American Purpose's Bookstack
The books and ideas podcast from American Purpose.
We found 10 episodes of American Purpose's Bookstack with the tag “politics”.
-
Episode 106: Frank Costigliola on George Kennan
May 24th, 2023 | 30 mins 25 secs
books, history, politics
George Kennan was a man of contradictions: an icon yet something of an enigma, a strategist who “used emotionally evocative language in the name of cool, calculated realism,” a bold thinker who warned of overreach. Frank Costigliola puts the architect of Cold War containment in a larger context in his new book, Kennan: A Life between Worlds. He joins host Richard Aldous to discuss our continuing fascination with this public intellectual par excellence.
-
Episode 105: Kim Sherwood on Her Double O Novel
May 17th, 2023 | 29 mins 48 secs
books, history, politics
The legendary 007 series continues with author Kim Sherwood’s novel, authorized by Ian Fleming’s estate. Sherwood, who as a child imagined herself as Bond, lives out a lifelong dream by writing the next act for the iconic character. She joins host Richard Aldous to discuss her new book, Double or Nothing: James Bond is Missing and Time Is Running Out.
-
Episode 104: Blythe Roberson on Embracing the Open Road
May 10th, 2023 | 27 mins 9 secs
books, history, politics
Ever fantasize about quitting your job and hitting the open road? Blythe Roberson did just that, embracing freedom and the natural beauty of America—with an agenda. She joins host Richard Aldous to speak about the fruits of her labor of love, America the Beautiful?: One Woman in a Borrowed Prius on the Road Most Traveled.
-
Episode 103: Charles Dunst on Defeating the Dictators
May 3rd, 2023 | 30 mins 53 secs
books, history, politics
There has been plenty of ink spilled about democracies dying and populists rising. AP contributing editor Charles Dunst, deputy director of research and analytics at the Asia Group, takes the practical route. How can we shore up democracies to inoculate them against the tides of illiberalism, and remind those looking for a winning governance model that democracy can deliver? Dunst joins host Richard Aldous to discuss his new book, Defeating the Dictators: How Democracy Can Prevail in the Age of the Strong Man.
-
Episode 102: Dana Sachs on Our Saviors at Sea
April 26th, 2023 | 26 mins 49 secs
books, history, politics
In 2015, as refugees poured into Greece from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere, the assistance delivered to desperate migrants at sea and on land was largely provided at the hand of individual volunteers. Dana Sachs joins host Richard Aldous to discuss the failure of the international aid community and heroism of those who stepped in as detailed in her new book, All Else Failed: The Unlikely Volunteers at the Heart of the Migrant Aid Crisis.
-
Episode 101: Ian Buruma on Three Legendary Fakes
April 20th, 2023 | 26 mins 48 secs
books, history, politics
In an era of fake news and invented personalities, it’s worth looking back to a time when deception could mean the difference between life and death. In his new book, The Collaborators: Three Stories of Deception and Survival in World War II, Ian Buruma delves into three World War II-era characters whose lives blur the lines between good and evil. The former editor of the New York Review of Books rejoins host Richard Aldous to discuss history, myth, and morality.
-
Episode 100: Robert D. Kaplan on Inescapable Tragedy
April 12th, 2023 | 25 mins 53 secs
books, history, politics
The American tendency in foreign affairs to think in Manichaean terms is exemplified by the Biden Administration’s democracy-versus-autocracy lens. Yet such thinking can result in a failure of imagination, says Robert D. Kaplan, which he believes explains his own regretted support for the 2003 Iraq War. Kaplan joins host Richard Aldous to discuss his new book, The Tragic Mind: Fear, Fate, and the Burden of Power, an exploration of why the Greeks believed anarchy to be worse than tyranny.
-
Episode 99: Meredith Bagby on A New Kind of Astronaut
April 6th, 2023 | 24 mins 37 secs
books, history, politics
When NASA accepted its first class of civilian astronauts in 1978, it welcomed a historic group marked by many firsts: the first American woman, the first African American, the first Jewish person, the first Asian American, the first gay person, and the first mother. This week, Meredith Bagby, author of The New Guys: The Historic Class of Astronauts That Broke Barriers and Changed the Face of Space Travel, spoke with Richard Aldous about this landmark class of astronauts who propelled the Space Shuttle era and defined a generation of space travel.
-
Episode 98: Derek Leebaert on FDR’s Circle of Four
March 28th, 2023 | 27 mins 24 secs
books, history, politics
Such was the prestige of cabinet members during the Roosevelt Administration that a 19-gun salute accompanied their arrival to a city. Joining Richard Aldous this week is author of Unlikely Heroes: Franklin Roosevelt, His Four Lieutenants, and the World They Made, Derek Leebaert, who shines a new light on FDR’s inner circle of four—Harry Hopkins, Harold Ickes, Frances Perkins, and Henry Wallace—and FDR himself, who together helped usher the nation through the Great Depression and the Second World War.
-
Episode 97: Adam Kirsch on Imagining Earth without Humans
March 20th, 2023 | 28 mins 51 secs
books, history, politics
From climate change to the potential of artificial intelligence, there are plenty of reasons to doubt the viability of human life on Earth. Adam Kirsch, author of The Revolt Against Humanity: Imagining a Future Without Us, spoke with a diverse array of people who all agree on one thing: The future of the planet may not lie in the hands of humans. Kirsch joins host Richard Aldous to share the perspectives of those who believe in—and even embrace—just such a future.