The American Interest

Relevant Reading:Whistleblowers: Honesty in America from Washington to Trump

Allison Stanger

What distinguishes a whistleblower from a leaker? Do the motives of a whistleblower matter? And how does the current Ukraine scandal fit into the long tradition of whistleblowing in America?In her timely new book Whistleblowers, Allison Stanger offers a guide to these questions, tracing the history of American whistleblowing from the Revolutionary War to the Trump presidency. She shows how whistleblowing is a uniquely American tradition, which has held elites accountable through the ages—even in the face of wavering public support and a legal regime that has lately made exposure of misconduct more costly.Allison Stanger is the Russell Leng ’60 Professor of International Politics and Economics at Middlebury College. Tune in this week as she joins Richard Aldous to shed light on an issue at the heart of our national debate. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, where you can leave a review, and follow @aminterest and @AKStanger on Twitter.

Relevant Reading:The Conservative Sensibility

George F. Will

Over a long career as a syndicated columnist, George F. Will has made it his life’s work to espouse the virtues of conservatism and apply its principles to present debates. In his new book The Conservative Sensibility, the Pulitzer Prize winner synthesizes his wisdom into a compelling account of the American conservative tradition—and argues that virtually all our political debates can be understood as a battle between the visions of James Madison and Woodrow Wilson.This week, Richard Aldous and George Will discuss conservatism in all its complexities. Can a revolution be conservative? Can populism? What distinguishes the British and American traditions of conservative thought—and where does Donald Trump fit into the picture?George F. Will is a regular columnist for The Washington Post and the author of 15 books. Tune in this week as he discusses his latest—and don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, where you can leave a review, and follow @aminterest and @GeorgeWill on Twitter.

Relevant Reading:Primal Screams: How the Sexual Revolution Created Identity Politics

Mary Eberstadt

Where did today’s identity politics come from, and why has our society become so bitterly divided? In her new book Primal Screams, conservative cultural critic Mary Eberstadt points her finger at the sexual revolution—arguing that it brought not only family breakdown but the isolation of individuals, and a loss in their traditional self-understanding. No longer able to identify on the basis of primordial ties and kinship, increasing numbers instead sought meaning and membership in politicized identity groups—with the bitter results visible all around us.In Primal Screams, Eberstadt unpacks this argument and then turns the book over to three respondents: Mark Lilla, Rod Dreher, and Peter Thiel. In so doing, the book both offers a diagnosis of our uncivil political climate and an example of how civil dialogue can be restored.Mary Eberstadt is a senior research fellow at the Faith & Reason Institute. Tune in this week as she joins Richard Aldous to discuss the book. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, where you can leave a review, and follow @aminterest on Twitter.

Relevant Reading:This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality

Peter PomerantsevHow (Not) to Regulate the Internet

Peter Pomerantsev in TAIUnder the Information Rubble

Peter Pomerantsev in TAIIndividualism and the Disinformation State

Peter Pomerantsev in TAIRelevant Listening:Episode 129: A Russian Reflection with Peter Pomerantsev

Peter Pomerantsev on The American Interest Podcast, August 2016

When Peter Pomerantsev left Russia in 2010, he was eager to move on from a place where “nothing is true and everything is possible,” where the rulers sought to delegitimize the very notion of objective truth. But upon rejoining the West, he found instead a political climate that was increasingly susceptible to Putin-style cynicism and conspiracy-mongering—and a fertile breeding ground for fake news, influence operations, and disinformation.In his new book, This is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality, Pomerantesv goes on a globetrotting tour to understand our age of disinformation. From Moscow to Manila to Mexico City, he meets with spin doctors, human rights activists, Twitter revolutionaries, and troll farm workers. In so doing, he finds surprising commonalities among them—and a few clues as to how we can recover a shared foundation of reality in the Internet age.Peter Pomerantsev is a contributing editor at The American Interest and director of the Arena Program at the London School of Economics. Tune in this week as he joins Richard Aldous to discuss his newest book. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, where you can leave a review, and follow Peter Pomerantsev (@peterpomeranzev) and @aminterest on Twitter.

Relevant Reading:Empire of Democracy: The Remaking of the West Since the Cold War, 1971-2017

Simon Reid-Henry

The West today, it is often said, is embroiled in crisis. Some see a crisis of liberal democracy, and worry about a reversal of the democratizing trends seen after 1989; others perceive a rupture in the “liberal international order” that has sustained the West since 1945. But as Simon Reid-Henry argues in Empire of Democracy, today’s challenges are better understood by looking at the early 1970s: a period at the height of the Cold War when the postwar social contract was torn up and written anew.With a sweeping, transnational perspective, Empire of Democracy offers an alternative history of the modern West, showing how the upheavals of the 1970s brought forth a new political-economic order—and how the tensions between liberalism, capitalism, and democracy have culminated in the succession of crises facing the West today.Simon Reid-Henry is Associate Professor at Queen Mary, University of London, and he joins Richard Aldous this week to discuss the book. Be sure to tune in, and don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, where you can leave a review, and follow Simon Reid-Henry (@sreidhenry) and @aminterest on Twitter.

Relevant Reading:Putin v. the People: The Perilous Politics of a Divided Russia

Samuel A. Greene & Graeme B. Robertson

“Vladimir Putin is a popular man. He is also a dictator. That is not a contradiction.” So begins Putin v. the People, a new book that explores why so many ordinary Russians support Putin—and why his hold on power may nonetheless be weaker than we think.In their new book, Samuel A. Greene and Graeme B. Robertson take a bottom-up view of contemporary Russia, drawing on original research to explain the social foundations of Putin’s support. They argue that his power is “co-constructed” with the Russian people, driven in part by social pressures and a popular preference for “agreeableness.” At the same time, they reject the notion that Russians are inherently prone to autocracy—and reveal the many ways in which a reactive Kremlin is struggling to meet popular expectations and answer opposition challenges.Samuel A. Greene is Director of the Russia Institute at King’s College London, and he joins Richard Aldous this week to discuss the book. Be sure to tune in, and don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, where you can leave a review, and follow Samuel Greene (@samagreene) and @aminterest on Twitter.

The Warmth of Other Suns: Stories of Global Displacement

Phillips Collection

Washington, DC

June 22-September 22, 2019

The Phillips Collection was founded in 1921 as the first museum of modern art in America—and this season in Washington, it’s presenting a major exhibition on a subject at the heart of our national debate.The Warmth of Other Suns: Stories of Global Displacement presents works old and new by 75 artists across the globe, all dedicated to themes of migration and displacement. From Arshile Gorky’s modernist painting The Artist and His Mother to John Akomfrah’s 2015 video installation Vertigo Sea, the exhibition moves across genres, mediums, and borders to depict the experience of migration throughout history and up to the present refugee crisis.Dorothy Kosinski is director of the Phillips Collection, and she recently spoke with our host Richard Aldous after he toured the exhibition in Washington. Tune in to learn more about this “operatic” exhibition—and hear why she does not see the exhibition as primarily a political statement.The Warmth of Other Suns runs at the Phillips Collection in Washington through September 22 and is presented in partnership with the New Museum in New York. More information can be found at https://www.phillipscollection.org/. Be sure to tune in this week, and don’t forget to follow @aminterest and @PhillipsMuseum on Twitter.

Relevant Reading:Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency

Larry Diamond

Larry Diamond is one of the world’s foremost experts on democracy, and in his latest book he issues a sobering warning: democracy is retreating across the globe, and the foundations of democratic culture are eroding both at home and abroad.In Ill Winds, Diamond takes stock of the threats to democracy from foreign foes like Russia and China, as well as the complacency that has degraded our own democracy. He also proposes a way forward, offering concrete policies that could help reverse the tide and recover the best of our democratic tradition.Larry Diamond is a regular columnist for The American Interest and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Tune in this week as he joins Richard Aldous to discuss the book.Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, where you can leave a review, and don’t forget to follow @aminterest and Larry Diamond (@LarryDiamond) on Twitter.

Relevant Reading:My Father Left Me Ireland: An American Son’s Search for Home

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty, a senior writer at National Review, has chosen a deeply personal subject for his first book. In My Father Left Me Ireland, the U.S.-born Dougherty pens a series of letters to his father in Ireland, reflecting on his upbringing in a single-family home and his tangled relationship with his Irish roots.Underlying that personal meditation, however, is a sociopolitical one: about inheritance and identity, nations and families, and the virtue of local attachments in a world that so often privileges individualism.Tune in this week as Michael joins host Richard Aldous to discuss his acclaimed new book—and learn why he sees virtue in both the revolutionary Patrick Pearse and the conservative Edmund Burke.Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, where you can leave a review, and don’t forget to follow @aminterest and Michael Brendan Dougherty (@michaelbd) on Twitter.

Relevant Reading:Whiteshift: Populism, Immigration, and the Future of White Majorities

Eric Kaufmann

This is the century of “whiteshift,” Eric Kaufmann argues in his latest book: “the turbulent journey from a world of racially homogeneous white majorities to one of racially hybrid majorities.” Yet even as such demographic change is driving polarization and a populist backlash, Kaufmann argues, leaders have failed to grapple honestly with the phenomenon—either stigmatizing whites’ anxieties about demographic change as inherently racist, or seeking to calm those anxieties with economic policies that do not address their roots.In Whiteshift, Kaufmann offers a new way forward, delving deep into the demographic data to argue for an honest conversation about white identity concerns. “What’s needed,” he writes, “is a new vision that gives conservative members of white majorities hope for their group’s future while permitting cosmopolitans the freedom to celebrate diversity.”Eric Kaufmann is professor of politics at Birkbeck College, University of London. Tune in this week as he joins Richard Aldous to discuss the book, and don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. You can also follow @aminterest and Eric Kaufmann (@epkaufm) on Twitter.