This Is Hell!

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.

Historian Quinn Slobodian joins This is Hell! to discuss his new book, "Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy." Quinn is the award-winning author of, "Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism," which has been translated into six languages. He is a professor of the history of ideas at Wellesley College. Then, Jeff Dorchen enlightens us with another installment of "The Moment of Truth."

Simon Waxman talks about his Baffler article, "Worst Laid Plans: Foreign Politics is politics." Waxman is a senior editor with the Harvard University Press and his writing has been published by the Washington Post, Boston Globe, New Republic, LA Review of Books, Democracy Journal, the Baffler, and others.

Alissa Quart joins This is Hell! to discuss her new book, Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream. Alissa Quart is a journalist and executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.

Historian Kevin A. Young joins us to discuss the challenges of capital strikes, institutional resistance, and potential allies and foes Chicago's Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson will face when he takes office on May 15. He recently published the Jacobin article, "Brandon Johnson Won in Chicago. Now His Movement Will Have to Beat Capital Strikes." Kevin is Associate Professor of History at University of Massachusetts Amherst where he teaches Latin American History. You can find his recent Jacobin article here: https://jacobin.com/2023/04/brandon-johnson-mayor-chicago-capital-strikes-movements

We have on Malcolm Harris to talk about his recent book Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World. Malcolm Harris is a freelance writer and an editor at The New Inquiry. And an all-new mind expanding Moment of Truth from our own Jeff Dorchen.

Returning to This is Hell! is the Intercept's Alleen Brown. Her work focuses on environmental justice issues. Her most recent article, co-written with Naveen Sadasivan is titled, "Oil and Water: After Spying on Standing Rock, TigerSwan Shopped Anti-Protest 'Counterinsurgency' to Other Oil Companies." The investigation is based on more than 50,000 pages of documents that were recently made public after the company behind the Dakota Access pipeline lost a court case to keep them secret. You can find the article, "Oil and Water," here: https://theintercept.com/2023/04/13/standing-rock-tigerswan-protests/

Katherine Yon Ebright joins Chuck to discuss her report, "Secret War: How the U.S. Uses Partnerships and Proxy Forces Wage War Under the Radar." She explains how security cooperation programs have led U.S. forces into unauthorized hostilities alongside foreign partners. Ebright serves as counsel with the Brennan Center's Liberty and National Security Program. You can read Katherine Ebright's report, "Secret War: How the U.S. Uses Partnerships and Proxy Forces Wage War Under the Radar," here: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/secret-war

We're joined by Dr. Naa Oyo A. Kwate who is on to discuss her recent book "White Burgers, Black Cash," about the affect of the Fast Food industry on Black America. Dr. Kwate is an Associate Professor of Africana Studies as well as an Associate Professor of Human Ecology at Rutgers University. Moreover we've got Rotten History and an all-new Moment of Truth from Jeff Dorchen! It's stacked!

After a tongue-twister of a Danish hangover cure, Chuck interviews Rasha Al Aqeedi about her New Lines Magazine article, "Living — and Reliving — the US Invasion of Iraq." Rasha Al Aqeedi, formerly a 2018-2019 Robert A. Fox Fellow in FPRI’s Middle East Program, is Managing Editor of Irfaa Sawtak (Raise Your Voice) and a researcher and analyst of contemporary Iraqi politics and political Islam. She is also a non-resident fellow of George Washington University’s Program on Extremism. Previously, Rasha was a researcher at the Al Mesbar Studies and Research Center in Dubai, and an analyst at Inside Iraqi Politics. Her work on Mosul and Sunni politics is frequently cited by The New York Times, Washington Post, AP and Buzzfeed. Rasha received an M.A. in Translation, a B.A. in Translation, and a B.A. in Computer Engineering from Mosul University. Check out Rasha's New Line Magazine article here: https://newlinesmag.com/first-person/living-and-reliving-the-us-invasion-of-iraq/

Our mystical foray into the This Is Hell vaults, retrieving never-before-aired interviews from early covid times, has reached its satisfying conclusion. Today we play an interview with Malcolm Harris, who in April of 2020 was talking about his then-recent book "Shit Is Fucked Up and Bullshit: History Since the End of History." As though that wasn't enough, we also provide ALL NEW answers to this weeks Question From Hell, and ask you to join our Patreon several times. (please do it's cold in this studio)

Our series of lost pandemic tapes continues: an interview from early covid times that was never aired on our home station WNUR: Helen Yaffe explains the ideological threat that Cuban's healthcare system poses to free market capitalism. And all-new Rotten History and your answers to the Question From Hell!

Sociologist Erin Hatton explores the nature of coerced labor in America - as prisons, welfare programs and universities push workers outside the protection of traditional legal employment, employers wield increasing power to exploit and punish subjects with little protection and less bargaining power.

We welcome Murtaza Hussain, a reporter at The Intercept who focuses on national security and foreign policy to discuss the horrendous aftermath of the Iraq War

Just as there is a lost cause narrative for the South White Northerners and Westerners have spun a related tale, and it's that they're all abolitionist.

Today's episode takes us into the archives 20 years ago to the day. Less than a week after the United States military invaded Iraq, Middle East Report editor Chris Toensing spoke with Chuck about the narrative being spun at the time to frame the invasion as a preemptive defensive measure to remove an imminent threat to the United States. Little did Chris and Chuck know at the time just how much water the media would carry for the Bush administration and the imperialists at the Project for the New American Century. Then Jeff regales us with his vision of illuminated dog paws. Finally, a Question from Hell winner is announced.

Historian Robin D. G. Kelley returns to This is Hell! to talk about his essay titled, “Buried History: The Death and Life of Donald S. Kelley” Part of a collection of essays called “After Life: A Collective History of Loss and Redemption in Pandemic America." (Haymarket Books). Robin is a writer and professor of history at UCLA. His most recent book is "Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination" https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/206173/freedom-dreams-by-robin-dg-kelley/ Produced by Lindsey Gorry

After a multipurpose hangover cure, Center for Economic Policy and Research Senior Economist and longtime friend of the show Dean Baker edifies us with his analysis of the mainstream media's irresponsible reporting on the failure of Silicon Valley Bank along with some remarks on how the financial system might be restructured. On The Past Inside the Present, Seb continues his series on Soviet history and the origins of US-Soviet relations with a discussion of the Great Patriotic War and its significance. You can follow Dean's musings on his Center for Economic Policy and Research blog, Beat the Press: https://cepr.net/blog/dean-bakers-beat-the-press/

Writer, ethnographer, and human-rights activist Michael Gould-Wartofsky is onto talk about his TomDispatch article, "Welcome to the Predator State: Where the Scorpions on the Corner Just Might Kill You," which about the killing of Tyre Nichols by a Memphis police unit called SCORPION. And an all-new Moment of Truth with Jeff Dorchen: This week Jeff wants to conquer the world with a philosophy of radical underachievement.

Tuesday, March 14th 2023, historian Keri Leigh Merritt returns to This is Hell! is co-editor of the collection, "After Life: A Collective History of Loss and Redemption in Pandemic America." This episode also features this week in Rotten History and new responses to the Question from Hell! Keri Leigh was a guest on the show back in 2017 to discuss a book that was selected as one of our listeners favorites of the year, "Masterless Men: Poor Whites and Slavery in the Antebellum South." Keri Leigh Merritt is a historian, editor and an independent scholar. She earned her B.A. from Emory University and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. Her first book, Masterless Men: Poor Whites and Slavery in the Antebellum South (Cambridge University Press, 2017), won both the Bennett Wall Award from the Southern Historical Association, honoring the best book in Southern economic or business history published in the previous two years, as well as the President’s Book Award from the Social Science History Association. Merritt is also co-editor, with Matthew Hild, of Reconsidering Southern Labor History: Race, Class, and Power (University Press of Florida, 2018), which won the 2019 Best Book Award from the UALE (United Association for Labor Education). She is currently working on two book-length projects for trade presses. Merritt also writes for the public, and has had letters and essays published in a variety of outlets. Most recently she released a self-narrated audiobook version of Masterless Men, and launched her history-based YouTube Channel “Merrittocracy.” Produced by Lindsey Gorry

After this week's hangover cure leaves us in suspense, British Academy Global Professor Siddharth Kara shares his horrifying research on the exploitation and inhumanity at the heart of the cobalt mining industry in the Congo upon which current rechargeable battery technology relies. Sebastian then brightens the mood with the first of several segments on a subject which the Western public remains ignorant: the history of the Soviet Union. Spoiler: it's not all gulags and show trials, but there were still plenty of those.

We have on Ann Neumann to discuss her new Baffler article: "Hydropower: A dam on the Nile roils democratic relations in the Horn of Africa" Jeff delivers a new Moment of Truth and the Question From Hell Contest freewheels into its cathartic culmination.

Professor Ariane Chebel d'Appollonia joins us in Hell to discuss her book "Violent America: The Dynamics of Identity Politics in a Multiracial Society" This episode also features new responses to the Question from Hell and this week in Rotten History. Dr. Ariane Chebel d'Appollonia is a professor in the School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA) at Rutgers University–Newark. She is also a Senior Researcher affiliated with the Center for European Studies and Comparative Politics (Sciences Po Paris). Her research focuses on the politics of immigration and racism, management of diversity, urban/minority policies, anti-discrimination, security issues, xenophobia, extreme-right wing movements, immigrant integration, and European policies. She has taught at universities both in France and in the United States.

Journalist Jasper Craven discusses his Baffler article, "The Sunshine Imperium: The Militarism of Ron DeSantis." Chuck and Will review the latest hangover cure, Siberian (red) ginseng, and fresh responses from this week's Question from Hell. Seb's "The Past Inside the Present" segment edifies and terrifies with a deep dive into the differences between American and Soviet nuclear doctrines.