This Is Hell!

Cherise Morris on the Truthout article, "To Build an Abolitionist Future, We Must Look to Indigenous Pasts: Worlds without police and without prisons have already existed, predating colonization and slavery." Seb starts a series of exploring the Century of Humiliation, which is what the Chinese sometimes call the nineteenth century. Learn about the Opium Wars.

Amanda Moore on her article at The Nation, “Undercover with the New Alt-Right: For 11 months, I pretended to be a far-right extremist. I discovered a radical youth movement trying to infiltrate the Republican Party.” And Jeff Dorchen flies the dogwhistling skies.

Professor of communications and director of gender studies at the University of Arkansas Lisa M. Corrigan joins Chuck to discuss the neoliberal dismantling of the University of West Virginia--a harbinger of a return to a tuition-based, legacy-first, exclusive educational order for all of American higher education. Check out her article, "The Evisceration of a Public University," in The Nation: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/wvu-cuts-higher-education/ Support This is Hell! at www.patreon.com/thisishell

Hugh Ryan on his Boston Review article, "Who’s Afraid of Social Contagion?: Our ideas about sexuality and gender have changed before, and now they’re changing again." Jeff Dorchen shares another Moment of Truth. Support This is Hell! at www.patreon.com/thisishell

Matthew King on his New Republic article, “Big Tech’s Waste ‘Solutions’ Are a Scam." https://newrepublic.com/article/173780/big-techs-waste-solutions-scam Also, 'This Week in Rotten History.' Support This is Hell! at www.patreon.com/thisishell

Clark Randall on his Boston Review article, "Bond Villains: How a little-understood feature of urban finance—municipal bonds—fuels racial inequality." Sebastian looks at how the United States ended up with a drinking age most other countries laugh at - and what that means for Americans. Support This is Hell! at www.patreon.com/thisishell

The Baffler's George Scialabba on his latest article, "Kudzu: The kingdom of private equity." Support This is Hell! at https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Geographer Katie J. Wells joins Chuck to discuss Uber's takeover of urban transportation. Wells is the author of Disrupting D.C.: The Rise of Uber and the Fall of the City with Kafui Attoh and Declan Cullen from Princeton University Press. Sebastian Wuepper returns with another Past Inside The Present. In this segment, Sebastian historicizes the ongoing catastrophe in Hawai'i. If you can, please consider donating to victims of the wildfires, many of whom lost everything. Here are some ways you can help: https://www.instagram.com/lahaina_ohana_venmo/ https://www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/strengthening/maui-strong-fund https://www.hawaiiancouncil.org/ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lExatubPl6zvsDcy4qUd3Sv1PvvKrzMhUyOzaKuId0o/htmlview#gid=194434303 https://secure.actblue.com/donate/kokuamaui https://mauifoodbank.org/donate/

Chucks describes his recent family vacation. Raina Lipsitz discuses her Verso Books title, "The Rise of a New Left: How Young Radicals Are Shaping the Future of American Politics." Rotten History of the 1953 coup d’état in Iran.

We return to Hell today with Gerald Horne, on his new book “Revolting Capital: Racism & Radicalism in Washington, D.C., 1900-2000” (International Publishers, 2023).

Chuck interviews historian Gerald Horne on his 2022 book from International Publishers, The Counter-Revolution of 1836: Texas Slavery, Jim Crow, and the Roots of U.S. Fascism. Please show your appreciation for completely listener-supported This is Hell! by becoming a Patreon patron at patreon.com/thisishell

Historian Gerald Horne on the intertwined histories of boxing and Black men under the long reach of slavery, White supremacy and capitalist exploitation in the American 20th century, and his book The Bittersweet Science: Racism, Racketeering and the Political Economy of Boxing from International Publishers. Please show your appreciation for completely listener-supported This is Hell! by becoming a Patreon patron at patreon.com/thisishell

Historian Gerald Horne explores the terrains of race, religion, capital and slavery across the 16th century trans-Atlantic world - as European powers pillaged Africa and the Americas of both people and resources, their destruction created the enduring formations of life in the 21st century - White supremacy and rapacious capitalism. Gerald is author of the book The Dawning of the Apocalypse: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism, and Capitalism in the Long Sixteenth Century from Monthly Review Press. Please show your appreciation for completely listener-supported This is Hell! by becoming a Patreon patron at patreon.com/thisishell

Historian Gerald Horne explores the intersection of White supremacy, Cold War politics and global liberation movements in southern Africa - as the struggle against colonialism and apartheid oriented itself within the larger conflict between capitalist and socialist states, the ANC and solidarity movements won major (but compromised and incomplete) victories against regimes of racial and economic exploitation. Gerald is author of White Supremacy Confronted: U.S. Imperialism and Anti-Communism vs. the Liberation of Southern Africa from Rhodes to Mandela from International Publishers. Please show your appreciation for completely listener-supported This is Hell! by becoming a Patreon patron at patreon.com/thisishell

While Chuck is away for the next two weeks in Northern Michigan on the annual family vacation, producer Will Ippen is holding down the fort. This episode features the first of six This is Hell! interviews with prolific historian and listener favorite Gerald Horne. This interview features a discussion of the roots of white supremacy in 17th century settler colonialism in North America as revealed in Horne's 2018 book The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism: The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, and Capitalism in 17th Century North America and the Caribbean. Gerald Horne is the John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. He is the author of more than thirty books and one hundred scholarly articles and reviews that document the history of racism as it intersects with labor, civil rights, politics, international relations, and war. Please show your appreciation for completely listener-supported This is Hell! by becoming a Patreon patron at patreon.com/thisishell

Ben Makuch discusses his recent Intercept report titled " Russian Militia Has Links to American Neo-Nazi and Anti-Trans Figures: The leader of the anti-Putin Russian Volunteer Corps is publicly connected to Robert Rundo and Christopher Pohlhaus." After the interview, a Question from Hell! winner is revealed and Jeff Dorchen remembers when we tried civilization in his latest Moment of Truth. Support This is Hell! at https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Center for Economic and Policy Research's Jake Johnston on his opinion piece at The New York Times, “The U.S. Still Can Do What’s Right for Haiti.” Afterwards, Rotten History explores the Erfurt Latrine Disaster. Support This is Hell! at https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Writer, theorist, and recovering academic Sophie Lewis returns to Hell to discuss her Baffler article, “The Good Enough Momfluencer: Disavowing maternal fantasies is easier said than done.” The article is a review of the book, “Momfluenced: Inside the Maddening, Picture-Perfect World of Mommy Influencer Culture,” by Sara Peterson. Peterson’s website says she writes about feminism, domesticity, and motherhood. Peterson also writes a newsletter about the myth of the ideal mother, ‘In Pursuit of Clean Countertops.’ Read Sophie’s article: https://thebaffler.com/latest/the-good-enough-momfluencer-lewis This is Sophie’s third appearance on This is Hell! She was on the show most recently in October of last year, 2022, to discuss her book, “Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation.” You may also remember Sophie being on the show back in July 2019 to talk about her book, “Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family.” Not only were both those interviews selected by listeners as among the best of each year – and replayed during our end of year ‘Best of’ special broadcasts – but you can find both conversations by going to thisishell.com and searching on ‘Lewis,’ and, as always, they are free. Sophie is currently hard at work on a book for Haymarket on enemy feminisms. Sophie’s lectures are archived at lasophielle.org. Follow Sophie on Twitter at (at)reproutopia and support her work at patreon.com/reproutopia Support This is Hell! at https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Today's episode features an interview with This Is Hell! regular Brian Mier. Brian updates Chuck on what the US corporate media has been getting wrong about Brazil. We also have the second of a two-part Moment of Truth from Jeff Dorchen. Brian Mier is a Chicagoan who immigrated to Brazil in the 1990s. He is a sociologist and geographer. He is also Brazil Correspondent for TeleSur English, co-host of Globalistas on TV 247, Brasilwire, FAIR, COHA, Truthdig, Geopolitical Economy Report, Carta Capital, Outras Palavras. Support This is Hell! on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Michael Gould-Wartofsky on his TomDispatch article, "American Inquisition: Field Notes from the Frontlines of the Government's War on the Left," which also appeared at Salon. Michael Gould-Wartofsky is a writer, ethnographer, and human-rights activist from New York City and a postdoctoral research fellow at Columbia University. He is the author of The Occupiers and American Inquisitions (forthcoming in 2025), and has written for the Washington Post, the Daily Beast, Tom Dispatch, Gizmodo, Jacobin, Mother Jones, The Nation, and Newsweek. You can read more of his work at mgouldwartofsky.com. Also included: Rotten History about the Port of Chicago disaster. Support This is Hell! on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

M.E. O’Brien joins us in Hell to discuss her new book "Family Abolition: Capitalism and the Communizing of Care" published by Pluto Press. M.E. co-edits two magazines, Pinko, on gay communism, and Parapraxis, on psychoanalytic theory and politics. Her work on family abolition has been translated into Chinese, German, Greek, French, Spanish, and Turkish. Her writing has been published by Work, Employment and Society, Social Movement Studies, Endnotes, Homintern, Commune, and Invert. Previously, she coordinated the New York City Trans Oral History Project, and worked in HIV and AIDS activism and services. She completed a PhD at NYU, where she wrote on how capitalism shaped New York City LGBTQ social movements. Find her on twitter (at)genderhorizon and at her website https://genderhorizon.com/ Support This is Hell! on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Today's interview features Umar Farooq, author of the article, "‘The fight for our lives’: Arizona’s water regime limits the Hopi Tribe’s future" published in High Country News in collaboration with ProPublica. Umar Farooq is Umar Farooq is an Ancil Payne Fellow with ProPublica. Check out the article here: https://www.hcn.org/issues/55.7/indigenous-affairs-water-the-fight-for-our-lives-arizona-water-regime-limits-the-hopi-tribes-future See more ProPublica reporting on indigenous Americans' fight for the promised resource of water here: https://www.propublica.org/series/waiting-for-water

Maya Schenwar returns to discuss her Truthout article, “Right-Wingers Push Death Penalty Reinstatement Bills as Part of Hardline Agenda: The same forces that are attacking abortion, trans health care and racial justice are also pushing for more executions." Maya Schenwar is a writer, editor, journalist and organizer who has spent the last 20 years working tosculpt new ways for journalism to serve the public good and fuel social transformation. She spent 13 years as Editor-in-Chief of Truthout, an independent social justice news publication, and is currently the organization’s Editor-at-Large and Board President. Recently, Maya founded the Truthout Center for Grassroots Journalism. She is the co-author (with Victoria Law) of Prison by Any Other Name: The Harmful Consequences of Popular Reforms (The New Press, July 2020), and the author of Locked Down, Locked Out: Why Prison Doesn’t Work and How We Can Do Better (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2014). Both books challenge the ingrained logic of prison and policing that holds our society captive, and share the work of bold and creative efforts to uproot the prison-industrial complex. Maya is also the co-editor (with Joe Macaré and Alana Yu-Lan Price) of Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect? Police Violence and Resistance in the United States, an anthology focused on the entrenched racism and violence of policing and the fight to dismantle that institution. She authored a chapter in The Long Term: Resisting Life Sentences, Working Toward Freedom, and co-authored a chapter in the anthology Welcome to the Revolution: Universalizing Resistance for Social Justice and Democracy in Perilous Times, with Alana Yu-Lan Price. More info at https://www.mayaschenwar.com/. Also, an episode of "Rotten History."

We return to Hell today with Gerald Horne, on his new book “Revolting Capital: Racism & Radicalism in Washington, D.C., 1900-2000” (International Publishers). Sebastian Wüpper also returns with a 'Past Inside the Present.’ Find Gerald's book here (and as a raffle prize at our listener appreciation party): https://www.intpubnyc.com/.../revolting-capital-racism.../ Dr. Horne holds the Moores Professorship of History and African American Studies. His research has addressed issues of racism in a variety of relations involving labor, politics, civil rights, international relations and war. He has also written extensively about the film industry. Dr. Horne received his Ph.D. in history from Columbia University and his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and his B.A. from Princeton University.

Today's dive into the archives features a July 4, 2009 interview with political scientist Chalmers Johnson about the state of American Empire. Sadly, not much has changed. Chalmers Ashby Johnson (August 6, 1931 – November 20, 2010 was an American political scientist specializing in comparative politics, and professor emeritus of the University of California, San Diego. He served in the Korean War, was a consultant for the CIA from 1967 to 1973 and chaired the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of California, Berkeley from 1967 to 1972. He was also president and co-founder with Steven Clemons of the Japan Policy Research Institute (now based at the University of San Francisco), an organization that promotes public education about Japan and Asia.

Saskia Sassen is professor of sociology and member of the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University. Saskia's most recent book is 2007's "A Sociology of Globalization" (WW Norton). She wrote this week's openDemocracy piece, "The new executive politics: a democratic challenge". Before that, she wrote April's openDemocracy article, "Too big to save: the end of financial capitalism."

