Writer's Voice

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. American fascism didn’t begin with Donald Trump, or even with the rise of fascism in Europe. Its roots reach deep into our own history. America’s road to fascism began with a big lie about who counts as fully human. That’s what historian Joseph Kelly reveals in his book, The Biggest Lie: The Prehistory of American Fascism, 1818–1915. Kelly traces a long struggle between two visions of the country. One rests on the Declaration’s promise of equality. The other claims that people aren’t equal, that white people are superior to Black people and therefore have the right to dominate them. We follow that ideology from the Missouri crisis through pseudoscientific racism, Indian removal, slavery and the violent overthrow of Reconstruction. Kelly explains how the Ku Klux Klan, the Red Shirts, Jim Crow and The Birth of a Nation used fear, myth and racialized sexual panic to defend white rule. We also look at a road not taken, multiracial democracy and class-based political cooperation. Those possibilities were repeatedly attacked by elites who weaponized fears of replacement and Black political power. Kelly connects domestic white supremacy to American empire in Cuba and the Philippines. He argues that fascism is a corruption of democracy, built when dissent is silenced, violence is celebrated and allegiance to the tribe and its leader replaces truth. That history, he says, can help us understand the battle over democracy today. Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Love good coffee? Want to support Writer’s Voice? Head on over to Larry’s Coffee using this LINK, and you’ll earn $30 for the show! You might also like: Aran Shetterly on The Greensboro Massacre, Paul Kix on the fight to end Jim Crow Tags: Joseph Kelly, The Biggest Lie, American fascism, white supremacy, racism, slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, replacement theory, multiracial democracy Read The Transcript Joseph Kelly, THE BIGGEST LIE Key topics: The conflict between equality and white supremacy The Missouri crisis and the defense of slavery Pseudoscientific racism Andrew Jackson and Indian removal The destruction of Reconstruction The Ku Klux Klan and the Red Shirts Racial and sexual panic Ida B. Wells and the truth about lynching American imperialism in Cuba and the Philippines The Birth of a Nation Fascism, political lies and loyalty to the leader

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. A machine that never judges us may also teach us to forget how human relationships work. Writer’s Voice talks with Victoria Hetherington about The Friend Machine, her investigation into people who seek friendship, therapy and love from AI. We explore loneliness, simulated care, privacy, emotional dependence and the extraordinary power of the corporations building these systems. “That’s probably my primary concern, that moral de-skilling might occur.” — Victoria Hetherington Then, we revisit our 2025 conversation with Silvia Park about her sci-fi novel Luminous. Set in a reunified future Korea, the novel follows a family whose estranged siblings include two humans and a robot. “What I really question is, if robots exist in this world, would they serve as an outlet or would they amplify our dark urges?” — Silvia Park Together, these books grapple with salient questions arising from AI and monopoly corporate power. Can programmed affection become love? And what does how we treat A.I. entities say about ourselves? Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Love good coffee? Want to support Writer’s Voice? Head on over to Larry’s Coffee using this LINK, and you’ll earn $30 for the show! You might also like: Bruce Holsinger on AI’s Moral Dilemmas, Ray Nayler on AI and Autocracy Tags: Victoria Hetherington, The Friend Machine, Silvia Park, Luminous, AI companions, artificial intelligence, AI friendship, AI therapy, sentient robots, AI ethics, AI privacy, Writer’s Voice Read The Transcript Victoria Hetherington, The Friend Machine What happens when an AI companion becomes your closest friend, your therapist, or even your romantic partner? Victoria Hetherington’s The Friend Machine: On the Trail of AI Companionship investigates why people form powerful emotional bonds with chatbots. Hetherington finds that the real story isn’t whether AI is conscious. It’s why so many of us are ready to treat it as if it were. In our conversation, We talk about loneliness, simulated care, AI therapy, privacy, and the risks of replacing difficult human relationships with frictionless digital ones. We also ask what guardrails are needed when a handful of enormously powerful companies control technologies that can learn our most intimate secrets. Victoria Hetherington is a journalist, broadcaster, and author whose work explores technology, intimacy, and what it means to be human in an AI-driven world. Silvia Park, Luminous (re-air) Set in a reunified Korea, Luminous follows a family with a unique dynamic: two human siblings and their robot brother Yo-Yo. The novel explores complex relationships between humans and robots, examining questions of love, memory, and what constitutes consciousness. Silvia Park Interview: Key Topics How AI and robotics shape a reunified Korea post-war The role of robots in family structures—caretakers, siblings, even romantic partners The central mystery of Yo-Yo, a robot who defies expectations and may possess a soul The ethical dilemmas of AI companionship and whether love can be programmed Morgan’s struggle with creating a robotic boyfriend who loves her—but is he real? Jun’s identity as a transgender war veteran and his struggle with his cybernetic body How society’s treatment of robots reflects historical patterns of oppression and dehumanization The dark undercurrent of ritualized violence against AI and its parallels to human history The philosophical question: If AI surpasses us in intelligence and empathy, what happens next?

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. What does it take to win back a democracy, and who is our government really supposed to serve? This week on Writer’s Voice, I talk with anthropologist Ida Susser about her book, The Yellow Vests and the Battle for Democracy. She tells the story of a movement in France that began with anger over a diesel tax and grew into a much deeper defense of public services, economic dignity, and democratic power. “There is no other thing to do for democracy, but fight for your rights every single way and day that you can.” – Ida Susser Then, following Abdul El Sayed’s victory in Michigan’s Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, we return to my 2021 conversation with him about the book he co-wrote, Medicare for All: A Citizen’s Guide. El-Sayed explains why American healthcare costs so much, how private insurance drives those costs higher, and how Medicare for All could cover everyone while giving the public real power over prices. “Under Medicare for All, we would pay for the system far more progressively to cover everyone.” – Dr. Abdul El Sayed Two movements, one fundamental question, can ordinary people reclaim the institutions meant to serve them? Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Love good coffee? Want to support Writer’s Voice? Head on over to Larry’s Coffee using this LINK, and you’ll earn $30 for the show! You may also like: Abdul El Sayed & Micah Johnson, MEDICARE FOR ALL: A Citizen’s Guide, Remembering The Revolutions of 2011 Tags: Ida Susser, Abdul El-Sayed, Yellow Vests, Medicare for All, Michigan Senate primary, democracy, healthcare reform, single-payer healthcare, neoliberalism, social movements, corporate power, Writer’s Voice Read the Transcript Ida Susser, The Yellow Vests Democracy isn’t something we inherit once and keep forever. It has to be defended, rebuilt, and often reclaimed from those who’ve taken it away. In her book, The Yellow Vests and the Battle for Democracy, Ida Susser tells the thrilling story of how the Yellow Vest movement erupted in France in 2018, after the Macron government imposed a diesel tax that hit working people already struggling with disappearing hospitals, schools, transit, and public services. But, as Susser explains, this wasn’t simply an anti-tax movement. On roundabouts and in public squares, people began talking across political divisions. They connected the end of the month with the end of the world, economic survival with the climate crisis. Susser tells us what the Yellow Vests can teach us about solidarity, state violence, and the long struggle to protect democracy. Ida Susser is a South African-born American anthropologist and Professor of Anthropology at Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. DOWNLOAD THE YELLOW VESTS FOR FREE Abdul El Sayed on Medicare For All On August 5, Abdul El-Sayed was declared the winner of Michigan’s Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate. He won it with a clear message: get money out of politics, put money in people’s pockets, and pass Medicare for All. We take up the last demand as we return to an excerpt from my 2021 interview with El-Sayed and physician Micah Johnson about their book, Medicare for All: A Citizen’s Guide. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed explains why American healthcare costs so much, how a single public insurer could negotiate lower prices, and why paying for Medicare for All is ultimately a question of whose budget matters most.

