How Rupert Murdoch Killed The Only Good Social Media Platform (w/ Michael Tedder)
Perhaps only those between the ages of about 30 and 35 will remember the golden years of MySpace, which dominated social media before Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok. MySpace was a mess, but it's looked...
7 Feb 202436min
How Labor Can Drive a Hard Bargain (w/ Jane McAlevey and Abby Lawlor)
On this program, we have previously discussed the inspiring fight waged by the Amazon Labor Union on Staten Island, and the confrontational tactics that can help unions win recognition despite the bes...
5 Feb 202436min
Learning From Neglected Novels By 1900s Radicals (w/ the Rickard Sisters)
The Rickard Sisters, Sophie and Scarlett, have produced two wonderful graphic novel adaptations of books by early 20th century radicals. First they made The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, adapted f...
2 Feb 202437min
Why Minimalism? (w/ Kyle Chayka)
Kyle Chayka is a cultural critic and staff writer for the New Yorker. (Incidentally, he also wrote a piece back in 2017 that covered the early years of Current Affairs.) Kyle's book The Longing For Le...
31 Jan 202440min
Is U.S. Democracy Just Going To Be Dysfunctional Forever? (w/ Benjamin Studebaker)
Benjamin Studebaker's new book The Chronic Crisis of American Democracy: The Way is Shut is a provocative critique of contemporary American politics. Studebaker argues that "none of the existing polit...
29 Jan 202459min
What Happens to the Disappointed When Social Movements Fail? (w/ Sara Marcus)
Sara Marcus is the author of Political Disappointment: A Cultural History from Reconstruction to the AIDS Crisis. A lot of studies of social movements look at movement triumphs, but Marcus is interest...
26 Jan 202435min
The Disaster of Privatizing Everything (w/ Donald Cohen)
You name it, it's been privatized somewhere in the United States. Schools, roads, libraries, courts, prisons, and even the law itself have been outsourced to private companies by state and local gover...
24 Jan 202434min
The Process of Leaving Jordan Peterson Behind (w/ Benjamin Howard)
Benjamin Howard is a Current Affairs reader who was once a huge fan of Canadian psychologist, pundit, and self-help guru Jordan Peterson. But Howard eventually became a harsh critic of Peterson's work...
22 Jan 202447min
