Shows
The Study Hall PodcastReflecting on The Nation’s 160th Anniversary ft. D.D. Guttenplan & Richard KreitnerIn this conversation, D.D. Guttenplan, the editor of The Nation, and Richard Kreitner, a contributing writer and host of the “Think Back” podcast (https://www.thinkbackpod.com/), chatted about The Nation’s 160th anniversary issue. With dispatches from 50 writers and arts across the 50 states, the issue ponders the current disunited of America. Guttenplan and Kreitner also chat about The Nation’s approach to foreign policy coverage and what it takes to spearhead an expansive project.
For more about the issue: https://www.thenation.com/issue/july-august-2025-issue/
More info about Study Hall...2025-07-2351 min
Think BackThe Wild West, Re-ExaminedThis episode turns toward the Wild West—not the one of dime novels and Hollywood shootouts, but the murkier, more fascinating version uncovered by journalist and historian Bryan Burrough in his new book The Gunfighters: How Texas Made the West Wild. Burrough brings his sharp storytelling to a cast of gunslingers, gamblers, killers, and showmen, exploring how the mythology of the American frontier—especially in Texas—was forged and later packaged for mass consumption. We also delve into deeper questions about the craft of history writing itself. Come for the outlaws and six-shooters, stay for the serious reflec...2025-07-2346 min
Think BackWhat Really Happened on Sherman’s March?In the fall of 1864, General William Tecumseh Sherman led his infamous “March to the Sea,” a military campaign long mythologized—especially in Gone With the Wind—as a brutal assault on the white South. But over the past several decades, historians have chipped away at that Lost Cause narrative, revealing it as a distortion that casts Confederates as victims rather than instigators of wartime violence. Still, few have offered a full alternative account of what the March truly meant—until now.In this episode, I speak with historian Bennett Parten about his powerful first book, Somewhere Toward Freedom: S...2025-07-0950 min
The Nation PodcastsOur Fifty States of Disunion and Who Could Secede | The Nation PodcastThe term “the nation”—as it refers to the country—has a relatively recent history in American political rhetoric. Until the Civil War, politicians more commonly used “the Union” or “the Republic.” That changed with Abraham Lincoln, who referenced “the nation” five times in his 1863 Gettysburg Address. Two years later, in July 1865, the first issue of our magazine was published.For our 160th Anniversary issue, we called on fifty of our best writers and artists to depict the current national landscape: what’s being gutted, steamrolled, and eviscerated, and what some of us are doing to keep the national project a...2025-06-3028 min
Think BackWhy We Need a New ConstitutionThis episode is the second half of my conversation with George William Van Cleve. Last week, we explored the chaos of the 1780s following the American Revolution, as told in Van Cleve’s 2017 book We Have Not a Government, and how the U.S. Constitution emerged as a last-ditch attempt to hold the country together. We then began discussing his follow-up, Making a New American Constitution (2020), which proposes not only that a new Constitution is necessary today but outlines how a modern constitutional convention might actually work.Here we go deeper into the practical and political obstacles to...2025-06-2646 min
Think BackWhen America Had No Government (with George William Van Cleve)Historian and legal scholar George William Van Cleve has written some of the most provocative and underappreciated works on the American constitutional tradition. His 2010 book A Slaveholders’ Union examined slavery’s central role in the framing of the Constitution, but it was his follow-up, We Have Not a Government, that made a lasting impression on me. That book explores the collapse of the American political system under the Articles of Confederation in the 1780s—a period of economic crisis, popular rebellion, and eventual constitutional overhaul.Van Cleve followed that book in 2020 with Making a New American Constitution, a swee...2025-06-1748 min
Left Reckoning224 - Stephen Miller Invades LA + "These DisUnited States" feat. Stephen Semler & The Nation👉 Join us on Patreon for full access to bonus episodes and behind-the-scenes debriefs: https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoningOur good friend Stephen Semler (@stephensemler) is back on the program to talk about Trump's war on the working class, and Stephen Miller's Assault on Los Angeles. Keep up with Stephen's work over at Polygraph: https://www.stephensemler.com/Then, David is joined by the editor of The Nation, D.D. Guttenplan (@ddguttenplan) & contributing writer and guest editor Richard Kreitner to talk about "These Dis-United States Of America," The Nat...2025-06-112h 24
We the PeopleCharles Sumner: Conscience of a NationCharles Sumner was an abolitionist senator who helped to write the post-Civil War Constitution and give birth to modern civil rights law. Zaakir Tameez, author of the new biography Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation, joins Jeffrey Rosen to discuss Sumner as a moral thinker, political activist, and constitutional visionary.
Resources
Zaakir Tameez, Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation
Zaakir Tameez, “What we can learn from the senator who nearly died for democracy,” The Washington Post (June 1, 2025)
Richard Kreitner “Charles Sumner Was More Than Just a Guy Who Got Caned on the Senate Floor,” T...2025-06-0658 min
cmdX anDre Articles "Law of WE "podcastCharles Sumner: Conscience of a NationCharles Sumner was an abolitionist senator who helped to write the post-Civil War Constitution and give birth to modern civil rights law. Zaakir Tameez, author of the new biography Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation, joins Jeffrey Rosen to discuss Sumner as a moral thinker, political activist, and constitutional visionary. Resources Zaakir Tameez, Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation Zaakir Tameez, “What we can learn from the senator who nearly died for democracy,” The Washington Post (June 1, 2025) Richard Kreitner “Charles Sumner Was More Than Just a Guy Who Got Caned on the Senate Floor,” The New York Times (June 2, 2025 Stay Connected a...2025-06-0658 min
Think BackThe Unfinished Revolution of 1963 (with Peniel Joseph)I’ve always had a soft spot for what you might call “year books”—not the high school kind, but those immersive histories that zoom in on a single calendar year to show how change unfolds in real time. Some years lend themselves especially well to this treatment, and 1963 is one of them: the year of Birmingham and the March on Washington, of Dr. King’s “Dream” and JFK’s assassination. In his new book, Freedom Season: How 1963 Transformed America’s Civil Rights Revolution, historian Peniel Joseph captures the urgency and upheaval of that pivotal year, tracing how a movement long in t...2025-06-0549 min
Live at the National Constitution CenterJewish Americans in the Civil War EraIn celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month, authors Richard Kreitner (Fear No Pharaoh: American Jews, the Civil War, and the Fight to End Slavery) and Shari Rabin (The Jewish South: An American History) discuss their new books on the broader Jewish experience from the Revolutionary era to the Civil War, how American Jews reckoned with slavery, Jewish participation in the Civil War, and some of the key American Jews who helped shape this tumultuous era. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.
This program is presented in partnership with the Weitzman National Museum of Ame...2025-06-0356 minWe the PeopleThe History of Jews in the American SouthIn celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month, Richard Kreitner, author of Fear No Pharaoh: American Jews, the Civil War, and the Fight to End Slavery, and Shari Rabin, author of The Jewish South: An American History, join Jeffrey Rosen for a wide-ranging discussion on the Southern Jewish experience from the Revolutionary era to the Civil War. They discuss how American Jews reckoned with religious discrimination and slavery, explore Jewish participation in the Civil War, and remember some of the notable American Jews who helped shape this tumultuous era.
This conversation was originally streamed live as part of the...2025-05-3056 mincmdX anDre Articles "Law of WE "podcastThe History of Jews in the American SouthIn celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month, Richard Kreitner, author of Fear No Pharaoh: American Jews, the Civil War, and the Fight to End Slavery, and Shari Rabin, author of The Jewish South: An American History, join Jeffrey Rosen for a wide-ranging discussion on the Southern Jewish experience from the Revolutionary era to the Civil War. They discuss how American Jews reckoned with religious discrimination and slavery, explore Jewish participation in the Civil War, and remember some of the notable American Jews who helped shape this tumultuous era. This conversation was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s Ameri...2025-05-3056 min
Think BackThe Chinese in America (with Michael Luo)What do most of us really know about the history of Chinese Americans? For many, it begins and ends with the railroads or the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. That’s what makes Michael Luo’s new book, Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America, such an essential work. It tells the sweeping, often harrowing story of a community that faced violence, discrimination, and expulsion—but nonetheless built a life here. It’s a deeply American story, both in its dreams and its brutal realities. Luo, executive editor of The New Yorker, traces n...2025-05-2244 min
Uri L'Tzedek: Orthodox Social JusticeFear No Pharaoh: American Jews, the Civil War, and the Fight to End SlaveryListen to this book talk on Fear No Pharaoh: American Jews, the Civil War, and the Fight to End Slavery, as author Richard Kreitner explores how six American Jews navigated the moral crisis of slavery during the Civil War—and what their stories teach us about conscience, courage, and identity.Purchase the book on Amazon!Watch the video recording of this class on Uri L’Tzedek’s YouTube channel:youtube.com/channel/UC_htFNr9duz-KJiXdtW8pIw ...2025-05-0932 min
Think BackConstitutional Renewal in the Age of Trump (with Aziz Rana)Donald Trump recently said he wasn’t sure if a president is obligated to uphold the Constitution—a striking admission from someone who’s twice sworn an oath to do just that. Trump’s indifference to the Constitution continues to pose a serious threat to American democracy. At the same time, this moment invites deeper reflection on the document itself: What exactly are we defending, and does the Constitution deserve the near-sacred status it's acquired in American political life?In this episode of THINK BACK, I talk with Aziz Rana, professor of law and government at Boston College...2025-05-0654 min
Too JewishToo Jewish - 5/4/25 - Richard KreitnerRichard Kreitner, author of the new book "Fear No Pharaoh: American Jews, the Civil War and the Fight to End Slavery"
2025-05-0654 min
New Books in American StudiesStephen H. Legomsky, "Reimagining the American Union: The Case for Abolishing State Government" (Cambridge UP, 2024)Since American president Donald Trump was elected to a second term, it is common to hear citizens, journalists, and public officials distinguish between the laws and leaders of their states and the national government. Those who oppose Trump’s policies with regard to reproductive rights, gun violence, LGBTQ+, education, police, and voting often present state constitutions, courts, laws, culture, and leaders as a bulwark against Trump’s autocratic rule.
