In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Eugene Finkel about the Ukraine-Russian War. They discuss Russia’s 200 year crusade to end Ukraine, identity, shared histories, and impact of Mongol and Ottoman empires. They talk about the Donbas and Crimea regions, Putin’s version of history, Galicia and Eastern Front in WWI, Ukraine independence, and Stalin’s Russification of Ukraine. They discuss Ukraine post- Soviet Union, 2014 annexation of Crimea and start of the current war, the 2022 invasion, current state of the war, peace, and many other topics. Eugene Finkel is the Kenneth H. Keller Professor of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University. He received a BA in Political Science and International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a PhD in Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on how institutions and individuals respond to extreme situations: mass violence, state collapse, and rapid change. He is the author of numerous books including the most recent, Intent to Destroy: Russia's Two-Hundred-Year Quest to Dominate Ukraine. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Christine Rosen about changes in our experiences within today’s society. They talk about the value of human experience, speed of change with technology, becoming users not individuals, embodied experience, and spatiality. They also discuss audience capture, institutional reform, our future experiences, and many more topics. Christine Rosen is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where she focuses on American history, society and culture, technology and culture, and feminism. Concurrently she is a columnist for Commentary magazine and one of the cohosts of The Commentary Magazine Podcast. She is also a fellow at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture and a senior editor in an advisory position at the New Atlantis. She has a PhD in history, with a major in American intellectual history, from Emory University, and a BA in history from the University of South Florida.Her writing has appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Commentary, the New York Daily News, Los Angeles Times, National Affairs, National Review, the New Atlantis, the New Republic, the New York Times, MIT Technology Review, Politico, Slate, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Examiner, the Washington Post, and the New England Journal of Medicine, among other outlets. She is the author or coauthor of many books including her most recent book, The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jonathan Rauch about the impact of Christianity on democracy in the United States. They discuss Christianity without dogma, why secular America should care about Christianity, and if a secular religion is possible. They talk about why people are less religious, evangelical Christians aligned with MAGA, liberalism and post-liberalism, mormonism, future of Christianity and democracy, and many more topics. Jonathan Rauch is a Senior Fellow of Governance Studies at Brookings Institute. He is a journalist and author of eight books. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and recipient of the 2005 National Magazine Award. He is the author of the latest book, Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy. Website: https://www.jonathanrauch.com/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Rahul Bhatia about the many recent changes in India. They provide an overview of the recent social changes in India, the Citizenship Act and National Register, Citizenship based on religion, protests against the Citizenship Act, history of the RSS, Infosys, Modi, and many more topics. Rahul Bhatia is a journalist and author of The New India, a book of narrative reportage about the road to authoritarianism in India and its effects on ordinary citizens.His work has been published in the Guardian Long Read, the New Yorker, the New York Times, Reuters Investigates, Quartz, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, the Caravan, and other places. He was awarded a Harvard Radcliffe Institute fellowship in 2022-23, won the True Story Award in 2024, and received a Ramnath Goenka Award and a Mumbai Press Club Red Ink Award in 2015.Website: https://rahulbhatia.com/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with James M. Bradley about the life and president of Martin Van Buren. They discuss how Van Buren built the modern political party system, background and upbringing of Van Buren, influence of Aaron Burr, Van Buren’s temperament, his time as New York State Senator, Attorney General, U.S. Senator, and Governor of New York. They talk about Van Buren being campaign manager for Andrew Jackson’s presidential campaign, Secretary of State for Jackson, Van Buren’s own presidency, legacy of Van Buren, and many more topics. James M. Bradley is co-editor of the Martin Van Buren Papers, based at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee. He is an Adjunct Instructor in the public history program at State University of New York at Albany, and was the Senior Project Editor of Encyclopedia of New York City, published by Yale University Press. He is the author of the most recent book, Martin van Buren: America’s First Politician. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Christopher Cox about Woodrow Wilson and his interactions with women’s rights. They discuss the complicated history and legacy of Woodrow Wilson, landscape of the women’s Suffrage movement, and the origins of Wilson’s racist and sexist ideas. They talk about his time at Bryn Mawr College, ignoring women’s rights as governor, and how he won the Presidency in 1912. They discuss his removal of African-Americans from the Civil Service division, his interactions with the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA), handling women’s rights protests, change to supporting the Anthony Amendment, Wilson’s legacy on women’s rights, and many more topics. Christopher Cox is a Senior Scholar in Residence at the University of California, Irvine, a Life Trustee of the University of Southern California, Chair of the Rhodes Scholarship selection committee for Southern California and the Pacific, and a member of several nonprofit and for-profit boards. Between two decades as a practicing lawyer, he served as chair of the Homeland Security Committee in the US House of Representatives, chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and senior associate counsel to the President. He has written for Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes, The Detroit News, The Denver Post, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and dozens of other publications. He is the author of the recent book, Woodrow Wilson: The Light Withdrawn. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Yardena Schwartz about the 1929 Jewish Massacre in Hebron. They give an overview of the 1929 Hebron massacre, review of Ottoman and British rule of Palestine, and talk about Hebron and holy sites in Palestine. They also discuss an independent Palestine, motivations and propoganda before the 1929 massacre, Haj Amin, lineage of Amin to present-day Palestinian leadership, October 7 massacre, and many more topics. Yardena Schwartz is an award-winning journalist and Emmy-nominated producer. From 2013 to 2023 she was based in Israel, where she reported for dozens of publications, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time, Economist, New York Review of Books, and Foreign Policy. She has also reported from Morocco, Nepal, Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany, and the United States.​ Yardena previously worked at NBC News, including stints at The Today Show, Nightly News, and MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports. She graduated with honors from Columbia Journalism School in 2011, earned an Emmy nomination in 2013, and an RNA award for excellence in magazine reporting in 2016. ​ Ghosts of a Holy War is Yardena's first book.Website: https://www.yardenaschwartz.com/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In a compelling dialogue, Nathan Thrall, an American writer and Pulitzer Prize winner residing in Jerusalem, shares insights about the Palestinian experience in the city. He discusses the impact of personal narratives in shedding light on the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Thrall explores the geography of the region, the implications of Israeli government policies, and the historical roots of Palestinian movements. His examination of the human stories behind these issues stresses the urgent need for understanding and dialogue amidst a backdrop of conflict and displacement.

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Lauren Oakes about forest and trees and the impact of climate change. They talk about the Global Tree Restoration study of 2019, impact of forests on the planet, and how we obtain data on forests. They talk about what is a forest, reforestation and afforestation, forest transition, and the Carboniferous period. They talk about the Land Gap Report, carbon accounting, offsets, incentive structures, ecosystem services, urban forests, and many more topics. Lauren E. Oakes is an ecologist and writer who writes on forests, climate, the complex relationship humans have with nature. She has her Ph.D. from the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program for Environment and Resources at Stanford University. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Scientific American, Emergence Magazine, Nautilus and other media outlets. Her first book, In Search of the Canary Tree, was selected as one of Science Friday’s Best Science Books of 2018. In 2019, it won second place for the Rachel Carson Environment Book Award and was a finalist for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Communication Award. She is the author of the most recent book, Treekeepers. Website: https://leoakes.com/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Michel Brahic about prions. They provide an overview of proteins, prion proteins, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, and importance of cells and ribosomes. They also talk about neuroanatomical regions relevant for prions, Lewy Body, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, memory, future of medical research, and many more topics. Michel Brahic, an expert in viral and prion infections of the brain, is Professeur Honoraire at Institut Pasteur in Paris. He has been Directeur de Recherche at CNRS and Consulting Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine. His work has been published in Nature, Cell, New Scientist, and other journals. He is the author of the latest book, The Power of Prions: The Strange and Essential Proteins that can cause Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other diseases. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe