Ill Literacy: Books with Benson

Latest Episodes:

Saving Can-Do: How to Revive the Spirit of America (Guest: Philip K. Howard) Mar 25, 2026

Show notes

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Philip K. Howard, Chair of Common Good, to discuss his latest book, Saving Can-Do: How to Revive the Spirit of America. They chat about how nothing works as it should because red tape has strangled common sense, how bureaucracy makes people go brain dead, how the United States is flailing in legal quicksand, and what we can do about it.

Get the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Saving-Can-Do-Revive-Spirit-America/dp/1957588403

Show Notes:

The Atlantic: Philip K. Howard – “Americans Are Afraid of Authority”

Law & Liberty: Philip K. Howard – “The Need for Judgment”

Law & Liberty: Mark Pulliam – “A Post-Trump Era Common Sense?”

The Wall Street Journal: Yuval Levin – “‘Saving Can-Do’ Review: How to Stop Dragging Feet”

The Washington Post: George F. Will – “America’s can-do spirit needs liberation from can’t-do regulation”

The Persistence of the Ideological Lie (Guest: Daniel J. Mahoney) Feb 03, 2026

Show notes

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined once again by Daniel J. Mahoney, professor emeritus at Assumption University and senior fellow at the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy, to discuss his latest book, The Persistence of the Ideological Lie: The Totalitarian Impulse Then and Now. They chat about what is the “Ideological Lie,” how the totalitarians from the Jacobins onward have relied on it, and how our failure to learn from the totalitarian tragedy of the twentieth century allowed the ideological virus to metastasize in new and alarming ways.

Get the book here: https://www.encounterbooks.com/books/persistence-ideological-lie/

Show Notes:

The American Mind: Daniel J. Mahoney – “Fighting the Ideological Lie”

https://americanmind.org/salvo/fighting-the-ideological-lie/

City Journal: Daniel DiSalvo – “The Destructiveness of Ideological Thinking”

https://www.city-journal.org/article/daniel-j-mahoney-persistence-ideological-lie

Fusion: Juliana Geran Pilon – “To Lie or Not to Lie”

https://fusionaier.org/2025/to-lie-or-not-to-lie/

Law & Liberty: Theodore Dalrymple – “Diagnosing the Ideological Mind”

https://lawliberty.org/book-review/diagnosing-the-ideological-mind/

Law & Liberty: Daniel J. Mahoney – “The Persistence of the Lie”

https://lawliberty.org/the-persistence-of-the-lie/

National Review: John O’Sullivan – “Lies, Damned Lies, and Ideology”

https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2025/06/lies-damned-lies-and-ideology/

The University Bookman: Jeffrey Folks – “Unmasking the Ideological Lie”

https://kirkcenter.org/reviews/unmasking-the-ideological-lie/

Brought Forth on This Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration (Guest: Harold Holzer) Nov 27, 2025

Show notes

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Harold Holzer, director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, to discuss his latest book, Brought Forth on This Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration. They chat about the immigration situation in the United States in the 30 years leading up the Civil War, how immigrants forever altered the country’s demographics, culture, and voting patterns, how tensions over immigration broke apart the Whig Party and lead to the formation of the Republican Party, and how Lincoln evolved into a champion for immigration.

Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/558372/brought-forth-on-this-continent-by-harold-holzer/

Ill Literacy, Episode 182: Measuring the Man (Guest: Jonathan W. White) Nov 27, 2025

Show notes

In Episode 182 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with Jonathan W. White, co-editor of Measuring the Man: The Writings of Frederick Douglass on Abraham Lincoln.

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined once again by Jonathan W. White, Professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University, to discuss his latest book, co-edited with Lucas E. Morel, Measuring the Man: The Writings of Frederick Douglass on Abraham Lincoln. They chat about how White discovered a cache of unknown, insightful letters in England by Douglass on Lincoln, the distrust and vitriol Douglass directed at Lincoln as he moved slowly and methodically toward emancipation, how three personal interactions between the two led to powerful feelings of friendship and mutual admiration, and how, after Lincoln’s assassination, Douglass expressed greater appreciation for Lincoln’s statesmanship during the Civil War and praised him as a model for postwar America.

Get the book here: https://reedypress.com/shop/measuring-the-man/

Show Notes:

Smithsonian Magazine: Lucas E. Morel & Jonathan W. White – “When Historians Rediscovered These Frederick Douglass Letters, They Were Surprised by His Candid Opinions About Abraham Lincoln”

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/historians-rediscovered-frederick-douglass-letters-surprised-candid-opinions-abraham-lincoln-180987175/

The Wall Street Journal: David S. Reynolds – “‘Measuring the Man’ Review: Partners in Their Time”

https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/measuring-the-man-review-partners-in-their-time-2a96aff1?mod=books_more_article_pos114

Ill Literacy, Episode 181: From Dakota to Dixie (Guest: Jonathan W. White) Sep 02, 2025

Show notes

In Episode 181 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with Jonathan W. White, co-editor of From Dakota to Dixie: George Buswell's Civil War.

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined once again by Jonathan W. White, Professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University, to discuss his latest book, co-edited with Reagan Connolly, From Dakota to Dixie: George Buswell's Civil War. They chat about who George Buswell was, his interesting service record in the Civil War, and the uniqueness of his diary of the period. They pay particular attention to the Dakota War in Minnesota and the Dakota Territory in 1862, in which Buswell served, as well as the execution of 38 Dakota men at Mankato at the
end of the conflict, the largest officially sanctioned mass execution in American history, of which Buswell was an eyewitness. They also discuss Buswell’s tenure fighting in the Deep South as an officer in the 68th U.S. Colored Infantry, his views of the men under his command, and the impact the experience had on him.

Get the book here: https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/10075/

Ill Literacy, Episode 180: An Abundance of Caution (Guest: David Zweig) Aug 05, 2025

Show notes

In Episode 180 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with David Zweig, author ofAn Abundance of Caution: American Schools, the Virus, and a Story of Bad Decisions.

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by David Zweig to discuss his latest book, An Abundance of Caution: American Schools, the Virus, and a Story of Bad Decisions. They chat about how everyone from journalists to eminent health officials repeatedly made fundamental errors in their assessment and presentation of evidence regarding COVID and the closing of American schools, and how there was never any evidence that long-term school closures, nor a host of interventions imposed on students when they were in classrooms, would reduce overall cases or deaths in any meaningful way.

Get the book here: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262549158/an-abundance-of-caution/

Show Notes:

The Atlantic: David Zweig – “The Disaster of School Closures Should Have Been Foreseen”

City Journal: James B. Meigs – “What Were We Thinking?”

Commentary: Noam Blum – “School’s Out Forever”

The Dispatch: Kevin D. Williamson – “The Wrong Kind of Abundance”

Education Next: Frederick Hess – “The Junk Science of Pandemic School Closure”

The Free Press: David Zweig – “How Covid Lies Destroyed Kids’ Lives”

The Wall Street Journal: Philip Wallach – “‘An Abundance of Caution’ and ‘In Covid’s Wake’: Failing the Pandemic Test”

Washington Examiner: Jesse Adams – “David Zweig proves the fog of war is no excuse for the damage done to children’s education in the name of public health”

The 74: Greg Toppo – “Journalist David Zweig Calls COVID School Closures ‘A False Story About Medical Consensus’”

Ill Literacy, Episode 179: Out of the Darkness (Guest: Frank Trentmann) Mar 26, 2025

Show notes

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Frank Trentmann, professor of history at Birkbeck, University of London, to discuss his latest book, Out of the Darkness: The Germans, 1942–2022. They chat about how a nation whose past has been marked by mass murder, a people who cheered Adolf Hitler, reinvented themselves, and by how much.

Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/554959/out-of-the-darkness-by-frank-trentmann/

Show Notes:

Literary Review: David Blackbourn – “A Mercedes in Every Garage”

https://literaryreview.co.uk/a-mercedes-in-every-garage

New York Review of Books: Timothy Garton Ash – “Big Germany, What Now?”

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/05/23/big-germany-what-now-timothy-garton-ash/

The New Statesman: Brendan Simms – “What it means to be German”

https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2023/12/meaning-modern-germany-brenadan-simms

The Times: Oliver Moody – “Out of the Darkness by Frank Trentmann review — how Germans became good (and rather complacent)”

https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/out-of-the-darkness-by-frank-trentmann-review-9rc5n8kbd?region=global

Times Literary Supplement: Ben Hutchinson – “New moral order”

https://www.the-tls.co.uk/history/twentieth-century-onwards-history/after-the-nazis-michael-h-kater-out-of-the-darkness-frank-trentmann-book-review-ben-hutchinson

The Wall Street Journal: Ian Brunskill – “‘Out of the Darkness’ Review: War Crimes and Remembrance”

https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/out-of-the-darkness-review-war-crimes-and-remembrance-0b830556

The Washington Post: Bryn Stole – “An ambitious history of Germany interrogates the country’s moral makeover”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/04/18/out-darkness-germans-nazis-legacy-frank-trentmann-review/

Ascent to Power: How Truman Emerged from Roosevelt's Shadow and Remade the World (Guest: David L. Roll) Mar 04, 2025

Show notes

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by David L. Roll, founder of the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation, to discuss his latest book, Ascent to Power: How Truman Emerged from Roosevelt's Shadow and Remade the World. They chat about Truman’s struggles to emerge as president in his own right after his accidental ascension to the office and how Truman’s decisions during these pivotal years changed the course of the world in ways so significant we live with them today.

Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/690665/ascent-to-power-by-david-l-roll/

Show Notes:

Foreign Affairs: Jessica T. Mathews – “Review: ‘Ascent to Power: How Truman Emerged From Roosevelt’s Shadow and Remade the World’”

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/ascent-power-how-truman-emerged-roosevelts-shadow-and-remade-world

Wall Street Journal: Robert W. Merry – “’Ascent to Power’ Review: Harry Truman’s Moment”

https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/ascent-to-power-review-harry-trumans-moment-e5654cb0

Kent State: An American Tragedy (Guest: Brian VanDeMark) Feb 12, 2025

Show notes

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Brian VanDeMark, professor of history at the United States Naval Academy, to discuss his latest book, Kent State: An American Tragedy. They chat about the context of the divided cultural landscape of America during the Vietnam War and heightened popular anxieties around the country, how the shootings came to take place, the reductive narratives that ensued, the victims of the shooting, and the impact of that day on the Guardsmen who were there.

Get the book here: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324066255

Show Notes:

Los Angeles Review of Books: Tom Zoellner – “Yelling ‘Fire’ on a Crowded Knoll”

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/yelling-fire-on-a-crowded-knoll/

Los Angeles Times: Chris Vognar – “A meticulous, pain-filled history of the senseless slaughter at Kent State”

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-08-05/brian-vandemark-kent-state-an-american-tragedy

National Review: Paul Baumann – “What Happened at Kent State?”

https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2024/10/what-happened-at-kent-state/

Times Literary Supplement: John McMillian – “Civil unrest”

https://www.the-tls.co.uk/regular-features/in-brief/kent-state-brian-vandemark-book-review-john-mcmillian

Mirrors of Greatness: Churchill and the Leaders Who Shaped Him (Guest: David Reynolds) Feb 04, 2025

Show notes

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by David Reynolds, emeritus professor of international history at Christ’s College, Cambridge University, to discuss his latest book, Mirrors of Greatness: Churchill and the Leaders Who Shaped Him. They reevaluate Churchill’s life by viewing it through the eyes of his allies and adversaries like Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, FDR, Chamberlain, Attlee, De Gaulle, and Gandhi, as well as his own family. They also chat about Churchill’s lifelong struggle to overcome his political failures and his evolving grasp of what “greatness” truly entailed.

Get the book here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/david-reynolds/mirrors-of-greatness/9781541620209/?lens=basic-books

Show Notes:

The Wall Street Journal: Robert D. Kaplan – “‘Mirrors of Greatness’ Review: Churchill’s Personal Diplomacy”
https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/mirrors-of-greatness-review-churchills-personal-diplomacy-c8e300e3

Washington Examiner: Sean Durns – “Making history with Winston Churchill”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2838794/making-history-with-winston-churchill/

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