Old School with Shilo Brooks – Details, episodes & analysis

Fewer of us than ever are reading books for pleasure. Shilo Brooks is on a mission to change that. Old School is a new podcast from The Free Press about great books and how reading them can make us stronger, better men. The show features intimate conversations with fascinating men—from fitness gurus to philosophers—about the books that shaped their lives. Coming October 9th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Few people have turned a love of the wild into a cultural force quite like Steve Rinella, the outdoorsman and author behind the MeatEater empire. Jim Harrison’s Wolf, published in 1971, changed Rinella’s life. In this episode, Rinella sits down with Shilo Brooks to discuss this stream-of-consciousness novel replete with chaos and male angst. He reflects on growing up in rural Michigan and seeing himself in Harrison’s protagonist—a bitter, damaged, self-destructive young man on a quest for meaning in the wilderness. Rinella lays bare the novel’s darker undercurrents and why it has appeal for young men lacking purpose.  Old School is proudly brought to you by the Jack Miller Center. If you believe in the importance of civic education and want to help prepare the next generation to carry on our democracy, join us at JackMillerCenter.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Admiral James Stavridis once commanded fleets as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO. Now he commands a collection of 5,000 rare books. Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea changed Stavridis’ life. In this episode, the admiral sits down with Shilo Brooks to discuss the themes of hardship, pride, and resilience that appear in Santiago’s epic struggle at sea. Stavridis, who stuck out in the military for his love of books, and stuck out as a law school dean for his love of the military, explains how reading books has made him a more effective leader.   Old School is proudly brought to you by the Jack Miller Center. If you believe in the importance of civic education and want to help prepare the next generation to carry on our democracy, join us at JackMillerCenter.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Mike Israetel is a bodybuilder and scientist who believes reading is as important as a gym session. Steven Pinker’s The Blank Slate changed his life. In this episode, Israetel joins Shilo Brooks to discuss how this explosive book on genetics, human nature, and the myth of infinite potential turned his own outlook (and coaching style) upside down, inspiring humility, killing illusions, and sharpening his science-first approach to diet and training. And he explains why athletes need to stop dreaming of becoming LeBron James and start maximizing the hand they’re dealt.  Old School is proudly brought to you by the Jack Miller Center. If you believe in the importance of civic education and want to help prepare the next generation to carry on our democracy, join us at JackMillerCenter.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is justice? And why should we live justly? These questions lie at the heart of Plato’s Republic, the foundational text of Western philosophy. In building his utopian city, Plato reveals how the quest for perfect justice can slip into tyranny. Yet his call for relentless self-examination—for resisting nihilism and seeking meaning—remains a starting point for us all. In this episode, Dr. Cornel West joins Shilo Brooks to discuss why ancient Greek philosophy remains relevant for all of us, regardless of race or background. Together, they argue that confronting Plato is a universal rite of passage for everyone seeking to overcome despair and live a good life. Plus: West critiques the corruption of American universities and political parties—especially the Democratic Party, which he declares “beyond redemption.” Old School is proudly brought to you by the Jack Miller Center. If you believe in the importance of civic education and want to help prepare the next generation to carry on our democracy, join us at JackMillerCenter.org. Become a paid subscriber to The Free Press today to enjoy exclusive bonus episodes and reduced ads. Click here to subscribe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio is a dark, dazzling Italian fable that is worlds apart from Disney’s sanitized version. Beneath its fantasticism and humor, the story is brimming with poverty, violence, and existential peril. In this episode, Australian rock legend Nick Cave joins Shilo Brooks to talk about one of the best-selling and most widely translated books ever written.  Together, they explore how transgression and disobedience shape character and how art thrives in defiance of conformity. Cave reflects on how the story helped him process grief after the death of his son. In examining the puppet’s journey to becoming a real boy, Cave and Brooks consider how love and  suffering make all of us real.  Old School is proudly brought to you by the Jack Miller Center. If you believe in the importance of civic education and want to help prepare the next generation to carry on our democracy, join us at JackMillerCenter.org. Become a paid subscriber to The Free Press today to enjoy exclusive bonus episodes and reduced ads. Click here to subscribe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why do we believe what we believe? And how do those beliefs shape our politics?  Thomas Sowell, one of the world’s most influential economists and social philosophers, set out to answer this question in his 1987 book, A Conflict of Visions. In it, he traces the underlying logic behind all modern political divides—why it is that knowing someone’s position on one issue, say gun control, makes it easy to predict their position on a totally unrelated issue, like abortion.  In this episode, Shilo Brooks sits down with Coleman Hughes to discuss the book that Sowell himself calls his favorite. Their conversation—recorded well before yesterday’s election of Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani—illuminates why some of us buy into utopian projects of remaking society, while others trust the quiet power of incentive structures like free markets.  Old School is proudly brought to you by the Jack Miller Center. If you believe in the importance of civic education and want to help prepare the next generation to carry on our democracy, join us at JackMillerCenter.org. Become a paid subscriber to The Free Press today to enjoy exclusive bonus episodes and reduced ads. Click here to subscribe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been 100 years since The Great Gatsby was published. In this episode, Shilo Brooks sits down with journalist Fareed Zakaria to explore why the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel still feels so modern.  Zakaria shares his experience discovering the classic as an Indian immigrant, describing Gatsby as his gateway to understanding America. Together, they unpack the book’s enduring themes: the allure of reinvention and the American dream, the search for meaning in a world stripped of faith and tradition, and the spiritual hollowness that accompanies wealth and glamor. They also discuss Fitzgerald’s unique partnership with his editor Maxwell Perkins, a writer-editor collaboration that helped transform Gatsby into one of the greatest works of American literature. Plus: Zakaria sounds off on what’s wrong with journalism—and its consumers—today.  Old School is proudly brought to you by the Jack Miller Center. If you believe in the importance of civic education and want to help prepare the next generation to carry on our democracy, join us at JackMillerCenter.org. Become a paid subscriber to The Free Press today to enjoy exclusive bonus episodes and reduced ads. Click here to subscribe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most of us have read 1984 or Animal Farm. But fewer know of George Orwell’s first great work—an unvarnished account of his descent into the world of society’s outcasts. In this episode of Old School, Shilo Brooks sits down with Rob Henderson to discuss Down and Out in Paris and London, which is inspired by Orwell’s real-life plunge into the slums of two great European cities. Henderson draws on his own trajectory from foster care and poverty to the rarefied worlds of Yale, Cambridge, and elite culture. Their conversation examines why people with privilege so often misunderstand the realities of the poor, how poverty shapes the mind and spirit, and what Orwell ultimately discovered about the divisions—and the common ground—between classes. Old School is proudly brought to you by the Jack Miller Center. If you believe in the importance of civic education and want to help prepare the next generation to carry on our democracy, join us at JackMillerCenter.org. Become a paid subscriber to The Free Press today to enjoy exclusive bonus episodes and reduced ads. Click here to subscribe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to Ryan Holiday, Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer is like the better, more mature cousin to The Catcher in the Rye. In this episode, Shilo Brooks sits down with the author and Daily Stoic founder to discuss the quiet Southern novel set in postwar New Orleans.  The book follows a Korean War veteran who has money, women, and a respectable job but whose inner life is defined by existential malaise and a spiritual itch that he calls “the search.” In the end, he resigns himself to the humdrum responsibilities of marriage and everyday life. Brooks and Holiday explore the book’s philosophical themes and its continued relevance in a media-saturated world where many of us, still starved for meaning, try to turn our own existence into a social-media performance. Old School is proudly brought to you by the Jack Miller Center. If you believe in the importance of civic education and want to help prepare the next generation to carry on our democracy, join us at JackMillerCenter.org. Become a paid subscriber to The Free Press today to enjoy exclusive bonus episodes and reduced ads. Click here to subscribe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices