Politics and Prose Presents – Details, episodes & analysis

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Politics and Prose Presents

Politics and Prose

Arts

Frequency: 1 episode/1d. Total Eps: 668

Politics and Prose is a large, independent bookstore uniquely situated in the nation’s capital and serving a broad array of Washington readers, writers, thinkers, teachers, and policy-makers. In addition to our incredible selection of titles, Politics and Prose offers more than 500 public events each year, bringing leading authors across all genres to venues in Washington, DC. Visit us online at www.politics-prose.com.

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🇫🇷 France - books
22/06/2026
#91

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Deb Haaland — A Voice Like Mine: A Memoir - with Jonathan Capehart

Saturday, June 20, 2026 • Duration 01:02:00

New Mexico 2026 gubernatorial frontrunner, organizer, congresswoman, and former cabinet secretary Deb Haaland shares her story, offering a powerful and personal look at what it means to be “the first.”
Nothing about Deb Haaland’s upbringing or family history set her up for a life of firsts: the first Native American woman elected to chair a state political party in the United States; one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress; the first Native American to serve in a presidential cabinet. Yet Haaland has embraced every opportunity, knowing that each step forward lifts up those who are too often left out of the conversation.
A 35th-generation New Mexican and member of the Pueblo of Laguna, Haaland has lived a remarkable life shaped by poverty, alcoholism, and single parenthood. After a late but meteoric rise in politics, she stepped down from her cabinet position as Secretary of the Interior in January 2025 and is now running for Governor of New Mexico in the 2026 election.
In A Voice Like Mine—titled after Haaland’s congressional campaign slogan, “Congress has never heard a voice like mine”—she shares the personal history that shaped her courage to organize, run for office, and lead. She tells the stories that have defined her life in politics and beyond, from her grandfather’s cornfield, where she learned the importance of hard work and care for the earth, to the oak-paneled halls of Washington, D.C. Throughout her journey, Haaland has drawn on her heritage in her activism and service, leading with humility, purpose, and a commitment to “leave the ladder down” for those who follow.

Deb Haaland, a 35th-generation New Mexican who organized for President Obama, led the New Mexico State Democratic Party to victory and made an unprecedented run and win as one of the first Native women to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. She also made history as the first Native American appointed to a U.S. President's cabinet. Drawing on her experience as a military kid, a single mom, and a Pueblo woman, Deb has championed working families, fought to give underserved communities a voice, and taken action to address the climate crisis. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Haaland is in conversation with Jonathan Capehart, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who is co-host of the morning edition of “The Weekend” on MS NOW (7am - 10am) and the New York Times bestselling author of “Yet Here I Am: Lessons from A Black Man’s Search for Home.” At PBS, Capehart serves as a political analyst on “PBS News Hour” and is featured on the popular Friday segment “Brooks and Capehart.” Capehart is a former Associate Editor at The Washington Post, where he was an opinion writer for 18 years. Capehart was deputy editorial page editor of the New York Daily News (2002-2004) and served on its editorial board (1993-2000). They won the 1999 Pulitzer for Editorial Writing for their campaign to save the Apollo Theater.

PURCHASE:

https://politics-prose.com/book/9781250434227?ic_referral=nz1AMR-SbrqAXq-ilN5YuMIKA-u717DKMyFXxZnQqrMwMw5C9mR2iJrS8sFDljeAx8KiDvujEonO5fwcOTMOuCBE3Xu4a-nGF_IQG7C0n3dAPuHzgqxuoArTyutog855awHL8ZE

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Jim Rasenberger — A Perfect Coincidence: The Extraordinary Friendship and Astonishing Deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson - with Jonathan Horn

Saturday, June 20, 2026 • Duration 59:47

An extraordinary look at the long and complex relationship between Founding Fathers Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, who died on the same historic day—July 4, 1826, exactly fifty years after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence—and timed to the 250th anniversary of America’s founding.
In creating the Declaration of Independence, approved by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, Jefferson and Adams collaborated in what Jefferson later called “a perfect coincidence” of thought and action. Exactly fifty years later, in the most perfect coincidence in American history, they died within hours of each other—both former US presidents, both essential architects of the nation.
This book explores those two remarkable coincidences and the fifty-year relationship in between. Thomas Jefferson, a charismatic Southern aristocrat, and John Adams, a cantankerous Yankee, were once close friends, then bitter political enemies. In the last years of their lives, they reconciled and resumed an extraordinary correspondence, totaling some 380 letters that continued until their final months.
Other than the Declaration of Independence, the greatest symbolic gift either man gave his country may have been dying together on that fateful Independence Day in 1826. For many Americans, this moment was viewed as a “visible and palpable” manifestation of “Divine favor”—as one contemporary put it—and fueled the conviction that America was a land of miracles.
Published to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the United States—and the 200th anniversary of the men’s deaths—this book is essential reading for anyone interested in presidential biographies, the Revolutionary War era, and the enduring power—yet terrible fragility—of American democracy.

