Bookstack

Just because no history is completely determined by one decision does not mean that NATO expansion in the 1990s could not have been handled better. Mary Sarotte, the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Distinguished Professor of Historical Studies at Johns Hopkins SAIS joins host Richard Aldous to discuss her new book, Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe

Climate change, pandemics, social upheaval, technological change—all these things are uprooting our modern conceptions of what a settled life can and should be. This week, Parag Khanna joins host Richard Aldous to talk about all this and his new book Move: The Forces Uprooting Us. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe

What does the life of Oscar Wilde tell us about #metoo and predatory celebrity culture, in Victorian England and today? More than you might imagine, and in surprising ways at that. This week, Matthew Sturgis joins host Richard Aldous to talk about his new book, Oscar Wilde: A Life, to discuss all this and more. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe

Can America bounce back in an era of crisis? Absolutely it can, says Anne-Marie Slaughter, as she joins our host Richard Aldous to discuss her new book Renewal: From Crisis to Transformation in Our Lives, Work, and Politics. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe

The importance of language cannot be overstated in today’s overheated political climate. To think through how best to navigate the language wars, Professor Harold James joins host Richard Aldous to discuss his new book The War of Words: A Glossary of Globalization. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe

As his most recent book Battlegrounds comes out in paperback, General H.R. McMaster joins host Richard Aldous for a whirlwind tour of the geostrategic landscape for the United States, and the challenges the country faces in sustaining its commitments abroad. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe

Could it all have gone differently? Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, author of the new book Land, The State, and War: Property Institutions and Political Order in Afghanistan, joins host Richard Aldous to talk about what the West repeatedly gets wrong in tackling the devilishly difficult problems of international development and democracy promotion. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe

Welcome back, dear listeners, to Season Two of Bookstack! With the twentieth anniversary of the Al Qaeda terror attacks on New York and Washington approaching this weekend, our host Richard Aldous sat down with author Toby Harnden to discuss his new book First Casualty: The Untold Story of the CIA Mission to Avenge 9/11. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe

Australia is the world’s test case for how a democratic country’s dependence on China can be turned against it. The Sydney Morning Herald’s Peter Hartcher joins Richard Aldous to discuss exactly how this has happened in his new book, Red Zone: China’s Challenge and Australia’s Future. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe

Is there any hope for safeguarding privacy in the age of the internet? Firmin DeBrabander, professor of philosophy at Maryland Institute College of Art, joins Richard Aldous to discuss his book Life After Privacy: Reclaiming Democracy in a Surveillance Society. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.persuasion.community/subscribe