KPFA - Letters and Politics

KPFA - Letters and Politics episodes:

• 05.30.2024

  A Book for Kids (& You) to Think About Palestine & Israel. Then, KPFA’s Audacious History.

  Part I. A Book for Kids (& You) to Think About Palestine & Israel. Guest: Reza Aslan is a writer and scholar of religions.  He is a recipient of the prestigious James Joyce Award and the author of such books as...

  
• 05.29.2024

  How Adam Smith Became A Capitalist Icon

  Guest: Glory Liu is a lecturer in social studies at Harvard University. She is the author of Adam Smith’s America: How a Scottish Philosopher Became an Icon of American Capitalism. The post How Adam Smith Became A Capitalist Icon appeared first...

  
• 05.28.2024

  KPFA Special Programming: A Tribute to Larry Bensky

  Today’s Letters & Politics is preempted by a special KPFA broadcast: Mitch Jeserich hosts a special 2-hour remembrance of former broadcaster Larry Bensky. This program airs live from 10am-noon and includes time for listeners to call in with memories of Larry. KPFA...

  
• 05.27.2024

  The Making of a Haitian Revolutionary: From Toussaint Breda to Toussaint L’Ouverture

  Guest: Sudhir Hazareesingh is a British-Mauritian historian. He is a Fellow and Tutor in Politics at Balliol College, Oxford and a Fellow of the British Academy.  He has written extensively about French intellectual and cultural history, among his books are The Legend of...

  
• 05.23.2024

  KPFA Special: Richard Wolff on US-China Dynamics and the New Global Order

  Guest: Richard Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is currently a Visiting Professor at the New School University in New York City.  Richard Wolff is the founder of Democracy at Work and host of...

  
• 05.22.2024

  KPFA Special – A History of Jewish Anti-Zionism: From The Communist Party to The New Left

  Guest: Benjamin Balthaser is associate professor of multi-ethnic US literature at Indiana University, South Bend. He is the author of Anti-Imperialism Modernism: Race and Transnational Radical Culture from the Great Depression to the Cold War, and Dedication, a personal history...

  
• 05.21.2024

  KPFA Special – The Life & Works of Frantz Fanon

  Guest: Adam Shatz is the US editor of the London Review of Books and a contributor to The New York Times Magazine, The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, and other publications. He is the author of Writers and Missionaries: Essays on the Radical Imagination and The Rebel’s...

  
• 05.20.2024

  Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience & Why it Matters Today

  Mitch Jeserich reads from Thoreau’s Essay Civil Disobedience. Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his...

  
• 05.16.2024

  KPFA Special – Amy Tan: Connecting with Nature

  Guest: Amy Tan is the author of several novels, including The Joy Luck Club and The Bonesetter’s Daughter.  She is a co-producer and co-screenwriter of the film version of The Joy Luck Club and is on the board of American Bird Conservancy.  Her latest...

  
• 05.15.2024

  KPFA Special – The Creation of Cities: Wealth, Inequality and Environmental Destruction

  Guest: Gray Brechin has worked as a journalist and television producer and is coauthor of Farewell, Promised Land: Waking from the California Dream; and Imperial San Francisco, With a New Preface: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin. KPFA is offering today as a thank-you gift to you...

  
• 05.14.2024

  KPFA Special – Yanis Varoufakis: How Techno-Feudalism is Replacing Capitalism

  Guest: Yanis Varoufakis is an economist and academic, a bestselling author, and the former finance minister of Greece. He is a co-founder of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025.  His books include And the Weak Suffer What They Must? and Talking to My...

  
• 05.13.2024

  KPFA Special – The Luddites & the Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech

  Guest: Brian Merchant is a journalist focusing on technology and the future of work.  He is the author of The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone, and his latest, Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against...

  
• 05.09.2024

  Ilan Pappe on A History of Palestinian Resistance

  Guest: Ilan Pappe is Professor of History, Director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter, UK.  He is the author of A History of Modern Palestine. The post Ilan Pappe on A History of Palestinian Resistance...

  
• 05.08.2024

  A History of Jewish Anti-Zionism

  Guest:  Benjamin Balthaser is an associate professor of multi-ethnic US literature at Indiana University, South Bend. He is the author of Anti-Imperialism Modernism: Race and Transnational Radical Culture from the Great Depression to the Cold War, and Dedication, a personal...

  
• 05.07.2024

  Speech in Times of War: the Israel’s Assault on Gaza

  Guest: Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has reported from more than 50 countries. He spent 15 years at The New York Times as a foreign correspondent and bureau chief and is the author of several books, including his...

  
• 05.06.2024

  Anexos: Addiction Treatment Centers in Mexico City and Beyond

  Guest: Angela Garcia is an anthropologist and writer. She is the author of the book, The Pastoral Clinic: Addiction and Dispossession Along the Rio Grande, and her latest, The Way That Leads Among the Lost: Life, Death, and Hope in Mexico City’s...

  
• 05.02.2024

  A History of Student Movements

  Guest: Robert Cohen is a Professor of history and social studies at New York University.  He is the author of several books including, Howard Zinn’s Southern Diary: Sit-ins, Civil Rights, and Black Women’s Student Activism and co-author with Sonia E....