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. Can science fiction help us imagine a way through climate crisis, runaway corporate power, and the rise of AI? This week, we talk with John Feffer about Songlands and Portia Elan about Homebound, two speculative novels that ask how we can make a livable future in an age of crisis. Songlands, the final novel in Feffer’s Splinterlands trilogy, takes us into a climate-ravaged world where nations have fractured and a biotech corporation holds enormous power. Yet poetry, collective action, and a conscious, caring AI offer another way forward. “Love is an important kind of operating system, if you will, to define one’s relations with the world.” — John Feffer Portia Elan’s Homebound travels across 600 years, connecting a queer coder in 1985 with a smuggler in 2585. Their stories come together through grief, a mysterious video game, found family, and the moral choices that shape history. “[AI] is a reflection of the values of the creators. I’m afraid of the human choices, not so much of the LLM choices.” — Portia Elan Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Love good coffee? Want to support Writer’s Voice? Head on over to Larry’s Coffee using this LINK, and you’ll earn $30 for the show! [Episode 1036] Read The Transcript Segment One, John Feffer on Songlands John Feffer’s Songlands is the third novel in his Splinterlands trilogy. It takes place in a climate-ravaged future, where the all-powerful CRISPR Corporation offers survival only to a privileged few. A reluctant poet, Aurora, becomes part of the struggle against it, aided by Karen, the first conscious AI — an AI with a conscience. Writer’s Voice talks with Feffer about climate justice, dangerous feedback loops, geoengineering, corporate oligarchy, and our tendency to project human drives for domination onto AI. We also explore poetry as a force for political resistance, and why we still need to create in the middle of catastrophe. Segment Two, Portia Elan on Homebound Portia Elan’s Homebound spans 600 years, linking Bex, a queer coder grieving her uncle in 1985, with Yeshiko, a smuggler fighting to preserve her independence in 2585. Between them lies a mysterious video game, generations of stories, and Haya, a conscious automaton created to care for damaged ecosystems. I talk with Portia about transforming grief through creativity, finding home in chosen family, and the values humans build into technology. We explore how stories invite the reader to participate, why everyday kindness matters, and what it means to choose hope as a moral action rather than a comforting feeling. Read an excerpt from Homebound

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. The Cuban Revolution transformed a nation. It also ended the Mob’s dream of turning Havana into the center of a global criminal empire. And it divided families. Writer’s Voice talks with Cuban American historian Ada Ferrer about her memoir, Keeper of My Kin. When Ferrer was ten months old, her mother carried her out of Cuba without saying goodbye to Ferrer’s nine-year-old half-brother, Poli. The separation was supposed to be temporary. It lasted seventeen years. “We tend to think that history happens up here or something, but all these historical events, their geopolitical decisions, they reverberate in individual lives, at the heart of families, in these really intimate spaces, in the space between people, family members who are separated, right?” — Ada Ferrer Then Writer’s Voice returns to a 2008 interview with journalist T.J. English about Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution. English describes how Meyer Lansky and other American mobsters allied themselves with dictator Fulgencio Batista, turning Havana into a glittering marketplace of casinos, nightclubs, prostitution, political corruption, and corporate profit. “In that period, Havana became a kind of a paradise, a mobster’s paradise.” — T.J.English The Mob hoped Cuba would become the base of a multinational empire. Instead, its exploitation of the island became a powerful symbol for the revolution that swept Batista and the gangsters from power. Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Love good coffee? Want to support Writer’s Voice? Head on over to Larry’s Coffee using this LINK, and you’ll earn $30 for the show! [Episode 1035] Tags: Keeper of My Kin, Ada Ferrer, T.J. English, Havana Nocturne, Cuban Revolution, Cuba, Cuban history, Cuban exile, Cuban immigration, Mariel boatlift, Mafia in Cuba, Meyer Lansky, Fulgencio Batista, Fidel Castro, Writer’s Voice, Francesca Rheannon, Read The Transcript Episode Topics The Cuban Revolution and family separation Cuban migration to the United States The Mariel boatlift Childhood abandonment and intergenerational trauma Letters as historical evidence Cuban exile communities Ordinary people as historical actorsThe United States embargo against Cuba Political repression and economic policy in Cuba Fulgencio Batista and political corruption Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano, and Santo Trafficante Organized crime in pre-revolutionary Havana Casinos, nightclubs, prostitution, and tourism American corporate interests in Cuba Capitalism and organized crime The Mob’s role in fueling revolutionary opposition

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. Economic insecurity is reshaping America’s workforce. Will that bring college-educated and non-college educated workers together? For decades, Americans were told that education was the pathway to the middle class. Get a degree, work hard, and professional success would follow. But that promise has weakened. In Mutiny: The Rise and Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class, New York Times reporter Noam Scheiber argues that millions of college graduates increasingly face the same insecurity that has long confronted blue-collar workers. They carry heavy student debt, struggle to find stable careers, and often discover that professional jobs offer less autonomy and dignity than previous generations enjoyed. Writer’s Voice talks with Scheiber about the organizing drives at Starbucks, Apple, Amazon, and among Hollywood writers, along with the changing realities facing doctors, graduate students, and other professionals. He explains why so many workers who once imagined themselves as future managers or professionals are instead embracing unions and collective action. The conversation explores how corporate restructuring, the aftermath of the Great Recession, streaming media, and artificial intelligence are reshaping work across industries. Scheiber argues that the traditional divide between college-educated and non-college-educated workers is narrowing as economic precarity spreads throughout the labor force. The result, he suggests, may be a new politics of work, one in which people who once saw themselves as members of different social classes increasingly recognize common interests. Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Love good coffee? Want to support Writer’s Voice? Head on over to Larry’s Coffee using this LINK, and you’ll earn $30 for the show! Tags: Noam Scheiber, Mutiny, Starbucks Workers United, Amazon Labor Union, Apple union, Hollywood writers strike, college graduates, economic inequality, AI and work, worker organizing, precarity, corporate power, Writer’s Voice podcast You might also like: Maria Adelmann on Adjunct Labor, Cory Doctorow on Big Tech’s “Enshittification” Read the Transcript Noam Scheiber, MUTINY: Key Topics – The emergence of the college-educated working class – Why college no longer guarantees economic security – Starbucks and the Red Cup union campaign – Amazon Labor Union and Chris Smalls – Apple workers and changing professional expectations – Hollywood writers, streaming, and AI – Worker dignity and professional autonomy – Growing worker consciousness across occupations – How AI could reshape labor politics Read an Excerpt

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. The stories we tell can change how we live. This week on Writer’s Voice, a novel about what happens when we lose our connection to the living systems that sustain us. Songwriter and author Alex Woodard joins us to talk about Ordinary Soil, a multigenerational saga of a Choctaw farming family in the Oklahoma Panhandle that traces the intertwined health of land, food, and people across more than a century. “The simplified message of this book is that you get out what you put in. And that goes for the dirt, that goes for your stomach, that goes for your mind, that goes for your spirit, that goes for everything.” Then, we revisit our 2019 conversation conversation with environmental journalist Carey Gillam about her book The Monsanto Papers: Deadly Secrets, Corporate Corruption, and One Man’s Search for Justice. It’s about the groundbreaking case of school groundskeeper Lee Johnson—how he sued Monsanto and won. Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Tags: Alex Woodard, Ordinary Soil, regenerative agriculture, soil health, glyphosate, Roundup, Indigenous farming, environmental fiction, Carey Gillam, Monsanto You might also like: Exposing Hidden Agendas: Will Potter on Factory Farm Secrecy, Carey Gillam, WHITEWASH Love good coffee? Want to support Writer’s Voice? Head on over to Larry’s Coffee using this LINK, and you’ll earn $30 for the show! Alex Woodard, ORDINARY SOIL Alex Woodard’s Ordinary Soil follows six generations of a Choctaw farming family living on the same Oklahoma Panhandle land from the late nineteenth century to the present. At its center is Jake, a struggling modern farmer whose physical and emotional health reflect the accumulated effects of generational trauma, environmental degradation, and the transformation of American agriculture. In our conversation, Woodard discusses the novel’s roots in both family history and contemporary concerns about industrial agriculture. The book contrasts Indigenous farming traditions, particularly the “Three Sisters” method of planting corn, beans, and squash together, with the rise of chemical-intensive monoculture farming. Through the family’s story, Woodard explores how changes in the soil affect not only ecosystems but human health as well. We also talk about glyphosate, gut health, regenerative agriculture, and the growing scientific understanding of epigenetics. The novel suggests that both physical and emotional trauma can accumulate across generations, shaping the lives of descendants long after the original wounds occurred. At the same time, Woodard emphasizes that healing is possible, for individuals, communities, and the land itself. Listen to or Read a Sample from Ordinary Soil

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. Anand Gopal on Syria’s Lost Democratic Revolution What really happened in Syria? In this episode of Writer’s Voice, we talk with journalist Anand Gopal about his extraordinary book Days of Love and Rage. Drawing on years of reporting and hundreds of interviews, Gopal reconstructs the story of ordinary Syrians who rose up against dictatorship and attempted to build a democratic society in the city of Manbij during the Arab Spring. “In these complex scenarios, you usually hear about devastation, not about acts of construction.” We discuss the social contract that sustained the Assad regime for decades, the impact of neoliberal economic reforms and climate-driven drought, and the revolutionary awakening that swept through Syria in 2011. Gopal describes how citizens with no prior experience of democracy organized councils, newspapers, political assemblies, and public debates, creating a vibrant experiment in self-government under impossible conditions. The conversation also explores the class divisions, economic crises, and political struggles that contributed to the rise of Islamist movements and eventually ISIS. Yet Gopal argues that the democratic experiment was real, meaningful, and not doomed to fail. In the final part of our conversation, we examine hope, not as a feeling but as a practice, a willingness to remain open to possibility even in dark times. Tags: Anand Gopal, Days of Love and Rage, Syria, Syrian Revolution, Arab Spring, Assad regime, Bashar al-Assad, ISIS, Middle East politics, Writer’s Voice Podcast You Might Also Like: Remembering The Revolutions of 2011, Deborah Campbell, A DISAPPEARANCE IN DAMASCUS & Melissa Fleming, A HOPE MORE POWERFUL THAN THE SEA Love good coffee? Want to support Writer’s Voice? Head on over to Larry’s Coffee using this LINK, and you’ll earn $30 for the show! More on “Days of Love & Rage” Anand Gopal’s Days of Love and Rage is a sweeping account of Syria’s revolution through the lives of ordinary people in Manbij and the Euphrates countryside. Beginning with the agrarian world of Ibrahim Qasim and the village of Little Hyena, Gopal traces the transformation of Syrian society under the Ba’ath Party, the erosion of economic security through neoliberal reforms, and the environmental pressures that helped fuel the Arab Spring. The conversation examines how Syrians who had lived for decades under dictatorship discovered collective political power through protest and democratic organizing. Gopal describes the emergence of the Revolutionary Council and Revolutionary Youth Movement, which attempted to govern Manbij through public participation, debate, elections, and accountability. We also explore how economic inequality, class conflict, and insecurity opened space for Islamist movements and eventually ISIS. Finally, Gopal reflects on historical contingency, revolutionary tradition, and the meaning of hope in times of uncertainty. Key Topics Syria before the Arab Spring The Assad regime and the Ba’ath Party Neoliberalism in the Middle East Climate change and drought in Syria The Arab Spring Democratic self-government in Manbij The Revolutionary Youth Movement Class conflict and political transformation The rise of Islamist movements ISIS and revolutionary collapse Historical contingency Revolutionary traditions Hope as political practice Listen to or read an excerpt

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. Episode Summary What if the story we tell about civilization is wrong? What if human history isn’t a steady march from “primitive” hunter-gatherers to ever more advanced societies, but something far messier, more inventive, and more fragile — a long experiment of adaptation, collapse, reinvention, and survival? Our guest, historian and podcaster Patrick Wyman takes readers deep into that story in his new book, Lost Worlds: How Humans Tried, Failed, Succeeded, and Built Our World. “Our human past is infinitely bigger than we generally tend to think it is.” Drawing on breakthroughs in archaeology, ancient DNA, isotope analysis, and climate science, Wyman takes us from Ice Age North America to Bronze Age cities and forgotten civilizations across Europe and the Mediterranean. Along the way, he challenges the idea that history follows a single path toward “civilization.” Instead, he reveals a human story filled with experimentation, adaptation, migration, collapse, and renewal. At a moment when many people feel trapped by crises that seem beyond our control, Lost Worlds offers a powerful reminder that history is full of alternatives, and that the future remains unwritten. One thing is clear: we’ve always had more choices than we thought. Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Tags: Patrick Wyman, Lost Worlds, Bronze Age collapse, Göbekli Tepe, Trypillia, Mycenaean Greece, Sea Peoples, hunter-gatherers, ancient DNA, archaeology, migration history, collapse and renewal, human prehistory, Writer’s Voice podcast,  You Might Also Like: David Wengrow, THE DAWN OF EVERYTHING, Lizzie Wade on APOCALYPSE: What Collapse Reveals About Human Possibility Patrick Wyman, LOST WORLDS Segment Summary The scale of the human past — Wyman opens by making the case that even people who love history dramatically underestimate how much of it there is, how many societies have existed, and how different they were from each other and from our assumptions. Why civilization didn’t unfold in a straight line — Agriculture was independently invented multiple times, in places that look nothing like each other. The “package” of traits we associate with civilization — farming, cities, hierarchy, writing — didn’t arrive together, and they weren’t inevitable. Migration as humanity’s oldest survival tool — Wyman pushes back on the idea that people are supposed to be rooted in place. Over long periods of time, moving is the baseline human response to pressure, and new tools like ancient DNA are letting us see those movements more clearly than ever before. New archaeology and what it reveals — The Kosice mass grave in Poland, the Anzick child burial in Montana, the antler frontlets at Starcar in England: Wyman shows how new scientific methods are turning what used to be anonymous fragments into intimate human stories. Göbekli Tepe, Trypillia, and the problem with “civilization” — Wyman is skeptical of checklists that define which societies “count” as civilizations. He argues those checklists exclude extraordinary experiments in human organization, and he makes the case for taking the Trypillia megacities seriously on their own terms. The Bronze Age collapse — Around 1200 BC, one of the most prosperous and interconnected worlds in ancient history fell apart in a cascading systems failure. Wyman argues the same interconnections that made it successful made it fragile — and draws explicit parallels to disruptions in global supply chains today. Collapse and renewal — Wyman pushes back on apocalyptic collapse narratives. Even the worst collapses left survivors with knowledge, agency, and choices. The end is never the end. About the Author Patrick Wyman is the host of The Tides of History and The Fall of Rome podcasts, author of several books, and creator of the Substack Perspectives: Past, Present, and Future,  Read a Sample from Lost Worlds

In this episode of Writer's Voice, Francesca speaks with Omar Zahzah, Palestinian-American scholar, activist, journalist, and author of Terms of Servitude: Zionism, Silicon Valley, and Digital Settler Colonialism in the Palestinian Liberation Struggle. Zahzah offers the first book-length analysis of how major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok, systematically suppress Palestinian content, and how that suppression is structurally connected to the financial, ideological, and political ties between Silicon Valley and the Israeli state.

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. This week, Elizabeth Vartkessian joins me to discuss The Deserving: What the Lives of the Condemned Reveal About American Justice. Drawing on two decades as a mitigation specialist working with people facing the death penalty, she argues that America’s justice system reflects deeper failures in how we value human dignity, mercy, and opportunity. “What I can do is everything possible to provide the context that people need to understand that my client is a person who has likely done a huge amount of harm that can’t be undone, but they are still a human being who is loved, who has potential, who has the capacity just like any other human being to grow, to change, to redeem.”   Then we revisit part of my 2020 conversation with Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, now a candidate for the U.S. Senate from Michigan. In Healing Politics, he describes what he calls America’s “epidemic of insecurity” and explains why he left medicine to tackle the social and political causes of illness itself. “Medicine is a social science, and politics is nothing but medicine on a large scale.” Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Tags: Elizabeth Vartkessian, The Deserving, death penalty, capital punishment, criminal justice, mitigation specialist, prison system, restorative justice, Abdul El-Sayed, Healing Politics, public health, healthcare inequality, Writer’s Voice podcast You May Also Like: Abdul EL Sayed, HEALING POLITICS, Stephanie Canizales, SIN PADRES NI PAPELES Elizabeth Vartkessian, The Deserving Elizabeth Vartkessian has spent more than two decades working as a mitigation specialist for people facing the death penalty. In The Deserving, she brings readers inside a rarely seen part of the American legal system, investigating the lives of people condemned to die and the social conditions that shaped them long before they entered a courtroom.   In our conversation, Vartkessian explains what mitigation work actually involves. She investigates the life histories of defendants, tracing patterns of childhood abuse, poverty, trauma, addiction, racism, and systemic neglect. Rather than excusing violent acts, she argues that understanding the full human context behind them is essential if justice is to mean anything more than punishment.   We talk in depth about one of her early clients, “Edward,” who was sentenced to death after a robbery gone wrong when he was barely eighteen years old. Through Edward’s story, Vartkessian explores how violence often begins long before a crime itself, in homes and communities shaped by desperation and neglect. She also discusses the deeply flawed mechanics of the death penalty system itself, from ineffective defense counsel to “death-qualified” juries that are predisposed toward conviction and execution.   The conversation ultimately becomes a larger meditation on mercy, dignity, and the meaning of justice in America. Vartkessian argues that the death penalty neither deters violence nor creates public safety, and instead reflects a society willing to decide that some people are beyond redemption.   Abdul El Sayed, Healing Politics In this excerpt from our 2020 interview, Abdul El-Sayed argues that America faces not just a healthcare crisis, but what he calls an “epidemic of insecurity.” Drawing on his training as both a physician and epidemiologist, he describes how collapsing systems of healthcare, housing, employment, and politics leave millions of Americans struggling with chronic instability and fear. El-Sayed explains how his understanding of public health evolved beyond traditional medicine into what he calls a systems approach, recognizing that disease is shaped not only by biology, but by racism, poverty, environmental exposure, political power, and economic inequality. He illustrates this through his former work as director of the Detroit Health Department, where industrial pollution, asthma, COVID-19, and racial disparities all intersected in the same communities. The conversation also turns deeply personal. El-Sayed recounts the patient encounter that changed the course of his life, leading him to leave clinical medicine behind in order to address the systemic causes of illness itself. He reflects on water shutoffs in Detroit, the Flint lead crisis, and the failure of political institutions to protect public health. At its core, Healing Politics argues that healing requires more than medical care. It requires rebuilding social systems that allow people to live with dignity, security, and democratic power.

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. This week on Writer’s Voice, two novels explore what happens when people are forced out of the lives they thought they understood. First, Tim Weed joins me to talk about The Gatepost, a speculative thriller that blends archaeology, psychedelics, quantum theory and Mesoamerican mythology into a story about grief, consciousness, and humanity’s fractured relationship with nature. “Our mythologies have collapsed. They no longer explain the world. And so, I consider this to be a fun novel, but it’s also a novel that has a serious aspect to it. And this is part of weaving the new tapestry, the tapestry of a new mythology.”   Then Farah Naz Rishi discusses The Flightless Birds of New Hope, a funny, tender, and deeply moving novel about three estranged siblings brought back together after the death of their parents and the escape of the family cockatoo. “I think grief and humor come hand in hand. Usually you’ll find that some of the funniest people are those who have experienced intense hardship or suffering from depression. And they use humor as a way of making sure that people don’t worry about them.”   Both books ask what it takes to move forward after loss, and whether connection, to family, to nature, or to something larger than ourselves, can help us find our way. Finally, we listen to Richard Wilbur read his poem “Advice to a Prophet.” Hear our 2009 conversation with Wilbur here. Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Tags: Tim Weed, The Gatepost, psychedelics, Mesoamerican mythology, Inframundo, speculative fiction, Writer’s Voice podcast, Farah Naz Rishi, The Flightless Birds of New Hope, literary fiction, Richard Wilbur Love good coffee that’s also Fair-Trade? Want to support Writer’s Voice? Head on over to Larry’s Coffee using this LINK, and you’ll earn $30 for the show! You May Also Like: Tim Weed, THE AFTERLIFE PROJECT, Modern Psychedelics with Joe Dolce Tim Weed — The Gatepost Tim Weed’s novel The Gatepost combines literary suspense, speculative fiction, and spiritual inquiry in a story that moves between contemporary Vermont and a mysterious alternate realm inspired by Mesoamerican mythology. The novel follows Esme, a woman investigating the disappearance of her father, Gregory, an amateur archaeologist whose experiments with psilocybin mushrooms and an ancient Olmec stela may have opened a doorway into another world.   In our conversation, Weed discusses the influence of psychedelic researchers like Albert Hofmann and Gordon Wasson, as well as the Mesoamerican concept of the Inframundo, a hidden realm existing alongside ordinary reality. We talk about the intersection of science and spirituality in the novel, including the parallels Weed sees between ancient cosmologies and the “many worlds” interpretation of quantum physics.   Weed also reflects personally on his own experiences with psychedelics as a teenager and how those experiences shaped his imagination as a writer. He describes both the exhilaration and danger of altered states, stressing the seriousness and reverence with which traditional cultures approached entheogenic substances. The conversation explores how experiences of awe, ego dissolution, and interconnectedness influenced the novel’s vision of consciousness and love as a unifying force.   At its heart, The Gatepost is a novel about humanity’s relationship with nature and the stories we tell about our place in the world. Weed argues that modern society suffers from a collapse of shared mythology, and that literature can help imagine new paradigms rooted in stewardship rather than domination.   Farah Naz Rishi — The Flightless Birds of New Hope Farah Naz Rishi’s novel The Flightless Birds of New Hope begins with grief and a missing bird. After the death of their parents, three estranged siblings, Aidan, Eliza, and Sami, are brought back together when the family cockatoo, Coco, escapes. What follows is a road trip story full of emotional reckoning, sharp humor, buried resentment, and hard-earned tenderness.   In our conversation, Rishi talks about how the novel emerged from her own experience of losing her younger brother. She describes grief as a kind of emotional paralysis, a feeling of being “flightless,” and explains how the novel became a way to explore anger, abandonment, love, and survival. The sibling dynamics are central to the story, especially the tensions between Aidan, the angry eldest brother, and Eliza, who feels abandoned after he leaves the family.   One of the novel’s most unusual and moving elements is Coco herself. Rishi explains why she chose to give the cockatoo her own perspective chapters, allowing the bird to become not just a symbol but a full participant in the family’s emotional life. We also talk about birding culture, community, and the generosity of strangers the siblings encounter on their journey.   The conversation also explores the novel’s blend of humor and heartbreak. Rishi reflects on the way grief and comedy coexist, and why imperfect healing felt truer than a neat resolution. In the end, the novel suggests that healing may begin simply with the willingness to keep moving together.   Read A Sample

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. This week, we begin with a look at how Stephen King’s work strikes at the heart of our most basic fears. Caroline Bicks takes us inside Stephen King’s private archives to explore how horror works, and why King’s stories continue to haunt us. Her book is Monsters In The Archives. “He doesn’t just write about monsters. He’s really writing about human emotions of grief and trauma and using horror as a way to help us metabolize our own very human experiences and fears.” Then, another kind of fear: the dizzying precarity plaguing so many college graduates. Novelist Maria Adelmann joins me to talk about Adjunct, her darkly funny and deeply unsettling novel about exploitation, debt, and survival inside higher education. “I wanted to make the point that a few things go wrong — a medical issue, no family support — and you can, even as a professor at a good college, become so poor that you don’t have a place to live.” Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Tags: Stephen King, Monsters in the Archives, Caroline Bicks, Stephen King archive, Pet Sematary, Carrie, Salem’s Lot, The Shining, Night Shift, horror writing craft, adjunct professor, Marie Adelmann, Adjunct novel, contingent faculty, academic precarity, student debt, university adjuncts, adjunct pay, adjunct crisis, Writer’s Voice podcast, Love good coffee that’s also Fair-Trade? Want to support Writer’s Voice? Head on over to Larry’s Coffee using this LINK, and you’ll earn $30 for the show! You Might Also Like: Anthony Horowitz, THE SENTENCE IS DEATH, Brian Goldstone on THERE IS NO PLACE FOR US Caroline Bicks, Monsters In The Archives Caroline Bicks is the inaugural Stephen E. King Chair in Literature at the University of Maine and a scholar of Renaissance literature and Shakespeare. She spent her sabbatical year inside the Kings’ private archive—reading the first drafts, copy-editor exchanges, and revision notes behind five major works including Pet Sematary, Carrie, Salem’s Lot, The Shining, and “The Boogeyman.” Her book, Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King, is the result. In this conversation, Bicks explains why King’s horror works not just because of monsters, but because of the human emotions—grief, trauma, the fear of abandonment—that the monsters stand in for. She traces her own childhood fear of the boogeyman back to the specific psychological mechanisms King exploits, and walks us through what the archives reveal: the version of Carrie that was almost an alien, the copy-editor arguments over the word “rattly,” the draft of Salem’s Lot where the town wasn’t a character yet. She also describes what it was like when King himself called her at home—and what happened when he walked into a room full of students, to their huge delight. Key Topics Why Stephen King’s horror taps universal fears of grief, trauma, and abandonment What King’s private archives reveal about his revision process The transformation of Carrie from alien monster to empathetic victim Why Salem’s Lot is really about a town, not vampires King’s philosophy: words as matter, not just meaning Why King’s stories meet you differently at different points in your life King’s character-driven vs. plot-driven approach to storytelling The Shining drafts, and King’s complicated feelings about Kubrick’s film Maria Adelmann, Adjunct Maria Adelmann is the author of three books, including the novel Adjunct. The book follows Sam, a PhD-holding adjunct professor whose financial situation deteriorates over the course of a single semester—from precarious to genuinely desperate—until she’s hiding under a desk in the adjunct office at 2am. On the surface, the novel is satire — but it might be closer to documentary. In this conversation, Adelmann and Writer’s Voice host Francesca Rheannon—who was herself an adjunct at Keene State College in the 1990s for $1,500 per course—talk about what the numbers actually mean: 70% of college instructors are contingent laborers, 40% specifically labeled adjuncts, and a quarter of those make less than $25,000 a year. They discuss how student debt, the gig economy, gender inequality, and a willful institutional blindness all converge in the figure of the adjunct. And they examine the campus novel as a genre: why it’s always been romantic, and why Adelmann’s deliberately isn’t. Key Topics The adjunct labor crisis: statistics, causes, and human cost Class divisions within academia: adjuncts vs. tenure-track professors Student debt as structural trap Gender and race disparities among adjunct faculty Why universities became dependent on contingent labor The campus novel as genre — and why Adjunct is an “anti-campus novel” Unionization efforts and their unique challenges for adjuncts The gig economy parallel: academia and hustle culture

