KPFA - Letters and Politics
Letters & Politics seeks to explore the history behind today’s major global and national news stories. Hosted by Mitch Jeserich.
Latest episodes

Sep 10, 2024 • 47min
KPFA Special – Native Nations: A Millennium in North America
Guest: Kathleen DuVal is a professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she teaches early American and American Indian history. Her previous work includes Independence Lost, a finalist for the George Washington Prize, and The Native Ground: Indians and Colonists in the Heart of the Continent. She is a co-author of Give Me Liberty! and coeditor of Interpreting a Continent: Voices from Colonial America. Her latest book is Native Nations: A Millennium in North America.
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Sep 9, 2024 • 60min
IDF: A History of Israel’s Army of Occupation
Guest: Haim Bresheeth-Zabner is a Professor of film studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. He is the author of An Army Like No Other: How the Israeli Defense Force Made a Nation.
The post IDF: A History of Israel’s Army of Occupation appeared first on KPFA.

Sep 5, 2024 • 60min
The Recall of Two Progressives in Oakland and Alameda County
Guest: Darwin BondGraham is the Oaklandside’s Senior News Editor. He is the co-author of The Riders Come Out at Night: Brutality, Corruption, and Cover-up in Oakland. He has been covering the recalls of Oakland Mayor Shen Thao and of Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price.
Photo credit: Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao by Amir Aziz, Oaklandside.
& DA Pamela Price at Protect the Win.org
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Sep 4, 2024 • 60min
Racialized Housing Policy, Police Violence & Social Unrest
Guest: Derek Hyra is a Professor of Public Administration and Policy and founding director of the Metropolitan Policy Center at American University. He is the author of Slow and Sudden Violence: Why and When Uprisings Occur.
The post Racialized Housing Policy, Police Violence & Social Unrest appeared first on KPFA.

Sep 3, 2024 • 60min
A History of Political Parties
Daniel Schlozman is associate professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of When Movements Anchor Parties: Electoral Alignments in American History; and coauthor of The Hollow Parties: The Many Pasts and Disordered Present of American Party Politics.
Sam Rosenfeld is associate professor of political science at Colgate University. He is the author of The Polarizers: Postwar Architects of Our Partisan Era; and coauthor of The Hollow Parties: The Many Pasts and Disordered Present of American Party Politics.
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Sep 2, 2024 • 60min
How Class Struggle Birthed Democracy in the Ancient World
Guest: Daniela Cammack is Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley. Her research and teaching focus on the history of democracy and constitutionalism. She is currently working on a book on ancient Greek democracy.
The post How Class Struggle Birthed Democracy in the Ancient World appeared first on KPFA.

Aug 29, 2024 • 60min
Genocide: Its History & Meaning
Guest: Martin Shaw is Emeritus Professor of International Relations at Sussex University and Research Professor at the Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals. He is the author of several books on Genocide and War including What is Genocide?
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Aug 28, 2024 • 60min
The Six Far-Right Groups Weakening American Democracy
Guest: Rena Steinzor is Edward M. Robertson Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Carey Law School. She is the author of Why Not Jail? (2014), The People’s Agents and the Battle to Protect the American Public (2010), Mother Earth and Uncle Sam (2007); and her latest, American Apocalypse: The Six Far-Right Groups Waging War on Democracy (2024). She is a former president of the Center for Progressive Reform.
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Aug 27, 2024 • 60min
2024 Election: Integrity as a National Security Issue
Guest: Karen J. Greenberg is the Director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law. She is the author and editor of many books, including The Torture Papers; Subtle Tools; Rogue Justice; and her latest, Our Nation at Risk Election Integrity as a National Security Issue co-edited with Julian E. Zelizer. She is a permanent member of the Council on Foreign Relations, an International Studies Fellow at New America, and a Visiting Fellow at the Soufan Center.
The post 2024 Election: Integrity as a National Security Issue appeared first on KPFA.

Aug 26, 2024 • 60min
The Complexities of Kamala Harris’ Candidacy
Guest: Sonali Kolhatkar is an award-winning multimedia journalist and Senior Editor covering race, economy, and democracy at YES! Media. She is the host of YES! Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated TV and radio program on Free Speech TV and Pacifica Radio. She is also the author of Rising Up, Bleeding Afghanistan, and her forthcoming Talking About Abolition will be released in 2025.
Her latest article on Yes! magazine The Complexity of Harris’ Historic Candidacy can be found here.
Sonali is also involved in the YES! Effort Progress 2025, a response that centers human and planetary needs—and uplifts the solutions that make them possible.
Photo by Lories Shaull on Wikimedia. Senator Harris at the 2019 Iowa Democrats Hall of Fame Celebration in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
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