Historian Sir Simon Schama is one of the most influential public intellectuals of our time. So when he replied to our invitation to come on the show ahead of the US presidential election by saying he wanted to talk about “the unprecedented collapse of truth”, we immediately said yes. It’s been a disorienting presidential campaign. For many Americans, it’s hard to understand how statements which are so clearly untrue – such as the government controls the weather, and sent hurricanes to Republican-leaning states – are working on voters. On today’s show, Simon tells us why the current state of misinformation is unprecedented in American history, and what he thinks can be done to reverse it.

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We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap, and email at [email protected]. And we’re grateful for reviews on Apple and Spotify!

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Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): 

– Simon’s latest piece in the FT on the fight over American patriotism, written in September: https://on.ft.com/48iEHSd

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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