Trotsky & the Wild Orchids

How did sports get so political? Ray and Andrew discuss the NFL, NBA, NCAA and the ways in which American sports are shaped by patriotism, social activism, pay inequity and much more. Recommended: Howard Bryant's New York Times piece "How Did Our Sports Get So Divisive?"

Using an article by Touré F. Reed as a springboard, Ray and Andrew discuss Ta-Nehisi Coates, Barack Obama, and the politics of race and class.

Ray and Andrew battle it out over the films The Young Karl Marx (2017) and Lincoln (2012). Read A. O. Scott's review of The Young Karl Marx after you listen!

Is the college campus closed to free speech? Ray and Andrew offer a sober discussion of the free speech controversy that has recently rocked American universities. Andrew's recent Washington Post essay serves as the springboard for discussion.

On this episode of Trotsky & the Wild Orchids our hosts, Andrew and Ray, talk about Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. They consider Michael Kazin's critique of Zinn and the larger implications A People's History has for the profession. Is Zinn a gateway drug for historians?

Pete Kuryla comes on the show to discuss his experience teaching history in a prison.

Andrew and Ray return to the topic of neoliberalism. What does the term mean and how has that meaning changed? What is its analytical value? They address these questions through a discussion of Lawrence Glickman's essay "Everyone was a liberal" as well as the Dissent forum "Debating the Uses and Abuses of 'Neoliberalism'"

Andrew and Ray enter The Upside Down to explore our current fascination with the culture of the 1980s. They consider the popular Netflix programs Stranger Things and The Americans as they discuss culture, politics, and science during the Cold War.

Features a conversation with Mike about his decision to work on a Master of Public Affairs after completing a PhD in American Studies.

Andrew and Ray consider the relationship between liberalism and neoliberalism.