Rick Shenkman is the author of "Just How Stupid Are We? Facing the Truth about the American Voter" (Basic Books), the second chapter of which was excerpted at TomDispatch.com as the article, "How Ignorant Are We?: The Voters Choose… but on the Basis of What?." Rick is an Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter, New York Times bestselling author, and associate professor of history at George Mason university is also the founder and editor of History News Network, a website that features articles by historians on current events. He also blogs at "How Stupid?"

Jeremy Leaming talked with us about his article, "Christian Reconstructionists Are Trying to Take Dominion in America -- and They Have Powerful Friends." Jeremy is a communications associate for Americans United for Separation of Church and State. You can learn more about the organization here: http://www.au.org/

Chuck is off for the next couple of weeks, you will be stuck with producer Will. This episode features an interview from July 7, 2007 with S. Derek Turner when he discussed what his group, Free Press, has done with the Center for American Progress. Their study, "The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio," shows how the right wing's grip on the airwaves is because of a failed market, not a cultural revolution. You can find the report here: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-structural-imbalance-of-political-talk-radio/

Today on This is Hell! Chuck interviews Dave Denison about his Baffler article “The Shame of the Suburbs” Dave Denison is a senior editor of The Baffler. He has written and edited for The Texas Observer, CommonWealth magazine, and The American Prospect. A selected archive of his writing is warehoused at www.davedenison.net. A transplanted Midwesterner, he lives near Boston and claims to be an amateur carpenter, an aspiring mason, and an above-average bowler. Read Dave’s article on Baffler at https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-shame-of-the-suburbs-denison

Distinguished anthropologist Alex Hinton joins Chuck to discuss his Sapiens article, "Two Myths Fueling the Conservative Right's Dangerous Transphobia." The discussion includes Alex's insights from the most recent CPAC. You can find the article here: https://www.sapiens.org/culture/transphobia-myths/ Alex is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University, Director of the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights, and UNESCO Chair on Genocide Prevention.

Miliaku Nwabueze talks with Chuck about her Scaliwag essay, "How to Build the End of the World: In Defense of the Chaotic Protester."

Micah Herskind discusses his Scalawag article, "This is the Atlanta Way: A Primer on Cop City," and his MSNBC post, “If those supporting ‘Cop City’ prevail in Atlanta, your city could be next.” Micah Herskind is an Atlanta-based organizer and writer. Find more of his writing on his website, micahherskind.com and follow him on Twitter at: micahinATL Read Micah’s article here: https://scalawagmagazine.org/2023/05/cop-city-atlanta-history-timeline/ #StopCopCity

Historian Jo Guldi joins us to discuss her Boston Review article, "The Earth for Man: Redistributing land was once central to global development efforts---and it should be today." This article is adapted from her 2022 book from Yale University Press, "The Long Land War: The Global Struggle for Occupancy Rights." You can find the article here: https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/the-earth-for-man/ And the book here: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300256680/the-long-land-war/ Jeff Dorchen delivers the first installment of a two-part "Moment of Truth." This week's Question from Hell! winner is announced. The competition this week was fierce.

McMansion Hell's Kate Wagner returns to discuss her new Baffler article, “Bad Manors: The McMansion as harbinger of the American apocalypse.”

Matt Mazewski joins This is Hell! to discuss his new article, "The Pandemic Isn't Over." Matt Mazewski is a contributing writer and book critic at Commonweal, where he writes on economics and public policy. He is a former research analyst in the research and statistics group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Matt teaches courses on economics and labor studies for high school students at Columbia University's pre-college programs, as well as being an economics tutor. He's an independent researcher working on several projects related to labor economics, including the measurement of union membership over time at a fine geographic level, the impacts of collective bargaining on retirement outcomes, and the dynamics of monopsony power in labor markets. Read Matt’s article "The Pandemic Isn’t Over" at commonwealmagazine.org

Writer, speaker, and ecofeminist Jennifer Lunden joins This is Hell! to discuss her new book "American Breakdown, Our Ailing Nation, My Body's Revolt, and the Nineteenth-Century Woman Who Brought Me Back to Life," out now from Harper Collins: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/american-breakdown-jennifer-lunden You can learn more about Lunden and her work at her website: https://jenniferlunden.com/ Jeff Dorchen is back with another "Moment of Truth," in which he cleans up after the dogman.