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. What if the energy transition is arriving faster than anyone imagined? And what if paying attention to the smallest things can change how we live? This Earth Day, Writer’s Voice revisits our interview with Bill McKibben about Here Comes the Sun, a bracing and hopeful argument that cheap, abundant solar power could reshape geopolitics, weaken authoritarianism, and help us meet the climate emergency.  “About five years ago, we crossed some invisible line where it became cheaper to generate power from the sun and the wind than from burning coal and gas and oil.”  Then, Anne Fadiman turns our attention from planetary systems to intimate acts of noticing. In her acclaimed essay collection Frog, she finds wonder and moral inquiry in a neglected pet frog, the burden of literary inheritance, pronouns, grammar, and other seemingly modest subjects that open into large human questions — along with a good dose of humor. “I’m interested in writing about things that other people haven’t noticed.”  Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Love good coffee? Want to support Writer’s Voice? Head on over to Larry’s Coffee using this LINK, and you’ll earn $30 for the show! You Might Also Like: Bill McKibben, Here Comes The Sun (full interview), Margaret Renkl, The Comfort of Crows Tags: Bill McKibben, Anne Fadiman, Here Comes the Sun, Frog essays, solar power, climate solutions, renewable energy, they/them pronounce, literary essays, Writer’s Voice podcast, climate politics, energy transition, literature podcast, interviews with writers, book author interviews, author interviews, Segment One: Bill McKibben, HERE COMES THE SUN Bill McKibben can finally see a path forward, and it’s lit by the sun. Last November, I sat down with Bill McKibben to talk about his new book, Here Comes the Sun, and what he told me then feels even more urgent right now. With global oil supplies disrupted by the Iran conflict, the case for solar has never been stronger. And even though Donald Trump has dismantled federal incentives for renewable energy, states are stepping up, communities are moving fast, and the economics of solar have already crossed a point of no return. McKibben explains that for the first time in the history of the climate fight, the technology to fix the problem is also the cheapest option on the market. Solar and wind have crossed the threshold where they cost less than fossil fuels, and the world is producing a third more energy from the sun this year than last.  We talk about Pakistan’s solar revolution driven by ordinary people with YouTube tutorials, California running on 100% renewables for stretches of the day, and why McKibben thinks the barriers to change are no longer technical or financial. They’re political and bureaucratic. And he’s working to fix that, too. Segment Two: Anne Fadiman, FROG Anne Fadiman can turn a household frog into a meditation on love, guilt, and what we owe the creatures we barely notice. Anne Fadiman’s new essay collection, Frog, is exactly the kind of book I love most: deeply intelligent, full of wit, and somehow able to make you care passionately about things you never knew you cared about. The title essay follows Bunkie, her family’s African Clawed Frog,  a creature she now realizes she didn’t appreciate nearly enough while he was alive. But don’t let the humble subject fool you. This book is a collection of essays that move from a pet frog, to the grammar wars over the singular ‘they’, to what it means to be the literary child of a famous literary parent, and to the poetic beauty of lists. Sam Anderson of the New York Times Magazine, who wrote the foreword, says Fadiman has a gift for finding the universe hidden inside the ordinary. I think that’s exactly right. And I think you’re going to love this conversation. 

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. In this episode of Writer’s Voice, Francesca Rheannon speaks with Andy Lee Roth of Project Censored about the State of the Free Press 2026, marking 50 years of tracking underreported stories. “Censorship by proxy… corporate entities… are in effect doing the dirty work of the government.”  Then, Michael Ellsberg discusses Truth and Consequence, a powerful collection of writings by his father, whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, exploring moral responsibility, war, and resistance. “What do you do as an official when you realize that the policy that you are enacting is crazy or immoral or evil?” Together, these conversations examine the forces shaping what we know—and what we don’t—and the landscape of moral choice in confronting injustice. Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Tags: free press 2026, media censorship, Project Censored, independent journalism, ICE surveillance, Meta censorship, climate crisis news coverage, Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers, media consolidation, Writer’s Voice podcast, literature podcast, interviews with writers, book author interviews, interviews with authors, Love good coffee? Want to support Writer’s Voice? Head on over to Larry’s Coffee using this LINK, and you’ll earn $30 for the show! You Might Also Like: Daniel Ellsberg, THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE, Andy Lee Roth, STATE OF THE FREE PRESS 2024 Segment One: Andy Lee Roth — Project Censored, State of the Free Press 2026 Fifty years after its founding, Project Censored continues to document the most important underreported stories in U.S. media. Andy Lee Roth discusses how media consolidation, “censorship by proxy,” and algorithmic control are reshaping the information landscape. He highlights key censored stories, including ICE surveillance of critics, Meta’s mass takedown of pro-Palestinian content, underreported police violence, and the climate crisis. Roth also warns of growing threats to press freedom and emphasizes the vital role of independent journalism.  Read A Sample Segment Two: Michael Ellsberg — Truth and Consequence Michael Ellsberg discusses Truth and Consequence, a posthumous collection of writings by Daniel Ellsberg, best known for releasing the Pentagon Papers. The book explores Ellsberg’s central moral question: how ordinary people become complicit in massive harm—and how they can resist. From nuclear war planning to Vietnam, Ellsberg’s writings challenge readers to confront the ethics of power, obedience, and dissent—and to embrace moral courage in the face of injustice.

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. In this episode of Writer’s Voice, two powerful voices explore the climate crisis from complementary perspectives. Novelist Ellen Meeropol imagines communities navigating climate disruption in Sometimes an Island. “The challenge is enormous. How do you dramatize doom?… You have to find a balance between the science and the story… the story can inspire action through empathy with the characters.”   Then, environmental leader Judith Enck exposes the systemic forces behind plastic pollution—and what we can do about it—in The Problem with Plastic. “This is a climate change issue. This is an environmental justice issue. This is an ocean issue… mostly, this is a health issue, because none of us should have microplastics in our bodies. But we all do.”   Together, these conversations reveal both the human stories and structural realities shaping our environmental future. Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Tags: climate fiction, climate change novels, plastic pollution, microplastics health effects, Ellen Meeropol, Judith Enck, Beyond Plastics, literature podcast, interviews with writers, book author interviews, interviews with authors, women authors interviews,  You Might Also Like: Ellen Meeropol, HER SISTER’S TATTOO, Jennie Romer, CAN I RECYCLE THIS? Segment One: Ellen Meeropol — Sometimes an Island What does it take to imagine survival in a world shaped by climate disruption? Ellen Meeropol’s climate novel unfolds as a “mosaic” of interconnected lives shaped by migration, memory, and environmental upheaval. Set against the backdrop of a worsening climate emergency, the book follows three communities—from an island in Maine to an off-the-grid cooperative—seeking new ways to live sustainably and collectively. Meeropol explores the parallels between past migrations—like Jewish refugees fleeing pogroms—and present-day climate displacement. At the heart of the novel is a belief in storytelling as a force for empathy and transformation. In our conversation, Meeropol explores: Key Themes Climate migration and historical memory Community resilience and cooperation The role of storytelling in shaping action Multigenerational activism, especially elder leadership Balancing realism and hope in climate fiction Listen to our other conversations with Ellen Meeropol. Segment Two: Judith Enck — The Problem with Plastic Judith Enck argues that the global plastic crisis is not an accident—but a strategic shift by the fossil fuel industry. As demand for fossil fuels declines in energy and transportation, companies have turned to plastics as a new growth market. Enck breaks down the myths of plastic recycling, the health impacts of plastic pollution, and the policy solutions needed to reduce plastic production and waste. She emphasizes local and state-level action as key leverage points for change. Judith Enck was the Regional Administrator of Region 2 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Enck is the founder of Beyond Plastics, a national organization that works on  the problem of plastic pollution, Key Themes: Plastic as a fossil fuel “Plan B” The myth of widespread plastic recycling Health impacts of microplastics and toxic chemicals Environmental justice and “Cancer Alley” Policy solutions: reduction, reuse, refill, rethink Learn more about the plastics crisis and solutions.

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Philip Schultz joins Writer’s Voice to discuss his new collection, Enormous Morning. Writing from the vantage point of his 80th year, Schultz reflects on aging, memory, family, regret—and the possibility of transcendence. “Age has… given me a kind of love of my life and the lives of others that I always didn’t have.” In this conversation, Schultz explores how perspective changes over time, how poetry can transform suffering into insight, and why creativity itself can be a source of resilience and even joy. He also reads several poems from the collection, including “Enormous Morning,” “Good News,” and “My Mistakes.” The conversation moves from the personal to the political, as Schultz reflects on democracy, moral courage, and the ethical questions raised by our current moment. Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Tags: Philip Schultz, Enormous Morning, poetry interview, contemporary poetry, Writer’s Voice podcast, Pulitzer Prize poet, American poets interview. You Might Also Like: Philip Schultz, LUXURY, Philip Schultz, The Poet & His Dyslexia Episode Summary: Philip Schultz Philip Schultz is the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Failure and one of America’s most distinctive contemporary poets. His work has long explored the inner life—its doubts, contradictions, and longings—with a rare mix of emotional honesty, philosophical depth, and, often, surprising humor. Now, in his new collection, Enormous Morning, Schultz writes from a new vantage point: his 80th year. These poems take on aging, memory, family, and mortality—but also something else: renewal. The possibility of gaining a new, more joyous perspective on life The book opens with a walk through a cemetery—yet what emerges is not just a meditation on death, but a vivid sense of continuity. The past and present coexist. The living and the dead are in conversation. And throughout the collection, Schultz moves from the particulars of daily life—a movie, a memory, a friendship—into larger questions about meaning, suffering, and what it means to live ethically in a troubled world. We talk about how age changes perception, how poetry can transform regret into something like forgiveness, and how creativity itself can be a form of resilience—even joy. We also talk about the political dimension of the book—poems that grapple with democracy, moral courage, and the unsettling forces shaping our current moment. For Schultz, poetry is not an escape from reality—it’s a way of entering it more deeply, asking harder questions. As he puts it, writing a poem can be a way of confronting even the most difficult truths—and finding, if not answers, then a kind of clarity, or even transcendence. About the Poet Philip Schultz is the founder and director of the Writers Studio in New York. He is the author of numerous poetry collections, including the Pulitzer Prize–winning Failure, as well as The God of Loneliness: Selected and New Poems. His work often explores personal history, family, and Jewish and immigrant experience, including his father’s struggles, which he addressed with striking honesty in Failure. He lives in East Hampton, New York, with his wife, sculptor Monica Banks.