  
• 05.01.2024

  Letters and Politics – May 1, 2024

  A look at burning political issues and debates and their historical context within the US and worldwide, hosted by Mitch Jeserich. The post Letters and Politics – May 1, 2024 appeared first on KPFA.

  
• 04.30.2024

  The Creation of Cities: Wealth, Inequality and Environmental Destruction

  Guest: Gray Brechin has worked as a journalist and television producer and is coauthor of Farewell, Promised Land: Waking from the California Dream; and Imperial San Francisco, With a New Preface: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin. The post The Creation of Cities: Wealth, Inequality...

  
• 04.29.2024

  The Mizrahi: From the Black Panthers to Likud

  Guest: Asaf Elia-Shalev is an Israeli American journalist.  He is a staff writer for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and the author of the book, Israel’s Black Panthers: The Radicals Who Punctured a Nation’s Founding Myth.   The post The Mizrahi: From the...

  
• 04.25.2024

  An Investigative Look Behind Trump’s Attempt to Overturn the 2020 Election

  Guests: Michael Isikoff is an award-winning Washington investigative journalist and the author of three New York Times bestsellers: Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter’s Story; Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal and the Selling of the Iraq War (with David Corn); and Russian Roulette (also with David Corn). ...

  
• 04.24.2024

  The U.S. & Iraq Before The Wars

  Guest: Steve Coll is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Dean Emeritus of the Columbia Journalism School. Previously he was president of the public policy institute New America,  in Washington, DC.  He is an editor at The Economist in London and...

  
• 04.23.2024

  The Past, Present, and Future of the Labor Movement in America

  Guest: Hamilton Nolan is a veteran journalist who writes about labor and politics.  He is the author of the book The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor. His work can be found at HamiltonNolan.com. The post The Past, Present, and...

  
• 04.22.2024

  The Life & Times of Sigmund Freud

  Guest: Dr Frank Tallis is a clinical psychologist and a writer.  He is the author of several books including his latest, Mortal Secrets: Freud, Vienna, and the Discovery of the Modern Mind. The post The Life & Times of Sigmund Freud appeared...

  
• 04.18.2024

  The Pirates That Halted The Slave Trade

  Guest: Angela C. Sutton is an Assistant research professor at Vanderbilt University, where she has taught Seapower in History, the Golden Age of Piracy, and Comparative Slavery. She is the author of Pirates of the Slave Trade: The Battle of...

  
• 04.17.2024

  Understanding Secretary Mayorkas’ Impeachment. Then, The Dangerous Dynamic Between Israel and Iran

  Part I. Understanding Secretary Mayorkas’ Impeachment Guest: Frank O. Bowman III is a law professor, legal historian, and former federal and state prosecutor.  He is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Missouri, currently he is a Visiting Scholar at...

  
• 04.16.2024

  Climate Change From A to Z with Elizabeth Kolbert

  Guest: Elizabeth Kolbert is the author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change; The Sixth Extinction, for which she won a Pulitzer Prize, and Under the White Sky: The Nature of the Future; and her latest, H Is for...

  
• 04.15.2024

  Special – KPFA’s 75th Anniversary

  Guest:  Philip Maldari is a host and producer at KPFA Radio, currently he is the host of the Sunday Morning show.   The post Special – KPFA’s 75th Anniversary appeared first on KPFA.

  
• 04.11.2024

  The Lives of Smugglers (Coyotes)

  Guest: Jason De León is a professor of Anthropology and Chicana/o Studies and director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles.  He is also the executive director of the Undocumented Migration Project, a research,...

  
• 04.10.2024

  Inflation and the Economy with Richard Wolff. Then, Haiti’s Disaster Capitalism

  Part I. Inflation and the Economy Guest: Richard Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus at University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a Visiting Professor at The New School University in New York.  Richard Wolff is the founder of Democracy at Work and...

  
• 04.09.2024

  U.S. Unconditional Support to Israel and the Imminent Assault on Rafah

  Guest: Phyllis Bennis directs the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), her work focuses on the Middle East, U.S. militarism, and UN issues.  She serves on the national board of Jewish Voice for Peace.  She is...

  
• 04.08.2024

  Congress, the Military Budget, and the Uncommitted Vote Campaign to Demand Permanent Ceasefire in Gaza

  Guest: John Nichols is the national affairs correspondent for The Nation Magazine. He is the author of several books including his latest co-written with Senator Bernie Sanders “It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism.”  His Latest piece in the Nation is: More...

  
• 04.04.2024

  The Sullivanians: Psychoanalysis, Marxism, & A Commune To Break The Traditional Family

  Guest: Alexander Stille is the San Paolo Professor of International Journalism at Columbia University. He is the author of many books including Benevolence and Betrayal: Five Italian Jewish Families Under Fascism; Excellent Cadavers: The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic. His latest, The...