But Professor Stephen H. Legomsky sees it differently. His new book, Reimagining the American Union: The Case for Abolishing State Government (Cambridge University Press 2025) argues that – if we care about...2025-05-0559 min
Exchanges: A Cambridge UP PodcastStephen H. Legomsky, "Reimagining the American Union: The Case for Abolishing State Government" (Cambridge UP, 2024)Since American president Donald Trump was elected to a second term, it is common to hear citizens, journalists, and public officials distinguish between the laws and leaders of their states and the national government. Those who oppose Trump’s policies with regard to reproductive rights, gun violence, LGBTQ+, education, police, and voting often present state constitutions, courts, laws, culture, and leaders as a bulwark against Trump’s autocratic rule.
But Professor Stephen H. Legomsky sees it differently. His new book, Reimagining the American Union: The Case for Abolishing State Government (Cambridge University Press 2025) argues that – if we care about...2025-05-0559 min
New Books in LawStephen H. Legomsky, "Reimagining the American Union: The Case for Abolishing State Government" (Cambridge UP, 2024)Since American president Donald Trump was elected to a second term, it is common to hear citizens, journalists, and public officials distinguish between the laws and leaders of their states and the national government. Those who oppose Trump’s policies with regard to reproductive rights, gun violence, LGBTQ+, education, police, and voting often present state constitutions, courts, laws, culture, and leaders as a bulwark against Trump’s autocratic rule.
But Professor Stephen H. Legomsky sees it differently. His new book, Reimagining the American Union: The Case for Abolishing State Government (Cambridge University Press 2025) argues that – if we care about...2025-05-0559 min
New Books in American PoliticsStephen H. Legomsky, "Reimagining the American Union: The Case for Abolishing State Government" (Cambridge UP, 2024)Since American president Donald Trump was elected to a second term, it is common to hear citizens, journalists, and public officials distinguish between the laws and leaders of their states and the national government. Those who oppose Trump’s policies with regard to reproductive rights, gun violence, LGBTQ+, education, police, and voting often present state constitutions, courts, laws, culture, and leaders as a bulwark against Trump’s autocratic rule.
But Professor Stephen H. Legomsky sees it differently. His new book, Reimagining the American Union: The Case for Abolishing State Government (Cambridge University Press 2025) argues that – if we care about...2025-05-0559 min
New Books in Big IdeasStephen H. Legomsky, "Reimagining the American Union: The Case for Abolishing State Government" (Cambridge UP, 2024)Since American president Donald Trump was elected to a second term, it is common to hear citizens, journalists, and public officials distinguish between the laws and leaders of their states and the national government. Those who oppose Trump’s policies with regard to reproductive rights, gun violence, LGBTQ+, education, police, and voting often present state constitutions, courts, laws, culture, and leaders as a bulwark against Trump’s autocratic rule.
But Professor Stephen H. Legomsky sees it differently. His new book, Reimagining the American Union: The Case for Abolishing State Government (Cambridge University Press 2025) argues that – if we care about...2025-05-0559 min
New Books in Political ScienceStephen H. Legomsky, "Reimagining the American Union: The Case for Abolishing State Government" (Cambridge UP, 2024)Since American president Donald Trump was elected to a second term, it is common to hear citizens, journalists, and public officials distinguish between the laws and leaders of their states and the national government. Those who oppose Trump’s policies with regard to reproductive rights, gun violence, LGBTQ+, education, police, and voting often present state constitutions, courts, laws, culture, and leaders as a bulwark against Trump’s autocratic rule.
But Professor Stephen H. Legomsky sees it differently. His new book, Reimagining the American Union: The Case for Abolishing State Government (Cambridge University Press 2025) argues that – if we care about...2025-05-0559 min
New Books in Politics and PolemicsStephen H. Legomsky, "Reimagining the American Union: The Case for Abolishing State Government" (Cambridge UP, 2024)Since American president Donald Trump was elected to a second term, it is common to hear citizens, journalists, and public officials distinguish between the laws and leaders of their states and the national government. Those who oppose Trump’s policies with regard to reproductive rights, gun violence, LGBTQ+, education, police, and voting often present state constitutions, courts, laws, culture, and leaders as a bulwark against Trump’s autocratic rule.
