gillam is Associate Professor in the Department of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies at Dartmouth College. Her research examines the ways in which Afro-Brazilian media producers foment anti-racist visual politics through their image creation. She is the author of Visualizing Black Lives: Ownership and Control in Afro-Brazilian Media (University of Illinois Press). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies
Martha S. Jones grew up feeling her Black identity was obvious to all who saw her. But weeks into college, a Black Studies classmate challenged Jones's right to speak. Suspicious of the color of her skin and the texture of her hair, he confronted her with a question that inspired a lifetime of introspection: “Who do you think you are?” Now a prizewinning scholar of Black history, Jones delves into her family's past for answers. In every generation since her great-great-great-grandmother survived enslavement to raise a free family, color determined her ancestors' lives. But the color line was shifting and jagged, not fixed and straight. Some backed away from it, others skipped along it, and others still were cut deep by its sharp teeth. Journeying across centuries, from rural Kentucky and small-town North Carolina to New York City and its suburbs, The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir (Basic Books, 2025) is a lyrical, deeply felt meditation on the most fundamental matters of identity, belonging, and family. Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, professor of history, and a professor at the SNF Agora Institute at the Johns Hopkins University. A prizewinning author and editor of four books, most recently Vanguard, she is past copresident of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians and has contributed to the New York Times, Atlantic, and many other publications. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Reighan Gillam is Associate Professor in the Department of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies at Dartmouth College. Her research examines the ways in which Afro-Brazilian media producers foment anti-racist visual politics through their image creation. She is the author of Visualizing Black Lives: Ownership and Control in Afro-Brazilian Media (University of Illinois Press). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies
Martha S. Jones grew up feeling her Black identity was obvious to all who saw her. But weeks into college, a Black Studies classmate challenged Jones's right to speak. Suspicious of the color of her skin and the texture of her hair, he confronted her with a question that inspired a lifetime of introspection: “Who do you think you are?” Now a prizewinning scholar of Black history, Jones delves into her family's past for answers. In every generation since her great-great-great-grandmother survived enslavement to raise a free family, color determined her ancestors' lives. But the color line was shifting and jagged, not fixed and straight. Some backed away from it, others skipped along it, and others still were cut deep by its sharp teeth. Journeying across centuries, from rural Kentucky and small-town North Carolina to New York City and its suburbs, The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir (Basic Books, 2025) is a lyrical, deeply felt meditation on the most fundamental matters of identity, belonging, and family. Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, professor of history, and a professor at the SNF Agora Institute at the Johns Hopkins University. A prizewinning author and editor of four books, most recently Vanguard, she is past copresident of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians and has contributed to the New York Times, Atlantic, and many other publications. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Reighan Gillam is Associate Professor in the Department of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies at Dartmouth College. Her research examines the ways in which Afro-Brazilian media producers foment anti-racist visual politics through their image creation. She is the author of Visualizing Black Lives: Ownership and Control in Afro-Brazilian Media (University of Illinois Press). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Martha S. Jones grew up feeling her Black identity was obvious to all who saw her. But weeks into college, a Black Studies classmate challenged Jones's right to speak. Suspicious of the color of her skin and the texture of her hair, he confronted her with a question that inspired a lifetime of introspection: “Who do you think you are?” Now a prizewinning scholar of Black history, Jones delves into her family's past for answers. In every generation since her great-great-great-grandmother survived enslavement to raise a free family, color determined her ancestors' lives. But the color line was shifting and jagged, not fixed and straight. Some backed away from it, others skipped along it, and others still were cut deep by its sharp teeth. Journeying across centuries, from rural Kentucky and small-town North Carolina to New York City and its suburbs, The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir (Basic Books, 2025) is a lyrical, deeply felt meditation on the most fundamental matters of identity, belonging, and family. Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, professor of history, and a professor at the SNF Agora Institute at the Johns Hopkins University. A prizewinning author and editor of four books, most recently Vanguard, she is past copresident of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians and has contributed to the New York Times, Atlantic, and many other publications. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Reighan Gillam is Associate Professor in the Department of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies at Dartmouth College. Her research examines the ways in which Afro-Brazilian media producers foment anti-racist visual politics through their image creation. She is the author of Visualizing Black Lives: Ownership and Control in Afro-Brazilian Media (University of Illinois Press). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography
Martha S. Jones grew up feeling her Black identity was obvious to all who saw her. But weeks into college, a Black Studies classmate challenged Jones's right to speak. Suspicious of the color of her skin and the texture of her hair, he confronted her with a question that inspired a lifetime of introspection: “Who do you think you are?” Now a prizewinning scholar of Black history, Jones delves into her family's past for answers. In every generation since her great-great-great-grandmother survived enslavement to raise a free family, color determined her ancestors' lives. But the color line was shifting and jagged, not fixed and straight. Some backed away from it, others skipped along it, and others still were cut deep by its sharp teeth. Journeying across centuries, from rural Kentucky and small-town North Carolina to New York City and its suburbs, The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir (Basic Books, 2025) is a lyrical, deeply felt meditation on the most fundamental matters of identity, belonging, and family. Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, professor of history, and a professor at the SNF Agora Institute at the Johns Hopkins University. A prizewinning author and editor of four books, most recently Vanguard, she is past copresident of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians and has contributed to the New York Times, Atlantic, and many other publications. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Reighan Gillam is Associate Professor in the Department of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies at Dartmouth College. Her research examines the ways in which Afro-Brazilian media producers foment anti-racist visual politics through their image creation. She is the author of Visualizing Black Lives: Ownership and Control in Afro-Brazilian Media (University of Illinois Press). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology
Since taking office, President Trump has taken aim at the constitutional order. By conducting mass firings of civil servants, investigating and prosecuting rivals and critics and pardoning insurrectionists, Trump has plunged the country into what political scientist Steven Levitsky argues is an authoritarianism that, unlike a full dictatorship, allows for opposition but deploys “the machinery of government to punish, harass, co-opt, or sideline their opponents—disadvantaging them in every contest, and, in so doing, entrenching themselves in power.” And this playbook has been used in countries like Hungary, El Salvador, India, Turkey and others. We talk to Levitsky and historian Anne Applebaum about the lessons other countries can teach us about recognizing authoritarianism at home. Guests: Anne Applebaum, author, "Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World"; staff writer for The Atlantic and a Pulitzer-prize winning historian. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and the SNF Agora Institute. Steven Levitsky, professor of government, Harvard; co-author of "Why Democracies Die" and "Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Historian Martha S. Jones was looking through a book one day when she found a section mentioning her grandfather. It referred to her grandfather as white. But in reality, her grandfather’s father was a free man of color, and his mother was born enslaved. This wasn’t the first time her family’s racial identity was questioned, so she started writing down her version of her family’s history. It's that history, and her family's relationship to racial identity, that she explores in her new book The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir. GUEST: Martha S. Jones: The Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, Professor of History and Professor at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. Her latest book is The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Martha S. Jones joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about being Black, white, and other in America, the origins of her family in slavery and sexual violence, anti-miscegenation laws, passing, who we call kin and why, taking up space, avoiding the Black-White binary, discovering family stories, writing in a full-throated way, leaving complexity in our work, being patient with our material, chasing threads, the duty we have to the people we write about, grappling with contradictions, leaving readers room to decide, writing and rewriting to get someplace new, the courage it takes to confront the past, and her new book The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir. Also mentioned in this episode: -false starts -feeling ready to be read -taking care of ourselves when writing Books mentioned in this episode: Heavy by Kiese Laymon Memorial Drive by Natasha Tretheway Black is the Body by Emily Bernard Thick by Tracy McMillan Cotton Inventing the Truth by William Zissner Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, professor of history, and a professor at the SNF Agora Institute at the Johns Hopkins University. A prizewinning author and editor of four books, her forthcoming The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir, confronts the limits of the historian's craft in this powerful memoir of family, color, and being Black, white, and other in America. She is past copresident of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians and has contributed to the New York Times, Atlantic, and many other publications. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Connect with Martha: Website: www.marthasjones.com X: https://x.com/marthasjones_ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marthasjones Book: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/martha-s-jones/the-trouble-of-color/9781541601000/?lens=basic-books – Ronit's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories. She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit's Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers
Second City Works presents "Getting to Yes, And" on WGN Plus
Kelly welcomes Martha Jones back to the podcast. She is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and professor of history at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. We spoke to her last about her book “Vanguard.” Her new book is called “The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir.” “So much of the historical record was […]
About this episode: In 1868, the 14th Amendment established birthright citizenship in the United States. In this episode: a look at the court cases, historical events, and people that shaped one of the Constitution's human rights provisions. Guest: Martha Jones is a writer, historian and legal scholar, and a professor of history at the SNF Agora Institute. Host: Dr. Josh Sharfstein is vice dean for public health practice and community engagement at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, a faculty member in health policy, a pediatrician, and former secretary of Maryland's Health Department. Show links and related content: Dred Scott v. Sandford—National Archives Opinion of the Maryland Court of Appeals, Hughes v. Jackson (1858)—National Constitution Center United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898)—National Constitution Center The Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution Contact us: Have a question about something you heard? Looking for a transcript? Want to suggest a topic or guest? Contact us via email or visit our website. Follow us: @PublicHealthPod on Bluesky @JohnsHopkinsSPH on Instagram @JohnsHopkinsSPH on Facebook @PublicHealthOnCall on YouTube Here's our RSS feed
BigTentUSA hosted a "must listen" with author and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian , Anne Applebaum, and acclaimed journalist, Katie Couric. They discussed whether American democracy can endure the autocratic challenges posed by the Trump presidency and the far-reaching influence of Elon Musk. Musk and Trump have seized critical levers of power and authority within the federal government, seemingly giving them the ability to dismantle federal agencies and policies at will.We examined the threats posed by unchecked power, and explored what can be done to stop this dangerous takeover.Learn more about BIGTENTUSAABOUT OUR SPEAKERSAnne Applebaum is staff writer for The Atlantic and author of the best-selling 2020 book Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism and her new book Autocracy, Inc. Applebaum is also a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and the SNF Agora Institute, where she co-directs Arena, a program on disinformation and 21st-century propaganda.Katie Couric is an award-winning journalist and #1 New York Times best-selling author. Couric was the first woman to solo anchor a network evening newscast, serving as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News from 2006 to 2011 following 15 years as co-anchor of NBC's Today show. In 2017, she founded Katie Couric Media (KCM), which has developed a number of media projects, including a daily newsletter, “Wake-Up Call”, a podcast, “Next Question”, digital video series and several documentaries. You can find it all at katiecouric.com.Links from the discussion are below:
In the century since Russia’s “Mad Monk” was poisoned, we’ve come to believe a lot of things: he was mystical, he was evil, he was the world’s greatest lover. This hour: Rasputin — the all-too-human peasant who found his way to friendship with the Romanovs and the comical, absurd version of him that just won’t die. Plus, a look at "The New Rasputins." GUESTS: Douglas Smith: Historian and author of Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs Anne Applebaum: Staff writer at The Atlantic, Senior Fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University and the School of Advanced International Studies, author of books including Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run The World The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, Cat Pastor, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired May 3, 2022.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The results of the 2024 election — from Donald Trump's victory to the failure of democracy reform efforts like ranked-choice voting and citizen-led redistricting — took some in the pro-democracy movement by surprise. How could voters make decisions up and down the ballot that would weaken democracy? Scott Warren argues that it's because "democracy" has become too closely associated with the Democratic Party. He laid out the case in a Stanford Social Innovation Review article published shortly after the election and joins us on the show to talk about it.Warren is a fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. He is currently leading an initiative focused on exploring, researching, and convening a pro-democracy conservative agenda in the US, with a short-term focus on election trust. He founded the civics education organization Generation Citizen and led the organization from 2009-2020.In the interview, Warren discusses how Generation Citizen's funding change after Donald Trump won the 2016 election and how he and his colleagues at SNF Agora are traveling across the country to bring conservatives into the democracy reform movement. Finally, we discuss how to talk about democracy in a way that resonates across the political spectrum — the subject of a Democracy Takes piece Warren wrote with Lilia Dashevsky.
In 2015, Crossroads Church, a majority-White evangelical megachurch based in Cincinnati, Ohio, launched a new program to address racial division and racism. In this episode, Hahrie Han discusses her new book Undivided: The Quest for Racial Solidarity in an American Church, which tells the story of this program and its participants, many of whom changed their thinking, behavior, and relationships after taking part. The impact of Crossroads's Undivided program demonstrates some of the elements of successful antiracist organizing —or organizing in general. These elements include sustained commitment, building relationships across difference, and empowering people to find their own solutions. Hahrie Han is the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Professor of Political Science, the inaugural director of the SNF Agora Institute, and the director of the P3 research lab at Johns Hopkins University. An elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she has published four previous books. She was named a 2022 Social Innovation Thought Leader of the Year by the World Economic Forum's Schwab Foundation. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New Republic, among other national publications. The daughter of Korean immigrants, she lives in Baltimore, Maryland. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/669326/undivided-by-hahrie-han/
Lily Mason joins The Great Battlefield podcast to talk about her career path that led her to study how political parties have become so bound up in their identities and what she's been working on at SNF Agora Institute.
What happens when a predominately-white evangelical megachurch in the Midwest creates a program to address racial inequity? Dr. Hahrie Han followed the journey of Crossroads Church in Ohio, where Pastor Chuck Mingo said he felt called by God to combat racial injustice, within the church and their wider Cincinnati community. Han's book is called Undivided: The Quest for Racial Solidarity in an American Church. She takes a deep look into a congregation's wrestling with race, political divisiveness and fraught political times. Han is a political scientist and the head of the SNF Agora Institute, a scholarly and public forum dedicated to advancing dialogue and civic engagement, at Johns Hopkins University.Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.
Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas
It's a wonder democracy works at all -- a collection of people with potentially different interests have to agree to abide by majority vote even when it goes against their desires. But as we know, it doesn't always work, and racial and ethnic tensions are one of its biggest challenges. Hahrie Han studies the ground-up workings of democracy, how people can come together to successfully enact change. In her new book Undivided: The Quest for Racial Solidarity in an American Church, she investigates an example where democracy apparently has worked remarkably well, and asks what lessons we can draw from it.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/09/23/290-hahrie-han-on-making-multicultural-democracy-work/Hahrie Han recieved her Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University. She is currently the Director of the SNF Agora Institute, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Professor of Political Science, and Faculty Director of the P3 Research Lab at Johns Hopkins University. She was named the Social Innovation Thought Leader of the Year by the World Economic Forum, is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and gave the 2024 Tanner Lectures on Human Values at Harvard University, among other awards.Web siteJohns Hopkins web pageGoogle Scholar publicationsAmazon author pageSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
At the debate last night, Kamala Harris opened her remarks by talking about the need for America to fix its housing crisis. And crisis it is, at least according to Jerusalem Demsas, a staff writer at The Atlantic who has written extensively on the increasing scarcity and rising cost of American housing. In her new collection of essays, On the Housing Crisis, Demsas suggests that the best way to confront this crisis is to aggressively construct new housing. Build Baby Build, in other words. And, for Demsas at least, the sooner the better.Jerusalem Demsas is a staff writer at The Atlantic where she is an established voice on the housing crisis and local democracy. Her writing spans issues from infrastructure, labor economics, and federalism to race, gender, mobility and the politics of exclusion. She was recognized for her work in 2023 by the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) with the ASME Next Award for journalists under 30. Demsas is also a Visiting Fellow with the Center for Economy and Society at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. Prior to writing at the Atlantic, Demsas was a policy journalist at Vox where she also cohosted the popular policy podcast The Weeds.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
Hahrie Han returns to The Great Battlefield podcast to talk about what she's been up to at the SNF Agora Institute and her recent book "UNDIVIDED: The Quest for Racial Solidarity in an American Church".
Host Curtis Chang is joined by Dr. Hahrie Han, a political scientist at Johns Hopkins University and the Director of the SNF Agora Institute, to explore how evangelical churches relate to racial and political issues. Drawing from her research on a multi-ethnic evangelical church in Cincinnati and insights from Redeeming Babel's "The After Party" project, Dr. Han reveals how cross-racial relationships within faith communities can help heal racial division and foster deeper belonging. Listeners will discover why facing questions of race and politics head-on, rather than reducing them to political buzzwords, can transform divisive issues into shared experiences that unite communities. Listen to Songs For the After Party, get sheet music, lyrics, and prayers for your church. Bring The After Party course to your church or small group! Let the Good Faith podcast “Stack Your Shelf.” Enter HERE to win 16 books by friends of the pod. Join Curtis Chang in person: See Curtis Chang and David French at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC See Curtis Chang and Tim Alberta at Wheaton College Referenced in this episode: Read Robert Putnam's book Bowling Alone (Amazon) Learn more about Crossroads Church in Cincinnati Learn more about the Undivided Program Learn more about Pastor Chuck Mingo Listen to Curtis and David's Good Faith conversation about “white replacement theory” with Chuck Mingo Listen to Curtis's Good Faith conversation about churches who exploit political controversies with Chuck Mingo Explore Hahrie Han's work: Hahrie's work at John Hopkins's P3 Lab Read Hahrie Han's book Undivided Explore Hahrie Han's other books HERE
Over the last few months, students on college campuses all over the world have been protesting the mass slaughter in Gaza. I was one of the majority of faculty at UMass Amherst who supported our students' encampment, and then opposed our administration's violent assault on it. In this episode I talk with Amy Binder, whose book with Jeffrey Kidder, The Channels of Student Activism: How the Left and Right Are Winning (and Losing) in Campus Politics Today (2022) is one of the few analyses of student activism on U.S. college campuses after 2016. Their study is based in flagship state schools like mine, and is unusual in its inclusion of student activists across the political spectrum. This conversation was a much needed opportunity to reflect on the events of last year.Amy Binder is a Stavros Niarchos Agora Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University. She is Interim Director of the SNF Agora Institute, founded in 2017 to diagnose the problems facing liberal democracies, encourage dialogue and participation through public events, and to offer courses in the study of democracy. Before her recent move to Johns Hopkins, Amy was on the sociology faculty at the University of California San Diego.Please join me at the invited thematic session at ASA in Montreal next week, Sociology for Hope. The panelists represent a range of substantive interests and career stages, from graduate student to emeritus faculty.
Yascha Mounk and Anne Applebaum discuss the new tools autocrats use to stay in power. Anne Applebaum is a staff writer for The Atlantic and a Senior Fellow of the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. Her books include Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine and Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe. Her latest book is Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World. In this week's conversation, Yascha Mounk and Anne Applebaum discuss how dictators use the system of international finance to maintain power and thwart regime change; how democracies can reform themselves internally to better resist authoritarian infiltration; and why autocratic regimes tend to be hard yet brittle. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: podcast@persuasion.community Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week Dane sits down with Scott Warren, co-founder Leadership Transition Community, and fellow at SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins. They discuss Scott's journey in leadership, the importance of effective leadership transitions, and how transitioning can be an opportunity for individual and organizational growth. Together, they explore the challenges leaders face, the importance of strategy and emotional readiness, and the potential for integrating more honest and candid dialogues during leadership changes.Key Takeaways: 00:00 Introduction to the Future of Teamwork Podcast02:13 Scott Warren's Journey with Generation Citizen03:42 Challenges and Realizations in Leadership Transitions04:20 The Importance of Strategic Planning06:04 Emotional and Organizational Impact of Leadership Transitions09:02 The Role of Successors and Future Research18:22 Cohorts for Exit-Curious Leaders46:02 Final Thoughts and Contact Information
When we imagine an autocracy, writes Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Anne Applebaum, we tend to conjure a cartoon image: a malevolent dictator at the top who controls the police and army, evil collaborators and a few brave dissidents. But 21st century autocracies are not that. They're run instead by “sophisticated networks relying on kleptocratic financial structures, a complex of security services… and technological experts who provide surveillance, propaganda and disinformation.” We talk to Applebaum about how modern autocracies work and how liberal democracies can disrupt them. Her new book is “Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World.” Guest: Anne Applebaum, author, "Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World"; staff writer, The Atlantic; Pulitzer-prize winning historian; senior fellow, John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and the SNF Agora Institute
Is “identity synthesis” the remedy for racial injustice? This political scientist says no. Yascha Mounk, a professor at Johns Hopkins University and host of “The Good Fight” podcast, explains how identity synthesis - an ideology based on treating people differently depending on their race, gender, or sexual orientation - can be quite harmful to society. He uses the example of racially segregated classrooms, claiming that it is human tendency to inherently side with someone in your “group” before you side with someone from another. Mounk argues that identity synthesis will only further divide us, as it goes directly against the ideologies of Black American thinkers like Fredrick Douglas and Martin Luther King Jr, who fought avidly for equality in the United States. By following this identity-first ideology, we may be reversing the work done by these social rights activists. Instead, we should lean further into their legacy of advocating for universal principles, where individuals are judged not by the categories they belong to but by their character and actions. -------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think:- ►Become a Big Think Member Get exclusive access to full interviews, early access to new releases, Big Think merch and more ►Get Big Think+ for Business Guide, inspire and accelerate leaders at all levels of your company with the biggest minds in business ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Yascha Mounk: Yascha Mounk is a writer and academic known for his work on the crisis of democracy and the defense of philosophically liberal values. Born in Germany to Polish parents, Yascha received his BA in History from Trinity College Cambridge and his PhD in Government from Harvard University. He is a Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University, where he holds appointments in both the School of Advanced International Studies and the SNF Agora Institute. Yascha is also a Contributing Editor at The Atlantic, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a Moynihan Public Fellow at City College. He is the Founder of Persuasion, the host of The Good Fight podcast, and serves as a publisher (Herausgeber) at Die Zeit. Yascha has written five books: Stranger in My Own Country - A Jewish Family in Modern Germany, a memoir about Germany's fraught attempts to deal with its past; The Age of Responsibility – Luck, Choice and the Welfare State, which argues that a growing obsession with the concept of individual responsibility has transformed western welfare states; The People versus Democracy – Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It, which explains the causes of the populist rise and investigates how to renew liberal democracy; and The Great Experiment - Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure, which argues that anybody who seeks to help ethnically and religiously diverse democracies thrive has reason to embrace a more ambitious vision for their future than is now fashionable; and his latest, The Identity Trap - A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time, which tells the story of how a new set of ideas about race, gender and sexual orientation came to be extremely influential in mainstream institutions, and why it would be a mistake to give up on a more universalist humanism. Next to his work for The Atlantic, Yascha also occasionally writes for newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Foreign Affairs. He is also a regular contributor to major international publications including Die Zeit, La Repubblica, El País, l'Express and Folha de São Paolo, among others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Rod Arquette Show with Greg Hughes Rundown – “Wingman Wednesday,” May 8, 20244:38 pm: Hans von Spakovsky, Legal Analyst for The Heritage Foundation, joins the show to discuss his concerns over Tik Tok's plan to hire 40,000 people to remove “election misinformation” from the app and their ability to determine what constitutes “misinformation.”5:05 pm: Scott Warren, a Fellow with the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University joins the show to discuss the group's national push for a “conservative agenda for democracy” and using conservative principles to build trust in the election process.6:38 pm: Ryan Girdusky, Political Consultant and Founder of the 1776 Project PAC joins the program to discuss his piece for the National Populist Newsletter about how the 2024 Presidential election is coming down to the Sun Belt vs. the Rust Belt.
Citizenship is a perpetual debate in America. Martha S. Jones discusses how the exclusion of women and people of color from the early Republic led them to develop their own political cultures and collective institutions. As a result, marginalized people, particularly Black women, reframed politics in a way that was more aligned with America's democratic ideals than any other political vision at the time. Elevating their voices and visions of democracy helps clarify who we have been and who we hope to be. Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, a Professor of History, and a Professor at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. A legal and cultural historian, her work examines how Black Americans have shaped the story of American democracy. She has written three award-winning books: Vanguard (2022), Birthright Citizens (2018), and All Bound Up Together (2007). Links: https://snfagora.jhu.edu/about-snf-agora/ https://hardhistory.jhu.edu/ https://alumni.jhu.edu/affinitygroups/soba https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/martha-s-jones/vanguard/9781541618619/?lens=basic-books https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/birthright-citizens/7A4BFAF68722E7EC837C2888C46E4434 https://uncpress.org/book/9780807858455/all-bound-up-together/
BigTentUSA is thrilled to have back Pulitzer Prize–winning author and esteemed historian Anne Applebaum under the tent in conversation with award winning journalist Katie Couric. They will dive into the critical issues of our era: the global rise of authoritarianism and the evolving landscape of American democracy.About the Speakers:Anne Applebaum is staff writer for The Atlantic and author of the best-selling 2020 book Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism. Applebaum is also a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and the SNF Agora Institute, where she co-directs Arena, a program on disinformation and 21st-century propaganda.Katie Couric is an award-winning journalist and #1 New York Times best-selling author. Couric was the first woman to solo anchor a network evening newscast, serving as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News from 2006 to 2011 following 15 years as co-anchor of NBC's Today show. In 2017, she founded Katie Couric Media (KCM), which has developed a number of media projects, including a daily newsletter, “Wake-Up Call”, a podcast, “Next Question”, digital video series and several documentaries. You can find it all at katiecouric.com. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bigtentnews.substack.com
Eric and Eliot welcome Peter Pomerantsev, British journalist, senior fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, television producer and author of Nothing Is True and Everything is Possible, This is Not Propaganda, and his most recent book How to Win An Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler (New York: Public Affairs Press, 2024). They discuss the story of Sefton Delmer, the bilingual British journalist who headed up covert propaganda operations for the Political Warfare Executive during World War II. They touch on what makes for effective propaganda, whether idealistic appeals or trying to reach people via crasser motives is more effective, the morality of counter-propaganda efforts, distinguishing fact from fiction, people's desire to escape responsibility for government policies, creating permission structures for people subject to effective propaganda to think differently about what they are being told and the lessons from Delmer's efforts for today's world -- defeating Putin's propaganda in Russia and abroad and breaking through the cult-like propaganda of MAGA. How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler: https://a.co/d/8LbiEqJ Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.
Frank Schaeffer In Conversation with Author and Journalist Yascha Mounk, exploring his work covering the crisis of democracy and the themes of his new book, The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time._____LINKShttps://www.yaschamounk.comPODCASTThe Good Fight with Yascha MounkWRITINGThe Atlantic | Foreign Affairs | PersuasionSOCIAL MEDIAFacebook | Twitter_____Yascha Mounk is a writer and academic known for his work on the crisis of democracy and the defense of philosophically liberal values.Born in Germany to Polish parents, Yascha received his BA in History from Trinity College Cambridge and his PhD in Government from Harvard University. He is a Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University, where he holds appointments in both the School of Advanced International Studies and the SNF Agora Institute. Yascha is also a Contributing Editor at The Atlantic, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a Moynihan Public Fellow at City College. He is the Founder of Persuasion, the host of The Good Fight podcast, and serves as a publisher (Herausgeber) at Die Zeit._____I have had the pleasure of talking to some of the leading authors, artists, activists, and change-makers of our time on this podcast, and I want to personally thank you for subscribing, listening, and sharing 100-plus episodes over 100,000 times.Please subscribe to this Podcast, In Conversation… with Frank Schaeffer, on your favorite platform, and to my Substack, It Has to Be Said.Thanks! Support the show_____In Conversation… with Frank Schaeffer is a production of the George Bailey Morality in Public Life Fellowship. It is hosted by Frank Schaeffer, author of Fall In Love, Have Children, Stay Put, Save the Planet, Be Happy. Learn more at https://www.lovechildrenplanet.comFollow Frank on Substack, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Threads, and YouTube. https://frankschaeffer.substack.comhttps://www.facebook.com/frank.schaeffer.16https://twitter.com/Frank_Schaefferhttps://www.instagram.com/frank_schaeffer_arthttps://www.threads.net/@frank_schaeffer_arthttps://www.youtube.com/c/FrankSchaefferYouTube In Conversation… with Frank Schaeffer PodcastLove In Common Podcast with Frank Schaeffer, Ernie Gregg, and Erin Bagwell
The raw materials of Philippa Pham Hughes' art are human bodies and minds. Since 2007, when she hosted her first gathering of strangers, Philippa has worked as a social sculptor and cultural strategist. What this means is that, through methods drawn from the arts and the humanities, she curates what she calls creative activations. These are carefully planned spaces and events to which groups of complete strangers from different walks of life meet face to face and break bread, often quite literally. In these activations, with Philippa's guidance, participants can touch the third rails of polite discussion, whether they be politics or religion, because the intent is always to keep everyone safe and increasingly aware of and committed to open communication and the makings of a better world. In a time when the bully pulpit of social media makes it easy to dehumanize the perceived enemy, Philippa's work centers our shared humanity.Philippa is currently Resident Artist at the University of Michigan Museum of Art and is Visiting Fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins. She has worked with several institutions in her current hometown of Washington, DC and in a variety of settings all over the country, in activations both large and intimate.Here she describes how she refined the work of others to create her own practice of social sculpting and explains how she maintains her optimism and vigor when it seems like all Americans want to do is scream past one another from vast distance. https://www.philippahughes.com/https://umma.umich.edu/https://snfagora.jhu.edu/
Smith and Marx Walk into a Bar: A History of Economics Podcast
Çinla, François, and Jennifer are joined by Glory M. Liu, assistant director for the Center for Economy and Society and assistant research professor at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, to discuss her new book, Adam Smith's America: How a Scottish Philosopher Became an Icon of American Capitalism.
