The More Things Change

This week we're joined by Professor Laura Briggs to talk about her book, Taking Children. Professor Briggs is an expert on U.S. and international child welfare policy and on transnational and transracial adoption, and an excellent podcast guest. Taking Children argues that for four hundred years the United States has taken children for political ends. Black children, Native children, Latinx children, and the children of the poor have all been seized from their kin and caregivers. We're also joined by Rick Perlstein, the author of Reaganland: America's Right Turn 1976-1980. Backed by a reenergized conservative Republican base, Reagan ran on the campaign slogan “Make America Great Again”—and prevailed. Reaganland is the story of how that happened, tracing conservatives’ cutthroat strategies to gain power and explaining why they endure four decades later. We talk about how we got from Reagan's "Open Borders" policy papers to "Build that Wall" chants, the differences between Reagan and Trump, and more.  Buy the books, become a patron, subscribe, review, etc. etc.