Author and comedian W. Kamau Bell joins Liza to discuss the legacies of Maya Angelou and James Baldwin, and the importance of affinity groups.

W. Kamau Bell on James Baldwin and Maya Angelou

Did you know that the novel "Lolita" would not exist if Vladimir Nabokov’s wife hadn’t stopped her husband from burning the manuscript? Or that Gandhi learned his legendary method of passive resistance from his wife? Or that the person responsible for Maya Angelou’s genre-defining memoir was her good friend James Baldwin? Significant Others is a narrated, nonfiction podcast about folks just beyond the spotlight of history. Each episode tells the story of a talented, difficult and little-known individual who altered the destiny of their better-known partner, child, sibling, or friend, and impacted the world they left behind. Narrated and written by Liza Powel O’Brien and featuring the voices of Megan Mullally, Nick Offerman, Jameela Jamil, Rita Wilson, Timothy Olyphant, Lisa Kudrow and many more.

History

Society & Culture

Are we, in fact, living in a time of revolution? What it means and what you can do about it, according to one of MIT’s greatest thinkers.

Daron Acemoglu on Marxism and AI

A man who looms as large as Karl Marx needed multiple Significant Others (although when it came to wives, he only had one). 

Starring Ted Danson as Karl Marx, Maddie Ogden as Jenny von Westphalen, and Patton Oswalt as Friedrich Engels.
Also featuring Katie Sharer and Matt O’Brien.

The Marxes

What is a fan to do with unsavory intel on their idol? Is it possible to separate the art from the artist? Should we even try?

Claire Dederer on Reckoning with Problematic Artists

Lover and muse to multiple artists, Gala notoriously spit on people she didn’t like—or worse. Her marriage to the renowned artist Salvador Dalí was as surreal as his paintings, which he signed with both of their names even though she never held a brush.

Starring Laura Ramoso as Gala Dalí and José  Arroyo as Salvador Dalí

Also featuring Stephen K. Amos, Nigel Daly, Neve O’Brien, and Tavis Doucette

Gala Dalí

Sandra Newman was given one assignment by the Orwell Estate: Re-write 1984 from the point of view of the character Julia.

W. Kamau Bell on James Baldwin and Maya Angelou

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