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Yascha Mounk about the cultural wars and how identity has become central for society today. They discuss his motivations for writing the book and his perspective on identity and cultural issues. They talk about the lure of the identity trap, the history of the identity synthesis from Foucault, to Said, to Spivack, to Bell, to Crenshaw, and the links between these figures. They discuss the impact of social media, institutional capture, how to engage with identity issues, and many more topics.Yascha Mounk is a writer and academic. He has a Bachelors in history from Trinity College, Cambridge and PhD in government from Harvard University. He is a Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University, where he holds appointments in both the School of Advanced International Studies and the SNF Agora Institute. He is also a Contributing Editor at The Atlantic, and Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the Founder of Persuasion, the host of The Good Fight podcast, and serves as a publisher (Herausgeber) at Die Zeit. He is the author of five books, including the most recent book, The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time. Website: https://www.yaschamounk.com/Substack: Podcast: The Good FightTwitter: @yascha_mounk Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe
Yascha Mounk is a writer and academic known for his work on the crisis of democracy and the defense of philosophically liberal values. His new book “The Identity Trap” traces the origins of identity politics and how it's rapidly transforming the modern world. He joined Rep. Crenshaw to discuss how identity politics grew out of postmodernism and Critical Race Theory. They talk about how postmodernists and populists are rejecting the history, institutions, and core values that make for a healthy democracy. And Yascha gives some sage advice on how to persuasively engage in debates with your political opponents. Yascha Mounk is the author of five books, including the forthcoming “The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time.” He is a Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University, where he holds appointments in both the School of Advanced International Studies and the SNF Agora Institute. Yascha is also a Contributing Editor at The Atlantic, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Founder of Persuasion. Follow him on Twitter at @Yascha_Mounk.
Brought to you by Wealthfront high-yield savings account, AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement, and Helix Sleep premium mattresses. Welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show. I'm very excited to publish this episode. This is an experimental format, and we are calling it HERESIES.The objective of this format is to encourage and celebrate independent thinking. Please enjoy!Bios of the co-hosts and guests:Kevin Kelly (@kevin2kelly) helped launch and edit Wired magazine. He has written for The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, among many other publications. You can find my most recent interview with him at tim.blog/kevinkelly. He is the author of the new book Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I'd Known Earlier. Other books by Kevin Kelly include Out of Control, the 1994 classic book on decentralized emergent systems; The Silver Cord, a graphic novel about robots and angels; What Technology Wants, a robust theory of technology; Vanishing Asia, his 50-year project to photograph the disappearing cultures of Asia, and The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future, a New York Times bestseller.Kevin is currently co-chair of The Long Now Foundation, which is building a clock in a mountain that will tick for 10,000 years. He also has a daily blog; a weekly podcast about cool tools; and a weekly newsletter, Recomendo, which is a free, one-page list of six very brief recommendations of cool stuff. He is also a Senior Maverick at Wired. He lives in Pacifica, California.****Noah Feldman (@NoahRFeldman) is a Harvard professor, ethical philosopher and advisor, public intellectual, religious scholar and historian, and author of 10 books, including his latest, The Broken Constitution: Lincoln, Slavery, and the Refounding of America. You can find my interview with him at tim.blog/noah.Noah is the founder of Ethical Compass, which helps clients like Facebook and eBay improve ethical decision-making by creating and implementing new governance solutions. Noah conceived and designed the Facebook Oversight Board and continues to advise Facebook on ethics and governance issues.Noah is host of the Deep Background podcast, a policy and public affairs columnist for Bloomberg Opinion, and a former contributing writer for The New York Times. He served as senior constitutional advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq and subsequently advised members of the Iraqi Governing Council on the drafting of Iraq's interim constitution.He earned his A.B. summa cum laude from Harvard, finishing first in his class. Selected as a Rhodes Scholar, he earned a DPhil from Oxford University, writing his dissertation on Aristotle's Ethics. He received his J.D. from Yale Law School and clerked for Justice David Souter of the U.S. Supreme Court.He is the author of 10 books, including Divided by God: America's Church-State Problem—and What We Should Do About It; What We Owe Iraq: War and the Ethics of Nation Building; Cool War: The United States, China, and the Future of Global Competition; Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices; and The Three Lives of James Madison: Genius, Partisan, President.His upcoming book is Bad Jew: A Perplexed Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People, which is currently available for pre-order.***Maggie Spivey-Faulkner is an anthropological archaeologist and practitioner of Indigenous archaeology, currently working as an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Alberta. She also serves as an assistant chief of the Upper Georgia tribal town of the Pee Dee Indian Nation of Beaver Creek, a state-recognized Native American group in South Carolina. Her work focuses on using anthropological data to upend harmful misconceptions of Native American peoples embedded in public policy, science, and the public consciousness.Maggie was raised in a tight-knit extended family in rural Hephzibah, Georgia. She is an international fellow of The Explorers Club, a former junior fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows, and a recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. She received her Ph.D. in anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis in 2018 and her A.B. from Harvard College in 2008. ***Joshua L. Steiner is a partner at SSW, a private investment firm, and a senior adviser at Bloomberg, L.P., where he was previously Head of Industry Verticals. Prior to joining Bloomberg, Steiner co-founded and was co-president of Quadrangle Group, LLC, a private equity and asset management firm. Before co-founding Quadrangle, he was a managing director at Lazard. From 1993 to 1995 he served as chief of staff for the U.S. Department of the Treasury.He serves on the boards of Yale University, the International Rescue Committee, and the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. Steiner received a B.A. in history from Yale and an M.St. in modern history from Oxford University.***This episode is brought to you by AG1! I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1, my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body in 2010 and did not get paid to do so. I do my best with nutrient-dense meals, of course, but AG1 further covers my bases with vitamins, minerals, and whole-food-sourced micronutrients that support gut health and the immune system. Right now, you'll get their Vitamin D Liquid Formula free with your first subscription purchase—a vital nutrient for a strong immune system and strong bones. Visit DrinkAG1.com/Tim to claim this special offer today and receive the free Vitamin D Liquid Formula (and 5 free AG1 travel packs) with your first subscription purchase! That's up to a one-year supply of Vitamin D as added value when you try their delicious and comprehensive all-in-one daily greens product.*This episode is also brought to you by Wealthfront! Wealthfront is an app that helps you save and invest your money. Right now, you can earn 4.55% APY—that's the Annual Percentage Yield—with the Wealthfront Cash Account. That's more than eleven times more interest than if you left your money in a savings account at the average bank, according to FDIC.gov. It takes just a few minutes to sign up, and then you'll immediately start earning 4.55% interest on your savings. And when you open an account today, you'll get an extra fifty-dollar bonus with a deposit of five hundred dollars or more. Visit Wealthfront.com/Tim to get started.*This episode is also brought to you by Helix Sleep! Helix was selected as the best overall mattress of 2022 by GQ magazine, Wired, and Apartment Therapy. With Helix, there's a specific mattress to meet each and every body's unique comfort needs. Just take their quiz—only two minutes to complete—that matches your body type and sleep preferences to the perfect mattress for you. They have a 10-year warranty, and you get to try it out for a hundred nights, risk-free. They'll even pick it up from you if you don't love it. And now, Helix is offering 20% off all mattress orders plus two free pillows at HelixSleep.com/Tim.*[11:34] Defining “heresy.”[14:22] Josh's heresy: We need to teach listening over talking.[32:48] Noah's heresy: Constitutions are overrated.[55:01] Maggie's heresy: American middle-class culture is ruining everything.[1:14:54] Tim's heresy: We're on the cusp of meaningfully communicating with animals.[1:35:23] Kevin's heresy: Human cloning is OK.*For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast.For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsorsSign up for Tim's email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Discover Tim's books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissYouTube: youtube.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferrissPast guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, Margaret Atwood, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Dr. Gabor Maté, Anne Lamott, Sarah Silverman, Dr. Andrew Huberman, and many more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Thanksgiving dinner can bring tension alongside turkey and this year may feel especially stressful given a highly polarizing political environment. Dr. Consuelo Amat, an expert in peace building at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about some ground rules for peace-building and dialogue, and how to meaningfully engage in difficult conversations with people we love.
From December 19, 2019: In this episode of Lawfare's Arbiters of Truth series, Alina Polyakova and Quinta Jurecic spoke with Peter Pomerantsev, a research fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University and the author of "This is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality." The book explores how the nature of propaganda has shifted as authoritarian governments move from silencing dissent to drowning dissent out with squalls of disinformation. Pomerantsev argues that this transformation traces back to the cynicism and chaos in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union, but now it's become all too familiar around the world.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.