Description

In this episode Clay is joined by Alex DeVitry. Alex is currently studying international conflict resolution, foreign policy and diplomacy, and the Middle East at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). He also writes excellent articles on the many nuances of political violence in the 21st century on his Substack. 

Alex is a man with an outstandingly fascinating and unique origin story. He was raised in a fundamentalist sect of Islam, and at the age of 16 moved to Saudi Arabia to study Arabic language and Islamic theology. Tune in to this conversation to find out more about his journey from Arabia to Columbia. 

If you want to hear Alex's insightful analysis of recent events in Iran, political violence, Islam's place in the West, and much more, then this is the episode for you!

Books mentioned in this episode:

• Understanding Salafism: Seeking the Path of the Pious Predecessors- Yasir Qadhi
• Why Intelligence Fails: Lessons from the Iranian Revolution and the Iraq War- Robert Jervis
• On Violence- Hannah Arendt 
• Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism- Benedict Anderson 
• The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values - Sam Harris
• The WEIRDest People in the World- Joseph Henrich

Other things mentioned: 

• War on the Rocks - podcast
• Repression Works (Just Not in Moderation) - academic article by Yuri M. Zhukov
• Exploring the Quran and the Bible - Professor Gabriel Said Reynolds' YouTube channel 
• Kwame Anthony Appiah - philosopher and writer
  • Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers

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