

Q & A, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger
Jay Nordlinger
Jay Nordlinger is a journalist who writes about a range of subjects, including politics, foreign affairs, and the arts. He is the music critic of The New Criterion. His guests are from the worlds of politics and culture, talking about the most important issues of the day, and some pleasant trivialities as well. www.jaynordlinger.com
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jan 20, 2021 • 1h 7min
E328. Incendiary Subjects
A sportscast with Jay’s favorite gurus: Sally Jenkins, Vivek Dave, and David French. Bill Belichick and the Pats. The coach’s turning down of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The miraculous career of Tom Brady. Too “miraculous”? Anything illicit going on? Urban Meyer, the Washington Football Team, James Harden as Brooklyn Net, and more. Very lively, very informed—very entertaining. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Jan 17, 2021 • 1h 3min
E327. Pathologist with a Pen: Kevin D. Williamson on America
Jay talks once more with one of his favorite writers and people — Kevin D. Williamson, whose new book is “ Big White Ghetto: Dead Broke, Stone-Cold Stupid, and High on Rage in the Dank Woolly Wilds of the ‘Real America.’” Among the topics: poverty, drugs, gambling, porn, and despair. But don’t worry: The conversation is much more pleasurable than it sounds. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Jan 7, 2021 • 49min
E326. A Filmmaker and the Khashoggi Murder
In 2017, Bryan Fogel made “Icarus,” a film about Russia, sports, and doping. It was a highly consequential film. It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Now Fogel has made “The Dissident,” about Jamal Khashoggi and his murder by the Saudi government. Jay talks with Fogel about his life and his work. An interesting, admirable fellow, Fogel. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Dec 21, 2020 • 1h 3min
E325. On Liberty, with Richard Brookhiser
The latest of Richard Brookhiser’s many excellent and useful books is “ Give Me Liberty: A History of America’s Exceptional Idea.” What can Americans rally around, diverse as we are? Liberty. What is the wellspring of these United States? Liberty. In this “Q&A,” Brookhiser touches on the Founding, Gettysburg, Seneca Falls, and more. Rick Brookhiser has the gift of understanding, and the gift of... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Dec 18, 2020 • 49min
E324. After the Election, America at a Boil
Once more, Tim Alberta, the ace reporter from Politico, is Jay’s guest. He has done some of the best writing in the post-election (as in the pre-election). Try this, for instance, and this. He and Jay talk about their home state, Michigan: dramatic hearings; dramatic other things, including a plot to kidnap the governor. They go beyond Michigan, too, to talk about the state of the union... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Nov 25, 2020 • 1h 7min
E323. A Tour with Declan Walsh, Foreign Correspondent
Declan Walsh is a veteran foreign correspondent, whom Jay has read and cited for years. Walsh has reported from many spots, most of them troubled – very. He has recently been Cairo bureau chief for the New York Times. Now he is in Africa for that paper. He has just written a book about Pakistan (a country from which he was expelled). Jay tours the world with Declan Walsh – or a bit of it... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Nov 21, 2020 • 1h 1min
E322. Manliness, Machiavelli, and More, with Harvey Mansfield
Harvey Mansfield, the professor of government and political philosopher at Harvard, is one of the great teachers in America. He does some splendid teaching in this hour with Jay. He talks about manliness – what it is and what it isn’t. (Mansfield published a book on the subject in 2006.) He talks about “conservative” and “liberal” – what do those things mean? He addresses the question... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Nov 12, 2020 • 58min
E321. Sorting It Out, with Robert Costa
In these post-election days, Jay wanted to talk to his old friend and colleague Robert Costa: national political reporter of the Washington Post; analyst for NBC News and MSNBC; host of PBS’s “Washington Week.” They do indeed talk it over: R’s, D’s, media, inaugurations, and more. Costa is a man who knows – because he finds out. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Nov 3, 2020 • 1h 4min
E320. Sports in a Year of Pandemic
A wide-ranging conversation with Sally Jenkins, columnist of the Washington Post, and David French, senior editor of The Dispatch. An NBA season. A Major League Baseball season. College football, sort of. A Masters tournament in November. Should there be a college sports major? And more. Two seasoned and eloquent gurus, questioned by Jay. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Oct 25, 2020 • 51min
E318. Lincoln, Mookie, and the Piggly Wiggly: A Conversation with George F. Will
In the middle of the World Series, you want to talk baseball with George F. Will. You want to talk baseball with him anytime, actually, and a number of other subjects, too. In this “Q&A,” Will speaks of the “angelic, superb Mookie Betts,” of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He also talks about the presidential campaign, the Supreme Court, and the Republican Party. There’s Big Tech, too. Is it to be feared? Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe