Episodes

  • Episode 144: James Davison Hunter on Democracy, Solidarity, and the Future of America

    Episode 144: James Davison Hunter on Democracy, Solidarity, and the Future of America
    Jun 14 2024
    Is there hope to be found amidst the current political climate? How to generate solidarity in an atmosphere of growing difference? Renowned sociologist James Davison Hunter tackles these questions in his new book, Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of America's Political Crisis (https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300274370/democracy-and-solidarity/). Hunter joins Richard Aldous in this week's Bookstack, for a conversation about the cultural contradictions that underpin American history and the ongoing struggle to achieve unity in divisive times.
    Show more Show less
    29 mins
  • Episode 143: Sulmaan Wasif Khan on the Taiwan Standoff

    Episode 143: Sulmaan Wasif Khan on the Taiwan Standoff
    May 24 2024
    When President Joe Biden stated in 2022 that the United States would defend Taiwan military in the event of a Chinese invasion, he crossed a line of ambiguity that had been purposefully danced around for decades. And yet, even though such a scenario would pit two nuclear powers against each another, “The United States does not know why Taiwan is important to it,” argues Sulmaan Wasif Khan. He joins host Richard Aldous to discuss the history of the standoff and the dangers lurking ahead as relayed in his new book, The Struggle for Taiwan: A History of America, China, and the Island Caught Between (https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/sulmaan-wasif-khan/the-struggle-for-taiwan/9781541605046/?lens=basic-books).
    Show more Show less
    29 mins
  • Episode 142: Diana McLain Smith on Bringing Americans Together

    Episode 142: Diana McLain Smith on Bringing Americans Together
    May 17 2024
    In divided times, many Americans are sealing themselves off from those who think differently. Diana McLain Smith tells a different story in her new book, Remaking the Space Between Us: How Citizens Can Work Together to Build a Better Future for All (https://www.remakingthespace.org/book), focusing on the tens of thousands reaching out to fellow Americans across the divides to promote understanding. She joins host Richard Aldous to discuss why the path to a better polity must begin with We the People: “We’re waiting for someone to save us, and nobody is coming.”
    Show more Show less
    29 mins
  • Episode 141: Adriana Carranca on the New Wave of Latin American Missionaries

    Episode 141: Adriana Carranca on the New Wave of Latin American Missionaries
    May 9 2024
    Thanks to American missionaries’ successes around the globe, the face of evangelicalism is no longer White America. In Soul by Soul: The Evangelical Mission to Spread the Gospel to Muslims (https://globalreports.columbia.edu/books/soul-by-soul/), Adriana Carranca reveals an extraordinary tale that has been under the radar: Missionaries from Latin America are leading the way in spreading the Gospel to Muslim countries, including in former U.S. war zones. She joins host Richard Aldous to discuss the dangerous work being undertaken by a new wave of evangelicals.
    Show more Show less
    29 mins
  • Episode 140: David L. Roll on President Harry Truman

    Episode 140: David L. Roll on President Harry Truman
    May 3 2024
    Harry Truman was educated in Missouri public schools, never went to college, and spent a number of his adult years as a dirt farmer. Yet eleven years after first being elected to the Senate he became President of the most powerful nation on earth in the midst of momentous world events. In his new book Ascent to Power: How Truman Emerged from Roosevelt's Shadow and Remade the World (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/690665/ascent-to-power-by-david-l-roll/), David Roll suggests that from these humble beginnings Truman undertook “the most consequential transition” in American history. He joins host Richard Aldous to discuss Truman’s unlikely rise and his long string of achievements, from the Marshall Plan to the Berlin Airlift to the enduring Truman Doctrine.
    Show more Show less
    25 mins
  • Episode 139: Nicholas Shakespeare on Ian Fleming

    Episode 139: Nicholas Shakespeare on Ian Fleming
    Apr 26 2024
    Ian Fleming heroicized for all the world the British intelligence agent in James Bond. In his new book Ian Fleming: The Complete Man (https://www.harpercollins.com/products/ian-fleming-nicholas-shakespeare?variant=41070483832866), renowned biographer Nicholas Shakespeare digs into the legend of Fleming himself. Like his most famous character, Fleming’s life was colorfully marked by high-stakes intelligence, alcohol, and dalliances with women. Yet Fleming was tormented rather than buoyed by his literary success. Shakespeare joins host Richard Aldous to discuss the turbulent life of the man who gave the world 007.
    Show more Show less
    28 mins
  • Episode 138: Seth D. Kaplan on America’s Fragile Neighborhoods

    Episode 138: Seth D. Kaplan on America’s Fragile Neighborhoods
    Apr 19 2024
    In surveying dysfunction across America, the question arises: Is the source of the trouble at the local or the national level? Seth D. Kaplan has shifted his analytical gaze from fragile nations abroad to examine the fragility of his home country. He believes America’s problems from health to politics are downstream of individuals becoming increasingly disconnected, neighborhood by neighborhood. He joins host Richard Aldous to discuss his new book, Fragile Neighborhoods: Repairing American Society, One Zip Code at a Time (https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/seth-d-kaplan/fragile-neighborhoods/9780316521390/).
    Show more Show less
    32 mins
  • Episode 137: Leah Hunt-Hendrix on the Power of Solidarity

    Episode 137: Leah Hunt-Hendrix on the Power of Solidarity
    Apr 17 2024
    Solidarity has been at the root of social change throughout history, bringing people together across their differences to challenge injustice within societies. In their new book, Solidarity: The Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/740355/solidarity-by-leah-hunt-hendrix-and-astra-taylor/), Leah Hunt-Hendrix and Astra Taylor examine the sociological concept that is at the heart of social transformation. Hunt-Hendrix joins host Richard Aldous to share her thoughts on both the concept and the social movements with which it is intimately linked.
    Show more Show less
    27 mins