American journalist Nick Terse joins This is Hell to discuss his recent Intercept piece, "Kissinger's Killing Fields." Interviews with more than 75 witnesses and survivors of U.S. military attacks and an exclusive archive of documents show that Henry Kissinger is responsible for even more civilian deaths in Cambodia than was previously known. You can find the article here: https://theintercept.com/series/henry-kissinger-killing-fields/

Economic historian Trevor Jackson joins This is Hell! to discuss two recent pieces: "Overproduction and Its Discontents: Capitalism's inherent predilection for excess" in Baffler Magazine and "The Price of Crypto: Despite its boosters' frequent references to democracy and freedom, cryptocurrency reflects a radical marketization of politics in which major players can rewrite the rules as needed" in the New York Review of Books. You can find the Baffler article here: https://thebaffler.com/latest/overproduction-and-its-discontents-jackson You can find the New York Review of Books article here: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2023/06/08/the-price-of-crypto-the-cryptopians-laura-shin/

Lindsay Koshgarian and Ashik Siddique, co-authors of the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies report, “The Warfare State: How Funding for Militarism Compromises Our Welfare. You can check out there report here: https://www.nationalpriorities.org/analysis/2023/warfare-state-how-funding-militarism-compromises-our-welfare/ LIndsay Koshgarian is Lindsay's work and commentary on the federal budget and military spending has appeared on NPR, the BBC, CNN, The Nation, U.S. News and World Report, and others. At NPP, her work is at the intersection of military and domestic federal spending. Ashik Siddique is a research analyst for the National Priorities Project, working on analysis of the federal budget and military spending. After the interview, Jeff fills us in on the codplast boom. Finally, Chuck and Will's favorite answer to this week's Question from Hell is revealed!

Writer and editor Benjamin Schwarz and international affairs scholar Christopher Layne join Chuck to discuss their recent Harper's article, "Why are We in Ukraine? On the dangers of American hubris." You can find their article here: https://harpers.org/archive/2023/06/why-are-we-in-ukraine/ Benjamin Schwarz was formerly the national and literary editor of The Atlantic and the executive editor of World Policy Journal. Christopher Layne is the University Distinguished Professor of International Affairs and the Robert M. Gates Chair in National Security at Texas A&M University.

Historian Madga Teter joins This is Hell! to discuss her new book, "Christian Supremacy: Reckoning with the Roots of Antisemitism and Racism" now available from Princeton University Press: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691242583/christian-supremacy . The work offers "a panoramic cultural and legal history that traces the roots of antisemitism and racism to early Christian theology." Jeff Dorchen shares another "Moment of Truth," followed by another installment of Renaldo Migaldi's Rotten History.

Historian Gabriel Winant on the N + 1 article, “J. D. Vance Changes the Subject: A senator from the unconscious.” You can find Gabriel's article here: https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-45/politics/j-d-vance-changes-the-subject-2/

Chuck interviews Claire Provost and Matt Kennard on their book, "Silent Coup: How Corporations Overthrew Democracy."

Sharanya Deepak on The Baffler article, "India’s Beef with Beef: Vegetarianism as a tool for punishment and surveillance." Also, 'The Past Inside the Present with Seb Wüepper.

Writer and publisher Charlotte Shane on the N + 1 article, "Three Times: The pregnancy was the crisis, not the abortion." You can find Charlotte's N+1 article here: https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-44/politics/three-times/ And some of her other work here: http://www.charoshane.com/

Alex de Waal discusses the war inside Sudan and the impact of internal and external forces on the continued bloodshed.

Ashley Dawson joins This is Hell! to discuss their new book, "Decolonize Conservation: Global Voices for Indigenous Self-Determination, Land, and a World in Common," co-edited with Fiore Longo and Survival International Ashley Dawson is currently Professor of Postcolonial Studies in the English Department at the Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY), and at the College of Staten Island/CUNY. He currently works in the fields of environmental humanities and postcolonial ecocriticism.

Christopher Ketcham on his Truthdig article, “The Green Growth Delusion: Advocates of “Green Growth” promise a painless transition to a post-carbon future. But what if the limits of renewable energy require sacrificing consumption as a way of life?” Christopher writes for several outlets, including his journalism non-profit, Denatured. Jeff Dorchen muses about advice in a new The Moment of Truth. You can find Christopher's article here: https://www.truthdig.com/dig/green-tinted-glasses/

Gaiutra Bahadur on her Boston Review article, “Unmaking Asian Exceptionalism: On violence and the possibility of solitaries in America.” Chuck shares rotten history, and, in "Past Inside the Present," Seb looks at the history of the fairness doctrine.