Best Adriana Carranca Podcasts (2024)

1
Episode 147: Louise Story and Ebony Reed on the Black-White Wealth Gap in America 26:40

8d ago26:40

26:40

The typical Black American family has fifteen cents of wealth for every comparable dollar that a White American family holds. Exploring the historical expansion of the wealth gap, journalists Louise Story and Ebony Reed join Richard Aldous to reveal how their investigation into the U.S. financial system uncovered scores of setbacks that continue to…

1
Episode 146: Peter S. Goodman on How We Ran Out of Everything 33:27

15d ago33:27

33:27

The global pandemic unmasked not just the many vulnerabilities in the world’s supply chain, but also its hidden innerworkings. Reporting on the world from an economic lens for over twenty-five years, award-winning New York Times journalist Peter S. Goodman joins Richard Aldous to share insights from his latest book, How the World Ran Out of Everyth…

1
Episode 145: Michel Paradis on Eisenhower’s Enduring Legacy 31:47

22d ago31:47

31:47

How did Dwight D. Eisenhower, a man of simple Kansas-bred beginnings, inspire implicit trust by his historical peers, from FDR and Churchill, to Stalin and DeGaulle? And how did he become a shaper of a new world order, asserting America’s post-war dominance? Michel Paradis, author of The Light of Battle: Eisenhower, D-Day, and the Birth of the Amer…

1
Episode 144: James Davison Hunter on Democracy, Solidarity, and the Future of America 29:13

1M ago29:13

29:13

Is there hope to be found amidst the current political climate? How to generate solidarity in an atmosphere of growing difference? Renowned sociologist James Davison Hunter tackles these questions in his new book, Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of America's Political Crisis. Hunter joins Richard Aldous in this week's Bookstack, for…

1
Episode 143: Sulmaan Wasif Khan on the Taiwan Standoff 28:56

2M ago28:56

28:56

When President Joe Biden stated in 2022 that the United States would defend Taiwan military in the event of a Chinese invasion, he crossed a line of ambiguity that had been purposefully danced around for decades. And yet, even though such a scenario would pit two nuclear powers against each another, “The United States does not know why Taiwan is im…

1
Episode 142: Diana McLain Smith on Bringing Americans Together 29:02

2M ago29:02

29:02

In divided times, many Americans are sealing themselves off from those who think differently. Diana McLain Smith tells a different story in her new book, Remaking the Space Between Us: How Citizens Can Work Together to Build a Better Future for All, focusing on the tens of thousands reaching out to fellow Americans across the divides to promote und…

1
Episode 141: Adriana Carranca on the New Wave of Latin American Missionaries 28:58

2M ago28:58

28:58

Thanks to American missionaries’ successes around the globe, the face of evangelicalism is no longer White America. In_ Soul by Soul: The Evangelical Mission to Spread the Gospel to Muslims_, Adriana Carranca reveals an extraordinary tale that has been under the radar: Missionaries from Latin America are leading the way in spreading the Gospel to M…

1
Episode 140: David L. Roll on President Harry Truman 25:06

2M ago25:06

25:06

Harry Truman was educated in Missouri public schools, never went to college, and spent a number of his adult years as a dirt farmer. Yet eleven years after first being elected to the Senate he became President of the most powerful nation on earth in the midst of momentous world events. In his new book Ascent to Power: How Truman Emerged from Roosev…

1
Episode 139: Nicholas Shakespeare on Ian Fleming 27:40

3M ago27:40

27:40

Ian Fleming heroicized for all the world the British intelligence agent in James Bond. In his new book Ian Fleming: The Complete Man, renowned biographer Nicholas Shakespeare digs into the legend of Fleming himself. Like his most famous character, Fleming’s life was colorfully marked by high-stakes intelligence, alcohol, and dalliances with women. …

1
Episode 138: Seth D. Kaplan on America’s Fragile Neighborhoods 31:35

3M ago31:35

31:35

In surveying dysfunction across America, the question arises: Is the source of the trouble at the local or the national level? Seth D. Kaplan has shifted his analytical gaze from fragile nations abroad to examine the fragility of his home country. He believes America’s problems from health to politics are downstream of individuals becoming increasi…

1
Episode 137: Leah Hunt-Hendrix on the Power of Solidarity 27:03

3M ago27:03

27:03

Solidarity has been at the root of social change throughout history, bringing people together across their differences to challenge injustice within societies. In their new book, Solidarity: The Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea, Leah Hunt-Hendrix and Astra Taylor examine the sociological concept that is at the heart of social tran…

1
Episode 136: Paul Starobin on the Russian Exiles 29:13

4M ago29:13

29:13

There are now over a million Russians living in exile, spurred on by the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Unable to safely oppose their own government at home, they often find themselves subject to harassment and disdain as immigrants. In his new book, Putin’s Exiles: Their Fight for a Better Russia, Paul Starobin joins host Richard…

1
Episode 135: Ian Buruma on the Relevance of Spinoza 26:33

4M ago26:33

26:33

Rejected in official circles in his day and embraced in modern times by a motley array of admirers, Spinoza was in many ways ahead of his time. His commitment to truth, universal principles, and freedom lie at the heart of Western liberal thinking. As those ideas come under attack on both the left and the right, Spinoza’s philosophical thinking is …

1
Episode 134: Maria Popova on Ukraine and Russia’s Diverging Paths 27:48

5M ago27:48

27:48

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine and Russia not only embarked on very different political paths at home, but they viewed the future of their relationship in starkly divergent terms. In Russia and Ukraine: Entangled Histories, Diverging States, authors Maria Popova and Oxana Shevel show how Russia’s determination to control an ind…

1
Episode 133: Lorraine Daston on the History of Scientific Collaboration 28:40

5M ago28:40

28:40

Large threats to the well-being of humankind such as the pandemic and climate change have cemented the notion that scientists across the globe naturally work together to solve the world’s most pressing problems. In Rivals: How Scientists Learned to Cooperate, historian of science Lorraine Daston traces the trajectory of such cooperation, noting tha…

1
Episode 132: David Reynolds on Winston Churchill 34:55

5M ago34:55

34:55

Amidst all the positive and negative ink dedicated to Winston Churchill, Cambridge emeritus professor of international history David Reynolds offers a new dimension. He places the leader for whom history was determined by “great men” among the other greats who both inspired and enervated him. Reynolds joins host Richard Aldous to discuss his latest…

1
Episode 131: Joshua Green on the Populism of the Democratic Party 34:04

5M ago34:04

34:04

The remarkable shift in the economic ideas at the heart of the Democratic Party—from the embrace of neoliberalism in the ’90s to the left-wing populism that Joe Biden accommodates today—traces its origins to the 2008 financial crisis. Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders and AOC after her, put the economic frustrations of ordinary Americans at the …

1
Episode 130: Azam Ahmed on Mexico’s Violent Cartels 28:53

5M ago28:53

28:53

For tens of thousands of people, living in Mexico today means living in a country where criminal violence begets state-sponsored violence, and where law and justice have so failed ordinary citizens that they often take matters into their own hands. In his new book Fear Is Just a Word: A Missing Daughter, a Violent Cartel, and a Mother's Quest for V…

1
Episode 129: Raymond Arsenault on John Lewis 28:32

6M ago28:32

28:32

Freedom Rider and Congressman John Lewis was widely viewed as a saint no less than a civil rights icon. How to capture the full humanity of such a legendary figure, whose life was intertwined with some of America’s lowest lows and highest highs? Civil rights historian Raymond Arsenault does just that in his new biography, John Lewis: In Search of t…

1
Episode 128: Joseph S. Nye Jr. on Postwar America 27:12

6M ago27:12

27:12

Joseph Nye’s prominent dual roles as policymaker and foreign affairs academic have rendered him one of the most important observers of U.S. foreign policy since World War II. In his new book, A Life in the American Century, the statesman-scholar looks back on the last century’s events from a personal and historical perspective. He joins host Richar…

