This Is Hell!

While Chuck is out this week, we revisit our first interview from 2020. Theorist Albena Azmanova examines the dynamics of post-2008 precarity capitalism, the left's long failure to strike through capitalism's competitive production of profit, and explains why radical change for the precarious multitude is possible without a revolutionary break - but through subversive pragmatism. Albena is author of Capitalism on Edge: How Fighting Precarity Can Achieve Radical Change Without Crisis or Utopia from Columbia University Press.

Micah Herskind returns to This Is Hell! to discuss his contribution to the new edited volume, "No Cop City, No Cop World: Lessons from the Movement" from Haymarket Books. After the interview, Jeff Dorchen delivers a live, in-studio "Moment of Truth." Check out Micah's book here: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2541-no-cop-city-no-cop-world Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Paisley Currah joins us to discuss his New Yorker piece, "Donald Trump's War on Gender Is Also a War on Government." "Rotten History" by Renaldo Migaldi follows the interview. Check out Paisley's article here: https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/donald-trumps-war-on-gender-is-also-a-war-on-government Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell

Leigh Claire La Berge joins us to discuss her new book published today by Haymarket, "Fake Work: How I Began to Suspect Capitalism is a Joke." "Rotten History" by Renaldo Migaldi follows the interview. Check out Leigh's book here: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2534-fake-work Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell

ProPublica's Molly Redden joins us to discuss her article, "The “Invasion” Invention: The Far Right’s Long Legal Battle to Make Immigrants the Enemy." A new "Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview. Check out Molly's article here: https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-administration-immigration-invasion-rhetoric-courts Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell

World Peace Foundation director Alex de Waal returns to This Is Hell! to discuss his recent writing at the London Review of Books, “Starvation in Gaza.” Alex also recently posted the article, “The brutal flaw in Israel’s starvation plan: Famine won’t bring victory,” at UnHerd. A new installment of “This Week In Rotten History” from Renaldo Migaldi follows the interview. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/may/starvation-in-gaza https://unherd.com/2025/05/the-brutal-flaw-in-israels-starvation-plan/?us

Mariah Parker joins us to discuss her chapter in the new co-authored book, "No Cop City, No Cop World: Lessons from the Movement." A classic "Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview. Check out Mariah's new book here: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/events/717-no-cop-city-no-cop-world Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell

Dr. Emily M. Bender and Dr. Alex Hanna, co-authors of, “The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want” are on the show to talk about their new book published but LitHub. The book tackles the pitfalls of AI and why it’s so crucial to understand the capitalist greed that is manipulating AI behind the scenes. https://thecon.ai/ A new installment of “This Week In Rotten History” from Renaldo Migaldi follows the interview. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell

Candice Bernd returns to This Is Hell! to discuss her recent writing at The American Prospect, "The Crypto Racket." After the interview, we hear a classic "Moment of Truth" from Jeff Dorchen. Check out Candice's article here: https://prospect.org/power/2025-05-09-crypto-racket-texas-bitcoin-mining/

Lihi Yona and Itamar Mann join us to discuss their recent UCLA Law Review piece, "Defending Jews From the Definition of Antisemitism." Check out Lihi and Itamar's piece here: https://www.uclalawreview.org/defending-jews-from-the-definition-of-antisemitism/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Sociologist Cedric de Leon joins us to discuss his new book, "Freedom Train: Black Politics and the Story of Interracial Labor Solidarity" from University of California Press. "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview. Check out Cedric's book here: https://www.ucpress.edu/books/freedom-train/paper Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Sophie Lewis returns to This Is Hell! to discuss her new book, "Enemy Feminisms: TERFs, Policewomen, and Girlbosses Against Liberation" from Haymarket Books. "This Week in Rotten History" from Renaldo Migaldi follows the interview. Check out Sophie's book here: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2440-enemy-feminisms Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Historian Andrew Hartman returns to This Is Hell! to discuss his new book from University of Chicago Press, "Karl Marx in America." "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview. Check out Andrew's book here: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/K/bo245100866.html Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Jodi Dean returns to This Is Hell! to talk about her new book, "Capital's Grave: Neofeudalism and the New Class Struggle" (Verso Books) https://www.versobooks.com/products/3144-capital-s-grave We also have a new “This Week in Rotten History”. Keep our website with a more than ten-year archive of past shows absolutely free, and our show completely listener supported, refusing all advertising and corporate foundation money by following us on Patreon at patreon.com/thisishell and get all sorts of bonus content.

Greg Grandin returns to This Is Hell! to discuss his new book, "America, América: A New History of the New World." "Rotten History" from Renaldo Migaldi follows the interview. Check out Greg's book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/747326/america-america-by-greg-grandin/

Malcolm Harris Returns to This Is Hell! to discuss his new book, "What's Left: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis." "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview. Check out Malcolm's book here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/malcolm-harris/whats-left/9780316577410/?lens=little-brown

Chris Hedges discusses his new book, "A Genocide Foretold: Reporting on Survival and Resistance in Occupied Palestine." Check out Chris's book here: https://www.sevenstories.com/books/4716-a-genocide-foretold Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Alec Karakatsanis returns to talk about his new book, “Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News.” Alec founded the Civil Rights Corps, an organization that challenges systemic injustices in the U.S. legal system. "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview. Check out Alec's book here: https://thenewpress.org/books/copaganda/

Author Quinn Slobodian returns to “This Is Hell!” to talk about his new book, “Hayek’s Bastards: Race, Gold, IQ and the Capitalism of the Far Right”, published by Zone Books. Check out Quinn’s book here: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9781890951917?srsltid=AfmBOopa361sL5mow9Y4zSXDsHQXyvTQBZ0YZASHJvW-UyhbliOMShxt Keep TiH! free and completely listener supported by subscribing to our weekly bonus Patreon podcast or visiting thisishell.com/pages/support

Valeria Graziano, Marcell Mars and Tomislav Medak discuss their book, "Pirate Care: Acts Against the Criminalization of Solidarity." "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen and "Rotten History" by Renaldo Migaldi both follow the interview. Check out their book here: https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745349800/pirate-care/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell