Best Of: Margaret Atwood on American Myths and Authoritarianism

Best Of: Margaret Atwood on American Myths and Authoritarianism

A good rule of thumb is that whatever Margaret Atwood is worried about now, the rest of us will likely be worried about a decade from now. The rise of authoritarianism. A backlash against women’s social progress. Climate change leading to social unrest. Advertising permeating more and more of our lives.

We originally released this episode back in March 2022. But just like Atwood’s work, it somehow only got more relevant with time.

Atwood is the author of at least 17 novels, including the classic “The Handmaid’s Tale,” as well as 20 books of poetry and nine collections of short fiction. When we spoke, she’d just published an essay collection, “Burning Questions.” And she has a new book coming out this fall, “Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts.”

Mentioned:

Art & Energy by Barry Lord

Book recommendations:

War by Margaret MacMillan

Biased by Jennifer L. Eberhardt

Secrets of the Sprakkar by Eliza Reid

Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White

Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com. You can find the transcript and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html

This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Annie Galvin, Jeff Geld and Rogé Karma. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, Kate Sinclair and Mary Marge Locker. Special thanks to Kristina Samulewski, Coral Ann Howells and Brooks Bouson. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Rollin Hu, Elias Isquith, Marina King, Jan Kobal, Kristin Lin, Jack McCordick and Aman Sahota. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episoder(480)

We Didn’t Ask for This Internet

We Didn’t Ask for This Internet

Ragebait, sponcon, A.I. slop — the internet of 2026 makes a lot of us nostalgic for the internet of 10 or 15 years ago.What exactly went wrong here? How did the early promise of the internet get so tw...

6 Feb 1h 27min

Is Your Social Life Missing Something? This Is For You.

Is Your Social Life Missing Something? This Is For You.

My motivation for this episode is personal. One of my resolutions this year is to spend more time hosting and to make those gatherings more meaningful.I think a lot of us wish we had better social liv...

3 Feb 1h 31min

How the World Sees America, With Adam Tooze

How the World Sees America, With Adam Tooze

The old world order is dying. What new world order — if any — is struggling to be born?I can’t think of a week when it felt clearer that an era was coming to an end. Whatever people thought America wa...

30 Jan 1h 3min

The Most Important Foreign Policy Speech in Years

The Most Important Foreign Policy Speech in Years

“We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition,” Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada announced last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.It was one of the most significant fore...

27 Jan 1h 14min

Minneapolis Reveals Where Trump's Deportation Agenda Is Going

Minneapolis Reveals Where Trump's Deportation Agenda Is Going

There’s so much more happening than what you see in online video clips.Congress gave Trump a staggering, military-size budget for immigration enforcement. And it’s hard to keep the scale of what the a...

23 Jan 1h 6min

Has Trump Achieved a Lot Less Than It Seems?

Has Trump Achieved a Lot Less Than It Seems?

We are one year into Trump’s second term. And it feels like so much has happened – more than the human mind, or the country, can absorb. But how much has Trump really accomplished? What policies have ...

16 Jan 1h 1min

Can James Talarico Reclaim Christianity for the Left?

Can James Talarico Reclaim Christianity for the Left?

State Representative James Talarico of Texas might have been our most requested guest last year. And he seemed to come out of nowhere.Talarico started breaking through with viral videos on TikTok and ...

13 Jan 1h 28min

Venezuela, Renee Good and Trump’s ‘Assault on Hope’

Venezuela, Renee Good and Trump’s ‘Assault on Hope’

The shocking events of January have sent a message: America works differently now. M. Gessen is a Times Opinion columnist and the author of books about living under autocracy, including the National B...

10 Jan 1h 5min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
i-retten
forklart
stopp-verden
popradet
det-store-bildet
nokon-ma-ga
dine-penger-pengeradet
fotballpodden-2
rss-gukild-johaug
aftenbla-bla
hanna-de-heldige
rss-ness
frokostshowet-pa-p5
e24-podden
rss-dannet-uten-piano
bt-dokumentar-2
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk