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”.
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Episode 89: William Inboden on How Reagan Kept the Cold War Cold
January 17th, 2023 | 27 mins 9 secs
books, history, politics
Based on newly declassified material, The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, and the World on the Brink by William Inboden plunges readers into the uncertainty of the late Cold War when the Soviet Union’s fate was far from a fait accompli. In conversation with Richard Aldous, Inboden explores Reagan’s thinking in trying to achieve a negotiated surrender that saw both a nuclear drawdown and a peaceful end to the Soviet system. The Peacemaker avoids a hagiographic retelling of the Reagan years and asks the question–is the Republican party still the party of Reagan?
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Episode 88: Megan Walsh on China’s Lively Literary Scene
December 19th, 2022 | 23 mins 7 secs
books, history, politics
In The Subplot, Megan Walsh explores China’s diverse literary landscape, which ranges from underground comics and surrealist works to migrant-worker poetry and the less-regulated world of online fiction. She joined Richard Aldous to discuss how China’s modern literary culture offers a window into the lives of its citizens and a country grappling with shifting norms.
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Episode 87: Jacob Soll on the Ever-Changing Free Market
December 12th, 2022 | 30 mins 44 secs
books, history, politics
To meet today’s economic challenges, a reappraisal of America’s free-market ideology might be in order. Jacob Soll, author of Free Market: The History of an Idea, spoke with Richard Aldous about the world’s constantly evolving free-market ideologies and how they have functioned throughout different eras, from ancient Rome to today. In a work that took eight years of research to assemble, Free Market offers a lesson in history as much as critical thought.
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Episode 86: John A. Farrell on Ted Kennedy’s Epic, Turbulent Life
December 5th, 2022 | 28 mins 18 secs
books, history, politics
Ted Kennedy’s life was buffeted by heartbreak: the violent deaths of his three older brothers, his own terrible plane crash, his children’s bouts with cancer, the hideous self-inflicted wounds of Chappaquiddick. Those wounds scarred Ted deeply but also tempered his character, and, eventually, he embarked on a run as legislator that would change America for the better. John A. Farrell joins Richard Aldous to discuss his new biography, Ted Kennedy: A Life.
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Episode 85: Gautam Mukunda on Choosing a Presidential Candidate
November 18th, 2022 | 31 mins 14 secs
books, history, politics
What’s the best way to determine whether a presidential candidate is truly up to the task? Former Harvard Business School professor Gautam Mukunda joins Richard Aldous to discuss his new book, Picking Presidents: How to Make the Most Consequential Decision in the World. Mukunda outlines his non-partisan set of criteria for how we can evaluate if a presidential candidate would be an effective leader and why some of the worst—and best—leaders are of the “unfiltered” variety.
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Episode 84: Rita Katz on Internet-Age Terrorism
November 11th, 2022 | 32 mins 5 secs
books, history, politics
Many of today’s terrorist groups don’t just use the internet, they exist almost entirely on it. What do the online origins of these movements reveal about how to stop them? Counterterrorism expert Rita Katz joined Richard Aldous to talk about her new book, Saints and Soldiers: Inside Internet-Age Terrorism, From Syria to the Capitol Siege, and how the online cultures of these movements—far more than their ideologies and leaders—create today’s terrorists and shape how they commit “real world” violence.
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Episode 83: Stefan Aust and Adrian Geiges on Xi Jinping’s Hidden Story
October 31st, 2022 | 30 mins 10 secs
books, history, politics
Acclaimed German journalists Stefan Aust and Adrian Geiges join Richard to discuss how Xi Jinping took China from the workbench of the world to a global superpower in their new co-authored book, Xi Jinping: The Most Powerful Man in the World.
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Episode 82: Cody Keenan on the Ten Days that Defined Obama's Presidency
October 21st, 2022 | 31 mins 19 secs
books, history, politics
Former Barack Obama speechwriter Cody Keenan joins Richard to discuss the ten crucial days that marked Obama’s presidency and how he played a part in telling the story of America in his new book, Grace: President Obama and Ten Days in the Battle for America.
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Episode 81: Giles Tremlett on Spain's Complicated Past
October 11th, 2022 | 32 mins 57 secs
books, history, politics
Guardian correspondent Giles Tremlett joins Richard to discuss Spain's complicated history and search for a national identity in his new book "España: A Brief History of Spain."
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Episode 80: Walter Russell Mead on the American-Israeli Relationship
September 27th, 2022 | 33 mins 18 secs
books, history, politics
Why has Israel played such a foundational role not only in American foreign policy, but in how America sees the world? Walter Russell Mead joins host Richard Aldous to talk about his new book, "The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People."