Nostalgia Trap

Kevin Gannon is a professor of history at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, where he also serves as the Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. You may also know him as one of the history experts featured in Ava DuVernay's incredible Netflix documentary 13th, and a very active figure in the "#twitterstorians" universe. In addition to his research on the history of race and justice in the Civil War and Reconstruction eras, he's done a lot of thinking about how to reshape the way we teach and share American history. In this conversation we discuss the future of the discipline, from inclusive classroom strategies to the phenomenal growth of #twitterstorians, tracking how technology is transforming our idea of who and what a historian can be.

Robin Kelley is a professor of history at UCLA and the author of a number of important books on a wide range of subjects, from communism in the American South (1990's Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression), to the political visions of radical black intellectuals and artists (2002's Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination), to the history of jazz (2009's Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original). He joins us to discuss his intellectual path from doctrinaire Marxism to "Marxist surrealist feminist," and why he thinks aesthetics and culture are such vital spaces for the left to reclaim its imaginative vision.

Here's a brief preview of this week's bonus episode, featuring a conversation with historian Daniel Bessner on the significance of Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential run.

To listen to the entire episode: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

Heather Berg is a writer and researcher who maps the intersections of socialism, feminism, and radical culture. Her upcoming book Porn Work locates porn workers as "experts on labor in late capitalism," and in this conversation we explore how sex work in general and porn work in particular offers a critical site of anti-capitalist resistance.

Justin Rogers-Cooper joins us for the third installment of our Amazon HQ trilogy, in which we explore Amazon's shocking decision to abandon its planned headquarters in Long Island City, New York. From grassroots activism and sinister politicians to Amazon's deep connections to ICE and the surveillance state, this discussion frames the larger implications of a stunning victory for people over corporate tyranny.