This week, we hear from Jess Row, a Pushcart Prize and PEN/O’Henry award winning author who Granta named a "Best Young American Novelist" in 2007. Row's novel "Your Face in Mine" imagines a world in which racial reassignment surgery is a possibility, even a commonplace. In The New York Times, Dwight Garner writes that "Your Face in Mine" "puts [Row] on another level as an artist. He doesn’t shy away from the hard intellectual and moral questions his story raises, or from grainy philosophical dialogue, but he submerges these things in a narrative that burns with a steady flame. There’s some Jonathan Lethem in Mr. Row’s street-level awareness of culture. There’s some Saul Bellow in his needling intelligence."

This week, we hear from Jess Row, a Pushcart Prize and PEN/O’Henry award winning author who Granta named a "Best Young American Novelist" in 2007. Row's novel "Your Face in Mine" imagines a world in which racial reassignment surgery is a possibility, even a commonplace. In The New York Times, Dwight Garner writes that "Your Face in Mine" "puts [Row] on another level as an artist. He doesn’t shy away from the hard intellectual and moral questions his story raises, or from grainy philosophical dialogue, but he submerges these things in a narrative that burns with a steady flame. There’s some Jonathan Lethem in Mr. Row’s street-level awareness of culture. There’s some Saul Bellow in his needling intelligence."

In this episode, we hear from David Sehat, an intellectual and cultural historian of the United States at Georgia State University. I ask Sehat about one of his main skills as an historian: that is, his ability to identify certain myths about American history circulated—one might even say peddled—by politicians in order to prop up certain ideological or political agendas in the present. We also discuss Sehat’s excellent podcast MINDPOP, and the extent to which he brings his past experiences to bear on the questions he asks about American history.

In this episode, we hear from David Sehat, an intellectual and cultural historian of the United States at Georgia State University. I ask Sehat about one of his main skills as an historian: that is, his ability to identify certain myths about American history circulated—one might even say peddled—by politicians in order to prop up certain ideological or political agendas in the present. We also discuss Sehat’s excellent podcast MINDPOP, and the extent to which he brings his past experiences to bear on the questions he asks about American history.

In this episode, we hear from Clifford Siskin, the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Professor of English and American Literature at NYU, as well as Director of the Re:Enlightenment Project. Siskin discusses his recent book "System: The Shaping of Modern Knowledge."

In this episode, we hear from Clifford Siskin, the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Professor of English and American Literature at NYU, as well as Director of the Re:Enlightenment Project. Siskin discusses his recent book "System: The Shaping of Modern Knowledge."

In this episode, we hear from Daniel Drezner, a professor of international politics at Tufts University, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and contributor to the Washington Post. Daniel identifies some key differences between the kind of thinker we might consider a “public intellectual,” and the one now commonly referred to as a “thought leader.” In our conversation, Daniel explores the differences between the public intellectual and the thought leader as he’s defined them. Dan also discusses the relationship between thought leadership and plutocracy, and explains why he thinks the Marketplace of Ideas has become what he calls the Ideas Industry.

In this episode, we hear from Daniel Drezner, a professor of international politics at Tufts University, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and contributor to the Washington Post. Daniel identifies some key differences between the kind of thinker we might consider a “public intellectual,” and the one now commonly referred to as a “thought leader.” In our conversation, Daniel explores the differences between the public intellectual and the thought leader as he’s defined them. Dan also discusses the relationship between thought leadership and plutocracy, and explains why he thinks the Marketplace of Ideas has become what he calls the Ideas Industry.

Today we hear from Scott St. Louis, program manager of the Common Ground Initiative at the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies at Grand Valley State University. Scott explores what it would mean for the left and right to find, or even pursue, “common ground” in a time of political hyper-polarization, such as ours.

Today we hear from Scott St. Louis, program manager of the Common Ground Initiative at the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies at Grand Valley State University. Scott explores what it would mean for the left and right to find, or even pursue, “common ground” in a time of political hyper-polarization, such as ours.