In 2016, J.D. Vance informally launched his political career with "Hillbilly Elegy," a memoir that blames the relative poverty of Appalachian and Rust Belt populations on their own culture. Despite its reactionary premise, mainstream and liberal press outlets were so enamored by the book that they accidentally made Vance a senator.Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPodWhere to find us: TwitterPeter's other podcast, 5-4Mike's other podcast, Maintenance PhaseSources:Appalachian Reckoning America’s Divided Recovery What Did Hillbilly Elegy Get Wrong? J.D. Vance, the False Prophet of Blue America Hillbilly ElitismWelfare Queens and White Trash Consumer Expenditures in 2016 Household Expenditures and Income CFPB Data Point: Payday Lending Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

TRIGGER WARNING: if you're a SNOWFLAKE college professor afraid of how your students are expressing themselves, you might need a SAFE SPACE, because Michael and Peter are discussing "The Coddling of The American Mind," a book about campus culture that's light on facts and heavy on cherry-picked anecdotes.CORRECTION: The Socrates quote mentioned at the end of this episode is apocryphal. We thank the listeners who pointed this out for refusing to coddle our American minds.Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPodWhere to find us: TwitterPeter's other podcast, 5-4Mike's other podcast, Maintenance PhaseSources:The Miseducation of Free Speech (https://www.virginialawreview.org/articles/miseducation-free-speech/)College and the “Culture War”: Assessing Higher Education’s Influence on Moral Attitudes (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00031224211041094)The Myth of the Campus Coddle Crisis (https://academeblog.org/2018/12/28/the-myth-of-the-campus-coddle-crisis-the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/)What ‘Safe Spaces’ Really Look Like on College Campuses (https://www.chronicle.com/article/what-safe-spaces-really-look-like-on-college-campuses/?bc_nonce=peduocnzcslb08jxmt1dlb&cid=reg_wall_signup)Are College Campuses Really in the Thrall of Leftist Censors? (https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/03/hypersensitive-campus-progressives-judith-shulevitz-is-half-right-but-takes-her-criticisms-too-far.html) Speaking Freely: What Students Think about Expression at American Colleges (https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/student-attitudes-free-speech-survey) ‘Not all cultures are created equal’ says Penn Law professor in op-ed (https://www.thedp.com/article/2017/08/amy-wax-penn-law-cultural-values) How Right Wing Media Has Tried to Stifle Student Speech at Evergreen State College (https://psmag.com/education/the-real-free-speech-story-at-evergreen-college)I'm a liberal professor, and my liberal students terrify me (https://www.vox.com/2015/6/3/8706323/college-professor-afraid)In College and Hiding From Scary Ideas (https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/opinion/sunday/judith-shulevitz-hiding-from-scary-ideas.html)Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

The nation's most prestigious newspaper insists on asking a very stupid question. So for this month's bonus episode, we decided to answer it. To hear the rest of the show, support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPodAs we mentioned at the top of the episode, we're donating this month's support to three of our trans journo-friends! They've been unbelievably patient with Mike as he's navigated the science and politics of this issue over the last year. Here's where to find and support their work:Parker Molloy (readtpa.com) Katelyn Burns (patreon.com/katelynburns)Evan Urquhart  (assignedmedia.org) 

"If your thesis doesn't hold up to obvious criticisms, there's a chance that your thesis sucks." Thanks to Paul Musgrave and Alex Cruikshanks for helping us fact-check this episode!Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPodWhere to find us: TwitterPeter's other podcast, 5-4Mike's other podcast, Maintenance PhaseLinks!Huntington’s 1993 articleStatistics on deaths in state-based conflicts The Clash of Civilizations: An Islamicist’s CritiquePaul Musgrave’s Roundtable on  Clash of Civilizations  “The Hispanic Challenge” The “Arab Street”? Public Opinion In The Arab World The Clash of Ignorance Can Civilizations Clash? 

Francis Fukuyama's "The End of History and the Last Man" changed political discourse forever. Peter and Michael peel back his muddled history and fluffy rhetoric, revealing several more layers of muddled history and fluffy rhetoric.Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPodWhere to find us: TwitterPeter's other podcast, 5-4Mike's other podcast, Maintenance PhaseSources:Reflections on the End of History, Five Years Later (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2505433)More Proof That This Really Is the End of History (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/10/francis-fukuyama-still-end-history/671761/)Francis Fukuyama Postpones the End of History (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/09/03/francis-fukuyama-postpones-the-end-of-history)Endism: why 1989 was not the 'end of history' (https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/endism/)The End of the End of History (https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/maximillian-alvarez-end-end-history/)It's Still Not the End of History (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/09/its-still-not-the-end-of-history-francis-fukuyama/379394/)Bring back ideology: Fukuyama's 'end of history' 25 years on (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/21/bring-back-ideology-fukuyama-end-history-25-years-on)Francis Fukuyama's Shrinking Idea (https://newrepublic.com/article/152668/francis-fukuyama-identity-review-collapse-theory-liberal-democracy)

In December 2019, the coronavirus pandemic began in Wuhan, China. In May 2021, America experienced one of the most cursed weeks of punditry we've ever seen. This is a condensed version of the full episode. To hear the rest go to patreon.com/IfBooksPod. See you next week! 

In 1992 a yoga instructor with a distance-learning PhD had the courage to ask: "Are women not getting help around the house because they're using the wrong modal verb?" Support us on PatreonWhere to find us: TwitterPeter's other podcast, 5-4Mike's other podcast, Maintenance PhaseSources:The Myth of Mars and Venus: Do Men and Women Really Speak Different Languages?A critical response to John Gray's Mars and Venus portrayals of men and women The Gender Similarities HypothesisThe Rebuttal from UranusComing home upset: Gender, marital satisfaction and the daily spillover of workday experience into couple interactionsFDA warning letter Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus: An Analysis of a Potential MemeWomen, Men and Language Women, Men, and Gender: Ongoing DebatesWomen and Men Talking: Are They World’s Apart?

Rhonda Byrne's "The Secret" sold millions of copies based on a simple premise: All of science is fake and the only reason anything ever happens is because people manifest it by communicating with the universe.Support us on PatreonWhere to find us: TwitterPeter's other podcast, 5-4Mike's other podcast, Maintenance PhaseSources:Power Lines Oprah's Ugly Secret The Staggering Bullshit of The SecretDeath by “alternative” medicine: Who’s to blame?  For Some Seeking Rebirth, Sweat Lodge Was End A Little Secret About The Secret Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

How a Stanford lepidopterist convinced the world to fear the breeding habits of the poor. Again. Support us on PatreonWhere to find us: TwitterPeter's other podcast, 5-4Mike's other podcast, Maintenance PhaseSources:Sonia Shah’s “The Next Great Migration” Barbarian Hordes: The overpopulation scapegoat in international development discourseOptimism and OverpopulationThe Population Bomb RevisitedThe Strange History of Birth ControlBirth Control for OthersHow the World Survived the Population Bomb: Lessons From 50 Years of Extraordinary Demographic HistoryWhy the Population Bomb is a Rockefeller Baby

Our first premium episode is a deep dive into the blog of the infamously (and  dubiously) "canceled" Bari Weiss. To hear the full episode, subscribe on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPodMore free episodes are on their way!