Bookstack

Is all innovation the same? Is there such a thing as toxic disruption? And is there any cause for optimism even as tech has failed to deliver us a utopia? Ariel Ezrachi and Maurice E. Stucke join host Richard Aldous to talk about their new book, How Big Tech Barons Smash Innovation—and How To Strike Back. 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

National security, secrecy, paranoia, suicide, and the rise of modern civil rights—James Kirchick joins host Richard Aldous to talk about the untold story of the nation’s capital, and his new book Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington. 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

On this Fourth of July weekend, historian Thomas S. Kidd joins host Richard Aldous to talk about the contradictions of Thomas Jefferson, as detailed in his new book Thomas Jefferson: A Biography of Spirit and Flesh. 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 we have been doing with China has clearly not been working. How can we course-correct? Renowned Asia scholar Aaron L. Friedberg joins host Richard Aldous to discuss his excellent new book Getting China Wrong. 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

With the Federal Reserve making bold moves this week, Lev Menand, author of the new book The Fed Unbound: Central Banking in a Time of Crisis, joins host Richard Aldous to talk about how the makers of monetary policy still need to adapt to the uncertain 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

This week, Ambassador Frederic C. Hof joins host Richard Aldous to talk about his wrenching experience of almost negotiating a lasting Israeli-Syrian peace, as detailed in his new book Reaching for the Heights: The Inside Story of a Secret Attempt to Reach a Syrian-Israeli Peace. 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

A look into the inner life of a notorious murderer—Nelly Lahoud joins host Richard Aldous to talk about her new book, The Bin Laden Papers: How the Abbottabad Raid Revealed the Truth about Al-Qaeda, Its Leader, and His Family. 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

With Elon Musk in the news, it’s a good time to look back at some recent history. Jimmy Soni joins host Richard Aldous to talk about his book The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley. 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

Was the Soviet Union’s demise inevitable, and was Gorbachev the heroic reformer we remember him to have been? Vladislav M. Zubok joins host Richard Aldous to discuss the complicated legacy of the end of the Cold War, as well as his new book Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union. 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

How did the Republican Party end up resembling a nationalist populist movement? Matthew Continetti joins host Richard Aldous to talk through the rise and development of modern conservatism, and to discuss his new book, The Right: The Hundred Year War for American. 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