Nostalgia Trap

Latest Episodes:

Nostalgia Trap - Episode 156: Cartoon Reality w/ Daniel Pinchbeck Jul 25, 2019

Show notes

Daniel Pinchbeck is the author of a number of books that explore big subjects like human consciousness, psychedelic drugs, shamanic cultures, and the Mayan 2012 prophecy. Lately he's been thinking and writing about UFOs, after a number of startling reports in mainstream media over the past year revealed the US government's deep engagement with spacecraft of unknown origin. In this conversation, we talk about his latest book, The Occult Control System: UFOs, aliens, other dimensions, and future timelines, and explore the possible explanations behind the UFO phenomenon's peculiar appearance at this specific moment in history.

Nostalgia Trap - Episode 155: Ride the Snake w/ Geoff Johnson Jul 16, 2019

Show notes

Geoff Johnson has been teaching American history since we were both graduate students at CUNY in the George W. Bush years. In this conversation, we talk about our respective political and cultural experiences coming of age in the 1990s, and reflect on the different paths that brought us both to the radical left. From beat poetry, Jim Morrison, and hip hop to anti-capitalism and anarchy, we try to connect our personal, very American lives with the larger historical forces surrounding us.

Nostalgia Trap - Episode 154: Generation Gump w/ Bill Black Jul 09, 2019

Show notes

Bill Black is a historian whose project Contingent Magazine (begun with previous Nostalgia Trap guest Erin Bartram) this month features a 25th anniversary retrospective roundtable on the film Forrest Gump. In this conversation, Black explains how the film's particular take on boomer generation "greatest hits" hides the film's deeper engagement with the politics of the 1960s and 1970s, and helps frame how some of Gump's key characters and scenes often dangerously distort our view of American history.

Nostalgia Trap - Episode 152: Concentration Camp USA w/ Justin Rogers-Cooper Jun 25, 2019

Show notes

Justin Rogers-Cooper returns to the show to begin a series of episodes this summer tracking the global flashpoints of our historical moment. In this conversation, we talk about the term "concentration camp" in the context of Trump's immigration policies, and game out the different scenarios at play regarding Iran. What's Trump's endgame in the Middle East? And what does this have to do with oil?

Nostalgia Trap - Episode 151: It's the Endless War, Stupid w/ Danny Haiphong Jun 20, 2019

Show notes

Danny Haiphong is a socialist writer whose work frequently appears on Black Agenda Report. His new book (with Roberto Sirvent), American Exceptionalism and American Innocence: A People's History of Fake News from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror, explores the central mythologies about American benevolence that have served as the ideological spine for capitalism's cancerous expansion. In this conversation, we talk about the disappointing foreign policy positions of left political figures like Bernie and AOC, and discuss the radical left's longer history of engagement with issues of war, militarism, and imperialism.

Nostalgia Trap - Episode 150: The Tenured Radical w/ Daniel Bessner Jun 12, 2019

Show notes

Daniel Bessner is a professor and writer and frequent Nostalgia Trap contributor. He joins us to talk about his controversial recent Chronicle piece taking on the American Historical Association, and to share his vision of how to rescue the humanities from the destructive forces of neoliberalism.

Nostalgia Trap - Episode 149: Me vs We w/ Thom Hartmann Jun 06, 2019

Show notes

Thom Hartmann is a radio personality, best-selling author, and political commentator whose work in progressive media has spanned decades. He joins us to discuss his latest book, The Hidden History of Guns and the 2nd Amendment, and to explain his own political and philosophical evolution. From working for the Goldwater campaign as a teenager to joining Students for a Democratic Society to help fight the Vietnam War, Hartmann's 1960s roots instilled important values and ideas about democracy, equality, and human evolution that persist in his work today.

Nostalgia Trap - Episode 148: Unlearning Capitalism w/ Astra Taylor May 30, 2019

Show notes

Astra Taylor is a writer and filmmaker whose work explores the radical contours of contemporary politics and philosophy. Her latest film, What is Democracy?, is a deep dive into one of history's most intense questions, framing interviews and discussions within the harrowing context of a collapsing planet. In this conversation, she explains the ideas underlying her inquisitive approach to writing and making films, how her unorthodox experiences with formal education shaped her political and analytical thinking, and why she thinks asking bigger questions is such a vital task for the left.

Nostalgia Trap - Episode 147: Anti-Capitalist in Appalachia w/ Tanya Turner May 23, 2019

Show notes

Tanya Turner is one of the hosts of the Trillbilly Worker's Party podcast, a smart, funny take on left politics in Whitesburg, Kentucky. In this conversation, we talk about the wider political world of Appalachia, her work with the media and arts center Appalshop, and how sex education is a vital space for talking about capitalism's insidious control over our bodies.

Nostalgia Trap - Episode 146: The Other Side of Going Viral w/ Linda Tirado May 14, 2019

Show notes

Linda Tirado is a writer who catapulted to online fame after a casual, righteously enraged message board comment went mega-viral. Within weeks she had a book deal, TV appearances, agents, and a lot more attention than she had ever asked for or wanted. Her book, Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America, captures a working class voice that's rarely heard in mainstream American media, and her experience with internet celebrity reflects the often terrifying ways that class functions in media culture.

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