Trotsky & the Wild Orchids

Andrew and Ray are back from summer break! In this episode Andrew provides an update on his book before the conversation transitions to the New Deal's legacy as well as sports and our contemporary moment. For this episode we read Michael Kazin's review of Eric Rauchway's book Why the New Deal Matters and "You can't separate sports and politics," an interview with Dave Zirin in Jacobin.

Andrew & Ray check in about the Biden administration and discuss New Monetary Theory, the strategic objectives of the American military and how Andrew became a lefty. Kim Hjelmgaard's USA Today article "A Reckoning is Near" and Jed Purdy's "A Possible Majority" in Dissent Magazine.

Keith Pluymers comes on the show to talk about environmental history, wood in the early modern world, and contemporary environmental politics.

Nicole Hemmer sits down with Ray and Andrew to discuss a range of topics from conservative media and the NYT to public history and "Welcome to Your Fantasy," a podcast about the Chippendales!

Harvey joins Andrew and Ray to discuss the inaugural address as well as Biden's bipartisan hopes.

Ray and Andrew return from a recording hiatus to have a conversation with the historian Harvey Kaye.

Class reductionism or race reductionism? Listen in as Andrew and Ray speak with Touré Reed about his book Toward Freedom: The Case Against Race Reductionism.

Derek Charles Catsam, professor of history and humanities at University of Texas-Permian Basin, joins Andrew and Ray for a conversation about race, class, and rugby in sports history. For this episode we read Catsam's essays for Africa is a Country.

Salik Farooqi comes on the show to discuss the pandemic from the perspective of political sociology. For this episode we read: An Organic Crisis is upon Us; On the Concept of History; Gooseberries; Pandemic's Lesson: Global Capitalism is Uneven and Dangerously Particularistic; The Myth of Sisyphus; and the Wiki on total football. (Links on our website: http://wildorchids.libsyn.com)

Professor Gina Gustavsson from the Department of Government at Uppsala University speaks with Ray and Andrew about Sweden's response to covid19. Listen in as we consider the meaning of nationalism during a pandemic.

Ray and Andrew discuss our covid19 moment. What are the political implications of this pandemic? How do we understand the CARES Act? And what does all this mean for the future of the left? Listen in as you continue to social distance.

Andrew and Ray discuss Super Tuesday and the future of Bernie's movement.

Historian Max Felker-Kantor talks about his book Policing Los Angeles: Race, Resistance and the Rise of the LAPD (2018). Listen in as Andrew and Ray consider the rise of the carceral state and the role of police in our society.

Really, Iowa? Andrew and Ray talk about the 2020 Iowa caucus debacle.

Kim Phillips-Fein comes on the show to discuss her book Fear City: New York's Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics. Ray thinks he sounds particularly smart in this episode.

Andrew and Ray talk Corbyn, Trump, Bernie, and our political moment. They also provide a short briefing on the annual U-USIH conference in New York.

Bhaskar Sunkara, founder of Jacobin Magazine, comes on the show to discuss his new book The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality.

Andrew and Ray discuss 'quit lit,' the humanities, and the state of higher ed. When was the golden era for training and careers in the humanities? And for whom? For this episode we read Andrew Kay's 'Academe's Extinction Event' and a response essay, 'The Humanities Without Nostalgia' by Devin M. Garofalo, Anna Hinton, Kari Nixon, and Jessie Reeder.

Andrew, Ray, and Daniel discuss Game of Thrones and Avengers: End Game. Did GoT decline as in the last few seasons? And what message do we take from Thanos and his attempt to dramatically reduce the population in the universe?

Historian Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen joins the show to talk about her new book, The Ideas that Made America. Other topics in the conversation include epistemic humility, the methods of intellectual history, as well as the influences that have shaped Jennifer, Ray, and Andrew.