In this episode, Luke talks with Dr. Gerald Horne, the author of many books, including The Counter-Revolution of 1776, Confronting Black Jacobins, and The Capital of Slavery: Washington, D.C., 1800-1865. Dr. Horne has also written several articles, including a trio for The Nation on W.E.B. Du Bois, C.L.R. James, and Eric Williams.

The conversation covers a wide range of topics, including the role of the Constitution in past and present debates, colonialism in the United States and the oppression of Indigenous peoples, the 1787 Constitution as a counter-revolution, U.S. imperialism in Latin America, and the Declaration of Independence.

In this episode, Lucas and Luke talk with Tad Stoermer, author of the forthcoming book, A Resistance History of the United States. Tad also posts on his blog and has a prolific TikTok and YouTube presence.

The conversation touches on many topics, including the role of public historians in the United States; the Patriot Myth that emerged during World War II, the distortion of history to serve specific ends, and why a younger generation of Americans is challenging the status quo, including constitutional reverence; the importance of Reconstruction and struggles for universal and equal rights; and the need for a “counter-anniversary” to mark the enactment of the Declaration of Independence and recognize the importance of Tom Paine and the significance of Common Sense.

Find more on the Democratic Constitution Blog.

In this episode, Luke talks with Michael Fox, a long-time journalist based in Latin America. Michael's work includes the podcasts Under the Shadow, Brazil on Fire, and Stories of Resistance. He’s also the co-director of the documentary Beyond Elections.

Michael touches on many topics, including the failures of most mainstream reporting on Latin America, the Monroe Doctrine, the brutal U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989, common myths about Venezuela, the reasons why the U.S. is focusing so heavily on the Western Hemisphere, and various left-wing experiments with democracy across the region. Mike explains that Venezuela has been the most vocal critic of the U.S. empire in Latin America and a consistent supporter of left-wing projects for the last 20 years.

The Original article is here.

In this episode, Luke talks with David Waldstreicher, the author of many books, including Slavery’s Constitution: From Revolution to Ratification. David discusses a range of topics, including the place of slavery in the lead-up to 1776, debates over slavery at the Constitutional Convention, and how the issue of slavery was never explicitly recognized in the text of the Constitution. He also examines the struggle for ratification in a climate in which “critics of the Constitution quickly perceived the compromises of 1787,” the extent to which the Constitution helps explain the Fugitive Slave Acts, the Dred Scott decision, and the Civil War, the staying power of the Constitution’s “hard-wired” provisions, and much more.

David’s book was mentioned by Van Gosse in his recent interview about the political activity of black Americans during the Antebellum period

The original article is here.

East Bay DSA will be hosting a reading group on the Constitution and the anti-democratic aspects of the US political system. We will use Robert Dahl’s How Democratic is the American Constitution? as a framework, along with other articles and presentations from Robert Ovetz, Aziz Rana, Daniel Lazare, Gil Schaeffer, and Steven R., all of whom have appeared on the Democratic Constitution Podcast. All the information, including links to register for the sessions, is here. I hope everyone can join us.

In this episode, Luke talks with Don Doyle, the author of many books, including The Cause of All Nations: An International History of the American Civil War.

The conversation touches on many topics, including how the North and South sold their story of the battle to the rest of the world; the smörgåsbord of Union soldiers from across the globe; the Civil War as a tectonic struggle between republicanism and monarchismin in the context of the failed European revolutions of 1848; free labor versus enslaved labor, and what Karl Marx said about the Civil War; the return of former colonial powers to Latin America and the republican struggle in Mexico; and the global impact of the North’s victory against the southern slaveocracy. I plan to speak with Don again about his latest book, The Age of Reconstruction: How Lincoln’s New Birth of Freedom Remade the World, described as a sequel to The Cause of all Nations.

In this episode, Luke talks with Gary Dorrien, the author of many books, including The Neoconservative Mind: Politics, Culture, and the War of Ideology (1993), Breaking White Supremacy: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Social Gospel (2019), and American Democratic Socialism: History, Politics, Religion, and Theory (2021), which Gary discussed in DSA’s Democratic Left. His forthcoming book is Subjects of Justice: Christian Social Ethics, Anti-Domination, Usable Pasts, and Social Democracy.

Gary touches on many topics, including the democratic socialist vision of a society in which “the economy and government are democratically self-determined, no group dominates any other, and every citizen is free, equal, and included”; the importance of the demand for a universal and equal vote; the role of ethics and “rights talk” within socialism; neoconservatism and liberation theology as “polar-opposite reactions to the tumult and trauma of the 1960s”; Bernie Sanders and Martin Luther King Jr; and the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

In this episode, Luke talks with Gregory Downs, the author of several books, including The Second American Revolution: The Civil War-Era Struggle over Cuba and the Rebirth of the American Republic (2019) and After Appomattox: Military Occupation and the Ends of War (2015). He’s also co-author with Kate Masur of the article “Civil War Sesquicentennial: Reconstruction: Retrospect and Prospects.”

Greg touches on many topics, including how he became interested in the Civil War and Reconstruction, historical memory and tragedy, why we should embrace the “radicality” or “unsettledness” of the Civil War, what to do when “no one is riding in to save us from the collapse of republican dreams and liberal rights,” and the significance of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.