But Professor Stephen H. Legomsky sees it differently. His new book, Reimagining the American Union: The Case for Abolishing State Government (Cambridge University Press 2025) argues that – if we care about...2025-05-0559 min
WURD RadioRichard Kreitner - 4.29.2025 - Evening WURDsAuthor Richard Kreitner joins Evening WURDs to talk about his newly released book - Fear No Pharaoh: American Jews, the Civil War, and the Fight to End Slavery. Host Dr. Peterson had an honest conversation about the American Jews during the Civil War, those who were for slavery and those wishing to abolish it.2025-04-3020 min
Think BackThe Hidden Origins of the American Revolution (with Andrew Lawler)The 250th anniversary celebration of the American Revolution is about to get underway in Lexington and Concord, the towns just outside Boston where British redcoats first clashed with colonial rebels. But just a day later and hundreds of miles south, a more complicated and perhaps more consequential clash occurred between the royal governor of Virginia and leading revolutionaries like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry. Those, though less well known, led to a British emancipation proclamation, which, like Abraham Lincoln’s later edict, though fourscore and eight years earlier, promised to arm enslaved people in exchange for their li...2025-04-1644 min
Think BackHow the First Gilded Age Ended (with Jon Grinspan)We seem to be living in a reenactment of the Gilded Age: tariffs, territorial expansion, oligarchic control of politics, assassination attempts, a democracy that is straining at the seams. Overlooked and misunderstood, it’s an important period to reconsider. What did it take to leave that tumultuous, surprisingly violent period behind—and what were the costs of the reforms adopted to end it?The person to ask about this is Jon Grinspan, the political curator of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. Jon is the author of three books, mostly recently Wide Awake: The Forgot...2025-04-1053 min
Keen On AmericaEpisode 2491: Richard Kreitner 0n 6 Jews, 7 Opinions and the American Civil WarQuestion: What was the position of 19th century American Jews to the Civil War and Slavery? Answer: Complicated. Very complicated.Painfully and, in some ways, shamefully complicated, according to the historian Richard Kreitner. In his new book, Fear No Pharaoh, Kreitner explores the radically diverse positions that American Jews held toward slavery during the Civil War. He highlights 6 prominent Jewish figures including Judah Benjamin (a Confederate leader), Rabbi Morris Jacob Raphael (who justified slavery using Torah), David Einhorn (an abolitionist rabbi), Isaac Mayer Wise (who advised Jews to stay out of the conflict), August Bondy...2025-04-0842 min
Think BackMy new book, 'Fear No Pharaoh: American Jews, the Civil War, and the Fight to End Slavery'I am wildly excited that publication day is finally here for my new book, Fear No Pharaoh: American Jews, the Civil War, and the Fight to End Slavery.It’s a very strange feeling to have worked on something, largely in solitude, for so long, and now for it to finally be made available to the world. In this episode I share some thoughts about the book’s origins and the six main characters whose lives in the period I follow against the background of a much larger story about the Jewish encounter with American slav...2025-04-0111 min
Think BackTrump, Masculinity, and the New Manifest Destiny (with Amy Greenberg)Amy Greenberg, a historian at Penn State University, talks about the role of masculinity in the idea of Manifest Destiny, both today and in the era when that phrase originally became popular, the 1840s, a time of falling economic mobility for men and new opportunities for women. Greenberg is the author of several books about American history, including Manifest Manhood and the Antebellum American Empire (2005); A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln and the 1846 U. S. Invasion of Mexico (2012); and Lady First: The World of First Lady Sarah Polk (2019).If you enjoy this episode of Think Back, I’d...2025-03-2532 min
Lest WE Forget HistoricalExec Overreach Lessons in History You Can’t IgnoreIn today’s episode of Lest We Forget Historical, host Lillian Cauldwell delves into an article by Richard Kreitner, published in The Nation, titled A Warning About the Dangers of Executive Orders—From 40 Years Ago. This thought-provoking piece highlights how the current president isn’t the first to issue a flood of executive orders while sidestepping judicial checks. Back in the Reagan era, a similar pattern emerged, though with key differences—President Reagan didn’t obstruct justice, attack the media, or manipulate the law for personal gain.Forty years ago, The Nation sounded the alarm about the risks of unch...2025-03-2113 min
Think BackTwo Meanings of 'America' (with Greg Grandin)One of Donald Trump’s first acts in office in his second term was signing an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. What does this focus on names obscure, what does it reveal? What is the real meaning of “America,” and how has its meaning varied across both time and space?For this, the first episode of Think Back, I spoke with Greg Grandin, a professor of history at Yale and the author of several books, including The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind o...2025-03-1835 min
Think Back'A Source in AMERICA'Music: "The Union," composed by Louis Moreau Gottschalk, performed by Akiko SasakiLogo by Lily Piyathaisere, based on John Frederick Kensett, "Hudson River Scene" (1857)"You didn't kill Liberty Valance!"William Carlos Williams, In the American Grain (1925) Get full access to Think Back at www.thinkbackpod.com/subscribe2025-03-1204 min
The GistBEST OF THE GIST: Population and Bathrooms EditionIn this installment of Best Of The Gist, we listen back to Mike’s 2020 roundtable discussion with journalists Richard Kreitner and Matthew Yglesias about how each of their then-new books addressed the problem of an ever-increasing American population. Yglesias’ book is One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Big, and Kreitner’s is Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America’s Imperfect Union. Then we listen back to Mike’s Spiel from Wednesday, August 9, 2020, in which he ponders what really happened when a boy in a skirt assaulted a girl in the girls bathroom in a Virginia...2023-08-1236 min
Here's Where It Gets InterestingBreak It Up with Richard KreitnerOn today’s episode of Here’s Where It Gets Interesting, Sharon talks with author of the book Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union, Richard Kreitner. Richard and Sharon talk about the theme of division throughout American history. We may say we are one nation, united, but there have always been ideas, events, and people who have challenged that notion of unity and union, even back at the very start of the nation’s founding.Special thanks to our guest, Richard Kreitner, for joining us today. You can purchase Break...2023-06-1437 min
Notes from America with Kai WrightWe’ve Always Been A Divided United StatesYou could say all 50 states are in something of a long-distance relationship, and it’s long past the honeymoon phase. But if we’re so divided, should we just break up already?
