Julia Flynn Siler joins guest host John McCaa to tell the story of a group of female abolitionists who dedicated their lives to rescuing slaves in San Francisco.
Read more
Tearing Down Racist Statues Doesn’t Mean We’ve Torn Down Racism
Connor Towne O’Neill, journalist, producer on the NPR podcast White Lies, teacher at Auburn University and with the Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project, joins us to talk about how the battle over monuments reveals racism is baked into the very mold of America.
Read more
The Evolution Of The Tattoo
Filmmaker Alan Govenar joins us to talk about the history of tattooing, from Biblical times to today.
Read more
Reconsidering Jimmy Carter
Jonathan Alter, MSNBC political analyst and former senior editor at Newsweek, joins us to discuss Carter’s moral message after Watergate and his governing skills that sought to bring peace to a divided country.
Read more
Asian-American Identity And Politics
Russell M. Jeung, professor of Asian-American Studies at San Francisco State University, joins us to talk about the issues that speak to Asian-American voters – and how religion plays into party affiliation.
Read more
Does The Supreme Court Need A Reset?
Columbia University law professor Jamal Greene joins us to talk about expanding the courts, justice term-limits, and whether or not the judiciary is just fine as it is.
Read more
A Short History of Voting in America
Journalist Erin Geiger Smith joins us to talk about the past, present, and future of voting and provides simple ways to encourage people to exercise their right.
Read more
Even Lincoln Battled Fake News
Elizabeth Mitchell joins us to discuss an incendiary, false story published in two newspapers during the Civil War and how it became a battle of the press vs. the president.
Read more
Inventing The Wheel (The First Time)
Science writer Cody Cassidy joins us to tell the stories of people who changed how we live in ways big and small.
Read more
The Violent Path To Emancipation
H. W. Brands, Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin, joins us to talk about a man who called for change via murder and another who looked to Washington for solutions.
Read more
James Baker: American Power Broker
Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, joins us to talk about Baker’s close and competitive friendship with George H.W. Bush – and about his diplomatic work that reshaped the world in the last quarter of the 20th Century.
Read more
Does Voting Really Have To Be This Hard?
This hour, we’ll talk about mail-in ballots and the actual risk of voter fraud. We’ll hear from a former state redistricting chairman about how dividing up voting districts is much more complicated than you might think. And we’ll talk about ongoing efforts to fight voter suppression.
Read more