In this episode: 

• Miles Smith joins the podcast to discuss the destruction of American statues and the political endgame that motivates it
• a lesson against civic contempt for average people and a story about the wisdom and erudition of country folk
• a listener question about good books to introduce kids to the “great tradition”

Texts Mentioned:

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• The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
• The Great Tradition by Richard Gamble
• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
• The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
• Aesop’s Fables by Aesop
• Blessed Charles of Austria by Charles Coulombe
• The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer
• The Hardy Boys by Franklin W. Dixon
• Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene
• The Beginner’s Bible
• The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
• Lee: A Biography by Clifford Dowdey
• King James Bible
• Book of Common Prayer
• Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
• Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz
• “What Happens When a Poor State Guts Its Public University” by Michael Powell

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In this episode: 

• Spencer Kashmanian, ISI’s own chief of staff, joins the podcast to talk about his love for jazz music, its connections to the Christmas season, and elements of its “conservative disposition”

Texts Mentioned:

• “Christmastime Revives Jazz Legends” by Marlo Slayback
• “White Christmas” by Charlie Parker
• The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom
• “Summer of ’69” by Bryan Adams
• Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper
• The Republic by Plato
• The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

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In this episode: 

• Jeremy Wayne Tate, founder and CEO of the Classical Learning Test, joins the podcast to talk about reforming curricula to cover the most important texts and thinkers of the Western Heritage
• how the College Board has changed the purpose of education and caused a decline in educational quality and skill development, and how to fix it
• why students “light up” when we teach things related to man’s capacity to good and evil, and the timeless principles and questions that pertain to the good life

Texts Mentioned:

• The Republic by Plato
• The Odyssey by Homer
• cltexam.com

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 In this episode: 

• Andrew Bacevich joins the podcast to talk to Tom about his 2008 book, The Limits of Power, about the failures of the Iraq War and the cultural, political, and military crises that led to it and exposed the weaknesses in America’s global posture
• the lessons to be taken from the post-WWII history of American military policy and foreign entanglements
• why the impulse to rely on “American muscle” to fix things is often unjustified

Texts Mentioned:

• The Limits of Power by Andrew Bacevich
• The Decadent Society by Ross Douthat
• “The Crisis of Confidence” speech by Jimmy Carter
• Battlegrounds by H.R. McMaster
• ISI Debate on Taiwan and China
• American Conservatism: Reclaiming an Intellectual Tradition by Andrew Bacevich

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In this episode: 

• William Benson and Michael Ippolito, co-founders of The American Postliberal, join the podcast to talk about the rising success of their new journal and the postliberal vision that animates its vision
• what “catholic political realism” is, what its goals are, and why it’s the best hope for America’s future
• how America’s history is best understood in light of its Catholic heritage, which holds the key to understanding a Catholic future for America

Texts Mentioned:

• The American Postliberal substack
• “The 1492 Project: Two Americas” by Michael Ippolito
• “The 1492 Project: The Founding” by Michael Ippolito
• “The 1492 Project: America’s Catholic Destiny” by Michael Ippolito
• Longinqua by Pope Leo XIII
• “Catholic Political Realism Is the Only Hope for America” by William Benson
• “To the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island” by George Washington
• Dignitatis Humanae by Pope Paul VI
• “Blues for Blue Laws” by Michael Ippolito
• Leisure, the Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper
• Apply for the ISI Honors Conference!

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In this episode:

• Khalil Habib joins Conservative Conversations in an episode that covers a wide range of great thinkers, including Machiavelli, Montesquieu, Polybius, Livy, Lucretius, Tocqueville, and Edmund Burke
• why republics tend to become empires, and how the Founders used the history of the classical world when thinking about the Constitution
• how Napoleon fits into the story and meaning of the French Revolution

Texts Mentioned:

• Discourses on Livy by Niccolo Machiavelli
• Considerations on the Causes of Greatness of the Romans and Their Decline by Montesquieu
• The History of Rome by Livy
• The Histories by Polybius
• On the Nature of Things by Lucretius
• The Federalist Papers
• Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke
• The Ancien Regime and the French Revolution by Alexis de Tocqueville
• The Spirit of the Laws by Montesquieu
• Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville
• A People’s Tragedy by Orlando Figes
• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
• Discourse on the Arts and Sciences by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• “Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol” by Edmund Burke

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In this episode:

• three historians discuss the legacies and importance of Andrew Jackson, Grover Cleveland, and William McKinley
• what it means to be a statesman, as exemplified by these great American leaders
• what we miss about America when we miss 19th century American history

Texts Mentioned:

• A Man of Iron by Troy Senik
• Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times by H.W. Brands
• President McKinley: Architect of the American Century by Robert W. Merry
• “Cross of Gold” speech by William Jennings Bryan

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In this episode: 

• Professor Susan Hanssen joins the podcast to discuss the quintessentially American holiday of Thanksgiving and its history
• how the Puritans and Pilgrims fit into the British political and cultural experience, how they end up in America, and how they shape America today
• what remains in the American project as a “remnant” that’s powerful and worth conserving today

Texts Mentioned: 

• Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789 by George Washington
• William Bradford’s Journal
• “A Model of Christian Charity” by John Winthrop
• Notes on the State of Virginia by Thomas Jefferson
• Proclamation of Thanksgiving by Abraham Lincoln
• Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke
• The Mayflower Compact
• A Defence of the Constitutions of the Government of the United States by John Adams
• The Captive Mind by Czeslaw Milosz
• The Conservative Mind by Russell Kirk
• The Roots of American Order by Russell Kirk
• “How America’s Adams Family Inherited and Preserved the Pilgrim Mind” by Susan Hanssen

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In this episode:

• ISI’s own Jane Scharl joins the podcast to talk about her work as a professional poet and playwright
• why everyone needs to appreciate the fine arts to be fully human, and how to get started for beginners
• why beauty changes and saves the world by changing and saving souls, and how to become a patron of artists to produce more beautiful things

Texts Mentioned:

• Sonnez Les Matines by Jane Scharl
• A People’s Tragedy by Orlando Figes
• Apollo and Daphne myth
• The Aeneid by Virgil
• “Can Poetry Matter?” by Dana Gioia
• Beowulf
• Wiseblood Books
• Slant Books
• St. Louis IX Art Society
• Pushkin by Jonathan Leaf
• jcscharl.com

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In this episode: 

• A special debate between Henry Olsen and Donald Devine about the legacy of Ronald Reagan, from our recent Modern Age panel celebrating the launch of the new Modern Age website

Texts Mentioned: 

• Old House of Fear by Russell Kirk
• The Working Class Republicanby Henry Olsen
• Ronald Reagan’s Enduring Principles by Donald Devine
• Ronald Reagan “A Time for Choosing” Speech
• Modern Age

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• Upcoming ISI Events