Whether it’s political disarray, an ever-changing spectrum of state laws or social unrest, some may feel like the United States is more divided than ever. But, history shows that our country’s actually been divided from the start. Host Kai Wright talks with author Richard Kreitner about his book, Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America’s Imperfect Union. They discuss th...2022-12-0141 min
Downside UpWhat if California seceded from the United States?California is the fifth largest economy in the world. But could it survive as its own country? And could the rest of the United States survive without California? This week on Downside Up, Chris Cillizza is joined by UCLA economist Dr. Lee Ohanian, President of the California National Party Sean Forbes, and Richard Kreitner, author of “Break it Up,” a book about the history of secession efforts in America. They help us consider a loaded question: What if California seceded from the United States?To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy2022-11-0738 min
The Highlands Current PodcastA History Of Secession Movements, With Richard KreitnerKreitner, of Philipstown, is the author of Break It Up: Secession, Division and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union. He discusses with Current Editor Chip Rowe the many attempts at secession in the U.S., the state he suspects will be the first to break away, and the logistics of Philipstown seceding from Putnam County.
2022-04-0817 min
Notes from America with Kai WrightThe Myth of a ‘United’ StatesHistory shows that our country’s actually been divided from the start. If secession is in our DNA, what’s keeping us together? Should we just break up already? Kai talks with author Richard Kreitner about his book, “Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America’s Imperfect Union.” Plus, a look at how the Internet and the “Filter Bubble” contribute to our isolation today. Stick around for an exercise you can do when the divide gets real at the Thanksgiving table.
Companion listening for this episode:
Can America Be Redeemed? (07/05/2021)
Eddie Glaude...2021-11-2250 min
Zócalo Public SquareIs It Time to Consider Lincoln More Critically?Surely, every debate about Abraham Lincoln has been had, and every story told—from his childhood splitting rails and his battle with depression to his cabinet of former rivals and his assassination. Yet over 150 years after Lincoln’s death, new details about Honest Abe still emerge to surprise us—and even stir up some contemporary controversy. A new exploration of a little-known 1864 episode shines a light on Lincoln's authoritarian side and his manipulative relationship with the press. With the Union mired in a bloody war with no end in sight, two New York newspapers published a presidential proclamation declaring an unpopu...2021-02-1751 min
New Books in the American WestRichard Kreitner, "Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union" (Little Brown, 2020)Journalists, scholars, politicians, and citizens often assume that calls for secession are political or historical aberrations. Our founding myth is that the Civil War divided an otherwise united nation and we soon reconstructed the United States to form a more perfect union. But Richard Kreitner’s provocative new book,Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union (Little Brown, 2020), argues that “disunion” is the hidden thread in the history of the United States. Kreitner is a contributing writer to The Nation who has also published in The New York Times, Boston Globe, Washington...2021-02-081h 15
New Books in the American SouthRichard Kreitner, "Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union" (Little Brown, 2020)Journalists, scholars, politicians, and citizens often assume that calls for secession are political or historical aberrations. Our founding myth is that the Civil War divided an otherwise united nation and we soon reconstructed the United States to form a more perfect union. But Richard Kreitner’s provocative new book,Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union (Little Brown, 2020), argues that “disunion” is the hidden thread in the history of the United States. Kreitner is a contributing writer to The Nation who has also published in The New York Times, Boston Globe, Washington...2021-02-081h 15
The Michael Shermer Show141. Richard Kreitner — Break it Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America’s Imperfect UnionThe provocative thesis of Break It Up is simple: The United States has never lived up to its name—and never will. The disunionist impulse may have found its greatest expression in the Civil War, but as Break It Up shows, the seduction of secession wasn’t limited to the South or the 19thcentury. It was there at our founding and has never gone away. Investigative journalist Richard Kreitner takes readers on a revolutionary journey through American history, revealing the power and persistence of disunion movements in every era and region. Each New England town after Plymouth was...2020-11-021h 31
Zócalo Public SquareAre American States Better at Protecting Human Rights Than the U.S. Government?The conventional American narrative since the civil rights era has been that states tend to violate our rights, and the federal government intervenes to protect people. But much of American history runs the other way, offering numerous examples of states acting to protect the rights of their people—notably Indigenous peoples, African Americans escaping slavery, and undocumented immigrants—from federal authorities. What’s more, state constitutions, which are relatively easy to amend, typically grant citizens far more rights than the much more difficult-to-amend U.S. Constitution. Are our state capitals better suited than Washington, D.C., to defend our freedoms? What w...2020-10-241h 01
KPFA - Letters and PoliticsThe Election of 1876Guest: Richard Kreitner is a contributing writer to the Nation magazine. He is the author of the new book Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America’s Imperfect Union.
The post The Election of 1876 appeared first on KPFA.
2020-10-0507 min
The Rob Burgess ShowEp. 178- Richard KreitnerHello and welcome to The Rob Burgess Show. I am, of course, your host, Rob Burgess. On this, our 178th episode, our guest is Richard Kreitner.
Richard Kreitner is a contributing writer to The Nation magazine and the author of Booked: A Traveler’s Guide To Literary Locations Around the World. His new book, "Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America" was published in August. A graduate of McGill University, he has also written for Slate, Salon, The Baffler, Raritan, The Forward, and the Boston Globe. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children.
Jo...2020-09-2700 min
Make It Plain MIP with Rev. Mark ThompsonThe United States Have Never Really Been United says Richard Kreitner, Author of "Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union"How serious is it when a state threatens to secede from the United States? We've heard it casually dropped in places like Texas and California, and certainly you've heard people say they're leaving the country if Trump gets re-elected, which to Richard Kreitner, suggests there is something real fermenting under the surface. Richard is a contributing writer for The Nation, as well as the author of his latest book, "Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union." What he calls the "new secession" is actually occurring in every part of the country, and on both...2020-09-1434 min
The World in Time / Lapham’s QuarterlyEpisode 60: Richard Kreitner“Disunion—the possibility that it all might go to pieces—is a hidden thread through our entire history,” the journalist and historian Richard Kreitner writes in Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America’s Imperfect Union. “Our refusal to recognize this, like patients who insist, against all evidence, that they are not ill, has been a major cause of our political dysfunction and social strife. Secession is the only kind of revolution we Americans have ever known and the only kind we’re ever likely to see.” On this episode of The World in Time, Lewis H. Lapham and Kr...2020-09-0435 min
Versus History PodcastVersus History #100 - Interview with Richard Kreitner, author of 'BREAK IT UP'.In the 100th episode of the @VersusHistory Podcast, we are joined by author Richard Kreitner to discuss his brand new book 'BREAK IT UP: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America’s Imperfect Union' published by Little, Brown and Company. We discuss a range of issues in the podcast, including the origins of political union in America, the threats that the union has faced throughout history and its future. The book has received outstanding reviews, including this: "If you thought disunion was an invention of the slave South and is long dead and buried, think again. In Break It Up...2020-09-0437 min
Give and TakeEpisode 238: Break It Up, with Richard KreitnerMy guest is Richard Kreitner. His new book is Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union. The novel and fiery thesis of Break It Up is simple: The United States has never lived up to its name—and never will. The disunionist impulse may have found its greatest expression in the Civil War, but as Break It Up shows, the seduction of secession wasn’t limited to the South or the nineteenth century. It was there at our founding and has never gone away.
With a scholar’s command and a journa...2020-08-281h 08
Your Personal Storyteller - Full Audiobook at Your CommandBreak It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union Audiobook by Richard KreitnerListen to this audiobook in full for free onhttps://hotaudiobook.com/freeID: 405371
Title: Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union
Author: Richard Kreitner
Narrator: Adam Verner
Format: Unabridged
Length: 15:42:00
Language: English
Release date: 08-18-20
Publisher: Hachette Book Group USA
Genres: History, North America, American Politics
Summary:
From journalist and historian Richard Kreitner, a 'powerful revisionist account'of the most persistent idea in American history: these supposedly United States should be broken up (Eric Foner).
The novel and fiery thesis of Break It Up is simple: the United States has never lived up to its...2020-08-193h 42
Download New Full Audiobooks in History, The AmericasBreak It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union by Richard KreitnerPlease visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/405371 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union Author: Richard Kreitner Narrator: Adam Verner Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 15 hours 42 minutes Release date: August 18, 2020 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 4 of Total 1 Genres: The Americas Publisher's Summary: From journalist and historian Richard Kreitner, a 'powerful revisionist account'of the most persistent idea in American history: these supposedly United States should be broken up (Eric Foner). The novel and fiery thesis of Break It Up is simple: the United States has never lived up to its name...2020-08-1803 min
Full Audiobooks in Non-Fiction, Current Affairs, Law, & PoliticsBreak It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union by Richard KreitnerPlease visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/405371 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union Author: Richard Kreitner Narrator: Adam Verner Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 15 hours 42 minutes Release date: August 18, 2020 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 4 of Total 1 Genres: Current Affairs, Law, & Politics Publisher's Summary: From journalist and historian Richard Kreitner, a 'powerful revisionist account'of the most persistent idea in American history: these supposedly United States should be broken up (Eric Foner). The novel and fiery thesis of Break It Up is simple: the United States has never lived up to its...2020-08-1803 min
Listen to Top Full Audiobooks in Non-Fiction, Current Affairs, Law, & PoliticsBreak It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union by Richard KreitnerPlease visithttps://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/405371to listen full audiobooks.
