This Is Hell!

Lindsay Koshgarian joins us to discuss the Institute for Policy Studies report, "The High Moral Stakes of the Policy Battles Raging in Washington." "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview.

Check out their report here: https://ips-dc.org/summary-high-moral-stakes/

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Award-winning author Omar El Akkad joins “This Is Hell!” to talk about his new book, "One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This”, published by the Penguin Books.

Check out Omar’s book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/777485/one-day-everyone-will-have-always-been-against-this-by-omar-el-akkad/?fbclid=IwY2xjawI9NZpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHRHlIY5dAk3hrnB8dk0wOc9P_cL3vOlRO6pa78Ux07cr9tv4PR_GhwkMrg_aem_ltRUIYUqFxKHG-AUz9rHsg

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Journalist and cultural critic Kristen Martin joins “This Is Hell!” to talk about her new book, "The Sun Won’t Come Out Tomorrow: The Dark History of American Orphanhood”, published by the Bold Type Books.

Check out Kristen’s book here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/kristen-martin/the-sun-wont-come-out-tomorrow/9781645030348/?lens=bold-type-books

Visit Kristen’s website: https://www.kristenmartin.net/

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Labor scholar Eric Blanc joins us to discuss his new book published just today by the University of California Press titled, "We Are the Union: How Worker-to-Worker Organizing Is Revitalizing Labor and Winning Big." "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview.

Check out Eric's book here: https://www.ucpress.edu/books/we-are-the-union/paper

Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Historian Timothy W. Ryback joins us to discuss his Atlantic essays, "How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days: He used the constitution to shatter the constitution," "The Oligarchs Who Came to Regret Supporting Hitler They helped him in pursuit of profit. Many ended up in concentration camps," and, "‘Herr Hitler, Do You Really Believe Me Capable of Such a Dirty Trick?’ The chancellor rewarded loyalty with loyalty. Until he didn’t."

Timothy is director of the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation in The Hague. He is the author of several books on Hitler’s Germany, most recently, "Takeover: Hitler’s Final Rise to Power."

"The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview.

Check out Timothy's writing at The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/author/timothy-w-ryback/

Check out his new book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/727483/takeover-by-timothy-w-ryback/

Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Physicist Erald Kolasi returns to “This Is Hell!” to talk about his new book, "The Physics of Capitalism: How a New Political Ecology Can Change the World”, published by the Monthly Review.

Check out Erald’s book here: https://monthlyreview.org/product/the-physics-of-capitalism-how-a-new-political-ecology-can-change-the-world/

Keep TiH! free and completely listener supported by subscribing to our weekly bonus Patreon podcast: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Chuck is out of action this week COVID, so we are featuring past interviews with upcoming guests who all have new books coming out on the days we are scheduled to interview them in upcoming weeks. Today's episode features two listener-favorite historians. First up is Quinn Slobodian on his 2023 book "Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy." Greg Grandin follows with a discussion of his Pulitzer Prize-winning 2020 book "The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America."

A classic Moment of Truth with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview.

Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Chuck is out of action this week COVID, so we are featuring past interviews with upcoming guests who all have new books coming out on the days we are scheduled to interview them in upcoming weeks. Today's episode features two guests whose work imagine a more emancipatory, dignified, sustainable future should socialist imperatives govern the future of human development. First up is political scientist Jodi Dean, who joined us in 2022 to discuss her book "Socialist Reconstruction: A Better Future for the United States" from 1804 Books. Physicist and researcher Erald Kolasi follows in a 2021 interview in which he outlines his vision for a more ecologically sustainable future as discussed in his Monthly Review article titled "The Ecological State."

Rotten History from our dear friend and comrade Renaldo Migaldi follows the interview.

Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Mike German, co-author with Beth Zasloff of the new book, "Policing White Supremacy: The Enemy Within," returns to This is Hell! Mike is a former FBI agent who went undercover in the far right whtie supremacsit movement and has appeared on the show a couple of times. "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview.

Check out Mike's book here: https://thenewpress.com/books/policing-white-supremacy

Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Disinformation and far-right digital media scholar Becca Lewis, who posted The Guardian article, “‘Headed for technofascism’: the rightwing roots of Silicon Valley."

Check out Becca Lewis new Guardian piece at this link: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2025/jan/29/silicon-valley-rightwing-technofascism?fbclid=IwY2xjawIYf-tleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHc2nPsngc-4BdtZ_VAwm84lbBIMTOkq8WaTAvn1nYmXhUWlgWa_lfeyW2w_aem_L7nLbYIVbWoIlBoxR9OKLw

Becca served as an expert witness in the defamation lawsuits brought against Alex Jones by parents of Sandy Hook shooting victims. She is currently writing a book on the rise of reactionary politics in Silicon Valley and online.

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