1
Episode 127: Ganesh Sitaraman on Helping Flying Soar 27:59

6M ago27:59

27:59

Long gone are the days of steak dinners, piano bars, and free alcohol on flights—not to mention widely expanding markets and strong competition. Vanderbilt Law professor Ganesh Sitaraman looks to the deregulation of the airline industry in the 1970s to explain the relatively dismal state of flying today. In his new book, Why Flying Is Miserable: An…

1
Episode 126: Nikki Vargas on the Roads Taken 28:49

7M ago28:49

28:49

Travel is exhilarating and enlightening, but what happens when it becomes an escape from things that really matter? For acclaimed travel writer Nikki Vargas, travel has been her work, her dreams—and also her crutch. She joins host Richard Aldous to discuss her new book Call You When I Land, a memoir of her winding adventures that ultimately do have…

1
Episode 125: Daniel Schulman on the Jewish Titans 28:59

7M ago28:59

28:59

Rockefeller, Morgan, and Carnegie are household names, yet much less known are the Jewish “money kings” who came to America in the 19th century. In his new book The Money Kings: The Epic Story of the Jewish Immigrants Who Transformed Wall Street and Shaped Modern America, Daniel Shulman tells the story of the poor Jewish immigrants whose trajectori…

1
Episode 124: John Coates on the New Concentration of Financial Power 28:08

8M ago28:08

28:08

The American economy is once again experiencing a concentration of financial power in a few hands, but this time around the actors are much less familiar. As John Coates shows in his new book, The Problem of 12: When a Few Financial Institutions Control Everything, the prevalence of index funds and private equity funds in public investments has gro…

1
Episode 123: Laurence Jurdem on TR and Henry Cabot Lodge 28:36

8M ago28:36

28:36

The ambitious, larger-than-life character of Theodore Roosevelt is the stuff of legend. Outside of his connection with the League of Nations, much less is known about Roosevelt’s closest friend, Henry Cabot Lodge. Equally abundant in intellectual gifts, Lodge helped launch to the presidency the man whose vision he shared of a United States divinely…

1
Episode 122: Thomas Graham on Seeing Russia Clearly 28:09

8M ago28:09

28:09

Was there a moment after the Cold War when the United States “lost” Russia? Thomas Graham, senior director for Russia on the National Security Council under President George W. Bush, looks back to the period between 1991 and 2022 to grapple with what might have been—or, better, what was never meant to be. He joins host Richard Aldous to assess what…

1
Episode 121: Uri Kaufman on the Yom Kippur War 32:03

9M ago32:03

32:03

The October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel were launched fifty years and a day after the last great surprise assault on the country by its Arab neighbors. At the time of the Yom Kippur War, Israel was not only much poorer and weaker than it is today, but it was completely dependent for military aid on a United States preoccupied with oil an…

1
Episode 120: Katherine Turk on NOW’s Lesser-Known Feminists 27:11

9M ago27:11

27:11

Betty Friedan and many of her NOW co-founders have become household names, but what of the women who built on their pioneering work? In her new book, The Women of NOW: How Feminists Built an Organization That Transformed America, Katherine Turk looks at the second-wave feminists who broadened the movement to include all women. She joins host Richar…

1
Episode 119: Alexandra Hudson on Civility 26:29

9M ago26:29

26:29

Engaging with those who are different from us is essential to democratic life and politics. Alexandra Hudson argues that in order to improve the tenor of our interactions we must cultivate civility, which unlike mere politeness entails a respect for others as our moral equals. She joins host Richard Aldous to discuss her new book, The Soul of Civil…

1
Episode 118: Joseph Horowitz on the Art-Freedom Nexus 30:31

9M ago30:31

30:31

Does the ability to produce great art depend upon living in a free country? For a time the rhetoric emanating from the United States—including from President John F. Kennedy himself—suggested it did. Classical music expert Joseph Horowitz delves into the sources of this Cold War-era hyperbole in his new book, The Propaganda of Freedom: JFK, Shostak…

1
Episode 117: Yascha Mounk on the False Promise of Identity Ideology 31:14

10M ago31:14

31:14

Across America, from college campuses to corporate boardrooms, a set of ideas has taken hold affirming race, gender, and sexual orientation as the essential prisms through which we experience life. In his new book, The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time, academic and writer Yascha Mounk explores the personal and political dimensi…

1
Episode 116: Michael S. Roth on Loving Learning 28:57

10M ago28:57

28:57

In an era when machines are progressing from thinking for us to learning for us, it’s worth asking what exactly the purpose of learning is. Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University, looks back to students of some of history’s great inculcators to find a more foundational understanding beyond simply the accumulation of knowledge. He sits down …

1
Episode 115: Timothy Garton Ash on What It Means to Be European 31:27

10M ago31:27

31:27

“Bookstack” returns with renowned Oxford professor of European studies Timothy Garton Ash. In his latest book, Homelands: A Personal History of Europe, Ash chronicles the spread of freedom across Europe since 1945 through his personal perspective as an “English European.” He sits down with host Richard Aldous to share his thoughts about the histori…

1
Episode 114: Tara Isabella Burton on Self Creation across the Ages 29:30

12M ago29:30

29:30

Could there really be a straight line between the self-made person of talent and the branded personality made famous by reality TV and the internet? In Self-Made: Creating Our Identities from Da Vinci to the Kardashians, Tara Isabella Burton shows how the curating of an “authentic” self so characteristic of today is in fact rooted in a deep human i…

1
Episode 113: Yasmine El Rashidi on Egypt’s Fortunes 25:01

12M ago25:01

25:01

If political activism has died down in Egypt since the 2011 revolution, there is energy bubbling beneath the surface, says Yasmine El Rashidi in Laughter in the Dark: Egypt to the Tune of Change. The country experiencing its harshest repression in decades is at the same time inhabited by a majority of young people, who, through a new form of hip-ho…

1
Episode 112: Hugh Howey on the Silo Series 31:33

1y ago31:33

31:33

Hugh Howey created a fantastical post-apocalyptic underground world in the first book of his Silo series, [Wool](https://www.amazon.com/Silo-Saga-Omnibus-Shift-Stories-ebook/dp/B088BBLMGS?ref=ast_author_mpb)_, off of which Apple TV launched its eponymous series this spring. Howey joins host Richard Aldous to discuss how he explores ideas about huma…

1
Episode 111: Daniel Gordis on Israel at 75 34:16

1y ago34:16

34:16

The State of Israel engenders a wide range of emotions among onlookers, running the gamut from admiration to revulsion. In his new book Impossible Takes Longer, Daniel Gordis uses a wide lens to assess where the country is today in light of the goals of those who founded it. He joins host Richard Aldous for a broad look at Israel’s successes—and it…

1
Episode 110: Ronnie Janoff-Bulman on the Moral Divide in U.S. Politics 26:59

1y ago26:59

26:59

Why are Americans today so hostile toward opposing political viewpoints? Ronnie Janoff-Bulman contends that the answer has a lot to do with the different ways conservatives and liberals think about morality, and the fact that Republicans and Democrats are more cleanly sorted along this divide than in the past. She joins host Richard Aldous to discu…

1
Episode 109: Andrew Hoehn and Thom Shanker on a New Age of Danger 34:00

1y ago34:00

34:00

Thirty-plus years after the end of the Cold War, the United States has yet to rethink its strategic role in the world and the security architecture that supports it. In their new book, Age of Danger: Keeping America Safe in an Era of New Superpowers, New Weapons, and New Threats, Andrew Hoehn and Thom Shanker argue that America awoke from its count…

1
Episode 108: Brett Forrest on the Unusual Disappearance of an American FBI Source 26:00

1y ago26:00

26:00

9/11 led the young Billy Reilly to an exploration of international affairs and world religions, and ultimately to the FBI. When he disappeared on the job in Russia in 2015, the trail went cold, in large part thanks to the very same organization Billy had served. Wall Street Journal reporter Brett Forrest took up the trail, determined to solved the …

1
Episode 107: Christopher de Bellaigue on Making Flight Carbon-Friendly 27:41

1y ago27:41

27:41

The aviation industry has the goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, but the development of existing technologies that can get us there is lagging far behind. In his new book Flying Green: On the Frontiers of New Aviation, Christopher de Bellaigue explains why flight and carbon consciousness are not mutually exclusive. He joins host Richard Ald…

1
Episode 106: Frank Costigliola on George Kennan 30:25

1y ago30:25

30:25

George Kennan was a man of contradictions: an icon yet something of an enigma, a strategist who “used emotionally evocative language in the name of cool, calculated realism,” a bold thinker who warned of overreach. Frank Costigliola puts the architect of Cold War containment in a larger context in his new book, Kennan: A Life between Worlds. He joi…

1
Episode 105: Kim Sherwood on Her Double O Novel 29:48

1y ago29:48

29:48

The legendary 007 series continues with author Kim Sherwood’s novel, authorized by Ian Fleming’s estate. Sherwood, who as a child imagined herself as Bond, lives out a lifelong dream by writing the next act for the iconic character. She joins host Richard Aldous to discuss her new book, Double or Nothing: James Bond is Missing and Time Is Running O…

1
Episode 104: Blythe Roberson on Embracing the Open Road 27:09

1y ago27:09

27:09

Ever fantasize about quitting your job and hitting the open road? Blythe Roberson did just that, embracing freedom and the natural beauty of America—with an agenda. She joins host Richard Aldous to speak about the fruits of her labor of love, America the Beautiful?: One Woman in a Borrowed Prius on the Road Most Traveled.…

1
Episode 103: Charles Dunst on Defeating the Dictators 30:53

1y ago30:53

30:53

There has been plenty of ink spilled about democracies dying and populists rising. AP contributing editor Charles Dunst, deputy director of research and analytics at the Asia Group, takes the practical route. How can we shore up democracies to inoculate them against the tides of illiberalism, and remind those looking for a winning governance model …

1
Episode 102: Dana Sachs on Our Saviors at Sea 26:49

1y ago26:49

26:49

In 2015, as refugees poured into Greece from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere, the assistance delivered to desperate migrants at sea and on land was largely provided at the hand of individual volunteers. Dana Sachs joins host Richard Aldous to discuss the failure of the international aid community and heroism of those who stepped in as detai…

1
Episode 101: Ian Buruma on Three Legendary Fakes 26:48

1y ago26:48

26:48

In an era of fake news and invented personalities, it’s worth looking back to a time when deception could mean the difference between life and death. In his new book, The Collaborators: Three Stories of Deception and Survival in World War II, Ian Buruma delves into three World War II-era characters whose lives blur the lines between good and evil. …

1
Episode 100: Robert D. Kaplan on Inescapable Tragedy 25:53

1+ y ago25:53

25:53

The American tendency in foreign affairs to think in Manichaean terms is exemplified by the Biden Administration’s democracy-versus-autocracy lens. Yet such thinking can result in a failure of imagination, says Robert D. Kaplan, which he believes explains his own regretted support for the 2003 Iraq War. Kaplan joins host Richard Aldous to discuss h…

1
Episode 99: Meredith Bagby on A New Kind of Astronaut 24:37

1+ y ago24:37

24:37

When NASA accepted its first class of civilian astronauts in 1978, it welcomed a historic group marked by many firsts: the first American woman, the first African American, the first Jewish person, the first Asian American, the first gay person, and the first mother. This week, Meredith Bagby, author of _The New Guys: The Historic Class of Astronau…

1
Episode 98: Derek Leebaert on FDR’s Circle of Four 27:24

1+ y ago27:24

27:24

Such was the prestige of cabinet members during the Roosevelt Administration that a 19-gun salute accompanied their arrival to a city. Joining Richard Aldous this week is author of Unlikely Heroes: Franklin Roosevelt, His Four Lieutenants, and the World They Made, Derek Leebaert, who shines a new light on FDR’s inner circle of four—Harry Hopkins, H…

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Adriana Carranca Podcasts

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