This Is Hell!

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." A special 10th anniversary installment of "This Week in Rotten History" from Renaldo Migaldi follows the interview. 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

Academic and author Jodi Dean returns to This Is Hell! to talk about her new book, "Capital's Grave: Neofeudalism and the New Class Struggle" published by 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

Award-winning author Pankaj Mishra returns to “This Is Hell!” to talk about his new book, “The World After Gaza: A History”, published by the Penguin Random House. Check out Pankaj’s book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/780437/the-world-after-gaza-by-pankaj-mishra/ Keep TiH! free and completely listener supported by subscribing to our weekly bonus Patreon podcast or visiting thisishell.com/pages/support

Noliwe Rooks returns to This Is Hell! to discuss her recent book, "Integrated: How American Schools Failed Black Children" from Penguin. "Rotten History" from Renaldo Migaldi follows the interview. Check out Noliwe's book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/721962/integrated-by-noliwe-rooks/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Tanner Mirrlees on the new Cost of War paper from the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University entitled, "The Militarization of Movies and Television." "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview. Check out Tanner's writing here: https://home.watson.brown.edu/research/research-briefs/militarization-movies-and-tv Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Lindsay Koshgarian joins us to discuss the Institute for Policy Studies report, "The High Moral Stakes of the Policy Battles Raging in Washington." "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview. Check out their report here: https://ips-dc.org/summary-high-moral-stakes/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Journalist and cultural critic Kristen Martin joins “This Is Hell!” to talk about her new book, "The Sun Won’t Come Out Tomorrow: The Dark History of American Orphanhood”, published by the Bold Type Books. Check out Kristen’s book here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/kristen-martin/the-sun-wont-come-out-tomorrow/9781645030348/?lens=bold-type-books Visit Kristen’s website: https://www.kristenmartin.net/ Keep TiH! free and completely listener supported by subscribing to our weekly bonus Patreon podcast or visiting thisishell.com/pages/support

Award-winning author Omar El Akkad joins “This Is Hell!” to talk about his new book, "One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This”, published by the Penguin Books. Check out Omar’s book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/777485/one-day-everyone-will-have-always-been-against-this-by-omar-el-akkad/?fbclid=IwY2xjawI9NZpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHRHlIY5dAk3hrnB8dk0wOc9P_cL3vOlRO6pa78Ux07cr9tv4PR_GhwkMrg_aem_ltRUIYUqFxKHG-AUz9rHsg Keep TiH! free and completely listener supported by subscribing to our weekly bonus Patreon podcast or visiting thisishell.com/pages/support

Labor scholar Eric Blanc joins us to discuss his new book published just today by the University of California Press titled, "We Are the Union: How Worker-to-Worker Organizing Is Revitalizing Labor and Winning Big." "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview. Check out Eric's book here: https://www.ucpress.edu/books/we-are-the-union/paper Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Historian Timothy W. Ryback joins us to discuss his Atlantic essays, "How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days: He used the constitution to shatter the constitution," "The Oligarchs Who Came to Regret Supporting Hitler They helped him in pursuit of profit. Many ended up in concentration camps," and, "‘Herr Hitler, Do You Really Believe Me Capable of Such a Dirty Trick?’ The chancellor rewarded loyalty with loyalty. Until he didn’t." Timothy is director of the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation in The Hague. He is the author of several books on Hitler’s Germany, most recently, "Takeover: Hitler’s Final Rise to Power." "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview. Check out Timothy's writing at The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/author/timothy-w-ryback/ Check out his new book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/727483/takeover-by-timothy-w-ryback/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Physicist Erald Kolasi returns to “This Is Hell!” to talk about his new book, "The Physics of Capitalism: How a New Political Ecology Can Change the World”, published by the Monthly Review. Check out Erald’s book here: https://monthlyreview.org/product/the-physics-of-capitalism-how-a-new-political-ecology-can-change-the-world/ Keep TiH! free and completely listener supported by subscribing to our weekly bonus Patreon podcast: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Chuck is out of action this week COVID, so we are featuring past interviews with upcoming guests who all have new books coming out on the days we are scheduled to interview them in upcoming weeks. Today's episode features two listener-favorite historians. First up is Quinn Slobodian on his 2023 book "Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy." Greg Grandin follows with a discussion of his Pulitzer Prize-winning 2020 book "The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America." A classic Moment of Truth with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Chuck is out of action this week COVID, so we are featuring past interviews with upcoming guests who all have new books coming out on the days we are scheduled to interview them in upcoming weeks. Today's episode features two guests whose work imagine a more emancipatory, dignified, sustainable future should socialist imperatives govern the future of human development. First up is political scientist Jodi Dean, who joined us in 2022 to discuss her book "Socialist Reconstruction: A Better Future for the United States" from 1804 Books. Physicist and researcher Erald Kolasi follows in a 2021 interview in which he outlines his vision for a more ecologically sustainable future as discussed in his Monthly Review article titled "The Ecological State." Rotten History from our dear friend and comrade Renaldo Migaldi follows the interview. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Mike German, co-author with Beth Zasloff of the new book, "Policing White Supremacy: The Enemy Within," returns to This is Hell! Mike is a former FBI agent who went undercover in the far right whtie supremacsit movement and has appeared on the show a couple of times. "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview. Check out Mike's book here: https://thenewpress.com/books/policing-white-supremacy Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Disinformation and far-right digital media scholar Becca Lewis, who posted The Guardian article, “‘Headed for technofascism’: the rightwing roots of Silicon Valley." Check out Becca Lewis new Guardian piece at this link: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2025/jan/29/silicon-valley-rightwing-technofascism?fbclid=IwY2xjawIYf-tleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHc2nPsngc-4BdtZ_VAwm84lbBIMTOkq8WaTAvn1nYmXhUWlgWa_lfeyW2w_aem_L7nLbYIVbWoIlBoxR9OKLw Becca served as an expert witness in the defamation lawsuits brought against Alex Jones by parents of Sandy Hook shooting victims. She is currently writing a book on the rise of reactionary politics in Silicon Valley and online. Keep TiH! free and completely listener supported by subscribing to our weekly bonus Patreon podcast or visiting thisishell.com/pages/support

Journalist and historian Eoin Higgins, author of the new book, "Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left." "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview. Check out Eoin's book here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/eoin-higgins/owned/9781645030461/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Award-winning journalist Natasha Hakimi Zapata joins us to discuss her new book, “Another World Is Possible: Lessons For America From Around The Globe”, published by The New Press. Her articles can be found be found in In These TImes, The Nation, and The New York Times. Purchase the book at this link: https://thenewpress.com/books/another-world-possible Natasha Hakimi Zapata’s website: https://www.natashahakimizapata.com/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell

Jeff Bryant joins us to discuss his recent writing on the threats facing community public education and the ways schools and communities are resisting them. Articles to be discussed include "How a Struggling Boston School Found Success in the Roots of its Haitian American Community," and "Voters Across the Political Spectrum Gave Public Education Important Wins in the 2024 Election," both available at The Progressive. Rotten History from Renaldo Migaldi and The Moment of Truth with Jeff Dorchen both follow the interview. Check out Jeff's recent writing at The Progressive here: https://progressive.org/topics/jeff-bryant/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Maya Schenwar returns to This is Hell! Maya will be joined by the co-editor Kim Wilson who are co-editors of the new collection, "We Grow the World Together: Parenting Toward Abolition" from Haymarket Books. Maya is editor in-chief of truthout. Kim is the cofounder, cohost, and producer of Beyond Prisons, a podcast on incarceration and prison abolition. Rotten History from Renaldo Migaldi follows the interview. Check out their new edited volume here: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2446-we-grow-the-world-together Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Sarah Jaffe, author of “Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone and Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt” joins us to discuss her new book “From the Ashes: Grief and Revolution in a World on Fire”, published by Bold Type Books. Purchase the book at this link: https://bookshop.org/p/books/from-the-ashes-grief-and-revolution-in-a-world-on-fire-sarah-jaffe/21156243?ean=9781541703490 Sarah Jaffe’s website: https://sarahljaffe.com/ Jeffrey Dorchen also brings us his latest "Moment of Truth". Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell

Liz Pelly joins This Is Hell! to discuss her Harper's cover article titled "The Ghosts in the Machine: Spotify's Plot Against Musicians," excerpted from her new book, Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist (One Signal Publishers). An all-new Moment of Truth with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview. Check out Liz's article: https://harpers.org/archive/2025/01/the-ghosts-in-the-machine-liz-pelly-spotify-musicians/ And her book: https://lizpelly.info/book Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell

Sonali Kolhatkar, author of “Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice” joins us to discuss her new book “Talking About Abolition: A Police-Free World Is Possible”, published by Seven Stories Press. Purchase the book at this link: https://sevenstories.com/books/4670-talking-about-abolition?srsltid=AfmBOopfJr7eEoqqTYOKWx9Q_aJhojtOxT5fyipK4DfbqnIfm4q0VBy1 Sonali Kolhatkar’s website: https://www.sonalikolhatkar.com Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell

Kellie Carter-Jackson returns to discuss her new book, We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance (Seal Press). Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Best of 2024: Gareth Gore on his book, "Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Right-Wing Conspiracy inside the Catholic Church," published by Simon and Schuster on the day of the interview. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Gabrielle Perry joins us to discuss her recent Scalawag article, "Louisiana is the blueprint for further fascist repression." Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Returning to This is Hell! is listener favorite Sophie Lewis, author of Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family, as well as Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation. Sophie will be on to talk about her new writing at The Drift, "Lipstick on the Pigs: Kamala Harris and the Lineage of the Female Cop." "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Cory Doctorow on his Financial Times article, "‘Enshittification’ is coming for absolutely everything: The term describes the slow decay of online platforms such as Facebook. But what if we’ve entered the ‘enshittocene’?" "Rotten History" follows the interview. Cory also has a new novel, The Bezel. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Ajay Singh Chaudhary returns to This Is Hell! to talk about his Baffler Magazine article, "Sick and Tired: Against Resilience," an excerpt from, The Exhausted of the Earth: Politics in a Burning World (Repeater Books). Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Dan Piepenbring on his Baffler article, "K-Pop: Our forefathers did dissociatives." Dan is the New Books columnist for Harper’s and the co-author, with Tom O’Neill, of CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties. He’s currently working on a book about ketamine. "The Moment of Truth" follows the interview. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon.

Tad DeLay returns to This Is Hell! to discuss his new book from Verso, Future of Denial: The Ideologies of Climate Change. "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Matthew D. Taylor joins us to discuss his book, The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy, published just yesterday by Broadleaf Books. Jeff Dorchen joins us after the interview to deliver a new segment of "The Moment of Truth." Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Kate Manne returns to talk about her book, Unshrinking: How to Face Fatphobia. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Past guest Stephen Zunes returns to speak with us about his recent Truthout writing including, "Biden Continues to Provide Israel Billions for War Crimes," "Biden’s Response to Israel’s ICC Prosecution Is an Attack on International Law," and "Don’t Buy the Right-Wing Disinformation Campaign on “From the River to the Sea.” Stephen is a professor of Politics at the University of San Francisco, who is currently the Torgny Segerstedt Visiting Research professor at the Gothenburg University in Sweden. "Rotten History" follows the interview. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Historian Gerald Horne returns to the show to discuss his new book, Armed Struggle?: Panthers & Communists; Black Nationalists and Liberals in Southern California through the Sixties and Seventies. "Rotten History" follows the interview. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Economist Rob Larson returns to This Is Hell! to dicsuss Mastering the Universe: The Obscene Wealth of the Ruling Class, What They Do with Their Money, and Why You Should Hate Them Even More (Haymarket Books) on the day it's published. Check out Rob's book here: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2215-mastering-the-universe Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon.

We wrap up the week with the return of writer, theorist, and recovering academic Sophie Lewis to talk about her new writing at Salvage Magazine, "Some of my best enemies are feminists: on Zionist feminism." This will be Sophie's fourth appearance on This is Hell! and her interviews have repeatedly been selected by listeners as their favorites of the year each time she has appeared. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon.

Nevin Kallepalli joins us to discuss his writing at the Baffler, “Hindutva University: Meet the group spreading Hindu supremacist propaganda on college campuses”. “Moment of Truth” from Jeff Dorchen will follow the interview. Check out Nevin’s article here: https://thebaffler.com/latest/university-of-hindutva-kallepalli Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell

Elaine Scarry joins us to discuss her writing at the Boston Review, “The Extortionist Doctrine : On the persistence of U.S. nuclear deterrence policy.’” "Rotten History" from Renaldo Migaldi follow the interview. Check out Elaine’s article here: https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/the-extortionists-doctrine/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell

Rebecca John joins us to discuss her writing at DeSmog, "Revealed: Big Oil Told 70 Years Ago That Fossil Fuel Emissions Could Impact ‘Civilization.’" "Rotten History" from Renaldo Migaldi and "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follow the interview. Check out Rebecca's article here: https://www.desmog.com/2024/11/12/revealed-big-oil-told-70-years-ago-that-fossil-fuel-emissions-could-impact-civilization/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell

Alberto Toscano joins us to discuss his In These TImes piece, "Liberalism Will Cost Us the Earth - Trump’s recoronation is another symptom of centrism’s global bankruptcy.." Check out Alberto's article here: https://inthesetimes.com/article/liberalism-will-cost-us-the-earth?fbclid=IwY2xjawGzEB1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHSSXdh3TbVJILW-Ke60gd7sHll2I-8Y0gu8Hpt8uILxKhva2d1OWrwLeYQ_aem_8ZjUNhGUyyNj4NkRN7PLnA Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell