SVEN BECKERT-CAPITALISM: A Global History-learn from the past to reshape the future
Written on September 3rd, 2026SVEN BECKERT, in his latest book, CAPITALISM: A Global History, traces its story across the world since the dawn of the last millennium. He reminds us that capitalism is not natural or inevitable, but a human invention, one that has survived – even dominated – as its form has changed. What can we learn from history? If we invented capitalism, does that offer the possibility we could invent something to replace capitalism or that we could invent a capitalism that values sustainability and justice? You can learn more at svenbeckert.com
JOHN JENKINS-SUMMER of ’71: Five Months That Changed America
Written on August 28th, 2026I’m one who says the 60s didn’t end until about 1973. John Jenkins was a young journalist in Washington DC in ’71 when some shit was going down. War still raging in Vietnam. Largest mass arrest of protestors in US history. Daniel Ellsberg steals, copies, and delivers the Pentagon papers and the Supreme Court rules they can be published. The deaths of George Jackson and the Soledad brothers in California, the Attica riots in New York. Jenkins did the historical research and revisits those eventful months in his new book, Summer of 71: Five Months That Changed America. You can learn more at johnajenkins.com
RICHARD HEINBERG (2003) died in July-A NEW COVENANT WITH NATURE, THE PARTY’S OVER
Written on August 14th, 2026RICHARD HEINBERG, a guest a handful of times on this show died July 19th, just two weeks after a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. He was often a few steps ahead of whatever the current conversation might be regarding humanity’s relationships with nature, energy, power, and each other. His books include A New Covenant with Nature; Cloning the Buddha: The Moral Impact of Biotechnology; The End of Growth; Our Renewable Future, Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival, and The Party’s Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies – the one we talk about in this episode. It was recorded in 2003, a month into the war on Iraq.
Heinberg, Richard (2003)-08-15-2026-polished transcript
DANIELLE ALLEN-RADICAL DUKE (new book) & the work of Renovating Democracy
Written on August 3rd, 2026I talk with Harvard professor, DANIELLE ALLEN about (1) her latest book, RADICAL DUKE, about the third Duke of Richmond who inspired the colonies’ independence and their establishment of representative democracy; and (2) her ongoing work on the promise and challenges of democracy today. She’s Director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation and the Democratic Knowledge Project at Harvard and Founder and Chairperson of Partners In Democracy, where she advocates for progress towards a new social contract that serves and includes us all. Learn more at danielleallen.scholars.harvard.edu, The Atlantic Magazine and The Renovator Substack.
ARI BERMAN-Trump’s threats to the 2026 mid-term elections
Written on July 17th, 2026Trump makes a prime-time speech, lying once again about fraud in previous elections and previewing his intention to disrupt and disable the 2026 mid-terms. Time to talk with ARI BERMAN, national voting rights correspondent at Mother Jones‘ and the author of Minority Rule and Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America. How realistic are our fears? What are Trump’s most likely methods of attack? What scares Berman the most? How are we responding? What can listeners do? You can learn more at aribermanauthor.com
