Conservative Conversations with ISI

Conservative Conversations Episode 46—David Whalen on Wonder, Literature as Political, and Books that Inspire

In this episode:

• Dr. David Whalen, a longtime English professor at Hillsdale College, describes what the telos of the university is
• The difference between wonder and curiosity
• How literature intersects with the political

Texts Mentioned:

• King Lear by William Shakespeare
• On the Unseriousness of Human Affairs: Teaching, Writing, Playing, Believing, Lecturing, Philosophizing, Singing, Dancing by James V. Schall
• Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper
• Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
• A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin

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Conservative Conversations Episode 45—Victor Davis Hanson on The Dying Citizen

In this episode:

• Victor Davis Hanson, winner of ISI’s Conservative Book of the Year Award, discusses his book “The Dying Citizen” during a special live podcast recording
• How elites have warped what citizenship is
• How identity politics has eroded citizenship and become an issue of national security

Texts Mentioned:

• The Dying Citizen: How Progressive Elites, Tribalism, and Globalization Are Destroying The Idea Of America by Victor Davis Hanson

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Conservative Conversations Episode 44—Josh Craddock on SCOTUS, Overturning Roe, and Building a Culture of Life

In this episode: 

• Josh Craddock, affiliated scholar with the James Wilson Institute for Natural Rights and the American Founding, discusses the Supreme Court’s leaked majority opinion from an abortion case
• The legal history of abortion in America and the originalist case for prenatal personhood
• How to build a culture of life after Roe

Texts Mentioned:

• The Constitution Already Prohibits Abortion: An Originalist Case for Prenatal Personhood by Josh Craddock
• Choose Life by editors John Goodrich and Jeanette Pifer

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Conservative Conversations Episode 43—Michael Gibson on Tech, Elon Musk’s Twitter, and the Paper Belt on Fire

In this episode: 

• Tech venture capitalist Michael Gibson discusses working for Peter Thiel and investing in talented college dropouts and renegades
• The concept of the “Paper Belt” and how credentialism can obscure true education
• Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter and what that might mean for conservatives and free speech

Texts Mentioned:

• The Rise and Fall of American Growth by Robert J. Gordon
• The Great Stagnation: How America Ate All The Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History, Got Sick, and Will (Eventually) Feel Better by Tyler Cowen
• Paper Belt on Fire: How Silicon Valley Heretics Took on Higher Ed by Michael Gibson

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Conservative Conversations Episode 42—Daniel Schmidt and the Future of Campus Journalism

A Student Journalist’s Question That Rattled The Elites

In this episode: 

• Daniel Schmidt, a freshman and senior editor at the University of Chicago’s Collegiate Network newspaper, discusses Anne Applebaum’s reaction to a question he asked about disinformation that went viral
• Why no one is asking influential leaders and journalists the questions that Americans care most about
• How student journalists are making an impact on their campus and beyond

Texts Mentioned:

• “Editorial: UChicago Must End Its Booster Mandate—We Are Not Lab Rats” by The Chicago Thinker Editorial Board
• “Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum Rattled by Hunter Biden Question in Epic Own by Thinker’s Daniel Schmidt” by Mitchell Robinson of the Chicago Thinker

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Conservative Conversations Episode 41—Matthew Schmitz on Compact Magazine, Right Liberalism and Left Libertinism

In this episode: 

• Matthew Schmitz, co-founder and editor of the new Compact Magazine, discusses the juncture of the labor populist left and the populist right
• Editorial positions the nascent magazine has already taken that have caused a stir among the left and right
• What the editors mean when they call their magazine “radical”

Texts Mentioned:

• Compact Magazine

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Conservative Conversations with ISI: Episode 40—Christine Emba on Rethinking Sex

In this episode: 

• The Washington Post’s Christine Emba describes her new book, “Rethinking Sex”
• How today’s sexual ethics are failing Americans
• Why consent is an ethical floor but not the ceiling of intimacy

Texts Mentioned:

• Rethinking Sex: A Provocation by Christine Emba

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Conservative Conversations with ISI: Episode 39—Kevin Roberts on The Future of the Heritage Foundation, Criminal Justice Reform, and the Pro-Life Movement

In this episode...

• Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, discusses the storied conservative institution
• How conservatives ought to approach “Defund the Police” 
• Why “social” conservatives shouldn’t be the junior partner in the movement

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Conservative Conversations with ISI: Episode 38—Steven F. Hayward on Reagan, M. Stanton Evans, and Lessons for Today 

In this episode... 

• The “unsung” hero of conservatism, M. Stanton Evans
• The failures of liberalism leading up to President Reagan’s presidency
• The notion of free expression and its metaphysical roots

Texts Mentioned:

• M. Stanton Evans: Conservative Wit, Apostle of Freedom by Steven F. Hayward
• The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964-1980 by Steven F. Hayward
• Revolt on Campus by M. Stanton Evans

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Conservative Conversations with ISI: Episode 37—Matthew Continetti on Neoconservatism 

In this episode... 

• Matthew explains the history of American conservatism, the topic of his upcoming book “Engaged nationalism” and the US’s role in international relations is described
  
  
• Listeners learn why Irving Kristol cautioned against traditionalism

Texts Mentioned:

• The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism by Matthew Continetti

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