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. In this episode of Writer’s Voice, Julia Cooke discusses Starry and Restless, her group biography of Rebecca West, Martha Gellhorn, and Emily “Mickey” Hahn—women journalists whose restless lives and innovative writing helped shape modern literary journalism, even as their contributions were later minimized. “Women have been central to voice-driven narrative journalism for at least the last century and a half.” Then, Iida Turpeinen explores extinction, empire, and the ethics of science in her novel Beasts of the Sea, beginning with the tragic story of the Steller’s sea cow and expanding into a meditation on memory, loss, and the human relationship to the natural world. “They had no idea that species can go extinct.” Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Tags: women journalists, literary journalism history, Rebecca West, Martha Gellhorn, Emily Hahn, Julia Cooke interview, Beasts of the Sea novel, Iida Turpeinen interview, extinction history, Steller sea cow, women in science history, Writer’s Voice podcast You Might Also Like: Eiren Caffall, ALL THE WATER IN THE WORLD, Ellen Ruppel, SLIPPERY BEAST Segment One: Julia Cooke – Starry and Restless Julia Cooke reexamines the legacy of three pioneering women journalists—Rebecca West, Martha Gellhorn, and Emily Hahn—arguing that women were not peripheral but central to the development of literary journalism. Cooke explores how constraints placed on women—barred from war fronts, dismissed as “sob sisters”—actually pushed them to innovate, expanding the scope of reporting to include domestic life, civilian experience, and overlooked voices. Their work challenged conventional ideas of objectivity, incorporating first-person perspective and a broader understanding of who counts as a subject. The conversation also traces the tension between ambition and domestic life, the role of restlessness as both personal drive and cultural force, and the ways these writers navigated financial, professional, and social barriers. Read An Excerpt Segment Two: Iida Turpeinen – Beasts of the Sea Iida Turpeinen discusses her novel centered on the Steller’s sea cow, a massive Arctic animal driven to extinction within decades of its discovery in the 18th century. The novel begins with a museum skeleton—an entry point into questions of memory, loss, and scientific history. Turpeinen examines how imperial expansion, scientific inquiry, and extraction were deeply intertwined, and how early naturalists lacked even the concept of extinction. She also introduces overlooked figures like Hilda Olsson, a 19th-century scientific illustrator whose work—once erased—has been rediscovered. Through her story, the novel contrasts modes of seeing: possession versus attention, extraction versus care. At its heart, Beasts of the Sea is an elegy—and a call to remember the many species lost without notice.

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. On this episode of Writer’s Voice, we talk with novelist Justin C. Key about The Hospital at the End of the World, a gripping speculative story that explores the ethical and human stakes of AI in medicine. “Technology is best when it’s a tool wielded by humans.” Then, memory champion Nelson Dellis joins us to talk about Everyday Genius—and how ordinary people can train their minds for sharper memory, deeper focus, and far-reaching intuition. “I never had a good memory growing up. It was something that I was inspired to change and learned all about it and really started to work on it about 15 years ago. And my mind has been different ever since.”  Two conversations that explore what the human mind can do — and what AI never will. Read or Listen to A Sample from The Hospital At The End of the World Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Read The Transcript Tags: AI ethics, AI in medicine, speculative fiction AI, human vs machine intelligence, physician patient relationship, memory techniques, memory palace, cognitive training, intuition, remote viewing, Writer’s Voice podcast, Nelson Dellis, Justin C. Key, You Might Also Like: Silvia Park, LUMINOUS, Bruce Holsinger, CULPABILITY Segment One: Justin C. Key What happens when artificial intelligence becomes more than a tool—and starts making decisions for us? In this episode of Writer’s Voice, Justin C. Key’s gripping novel imagines a world where AI controls medicine, exposing the ethical and human stakes of technological dependence. The Hospital At The End of the World is a speculative novel set in a near-future America where an AI corporation controls not only medicine but society at large. The story follows a young medical student forced to flee New York for a human-centered hospital in New Orleans—the last city resisting AI dominance. Key explores the tension between machine efficiency and human intuition, the risks of technological dependency, and the political forces shaping how technology is used. Segment Two: Nelson Dellis What if the reason you forget things has nothing to do with your memory — and everything to do with how you retrieve information? Nelson Dellis, six-time USA Memory Champion and author of Everyday Genius, joins Writer’s Voice to explain how ordinary people can develop extraordinary mental skills. Dellis — who grew up with no exceptional memory — began studying memory techniques 15 years ago and transformed his mind entirely. In this conversation, he breaks down the ancient method of the memory palace, explains why multitasking is a myth built on dopamine, offers practical tricks for anyone who fears numbers, and describes his unexpected encounter with a classified government program that trained psychics to gather Cold War intelligence. His book, Everyday Genius, covers memory, focus, number sense, creativity, decision-making, and intuition — making the case that every one of us has an inner genius waiting to be developed. Check Out Nelson Dellis’ YouTube Channel

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. This week on Writer’s Voice, two authors explore fascinating episodes from women’s history—stories of bold individuals who challenged the boundaries of power, speech, and social convention. Journalist Eden Collinsworth discusses The Improbable Mrs. Woodhull, her biography of Victoria Woodhull—an astonishing figure who rose from poverty to become a stockbroker, newspaper publisher, and the first woman to run for President of the United States in 1872. “I, like you and most Americans, knew nothing of her.” Then novelist Shelley Noble joins us to talk about The Sisters of Book Row, a historical novel set in 1915 New York during Anthony Comstock’s aggressive crusade against books and information he deemed “obscene.” Noble’s story centers on three sisters running a bookstore in Manhattan’s famous Book Row, where booksellers faced censorship, raids, and the threat of imprisonment. “My thing as an author is to find those little niches of people who actually make history that we should know about, but we very often don’t know about.” Together, these conversations illuminate forgotten histories about the power of books and the struggle for women’s rights. Read or Listen to A Sample from The Improbable Victoria Woodhull Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Read The Transcript on Substack Tags: Victoria Woodhull, Eden Collinsworth, Shelley Noble, The Improbable Mrs. Woodhull, The Sisters of Book Row, Writer’s Voice podcast, women’s history, Segment One: Victoria Woodhull: Radical Reformer – Eden Collinsworth Victoria Woodhull was one of the most remarkable and controversial figures of the nineteenth century. Born into poverty with little formal education, she reinvented herself repeatedly—first as a spiritualist, then as a stockbroker on Wall Street, a newspaper publisher, and eventually the first woman to run for President of the United States. Journalist Eden Collinsworth first encountered Woodhull’s story in an unlikely place: the archives of the British Museum. There she discovered the transcripts of a lawsuit Woodhull brought against the museum—a discovery that opened the door to a life story filled with audacity, ambition, and reinvention. In this conversation, Collinsworth explores Woodhull’s complex legacy. Woodhull was a fierce advocate for women’s rights, labor reform, and what she called “free love,” arguing that women should have control over their own bodies and marriages. Her ideas shocked Victorian society and earned her both devoted supporters and bitter enemies. Woodhull’s run for the presidency in 1872 was largely symbolic—women could not even vote at the time—but it made her a national sensation. Her life intersected with many of the major social movements of her era, from suffrage to spiritualism to the labor movement. Collinsworth’s biography brings new attention to this extraordinary figure and examines why Woodhull’s story has largely been forgotten despite the boldness of her achievements. Segment Two: The Sisters of Book Row – Shelley Noble In her novel The Sisters of Book Row, Shelley Noble recreates a vanished literary world: Manhattan’s famous Book Row, a stretch of Fourth Avenue that once housed dozens of rare and secondhand bookstores. The story takes place in 1915, when Anthony Comstock’s anti-obscenity crusade cast a long shadow over American publishing. Comstock, a powerful moral reformer and postal inspector, used federal law to seize and destroy books, artworks, and even information about women’s health. Noble’s novel follows three sisters who inherit their father’s bookstore and struggle to keep the shop alive amid increasing censorship and social pressure. As the sisters navigate their own ambitions and secrets, they become entangled in the broader struggle over knowledge, books, and freedom of expression. Drawing on the rich history of Book Row and the world of early twentieth-century bookselling, Noble portrays a vibrant community of merchants, collectors, and readers who believed deeply in the cultural importance of books. The novel also touches on the underground circulation of information about women’s health during the era of the Comstock laws, connecting the story of censorship with the emerging fight for reproductive rights. Through the lives of ordinary people—booksellers, printers, activists—The Sisters of Book Row shows how cultural change often begins with individuals quietly resisting authority.

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. In this episode of Writer’s Voice, Francesca Rheannon speaks with bestselling author Jung Chang about her memoir Fly, Wild Swans: My Mother, Myself, and China, the long-awaited sequel to her landmark book Wild Swans. Chang recounts how her parents — once devoted Communists — became disillusioned by famine, repression, and the violence of the Cultural Revolution. Their refusal to betray their beliefs shaped her own commitment to truth and integrity. “My mother was made to kneel on broken glass… but she still refused to denounce my father.”   She also reflects on her extraordinary journey from Mao’s isolated China to becoming one of the first Chinese students to study in Britain, and how that experience transformed her thinking. “I must only follow the evidence and arrive at conclusions from the evidence gathered.”   Finally, Chang discusses the resurgence of authoritarianism under Xi Jinping and why she still believes China’s people ultimately desire freedom. Read A Sample from Fly, Wild Swans Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Read The Transcript on Substack Tags: Jung Chang interview, Fly Wild Swans, Wild Swans author, Chinese history memoir, China under Xi Jinping, authoritarianism China, Writer’s Voice podcast Segment: Jung Chang — Fly, Wild Swans After Jung Chang wrote her first memoir, Wild Swans, she went on to write biographies of Mao Tse Tung and the last Empress of China.  Now, 25 years after her first book, Chang returns with Fly, Wild Swans: My Mother, Myself, and China, continuing the story after she became one of the first Chinese students allowed to leave Communist China and study in the West. Jung Chang recounts how her parents — once devoted Communists — became disillusioned by famine, repression, and the violence of the Cultural Revolution. She describes how her father’s protest against Mao’s policies led to brutal punishment — and how her mother refused to denounce him despite immense pressure. Their refusal to betray their beliefs shaped her own commitment to truth and integrity. She also reflects on her extraordinary journey from Mao’s isolated China to becoming one of the first Chinese students to study in Britain, and how that experience transformed her thinking. Finally, Chang tells us about the resurgence of authoritarianism under Xi Jinping and why she still believes China’s people ultimately want to be free. In addition to her other books, Jung Chang is the author of Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister. Key Topics • Jung Chang’s memoir Fly, Wild Swans • The legacy of Wild Swans • Mao’s China and the Cultural Revolution • Political courage and moral integrity • The Great Chinese Famine • Intellectual freedom and scholarship • China under Xi Jinping • Resistance to authoritarianism

Political philosopher Lea Ypi reflects on dignity, archives, and the manipulation of history in Indignity. Then Eleanor Shearer brings us into the world of the Jamaican Maroons exiled to Nova Scotia in Fireflies in Winter — a novel about freedom, queer love, and the moral cost of survival.

Slavery was never passively endured. Sudhir Hazareesingh on the vast, global resistance of the enslaved — from Africa to Haiti. Plus: Jacqueline Sheehan on Sojourner Truth’s extraordinary moral courage.

In this episode of Writer’s Voice, Francesca speaks with D. Graham Burnett, Alyssa Loh, and Peter Schmidt about Attensity!, a manifesto for what they call the Attention Liberation Movement.

Historian Andrew Burstein joins us to talk about his biography, Being Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History.

In this episode of Writer’s Voice, Francesca Rheannon speaks with biographer Robert M. Dowling about his biography, Coyote: The Dramatic Lives of Sam Shepard.

Nell Bernstein tells us about her book In Our Future We Are Free. It traces the grassroots movement that helped dismantle youth prisons across the United States. Then, Tamar Adler talks about her book Feast On Your Life, a month-by-month meditation on cooking, gratitude, and finding meaning in the everyday.

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. Today we explore what it really means to share the planet with other forms of life. We’ll talk with writer Bridget Lyons about her acclaimed book, Entwined: Dispatches from the Intersection of Species, a collection of essays that invites us to see animals, plants, and even ourselves in a radically more connected way. “Part of the reason I wrote this book was to encourage people, inspire people to just go outside and look around and see who else is living around you.” — Bridget Lyons And then we’ll hear an excerpt from our conversation with ecologist and author Carl Safina about his book Alfie and Me, the extraordinary story of a baby owl that helped him rethink what animals know — and what humans believe.  “People have often said humans are the only logical animals, but I think that’s almost completely backward. We’re really the only illogical animals.” — Carl Safina Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Key Words: Bridget Lyons, Entwined, Carl Safina, Alfie and Me, Writers Voice podcast, animal intelligence, anthropomorphism, biodiversity, environmental ethics, sea stars, interspecies relationships You Might Also Like: Adam Nicholson on BIRD SCHOOL, Richard Louv, OUR WILD CALLING & Carl Safina, BEYOND WORDS Read the Transcript on Substack Segment One — Bridget Lyons on Entwined Bridget Lyons describes how her essays begin with encounters with other species — kelp, whales, sea stars, fireweed, octopuses — and expand into questions about value, empathy, humility, and how humans might live differently on the planet. She explains that real connection begins with paying attention: “Part of the reason I wrote this book was to encourage people, inspire people to just go outside and look around and see who else is living around you.” Lyons argues that wonder leads to empathy and responsibility: “As you become more connected to them, you feel more empathy for their life situation and what’s going on with them.” One of the book’s core themes is rethinking value — not just in economic terms, but in terms of being: “Can I, as a person, learn to value this creature for just being who it is, rather than for how it serves me, how it bothers me, etc.” Lyons also speaks about humility in the face of ecological complexity: “We all need a hefty, hefty dose of humility.” And about how curiosity builds respect across species: “The more you learn, or the more you learn that you don’t know, or the more that you marvel at something that another creature is doing, the more I think you’re creating a bridge.” Segment Two — Carl Safina on Alfie and Me (archival excerpt) Carl Safina tells the story of raising a baby screech owl named Alfie and what that relationship revealed about how animals experience the world — and how humans misunderstand it. Safina challenges the idea that humans are uniquely rational: “People have often said humans are the only logical animals, but I think that’s almost completely backward. We’re really the only illogical animals.” He explains how human beliefs often override evidence: “We’re the only ones who carry on through the world based on our beliefs rather than on evidence about how the world is and what the world around us is.” Safina describes why freedom matters even when safety is available: “That is not life. It’s pure safety, but there’s no shot at being part of the world or part of the future.” And he reflects on what it means to witness another being’s full life unfold: “I got to know something about these birds, and then I started to ask myself, well, why are we so blind to all of this?” Key Topics The “intersection of species” Anthropomorphism and connection Wonder, humility, and ecological awareness How humans assign value Extinction and regeneration Animal intelligence and culture What owls — and other animals — reveal about how the world works

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Eric Lichtblau joins Writer’s Voice to discuss his new book, American Reich, a gripping investigation that begins with the murder of Blaze Bernstein in Orange County and expands into a sweeping analysis of white nationalism in 21st-century America. “We’ve seen an enormous surge in hate crimes across the board… and this is horribly symptomatic of the rise of the neo-Nazis in the 21st century.” — Eric Lichtblau Lichtblau traces how online extremism, political normalization of hate, and leaderless neo-Nazi networks have collided to shape a dangerous new era—one that has produced waves of hate crimes, radicalized young white men, and emboldened supremacist movements. Lichtblau also explores the role of Trump-era politics, the mechanics of recruitment and radicalization — and what gives him hope for resistance and solidarity. We also re-air a clip from our 2017 interview with photojournalist Zach Roberts about his viral photos of the brutal beating of De’Andre Harris by white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia during the Unite the Right rally on August 12 of that year. Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Key Words: American Reich, Eric Lichtblau, Writer’s Voice podcastwhite supremacy, neo-Nazis, hate crimes, online extremismreplacement theory, Trump white nationalism You Might Also Like: Zach Roberts on Charlottesville attack, Michael German on POLICING WHITE SUPREMACY Subscribe (free or paid) for Substack transcripts Key Topics The murder of Blaze Bernstein as a window into national extremism How Trump-era rhetoric normalized white supremacist ideology Historical cycles of xenophobia and racism in America Online radicalization & social platforms as recruitment engines Atomwaffen Division, James Mason, and leaderless resistance Replacement theory explained Why young white men become targets for recruitment The reality of modern hate-crime statistics Community resistance and hope

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. What does a 2,000-year-old epic have to say to us today about exile, duty, love, power, war, misinformation, and the fragile hopes of human community? A great deal, say translators Scott McGill and Susannah Wright, whose new English translation of Virgil’s Aeneid captures both the grandeur of the epic and its deeply human emotional core. “We were really keen to try to capture…the humanity of the poem, the deep pathos that Virgil generates, the power of the emotional world of the poem.” In this conversation, they talk about collaboration, emotion, translation craft, and why the Aeneid remains one of the most morally and politically provocative works ever written—wrestling with migration, empire, trauma, rage, resilience, and the cost of duty. They also explore unforgettable characters like Aeneas and Dido, the role of Rumor as an ancient “fake news engine,” and what we gain when we keep engaging with the classics today. We also play clips from some of our favorite episodes of 2025: Links to episodes Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Key Words: Virgil, Aeneid translation, Scott McGill, Susannah Wright, Aeneas and Dido, Roman empire, epic poem, Writer’s Voice podcast, You Might Also Like: James Romm, DYING EVERY DAY & Robert Knapp, INVISIBLE ROMANS, James Romm, THE SACRED BAND Key Topics Why translate the Aeneid now Collaboration and co-translation Emotional depth vs. epic grandeur Aeneas’s duty, sacrifice, and humanity Dido’s heartbreak and power Ambiguity of empire & colonialism Refugees, displacement & war Rumor as ancient misinformation Violence, morality & the troubling ending Why the classics still matter today Read Interview Transcript

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. In this episode of Writer’s Voice, we explore the what’s going on with the current resurgence of psychedelics. My guest is Joe Dolce, whose new book, Modern Psychedelics: The Handbook for Mindful Exploration, dives deep into what these substances really do, why so many people are using them, and how science, politics, medicine, and culture are reshaping the conversation. Dolce tells us why this is both an “exciting and confusing time” in psychedelic history—a time when reliable guidance is urgently needed in a moment of expanding access and misinformation.  “I thought it was a good opportunity… there’s still so much confusion and so much misinformation about what these are, how they work, why they work, who they don’t work for, who should take them, who shouldn’t take them.” — Joe Dolce We talk about what psychedelics can help heal — from PTSD and addiction to  depression and traumatic brain injury, why set and setting matter so deeply, how to micro dose psychedelics and how these substances can change not only individual consciousness, but maybe even how we relate to each other, to nature, and to the world we’re trying to save.  Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Key Words: Writer’s Voice podcast, Francesca Rheannon, Joe Dolce interview, Modern Psychedelics book, psychedelics research, PTSD psychedelics, traumatic brain injury psychedelics, microdosing, ibogaine therapy, MDMA therapy, psilocybin depression, psychedelics and spirituality You Might Also Like: David Goodman, AN AMERICAN CANNABIS STORY & Carl Hart, DRUG USE FOR GROWNUPS, Alexandra Chasin, ASSASSIN OF YOUTH & Mason Tvert, MARIJUANA IS SAFER Read Interview Transcript Episode Summary Joe Dolce traces the renewed psychedelics movement from cultural taboo to scientific renaissance. He explains why psychedelics are not like traditional pharmaceuticals, discusses risks, cautions, and who shouldn’t take them, and explores compelling new research into “critical periods of brain learning,” microdosing, mystical experience, and emotional healing. The conversation also looks at capitalism, policy battles, the underground psychedelic community, and the deep spiritual questions these substances raise. Listen to or Read A Sample Key Topics • Why psychedelics are returning to medicine and culture• The difference between psychedelics and pharmaceuticals• Preparing for a psychedelic experience: set, setting & safety• Psychedelics and trauma healing• Spiritual experience and meaning• Microdosing: myth vs reality• Policy, legality & capitalism• The underground psychedelic community• How people are accessing psychedelics today Resources The Fireside Project

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. Francesca speaks with Jonathan Slaght about his remarkable book Tigers Between Empires: The Improbable Return of Great Cats to the Forests of Russia and China. Slaght tells the story of the 35-year Siberian (Amur) Tiger Project, one of the longest-running wildlife studies in the world, and how science, persistence, and cross-border collaboration helped bring a species back from the edge of extinction. Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Key Words: Jonathan Slaght interview, Tigers Between Empires, Amur tiger conservation, Siberian Tiger Project, wildlife conservation Russia China,endangered species recovery, human–wildlife conflict You Might Also Like: Adam Hart, DEADLY BALANCE, Gloria Dickie, EIGHT BEARS Read Edited Interview Transcript About the Episode Jonathan Slaght recounts the extraordinary history of the Amur (Siberian) tiger’s decline and recovery, drawing on decades of field research conducted by Russian and American scientists working across political boundaries. Our conversation opens with the story of Lidiya, a tigress whose seven-year reproductive record illustrates how a single animal can anchor population recovery when conditions are right. Slaght explains how the Siberian Tiger Project broke new ground by tracking individual tigers across their entire lifespans, yielding insights into reproduction, survival, territory size, and the pressures that most threaten the species . The conversation traces how 19th-century border treaties between Russia and China fragmented tiger habitat, accelerating hunting and habitat loss—only for those same borders, decades later, to become sites of coordinated protection. Slaght discusses the pivotal role of Soviet-era hunting bans, protected areas, and later rapid-response teams that reduced human-tiger conflict by intervening quickly when tigers approached villages . He also reflects on the conservation philosophy of “green fire,” inherited from Aldo Leopold and championed by early project leaders, which treats top predators as essential to ecosystem health rather than threats to be eliminated. Finally, Slaght looks ahead, emphasizing that government commitment and international collaboration—including newly coordinated Russian-Chinese protected areas—are essential to sustaining the Amur tiger’s recovery in a time of climate change and geopolitical strain . Read An Excerpt

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform. This week on Writer’s Voice, we look at two stories from history that illuminate the choices people face as they confront evil: collaborate or resist? First, independent scholar Charles Dick joins us to discuss Unknown Enemy: The Hidden Nazi Force That Built the Third Reich — the first full account of Organisation Todt, the massive construction arm of the Nazi regime that operated across Europe with lethal brutality. His book reveals how ordinary engineers and builders became central participants in enslavement and murder — and how much of this history remained hidden for decades. “If you’re told… your prisoners are subhuman, you’re more likely to work them to death.” — Charles Dick Then, in Segment Two, biographer Carla Kaplan returns to Writer’s Voice to talk about Troublemaker: The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford. Kaplan brings to life the incomparable “Decca” Mitford — aristocrat, Communist, civil-rights activist and bestselling muckraker. “If she believed in something, she was unbending — and always willing to pay the price of her convictions.”  — Carla Kaplan Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast. Key Words: Unknown Enemy Charles Dick, Fritz Todt, Holocaust studies, Jessica Mitford biography, Troublemaker Carla Kaplan, The American Way of Death, muckraking journalism, civil rights history, Freedom Rides, Mitford sisters,Francesca Rheannon interview, You Might Also Like: Carla Kaplan, MISS ANNE IN HARLEM, Andrew Nagorski, THE NAZI HUNTERS Read the transcript SEGMENT ONE — Charles Dick on Unknown Enemy Historian Charles Dick exposes the full scope of Organisation Todt (OT) — the Nazi regime’s massive, understudied construction force. OT built the Autobahn, the massive North Atlantic coastal fortifications and Hitler’s underground weapons factories; oversaw millions of enslaved laborers; and carried out brutal operations across occupied Europe. Despite its central role, OT escaped the scrutiny that fell on the SS and Wehrmacht — leaving its crimes obscured until now. Dick explains how: Engineers, builders, and architects became perpetrators. Death rates in OT camps often equaled or exceeded those under the SS. The organization expanded across Europe into a continent-wide system of forced labor. OT leadership — including Fritz Todt and Albert Speer — held immense power and largely avoided justice. He shares harrowing survivor accounts revealed in the book — from Ukraine, Alderney, Estonia, Stutthof, and the Kaufering/Dachau subcamps — stories long buried in archives. SEGMENT TWO — Carla Kaplan on Troublemaker Biographer Carla Kaplan returns to discuss Jessica Mitford — aristocrat-turned-revolutionary, Communist organizer, civil-rights witness, and author of the groundbreaking exposé The American Way of Death. Kaplan traces Mitford’s transformation from an eccentric, cloistered, aristocratic childhood among the infamous Mitford sisters — including Nazi sympathizers Diana and Unity — to her self-invented life as a radical activist and bestselling writer in the U.S. Kaplan shares: Mitford’s early sense of injustice. Her refusal to compromise with editors over The American Way of Death. Her experiences during the Freedom Rides — including witnessing John Lewis’s beating. Why she and her husband joined and later left the Communist Party. Her complicated relationship to feminism. Her deep belief in political loyalty, humor, and collective action. Read An Excerpt