Title: Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union
Author: Richard Kreitner
Narrator: Adam Verner
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 15 hours 42 minutes
Release date: August 18, 2020
Ratings: Ratings of Book: 4 of Total 1
Genres: Current Affairs, Law, & Politics
Publisher's Summary:
From journalist and historian Richard Kreitner, a 'powerful revisionist account'of the most persistent idea in American history: these supposedly United States should be broken up (Eric Foner). The novel and fiery thesis of Break It Up is simple: the United States has never lived up to its name...2020-08-183h 42
The Brion McClanahan ShowEpisode 343: Breaking Up Is Easy To DoBreaking up should be easy to do, at least politically. But we have been taught secession is illegal, treason, and un-American. A new book by Richard Krietner exposes that position as a lie. I discuss secession and Kreitner's book in this episode of The Brion McClanahan Show.
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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brion-mcclanahan/support2020-08-1729 min
The ConversationRichard Kreitner & Jonathan Metzl - July 27, 2020Richard Kreitner and Jonathan Metzl speak with Cenk on The Conversation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2020-07-2725 min
Under the Radar PodcastEncore: The Joys And Challenges Of Being A Stay-At-Home DadThis is a special encore edition of Under the Radar with Callie Crossley. This segment originally aired on June 14, 2019.
From "The Simpsons" to the 1983 film "Mr. Mom," pop culture is rife with examples of bumbling fathers. And while it’s fun to laugh at these fictional send-ups of charming incompetence, in real life, dads consider parenting just as central to their identities as moms. That's one of the reasons why a growing number of fathers are opting to be stay-at-home dads.
Guests:
Robbie Samuels - Father of two, author and host of the strat...2020-07-2657 min
Three BooksEpisode 25: BooksGiving 2019! (Part 1)Three Books is Ela Area Public Library’s podcast series where our hosts, Becca and Christen, chat about three popular/favorite books. This month, Becca and Christen chat with Ela Staff for gift/giving ideas for this holiday season. Sorry this guy is so late! Hopefully it will help with some last minute gift ideas or give you ideas of things to get yourself. 00:00:09 Welcome to Booksgiving00:02:44 CHRISTEN'S BOOK 1: Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (First Folio edition)00:08:30 CHRISTEN'S BOOK 2: First Folio Theatre / American Writers Museum00:12:07 CHRISTEN'S BOOK 3: Good Society - A Jane Austen Roleplaying Game00:14:58 ...2019-12-2256 min
Death by IgnoranceThe Assassination of TruthDeath by Ignorance
Program notes – Episode 15 – The Assassination of Truth
References
1) An article from Chris Cillizza on truth in the 2016 US election
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-campaign-republican-us-election-2016-what-it-says-about-a7022276.html
2) Michael Deacon, writing in the Daily Telegraph (UK) on post-truth politics
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/09/in-a-world-of-post-truth-politics-andrea-leadsom-will-make-the-p/
3) Gay Alcorn’s article on post-truth politics and the irrelevance of facts from 2014
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/facts-are-futile-in-an-era-of-posttruth-politics-20140227-33m70.html
4) Richard Kreitner of The Nation giving some historical perspective on post-truth politics
https://www.thenation.com/article/post-truth-and-its-consequences-what-a-25-year-old-essay-tells-us-about-the-current-moment/
5) Sam Ha...2019-11-131h 04
BFL Podcastthe hustle is realJamie and Emily catch up after the Cape Cod tornado, and cover some books & graphic novels.
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Books in this episode:
Booked : a traveler's guide to literary locations around the world by Richard Kreitner
They Called Us Enemy by George Takei
The Weatherman by Jody LeHeup and Nathan Fox
The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski2019-08-0734 minBFL PodcastOh I've seen that oneEmily and Jamie ramble about books, Boston, and Things.
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Books in this episode:
Booked : a traveler's guide to literary locations around the world by Richard Kreitner
The bucket list : places to find peace & quiet by Victoria Ward
Cooking with Trade Joe's cookbook: Dinner's Done! by Deana Gunn and Wona Miniati
Cooking with Trader Joe's : the 5 ingredient cookbook by Deana Gunn and Wona Miniati
Cape Cod Chef's Table by John Carafoli
The Test by Sylvain Neuvel
...2019-07-1732 minUnder the Radar PodcastThe Joys And Challenges Of Being A Stay At Home DadFrom The Simpsons to the 1983 film Mr. Mom, pop culture is rife with examples of bumbling fathers. And while it’s fun to laugh at these fictional send-ups of charming incompetence, in real life, dads consider parenting just as central to their identities as moms. That's one of the reasons why a growing number of fathers are opting to be stay at home dads.
Guests:
Robbie Samuels - Father of two, author and host of the strategic networking podcast, On the Schmooze.
Dave Cutler - Father of four and blogger at The Dad Li...2019-06-1657 min
ClockshopCounter-Inaugural: Lynda V. Mapes with mark! LopezLynda V. Mapes has been reporting on environmental issues for the Seattle Times since 1997 with a specific focus on river health and Native American communities. These points of focus merged in her 2016 coverage of the Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock. On January 24, 2017, Mapes was joined in conversation by mark! Lopez, executive director of East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice. Much of Lopez’s organizing takes place in communities adjacent to the southern portion of the Los Angeles River. In this conversation, Mapes and Lopez spoke about what we’ve learned from Standing Rock, and how those lessons relate to L...2017-02-071h 17ClockshopCounter-Inaugural: Lynda V. Mapes with mark! LopezLynda V. Mapes has been reporting on environmental issues for the Seattle Times since 1997 with a specific focus on river health and Native American communities. These points of focus merged in her 2016 coverage of the Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock. On January 24, 2017, Mapes was joined in conversation by mark! Lopez, executive director of East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice. Much of Lopez’s organizing takes place in communities adjacent to the southern portion of the Los Angeles River. In this conversation, Mapes and Lopez spoke about what we’ve learned from Standing Rock, and how those lessons relate to L...2017-02-071h 17
New Books in JournalismRichard Kreitner, “The Almanac: 150 Years of The Nation (5)”Helen Keller, Franz Kafka and Silent Cal Coolidge appear in this week’s Almanac, a blog to celebrate the 150thanniversary of The Nation, America’s oldest magazine. Nation archivist Richard Kreitner is featuring an event from every day of the year and how The Nation covered it.In this New Books Network interview, he discusses events from May 31 to June 6 including Watergate, political assassinations and the D-Day invasion of France.As you listen, you’ll hear the voices of Richard M. Nixon, Robert F. Kennedy and an excerpt from one of Kafka’s most famous stories. Learn...2015-06-0218 minNew Books in JournalismRichard Kreitner, The Nation Almanac (4)When Star Wars opened in 1977, Robert Hatch, film reviewer for The Nation magazine, wrote that it “belongs in the sub-basement, or interstellar comic-strip school of science fiction, Terry and the Pirates with astro-drive.” Hatch concluded that all in all, Star Wars “is an outrageously successful…compilation of nonsense.”
The Nation‘s archivist, Richard Kreitner chose Robert Hatch’s review for the May twenty-fifth entry on his daily blog The Almanac which the magazine is publishing to celebrate 150 years of publishing.
In this New Books Network journalism podcast, Richard Kreitner discusses events that happened in the last week of Ma...2015-05-2222 minNew Books in JournalismRichard Kreitner, The Nation Almanac (3)The Nation magazine, a beacon of the cultural and political left, is celebrating 150 years of publishing. As part of its celebration, it’s publishing a daily blog called The Almanac that looks at events on each day of the year and how The Nation covered them.
In this New Books Network journalism podcast, you’ll hear Richard Kreitner, the magazine’s archivist, discuss how The Nation covered the struggle for civil rights including the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling against segregated public schools in 1954; the life and work of the slain African-American leader Malcolm X and poet Lan...2015-05-1825 minNew Books in JournalismRichard Kreitner, The Nation Almanac (2)The Nation magazine is one of America’s most distinguished journalistic enterprises featuring the writing and work of such notable people as Calvin Trillin, Noam Chomsky, Jessica Mitford, James Baldwin and Naomi Klein. The Nation was founded 150 years ago this July. It’s America’s oldest weekly magazine. To mark its 150th anniversary, it’s publishing a daily blog called The Almanac compiled by the magazine’s archivist, Richard Kreitner. The Almanac looks at significant historical events that took place on each day of the year and how The Nation covered them.
In this New Books Network podcast, y...2015-05-1121 minNew Books in JournalismRichard Kreitner, The Nation AlmanacThe Nation magazine is one of America’s most distinguished journalistic enterprises featuring the writing and work of such notable people as Albert Einstein, Emma Goldman, Molly Ivins, I.F. Stone and Hunter S. Thompson. The Nation was founded 150 years ago this July. It’s America’s oldest weekly magazine. To mark its 15oth anniversary, it’s publishing a daily blog called The Almanac compiled by the magazine’s archivist, Richard Kreitner. The Almanac looks at significant historical events that took place on each day of the year and how The Nation covered them.
In this New Books Netwo...2015-04-1518 min