KPFA - Letters and Politics

Guest: Jason De León is an anthropologist who spent nearly seven years following and interviewing human smugglers in Mexico. He is a professor of Anthropology and Chicana/o Studies and director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is also executive director of the Undocumented Migration Project and the author of the book Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling.   The post The Lives of Smugglers (Coyotes) appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Frank Costigliola is the author of Kennan: A Life between Worlds. He is also a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Connecticut. The post George Kennan: The Cold War Architect Who Opposed The War appeared first on KPFA.

Host Philip Maldari is joined by national affairs correspondent for The Nation Magazine, John Nichols, to debunk the politics of the first presidential debate and the Supreme Court’s decisions.   Photo credit: Wikimedia commons The post Unraveling the Imperial Presidency and the Supreme Court’s Decisions appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Aaron S. Lecklider is Professor of American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston and author of Love’s Next Meeting: The Forgotten History of Homosexuality and the Left in American Culture. The post Homosexuals & Communists in the First Half of the 20th Century appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Ryan Grim is The Intercept’s D.C. Bureau Chief and the host of the podcast Deconstructed. He authors the newsletter Bad News.  He is the author of the books “This Is Your Country on Drugs” and “We’ve Got People;”  and his latest The Squad: AOC and the Hope of a Political Revolution. The post The Israeli Lobby & the Squad appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Ussama Makdisi is Professor of History and Chancellor’s Chair at the University of California Berkeley. He is the author of the Age of Coexistence: The Ecumenical Frame and the Making of the Modern Arab World. The post An Age of Coexistence in Palestine appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Benjamin Balthaser is associate professor of multi-ethnic US literature at Indiana University, South Bend.  He is the author of Anti-Imperialism Modernism: Race and Transnational Radical Culture from the Great Depression to the Cold War, and Dedication, a personal history of growing up in a Jewish “red diaper” family. His forthcoming book from Verso, Citizens of the Whole World:  The American Jewish Left and Cultures of Anti-Zionism, is due to be out this fall.   Photo: Bundposter1918, Wikimedia commons The post A History of Jewish Anti-Zionism: From The Communist Party to The New Left appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Dr. Keisha N. Blain is an award-winning historian of the 20th century United States with broad  interests in African American History, the modern African Diaspora, and  Women’s and Gender Studies. She is an Associate Professor of History at the University of  Pittsburgh and the president of the African American Intellectual History Society.  She is the author of the book Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America. On Twitter (@keishablain), and on Instagram (@keishanblain). The post Fannie Lou Hamer: A Life appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Annette Gordon-Reed is the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University. The author of Pulitzer Prize–winning The Hemingses of Monticello and her latest, On Juneteenth.     Feature Photo by Oladimeji Odunsi on Unsplash   The post On Juneteenth: A Conversation with Annette Gordon-Reed appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Robert Elder, professor of history at Baylor University. Author of the book Calhoun: American Heretic. The post John C. Calhoun: Defender of Racial Slavery & White Democracy appeared first on KPFA.