  
• 04.03.2024

  American Democracy and the Tyranny of the Minority

  Guest: Daniel Ziblatt is a Professor of Government at Harvard University. He is the co-author of How Democracies Die, and most lately, Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point, also co-authored with Steven Levitsky.   The post American Democracy and...

  
• 04.02.2024

  How The Opium Trade Fueled Global Capitalism

  Guest: Amitav Ghosh is the author of several bestselling books including, Ibis Trilogy, composed of Sea of Poppies (shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize), River of Smoke, and Flood of Fire.  His other novels include The Circle of Reason, which won the Prix Médicis...

  
• 04.01.2024

  The Story of T’tc-Tsa and California Slavery

  Guest: Jean Pfaelzer is a public historian, commentator, and professor of American studies at the University of Delaware. Her books include Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans; Rebecca Harding Davis: Origins of Social Realism; The Utopian Novel in America; and...

  
• 03.28.2024

  The Pornography Wars

  Guest: Kelsy Burke is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is the author of The Pornography Wars: The Past, Present, and Future of America’s Obscene Obsession. The post The Pornography Wars appeared first on KPFA.

  
• 03.27.2024

  The Black Women in The Communist Party 1919-1956

  Guest: Charisse Burden-Stelly is associate Professor of African American studies at Wayne state. and a member of the Black Alliance for Peace Research and Political Education Team. She is the c-editor, along with Jodi Dean, of the book ORGANIZE, FIGHT,...

  
• 03.26.2024

  The Houthis & Yemen: A History

  Guest: Shireen Al-Adeimi is a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and assistant professor of language and literacy at Michigan State University’s College of Education. The post The Houthis & Yemen: A History appeared first on KPFA.

  
• 03.25.2024

  The Murder of Regina Martinez Perez

  Guest: Katherine Corcoran is a former Associated Press bureau chief for Mexico and Central America and is currently co-coordinator of MasterLAB, an investigative editor training program in Mexico City.  She is the author of In The Mouth Of The Wolf:...

  
• 03.21.2024

  The Pursuit of Happiness, The Founders, and America Today

  Guest: Jeffrey Rosen is President and CEO of the National Constitution Center, where he hosts We the People, a weekly podcast of constitutional debate.  He is also a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor at...

  
• 03.20.2024

  The Roots and Legacy of the Qur’an

  Guest: Mohamad Jebara is a scriptural philologist and prominent exegetist.  A semanticist and historian of Semitic cultures, he has served as Chief Imam as well as headmaster of several Qur’anic and Arabic language academies.  He is the author of Muhammad,...

  
• 03.19.2024

  The Axis of Resistance: Palestine & West Asia Fight Against Imperialism

  Guest: Ibrahim Aoude is a Professor Emeritus of Ethnic Studies at the University of Hawaii-Manoa.  He is the editor of the journal Arab Studies Quarterly (which was founded by Edward Said in 1979).  Professor Aoude is an expert on Hawai‘i Political...

  
• 03.18.2024

  The Balfour Declaration: How the British Empire Broke Its promises to the People of Palestine

  Guest: Peter Shambrook is an independent scholar and historical consultant to the Balfour Project, which works to advance equal rights for all in Palestine/Israel. He is the author of French Imperialism in Syria, 1927–1936, and his latest, Policy of Deceit: Britain and...

  
• 03.14.2024

  How The Female Body Drives Evolution

  Guest: Guest: Cat Bohannon is a researcher specialized in the evolution of narrative and cognition. She is the author of Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon. The post How The Female Body Drives Evolution...

  
• 03.13.2024

  Palestinian Identity Through Culture and Exile

  Guest: Tahrir Hamdi is a Professor of Decolonial Studies at Arab Open University, Jordan. She is the author of the book Imagining Palestine: Cultures of Exile and National Identity. She has published widely about resistance literature in several prestigious journals.     The post...

  
• 03.12.2024

  Vagabond Princess: The Great Adventures of Gulbadan.

  Guest: Ruby Lal is a professor at Emory University, and the author of three books and numerous essays, op-eds, and literary pieces. She is the author of Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan, and her latest, Vagabond Princess: The Great...

  
• 03.11.2024

  Linked Histories: The Holocaust & The Nakba

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY_zSUlv0K0 Guest: Omer Bartov is the Samuel Pisar Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University. Bartov is a historian of the Holocaust and is considered one of the world’s leading authorities on genocide.  He is the author of numerous books,...

  
• 03.07.2024

  KPFA Special: Reading the Epic of Gilgamesh (Part IV)

  Host Mitch Jeserich reads excerpts from Stephen Mitchell’s Gilgamesh: A New Version.  Gilgamesh is considered the oldest epic in the world and a masterpiece of literature.  Gilgamesh is the story of a historical king of Uruk in Babylonia and his journey of self-discovery. ...

  
• 03.06.2024

  KPFA Special: Reading the Epic of Gilgamesh (Part III)

  Host Mitch Jeserich reads excerpts from Stephen Mitchell’s Gilgamesh: A New Version.  Gilgamesh is considered the oldest epic in the world and a masterpiece of literature.  Gilgamesh is the story of a historical king of Uruk in Babylonia and his journey of self-discovery. ...