This Is Hell!

Brian Mier returns to This Is Hell! to discuss his new writing at his Substack, De-Linking Brazil, "30 Days in Venezuela." "Rotten History" from Renaldo Migaldi follows the interview.

Check out Brian's report here: https://bmier.substack.com/p/30-days-in-venezuela

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

Please rate and review This Is Hell! wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps the show ascend the algorithm to reach new listeners.

Laleh Khalili returns to discuss her new piece at the London Review of Books, "Guns, Money and Opium." "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview.

Check out Laleh's article here: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n03/laleh-khalili/guns-money-and-opium

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

Please rate and review This Is Hell! wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps the show ascend the algorithm to reach new listeners.

Academic and writer Timothy Mitchell joins This Is Hell! to talk about his new book his new book "The Alibi of Capital: How We Broke the Earth to Steal the Future on the Promise of a Better Tomorrow”, published by Verso Books (https://www.versobooks.com/products/3452-the-alibi-of-capital). Mitchell is the William B. Ransford Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Columbia University. His is based in the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies.

We will have new installments of Rotten History and Hangover Cure. We will also be sharing your answers to this week's Question from Hell! from Patreon.

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

Caroline Light joins us to discuss her book, "Stand Your Ground: A History of America’s Love Affair with Lethal Self-Defense." A 10th anniversary edition with a new introduction and a preface by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is now available from Beacon Press. "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview.

Check out Caroline's book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/815354/stand-your-ground-by-caroline-light/

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

Please rate and review This Is Hell! wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps the show ascend the algorithm to reach new listeners.

Alex de Waal returns to discuss his recent writing in the series, "World War X" from the World Peace Foundation. "Rotten History" from Renaldo Migaldi follows the interview.

Check out Alex's series here: https://worldpeacefoundation.org/topic/world-war-x/

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

Please rate and review This Is Hell! wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps the show ascend the algorithm to reach new listeners.

Journalist and author Julie K. Brown from the Miami Herald’s Investigative Team, joins This Is Hell! to talk about her work uncovering and investigating the Epstein Files, which can be found on her Substack, jkbjournalist.substack.com, where she is still breaking new stories on the case.

We will have new installments of Rotten History and Hangover Cure. We will also be sharing your answers to this week's Question from Hell! from Patreon.

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

Award-winning climate and environment journalist Whitney Bauck discusses her latest at the Guardian, "The criminalizing of protest and dissent has a long history in America." Our conversation will also cover her previous posts describing "How activism is tackling the US loneliness epidemic," and "How US cities are helping each other resist ICE."

Checkout Whitney's recent Guardian pieces here: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/whitney-bauck

Whitney currently serves as a contributing writer for the Guardian, and previously served as print editor at the climate and culture magazine Atmos.

Kim Kelly, author of, "Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor," (Atria Books) host of "Unite and Win: A Guide to Workplace Organizing" podcast at workerorganizing.org, speaks with This Is Hell! to discuss her writing at The Baffler, "A Piece of Work: The Department of Labor’s anti-immigrant turn betrays its history."

Kim Kelly is a labor reporter for In These Times magazine and has been a regular labor columnist for Teen Vogue since 2018. Her writing on labor, class, politics, disability, and culture has appeared in The Nation, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Baffler, The New Republic, Rolling Stone, Esquire, and many others. Kelly has also worked as a video correspondent for More Perfect Union, The Real News Network, and Means TV. Previously, she was the heavy metal editor at Noisey, Vice’s music vertical, and helped organize the Vice union. A third-generation union member, she served three terms as an elected councilperson for the Writers Guild of America, East Council. Her first book, Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor, was published in 2022, and the young readers edition, Fight to Win! Heroes of American Labor, was published by Simon & Schuster Kids in 2025.

We will have new installments of Rotten History and Hangover Cure. We will also be sharing your answers to this week's Question from Hell! from Patreon.

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

Nicole Foy joins us to discuss her recent reporting at ProPublica, including "We Found More Than 40 Cases of Immigration Agents Using Banned Chokeholds and Other Moves That Can Cut Off Breathing." "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview.

Check out Nicole's articles at ProPublica here: https://www.propublica.org/people/nicole-foy

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

Please rate and review This Is Hell! wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps the show ascend the algorithm to reach new listeners.

Judith Enck joins This Is Hell! to talk about the book that she recently co-authored of, "The Problem with Plastic: How We Can Save Ourselves and Our Planet Before It’s Too Late”, published by The New Press. https://thenewpress.org/books/the-problem-with-plastic/?v=eb65bcceaa5f

Judith is the founder and president of Beyond Plastics, whose goal is eliminating plastic pollution everywhere. In 2009, she was appointed by President Obama to serve as regional administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and served as deputy secretary for the environment in the New York Governor’s Office. She is currently a professor at Bennington College, where she teaches classes on plastic pollution. https://www.beyondplastics.org/

We will have new installments of Rotten History and Hangover Cure. We will also be sharing your answers to this week's Question from Hell! from Patreon.

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