The Last Best Hope?

By Adam Smith

Historian and broadcaster Professor Adam Smith explores the America of today through the lens of the past. Is America - as Abraham Lincoln once claimed - the last best hope of Earth?

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4.6

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FAQs about The Last Best Hope?:

How many episodes does The Last Best Hope? have?

The podcast currently has 79 episodes available.

The Last Best Hope? episodes:

November 05, 2020 The Viva La Revolución Episode
In September 1960 Fidel Castro, leader of the Cuban revolution and hipster lodestar for the countercultural left visited the belly of the beast, New York City, to attend the UN General Assembly. It was a visit that exposed the contradictions and tensions within the United States' efforts to present itself as the last best hope for the free world at the height of the Cold War. Adam talks to Simon Hall about this extraordinary event and what it tells us.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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38min
October 27, 2020 The Last Best Hope Shorts: Simone de Beauvoir
In this special episode, Oxford historian Charlotte Moberly tells the story of how the French intellectual and pioneer of second-wave feminism, Simone de Beauvoir was personally and intellectually transformed by her visit to America in 1947. This is the first of a new occasional series of short podcasts exploring individuals' encounters with America -- both the idea and the reality.
In this episode Simone de Beauvoir was played by Olivia Marshall. Izzy Collie-Cousins was Janet Flanner, and Alex Hancock was Nelson Algren.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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19min
October 15, 2020 The Harmonious Episode
We can't imagine a political campaign without music -- whether it's an election rally, a protest movement or a TV ad, music is essential. In this episode, Adam talks to Billy Coleman, author of a recent book about music and politics in the nineteenth century United States and asks him what music brings to politics and what we can learn from it about how politics works.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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31min
October 07, 2020 The Did the South Win the Civil War After All Episode
In this episode Adam talks to Heather Cox Richardson about how the values the South fought for -- oligarchy, and racial and gender inequality -- outlived the Confederacy. Heather argues that American history can be understood as a conflict between oligarchs and masses. Adam asks her why that is. How does a "democracy" become an oligarchy? And is the politics of today an echo of the politics of 150 years ago?
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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42min
June 21, 2020 The Last Best Hope Episode
"We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth" -- Abraham Lincoln's phrase in his message to Congress in December 1862. What did he mean? In this episode, Adam talks to Rachel Shelden of the Richards Civil War Era Center at Penn State. They talked about Lincoln, his opposition to slavery, his vastly more complex view of racial equality... and why he coined that memorable phrase. If Lincoln thought America had a "mission", the Last Best Hope? podcast has a mission too: to understand why people thought, and many still think, that America has a mission. (The podcast features a special guest appearance from Barack Obama).
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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32min
June 01, 2020 The new New Deal Episode
Does America and the world need a new New Deal? If so, what lessons can we learn from how old orthodoxies in economic policy-making were challenged in the interwar period? In this episode, Adam talks to Eric Rauchway about the year 1933, when Franklin D. Roosevelt came into office and immediately set a course that challenged some of the sacred shibboleths of economic policy-making.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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50min
May 08, 2020 The "Don't Tread on Me" Episode
Is a country that’s had a successful revolution doomed to endlessly re-enact it? In this episode, Adam talks to Professor Margaret Weir (Brown University and Oxford) about why anti-lockdown protests take the form they do in America: armed men entering legislatures and the waving of flags with the slogan "Don't Tread on Me".
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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33min
May 02, 2020 The Crisis Episode
What is the difference between a "crisis" and a "not-crisis"? How do crises happen and how have they shaped history? Adam talks to Jay Sexton of the University of Missouri, author of "A Nation Shaped by Crisis: A New American History" who thinks we're now in a crisis that, unlike previous crises, will leave the United States weaker.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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34min
May 02, 2020 The Federalism Episode
Dividing power between the Federal government and the states may have seemed a good idea in theory to the founding fathers but in practice it's led to confusion and conflict. Donald Trump claims that his power is "total". State governors -- and constitutional experts -- beg to differ. In this episode, Adam talks to Grace Mallon of Oxford University, an expert in the reality of Federal-state relations in the early republic who tells us that's it's always been like this.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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33min

FAQs about The Last Best Hope?:

How many episodes does The Last Best Hope? have?

The podcast currently has 79 episodes available.

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