Ill Literacy: Books with Benson

Latest Episodes:

To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power (Guest: Sergey Radchenko) Oct 14, 2024

Show notes

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Sergey Radchenko, Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, to discuss his new book, To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power. They chat about how the Soviet struggle with the United States and China reflected its irreconcilable ambitions as a self-proclaimed superpower and the leader of global revolution, and how this tension drove Soviet policy throughout the second half of the 20th Century. They also discuss whether Soviet foreign policy was motivated more by Marxist-Leninist ideology or by traditional Russian imperialism and security concerns.

Get the book here: https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/history/diplomatic-and-international-history/run-world-kremlins-cold-war-bid-global-power?format=HB

Show Notes:

The Bulwark: Brian Stewart – “Going to War for Respect”

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/review-radchenko-run-world-going-war-for-respect

Financial Times: Edward Luce – “To Run the World — Moscow’s quest for power and parity with the US”

https://www.ft.com/content/e8dc41b9-98a7-4ca0-8092-79d64249694a

Foreign Affairs: John Lewis Gaddis – “Why Would Anyone Want to Run the World?”

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/why-would-anyone-run-world-cold-war

Foreign Policy: Casey Michel – “Putting the Cold War on the Couch”

https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/05/19/radchenko-gorbachev-krushchev-cold-war-psychology/

The New Statesman: Serhii Plokhy – “Russia’s great-power complex”

https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2024/06/russias-great-power-complex

The Spectator: Rodric Braithwaite – “China’s role in Soviet policy-making”

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/chinas-role-in-soviet-policy-making/

Reds: The Tragedy of American Communism (Guest: Maurice Isserman) Oct 08, 2024

Show notes

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Maurice Isserman, Publius Virgilius Rogers Professor of American History at Hamilton College, to discuss his new book, Reds: The Tragedy of American Communism. They chat about the deeply contradictory nature of the history of the Communist Party USA, the history of the American far left, and how the Bolshevik Revolution skewed the American far left. They also discuss CPUSA’s unwavering faith in the Soviet Union, how many American communists became involved in espionage on behalf of the USSR, and the organization’s decline into political irrelevance.

Get the book here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/maurice-isserman/reds/9781541620032/?lens=basic-books

Show Notes:

The American Prospect: Harold Meyerson – “Red Weather Vanes”
https://prospect.org/culture/books/2024-08-08-red-weather-vanes-isserman-review/

The Bulwark: Ron Radosh – “How and Why American Communism Failed”
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/communism-failed-maurice-isserman-reds-review

Foreign Policy: Casey Michel: “The Contradictions of America’s Communist Party”
https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/07/07/communist-party-america-history-illiberal-democracy/

The Wall Street Journal: Joseph Epstein – “‘Reds’ Review: Communism in the U.S.A.”
https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/reds-review-communism-in-the-u-s-a-1e0b14d7

To Overthrow the World: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Communism (Guest: Sean McMeekin) Oct 02, 2024

Show notes

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Sean McMeekin, Francis Flournoy Professor of European History and Culture at Bard College, to discuss his new book, To Overthrow the World: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Communism. They chat about the evolution of Communism from a seductive ideal of a classless society into the ruling doctrine of tyrannical regimes. They also discuss communism’s unpopularity as a political form, yet it’s endurance as an ideology.

Get the book here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/sean-mcmeekin/to-overthrow-the-world/9781541601963/?lens=basic-books

Show Notes:

The New Criterion: Gary Saul Morson – “The red star returns”
https://newcriterion.com/article/the-red-star-returns/

Washington Free Beacon: Harvey Klehr – “The Struggle To Contain Communism … in One Book”
https://freebeacon.com/culture/the-struggle-to-contain-communism-in-one-book/

The Gulf War: George H. W. Bush and American Grand Strategy in the Post-Cold War Era (Guest: Spencer D. Bakich) Sep 24, 2024

Show notes

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Spencer D. Bakich, Professor of International Studies and Director of the National Security Program at the Virginia Military Institute, and Senior Fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, to discuss his new book, The Gulf War: George H. W. Bush and American Grand Strategy in the Post-Cold War Era. They chat about how Bush fashioned a grand strategy to bring about a New World Order designed to transform international politics by focusing on great power cooperation through the United Nations, how Bush’s strategic beliefs oriented American statecraft in peace and war, and how the war’s outcome exposed faulty assumptions about the international system that underpinned that strategy.

Get the book here: https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700636884/the-gulf-war/

The Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes Between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry (Guest: Tevi Troy) Sep 17, 2024

Show notes

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Tevi Troy, Senior Fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center, Senior Scholar at Yeshiva University’s Straus Center, and a Visiting Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, to discuss his new book, The Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes Between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry. They chat about how the vast reach of the federal government became a critical fact of life for every business, how companies find themselves navigating a competitive landscape defined by stringent regulations, and how CEOs must influence the legislative and regulatory system. They also discuss how much the modern presidency relies on CEOs for personnel, policy insights, campaign cash, and as potential foils.

Get the book here: https://www.regnery.com/9781684515400/the-power-and-the-money/

The Eastern Front: A History of the Great War, 1914-1918 (Guest: Nick Lloyd) Sep 09, 2024

Show notes

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Nick Lloyd, Professor of Modern Warfare at King’s College London, to discuss his new book, The Eastern Front: A History of the Great War, 1914-1918. They chat about the scale of the conflict, how the most radical aspect of the struggle in the east was that the violence was not confined to combatants, and how the repercussions of the war in the east, including the fall of three great empires and the rise of Bolshevism, were much more profound than the war in the west.

Get the book here: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324092711

Show Notes:

Financial Times: Margaret MacMillan – “The Eastern Front by Nick Lloyd — truth bombs”
https://www.ft.com/content/8e29eba7-a91a-40a6-a5e5-47369a7c70eb

Literary Review: Jonathan Boff – “Graveyard of Empires”
https://literaryreview.co.uk/graveyard-of-empires

The Spectator: Tessa Dunlop – “The horrors of the Eastern Front”
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-horrors-of-the-eastern-front/

The Telegraph: Simon Heffer – “How the carnage on the Eastern Front transformed the First World War”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/non-fiction/review-eastern-front-nick-lloyd/

The Times: Dominic Sandbrook – “The Eastern Front by Nick Lloyd review: a fresh take on the First World War”
https://www.thetimes.com/culture/article/the-eastern-front-a-history-of-the-first-world-war-nick-lloyd-review-fm2z0kkzn

Times Literary Supplement: Hew Strachan – “Suicide of empires”
https://www.the-tls.co.uk/history/twentieth-century-onwards-history/the-eastern-front-nick-lloyd-book-review-hew-strachan

The Wall Street Journal: William Anthony Hay – “‘The Eastern Front’ Review: The Battle Far From the Trenches”
https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/the-eastern-front-review-the-battle-far-from-the-trenches-e09b3580

The Light of Battle: Eisenhower, D-Day, and the Birth of the American Superpower(Guest: Michel Paradis) Sep 03, 2024

Show notes

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Michel Paradis, fellow at the Center on National Security and the National Institute for Military Justice and lecture in law at Columbia Law School, to discuss his new book, The Light of Battle: Eisenhower, D-Day, and the Birth of the American Superpower. They chat about how Eisenhower’s rise both reflected and was integral to America’s rise as a global superpower, his unique facility as a teambuilder, and just what exactly was on the line with Operation Overlord.

Get the book here:
https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-light-of-battle-michel-paradis?variant=41106434326562

Show Notes:
Wall Street Journal: Paul Kennedy – “‘The Light of Battle’ Review: Eisenhower’s Road to Normandy”
https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/the-light-of-battle-review-eisenhowers-road-to-normandy-55a76a2f

Collisions: The Origins of the War in Ukraine and the New Global Instability (Guest: Michael Kimmage) Aug 26, 2024

Show notes

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Michael Kimmage, Professor of History at the Catholic University of America and non-resident Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, to discuss his new book, Collisions: The Origins of the War in Ukraine and the New Global Instability. They chat about the origins of the war, how it has transformed multiple centers of power and has shifted the direction of major macro-trends in world politics, contributing to the fragmentation of international politics, higher inflation, greater food insecurity, and the general collapse of arms control.

Get the book here:
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/collisions-9780197751794?cc=us&lang=en&

Show Notes:
Foreign Affairs: Liana Fix & Michael Kimmage – “Putin’s Last Stand”
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/russian-federation/putin-last-stand-russia-defeat

Wall Street Journal: Michael Kimmage – “Trump Is Unlikely to Abandon Ukraine—and Might Dangerously Escalate the War”
https://www.wsj.com/politics/trump-is-unlikely-to-abandon-ukraineand-might-even-escalate-the-war-356a2825

Wall Street Journal: Michael Kimmage – “Putin’s Rogue State”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/putins-rogue-state-140d876f

Washington Times: Martin Di Caro – “BOOK REVIEW: ‘Collisions: The Origins of the War in Ukraine and the New Global Instability’”
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/mar/7/book-review-collisions-origins-of-war-in-ukraine-a/

A Wonderful Career in Crime (Guest: Frank W. Garmon Jr.) Aug 21, 2024

Show notes

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Frank W. Garmon Jr., assistant professor of American studies at Christopher Newport University, to discuss his new book, A Wonderful Career in Crime: Charles Cowlam’s Masquerades in the Civil War Era and Gilded Age. They chat Cowlam’s career as convict, spy, detective, congressional candidate, adventurer, con artist, and serial bigamist and how his life managed to intersect with Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, and Ulysses S. Grant. They also discuss the mid-19th Century’s economic system that was dependent upon trust and personal relationships and how Cowlam exposed the liabilities of the political system constructed on the same foundations.

Get the book here:
https://lsupress.org/9780807182666/a-wonderful-career-in-crime/

Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of America's Political Crisis Aug 13, 2024

Show notes

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by James Davison Hunter, LaBrosse-Levinson Distinguished Professor of Religion, Culture and Social Theory and Executive Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia, to discuss his new book, Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of America's Political Crisis. They discuss how our historic sources of national solidarity have now largely dissolved, why a deepening political polarization is the most obvious sign of this, how the true problem is not polarization per se but the absence of cultural resources to work through what divides us, and how all political regimes require some level of unity, and if it cannot be generated organically, it will be imposed by force. They also chat about whether this problem can be fixed and whether or not the Enlightenment-era institution that is liberal democracy survive in a post-Enlightenment world.

Get the book here:
https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300274370/democracy-and-solidarity/

Show Notes:
City Journal: Fred Bauer – “A Renewed Union?”
https://www.city-journal.org/article/a-renewed-union

The Hedgehog Review: James Davison Hunter – “Dissent and Solidarity”
https://hedgehogreview.com/issues/america-on-the-brink/articles/dissent-and-solidarity

National Catholic Reporter: Michael Sean Winters – “New book examines cultural roots of our political crisis” & “From 'culture wars' to 'cultural exhaustion': James Davison Hunter diagnoses our cultural ills”
https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/ncr-voices/new-book-examines-cultural-roots-our-political-crisis-0
https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/ncr-voices/culture-wars-cultural-exhaustion-james-davison-hunter-diagnoses-our-cultural

New York Times: David Brooks – “The Deep Source of Trump’s Appeal”
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/11/opinion/trump-biden-authoritarianism.html

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