This Is Hell!

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.

Today we have on Caroline Chen to discuss her ProPublica series, "Roots of an Outbreak" And the Question From Hell flies right towards its effulgent fulfillment.

Chuck interviews Dan Kolbert, co-author along with Christopher Briley, Michael Maines and Emily Mottram, of, “Pretty Good House: A Guide to Creating Better Homes.” Dan has been a carpenter and contractor in Portland, Maine, for three decades. He has written for various trade publications, including Fine Homebuilding magazine, and for the past 10 years has been moderator of the original Building Science Discussion Group in Portland, Maine, where the Pretty Good House idea originated. You can see Dan’s work at kolbertbuilding.com Follow Dan’s work on Instagram @kolbertbuilding This episode also features this week in Rotten History, written by Renaldo Migaldi.

Theologian, ordained minister, and anti-poverty activist Liz Theoharis is on to discuss her TomDispatch articles "Poverty Amid Plenty' and "Making it in a Poor World". Liz is Co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival and director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. She is the author of, "Always With Us? What Jesus Really Said About the Poor," and, "We Cry Justice: Reading the Bible with the Poor People’s Campaign." https://tomdispatch.com/poverty-amid-plenty/ This episode also features this week's Hangover Cure and a Past Inside the Present from Sebastian Wuepper, PhD.

Journalist Kari Lydersen returns to talk about her In These Times article, "The Case for Nationalizing the Railroads." Plus, and all-new Moment of Truth and the Question from Hell reaches it's electrifying terminus.

Journalist Prem Thakker speaks with host Chuck Mertz about his articles in the New Republic about the the hellish Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, where residents have been told it is safe to return to the site of an intentional burn of 1.1 million pounds of vinyl chloride, a class 1 carcinogen, despite lack of comprehensive testing and many test results remaining inconclusive. This episode was produced by Lindsey Gorry and features this week in Rotten History written by Renaldo Migaldi Prem Thakker is an associate writer for breaking news at The New Republic. His work has appeared in The American Prospect, Washington Monthly, CNN podcasts, and his newsletter Better World. Find Prem's writing on the East Palestine here: https://newrepublic.com/authors/prem-thakker

Journalist Asawin Suebsaeng discusses his Rolling Stones articles "Twitter Kept Entire 'Database’ of Republican Requests to Censor Posts " and "Trump Plans to Bring Back Firing Squads, Group Executions if He Retakes White House". This episode also features this week's Hangover Cure, new Question from Hell!, and a Past Inside the Present about Jim Crow Laws from historian Sebastion Wuepper. https://www.rollingstone.com/author/asawin-suebsaeng/

We have on Elizabeth Samet, author of, "Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness." Elizabeth is a professor of English at West Point.

Boyce Upholt returns to This is Hell! to discuss his piece recently published by the New Republic, "The Frightening Cost of Cheap Eggs: Why paying more for eggs could save us from another pandemic". This episode also features this week in Rotten History and new responses to the Question from Hell. Boyce Upholt is an award-winning freelance writer focused on the way we use and imagine the non-human world. He covers, among other subjects, public lands, exploration, biodiversity, foodways, infrastructure, and the cultural history of ”wilderness.” His work has appeared in The Atlantic, National Geographic, the Oxford American, and many other publications, and has been noted in the Best American Science and Nature series. Boyce won the 2019 award for investigative journalism from the James Beard Foundation. He is currently working on a book about the Mississippi River—a history of what’s been done to it and travelogue showing the results.

Dr. Clarence Lusane joins This is Hell! to discuss his series of Tom Dispatch articles, explaining how MAGA fascists found inspiration in suppressing the black vote to storm the US Capitol on Jan. 6th 2021. This episode also features this week's Hangover Cure and a Past Inside the Present from Dr. Sebastian Wuepper. This Week's Question from Hell! If you could spy on anyone or anything in the United States, who or what would it be? https://truthout.org/articles/january-6-report-obscured-the-role-of-racism-in-the-stop-the-steal-movement/ https://tomdispatch.com/authors/clarencelusane/ Dr. Clarence Lusane is a full Professor, former Chairman of Howard University’s Department of Political Science, and current Director of the International Affairs program. He is an author, activist, scholar, lecturer, and journalist. For more than 40 years, he has written about and been active in national and international human rights, anti-racism politics, Diaspora engagements, U.S. foreign policy, democracy building, and social justice issues such as education, criminal justice, and voting rights. He earned his B.A. from Wayne State University, and both his Masters and Ph.D. from Howard University in Political Science. His most recent book is The Black History of the White House.

We welcome human rights attorney Noura Erakat who wrote the Boston Review article, "Designing the Future in Palestine: Palestinian women and feminist organizations are reimagining what liberation can look like beyond national independence." Noura is Associate Professor at Rutgers University, New Brunswick in the Department of Africana Studies and the Program in Criminal Justice, and author of, "Justice for Some: Law and in the Question of Palestine."

Writer, professor and musician Sheila Liming joins us in Hell! to talk about her recently published book, "Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time". This episode also features a Past inside the Present from Dr. Sebastian Wuepper and new responses to this week's Question from Hell! Which is "When we take over the means of production, what can we produce once in a while as a treat?" https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/717263/hanging-out-by-sheila-liming/ Sheila Liming is an associate professor at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont, where she teaches classes on literature, media, and writing. She is the author of two books, What a Library Means to a Woman and Office. Sheila also plays the accordion and bagpipes. http://sheilaliming.com/ Twitter: @seeshespeak

Agroecologist and epidemiologist Rob Wallace returns to This is Hell! to discuss his new book, "The Fault in our SARS, COVID-19 in the Biden Era". Also featuring this week's Hangover cure and Rotten History. Rob Wallace is an evolutionary epidemiologist with the Agroecology and Rural Economics Research Corps. He is author of Big Farms Make Big Flu and coauthor of Clear-Cutting Disease Control: Capital-Led Deforestation, Public Health Austerity, and Vector-Borne Infection. He has consulted with the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

We have on journalist Katya Schwenk to discuss her Baffler Magazine article, "The Crime Wave That Wasn't." Faithful correspondent Jeff Dorchen explores ways to dissolve world Leadership. And the Question From Hell contest collapses into its barn-burning resolution.

Dr. Lewis Gordon, department head and professor of philosophy at the University of Connecticut, discusses his most recent book titled, Fear of Black Consciousness. This episode also features this week in Rotten History and new responses to the Question from Hell! Lewis Gordon is a philosopher at the University of Connecticut who works in the areas of Africana philosophy, existentialism, phenomenology, social and political theory, postcolonial thought, theories of race and racism, philosophies of liberation, aesthetics, philosophy of education, and philosophy of religion. He has written particularly extensively on Africana and black existentialism, postcolonial phenomenology, race and racism, and on the works and thought of W. E. B. Du Bois and Frantz Fanon. Find Fear of Black Consciousness at: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374159023/fearofblackconsciousness Manufacturing dissent since 1996: https://thisishell.com/pages/support

Recorded Monday, January 30th 2023, we speak with Rachel Garbus, a writer and editor based in Atlanta. Rachel discusses her piece recently published on Welcome to Hell World titled, "Stopping Cop City, the murder of Tortuguita, and the trees that got us here". This episode also includes a new Question from Hell! and this week's Hangover Cure. https://www.welcometohellworld.com/stopping-cop-city-the-murder-of-tortuguita-and-the-trees-that-got-us-here/ Rachel Garbus is a writer, editor and oral history maker in Atlanta, GA. She writes for Atlanta Magazine, covering politics and arts & culture for print and digital. She is the culture editor at WUSSY Mag, with writing and podcasting about all things queer with a Southeast lens. She is the co-founder of Out Down South, a multimedia history project and podcast celebrating the stories of LGBTQ+ Southerners. She's on Twitter @rachel_garbus Manufacturing Dissent since 1996: https://thisishell.com/pages/support

NOW IT CAN BE TOLD: we spin the never-before-aired-on-WNUR-because-it-was-the-start-of-covid interview from 3/25/20 with Max Haiven who had, at that time, just written the ROAR Magazine article, “No return to normal: for a post-pandemic liberation: Today, new forms of solidarity, mutual aid, and common struggle are emerging in the pandemic. How will they shape tomorrow’s struggles for a post-capitalist world?” Also, from behind the paywall we retrieve Chuck's poignant recollection of his long-lived romantic partnership that requires no state sanction. And the Question From Hell contest careens towards its dazzling fulfillment.

We revisit the strange times of the early 2020 Covid-19 pandemic social breakdown with interviews that never before graced the radiowaves of 89.3 WNUR, Northwestern University community radio across Evanston and North Chicago. At the time, we were locked down and out of the broadcasting studio. This interview was originally recorded on March 31st, 2020 with economist Eileen Applebaum about her article, "The U.S. Response to COVID-19: What’s in Federal Legislation and What’s Not, but Still Needed" written with Shawn Fremstad for CEPR. We consider it with 2023 hindsight and review the present week's Question from Hell! The entire past show exists on our website at: https://soundcloud.com/this-is-hell/tih20200331 Manufacturing dissent since 1996: https://thisishell.com/pages/support

We play the first of three "lost" interview from the early days of the Pandemic that was never played on the radio. We also present this week's Question from Hell! as well as the Hangover Cure. And then producer Seb has a best-off repeat of a Past inside the Present from last summer, the last he will read live in studio before leaving for greener pastures.

