On this episode, Stefanie Haeffele chats with Abigail Hall on her latest book, How to Run Wars: A Confidential Playbook for the National Security Elite, which provides a satirical instruction manual for warfare. They discuss the various methods and approaches to bringing academic work to a broader audience, highlight the need for humility in providing commentary, emphasize the importance of Abigail’s research in the increasingly militarized modern world and the role of satire in critiquing and resisting abuses of power, and more.

Dr. Abigail R. Hall is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Tampa and a Senior Affiliated Scholar at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She has published numerous books, including her most recent satirical book, How to Run Wars: A Confidential Playbook for the National Security Elite co-authored with Christopher J. Coyne (2024). She holds a PhD in Economics from George Mason University and is an alum of the Mercatus PhD Fellowship. Her research focuses on U.S. defense policy and militarism.

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