Reporter, public records requester, researcher Julia Rock joins us to discuss her article at The Lever, "How Big Pharma Actually Spends Its Massive Profits: New research shows that pharmaceutical companies have spent more on enriching shareholders than drug research and development over the past decade."

Our host Chuck Mertz postpones his scheduled interview with philosopher Rebecca Gordon due to stomach flu. Lindsey Gorry fills in at the studio by playing back Gordon's interview with This is Hell! in 2016 about the case for prosecuting the Bush administration for post 9/11 war crimes. Also featuring an extra sticky week in Rotten History and new responses to the Question from Hell. Rebecca Gordon teaches at the University of San Francisco. She is the author of Mainstreaming Torture, American Nuremberg: The U.S. Officials Who Should Stand Trial for Post-9/11 War Crimes and is now at work on a new book on the history of torture in the United States. Prior to teaching at USF, Rebecca spent many years as an activist in a variety of movements, including for women's and LGBTQ+ liberation, the Central America and South Africa solidarity movements and for racial justice in the United States. If you would like to contribute to This is Hell! and the manufacture of dissent, you can buy merch, subscribe to Patreon, or donate any amount by following this link: https://thisishell.com/pages/support

Chuck welcomes friend of the show Brian Mier to talk about Brazil's January 6 knockoff event and the differences in how Brazil fights fascism to how the US refuses to. We have this week's Question from Hell!, your weekly Hangover Cure, and producer Sebastian brings a new Past inside the Present segment. In honor of Martin Luther King Day Sebastian talks about slavery in America.

Today we have the return of journalist Christopher Ketcham who co-wrote The Intercept piece, "The Shutdown of “Luxury Emissions” Should Be at the Center of Climate Revolt."

Stefania Maurizi is an investigative journalist currently contributing to the major Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano after working for the last 14 years for la Repubblica, consistently rated among the top two Italian newspapers, and for the italian newsmagezine l’Espresso. She has worked with Julian Assange and his organization WikiLeaks since 2009, teaming up with large teams of international media to cover and investigate all WikiLeaks' secret documents Stefania speaks with host Chuck Mertz about her book "Secret Power: WikiLeaks and Its Enemies" recently published by Pluto Press. This episode also features new responses to the Question from Hell and this week in Rotten History. https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745347615/secret-power/ https://stefaniamaurizi.it/en-idx.html https://twitter.com/SMaurizi www.fattoquotidiano.it twitter.com/fattoquotidian www.repubblica.it twitter.com/repubblica

Filmmaker and journalist Esmé von Hoffman talks with Chuck Mertz about her recent article "I Heard it was Safe" published by The Lever. Also featuring a new Past Inside the Present from Sebastian Wuepper and this week's Hangover Cure. Esmé von Hoffman runs Chalk Circle Films and is an award-winning filmmaker who draws on her experience in journalism, theater, and the visual arts to bring a fresh aesthetic to film and television. @esme_von https://esmevonhoffman.com/ https://www.levernews.com/i-heard-it-was-safe/?fbclid=IwAR3QLaIppaV_MCFMuLGPl9APw313M1lxM4AAtPckG94DX7rN-pH3ekKYK5Y

We despair with too few replies to this week's needlessly complicated Question from Hell!, reveal big news about the This is Hell! Team, and play the final Best of 2022 interview from January last year with Roberto Lovato talking about the implications of legalizing drugs and criminalizing psychodelics for people that have consumed them for hundreds of years.

Our latest 'Best of 2022' interview is with organizer and author Tracy Rosenthal who wrote The New Republic article, “Inside LA’s Homeless Industrial Complex,” which she argues exists not of some failure of homelessness policy but an example of the system working exactly as intended.

We replay listener-chosen Best of 2022 interview with CD Davidson-Hiers and Jeff Vandermeer on their article "Is Florida Becoming a Failed State?" published October 11th, 2022 by The Nation. Also featuring this week's Hangover Cure and new responses to the Question from Hell! www.thenation.com/article/society/…a-hurricane-ian/ CD Davidson-Hiers is a native Floridian who grew up on a 40-acre horse farm in North Florida. Her work has appeared in the Bitter Southerner, Flamingo Magazine, and USA Today. She works for the nonprofit Education Writers Association while also overseeing the Florida Student News Watch, an organization to mentor new journalists. Her work covering the US Covid-19 vaccine rollout received recognition from NPR, The Washington Post, Soledad O’Brien, and other national news outlets. Jeff VanderMeer’s award-winning novel Annihilation is set in the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. His environmental advocacy has included helping save cypress swamp in North Florida and sponsoring research into the endangered frosted flatwood salamander. A 35-year resident of Florida, he has previously written about the state for, among others, Current Affairs and The Los Angeles Times.