Jim Rasenberger is the author of five books—A Perfect Coincidence; Revolver; The Brilliant Disaster; America, 1908; and High Steel—and has contributed to the New York Times, Vanity Fair, Smithsonian, and other publications. A native of Washington, DC, he lives in New York City.

Rasenberger is in conversation with Jonathan Horn, an author and former White House presidential speechwriter whose books include Washington’s End and the Robert E. Lee biography The Man Who Would Not Be Washington, which was a bestseller. He has written for outlets including , , Disunion series, , , , and , and has appeared on CBS, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and PBS . A graduate of Yale, he lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife, two children, and dog. His latest book is .

Caroline Bock — The Other Beautiful People - with Laura Scalzo

Monday, June 15, 2026 • Duration 54:28

In the entertainment world, the spotlight shines on the beautiful— but behind the scenes are those who make the magic happen. Amy Greene is one of them. As head of marketing and public relations at the Cinema Channel, a beloved yet struggling cable network devoted to classic and independent films based in midtown Manhattan, Amy is at the height of her career— but her life is anything but steadfast. Torn between her charismatic boss, Owen Orski, and her husband Jack, Amy’s world schisms with 9/11, the death of her father, and the secrets she’ s kept locked away. The Other Beautiful People is a dazzling cinematic novel about love, loss, and the search for meaning— in work, family, and the spaces in between. It’ s a story that will captivate your heart and stay with you long after the final scene. The Other Beautiful People is a workplace love story unlike any other.

Caroline Bock is the author of THE OTHER BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE, a workplace love story, inspired by her two-decade career at AMC, Bravo, IFC, and IFC Films. She is also the author of the young adult novels LIE and Before My Eyes as well as the award-winning short story collection Carry Her Home. A graduate of Syracuse University, where she studied creative writing with Raymond Carver, she also holds an MFA in Fiction from the City College of New York. She is the co-president/prose editor at the Washington Writers’ Publishing House.

Bock is in conversation with Laura Scalzo, author of two novels, The Speed of Light in Air, Water, and Glass (2018), praised as “lyrical and insightful,” and American Arcadia (2023),“a gorgeous riff of a New York City novel.” Her shorter work has appeared in various literary magazines including Had, Ellipsis Zine, Reflex Fiction, and the Grace & Gravity Series. She was a 2023 Chautauqua Writer-in-Residence and is a 2024, 2025 recipient of a DC Arts Grant. She is a graduate of Syracuse University. Find out more about her at laurascalzo.com.

PURCHASE:

https://politics-prose.com/book/9781646037292?ic_referral=_Xajhhj0XuBmDrLr7OQtWWFwYGGXc2zc1TCoKadwg2cwM-3bUIAD_b6KiB1AJXSEV30f3Nhm12YelJwQ3YDo7olChC33W6v2dEuO25dZIFao9L-yCeEBcL7WV69-uQ4SSm5waXQ

Jacob Mchangama & Jeff Kosseff — The Future of Free Speech: Reversing the Global Decline of Democracy's Most Essential Freedom - with Ashkhen Kazaryan

Friday, April 17, 2026 • Duration 01:04:16

An incisive examination of free speech's global decline and a framework for preserving expression in democratic societies.

The Future of Free Speech confronts a stark truth: the right to speak freely is under siege. Once celebrated as a cornerstone of democratic societies, free expression is now met with growing suspicion and retaliation across the globe. Jacob Mchangama and Jeff Kosseff present a panoramic view of how we arrived at this pivotal moment.

The authors examine a century in which speech rights expanded dramatically--including postwar democratic revolutions and the sweeping protections of the First Amendment--only to find those rights unraveling in the face of new political, technological, and cultural pressures. Today, liberal democracies are imposing speech controls, authoritarian regimes are cloaking censorship in democratic language, and digital platforms wield unprecedented power over global discourse. This book examines the backlash against free speech from all sides: governments criminalizing dissent in the name of national security; lawmakers and activists demanding tighter controls on misinformation, hate speech, and offensive content; and AI systems removing speech at a scale and speed that dwarfs historical forms of censorship. At the same time, faith in free speech itself is waning, even in the very societies that once championed it.

The Future of Free Speech argues for a reinvigorated, global commitment to open dialogue. Mchangama and Kosseff advocate nonpartisan, civic-minded solutions that resist both government overreach and corporate silencing. They offer a compelling case for how free speech can meet modern challenges without abandoning its foundational role in sustaining democracy, human rights, and shared understanding.

Jacob Mchangama is the founder and executive director of The Future of Free Speech and a research professor at Vanderbilt University. He is the author of Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media.

Jeff Kosseff is a nonresident senior legal fellow at The Future of Free Speech and the author of Liar in a Crowded Theater: Freedom of Speech in a World of Misinformation.

Yann Martel — Son of Nobody

Thursday, April 16, 2026 • Duration 58:29

From the author of the international bestseller Life of Pi, a brilliant retelling of the Trojan War from the perspective of two commoners: an ancient soldier and a modern scholar.

The Psoad is an Ancient Greek epic in free verse that follows a goatherd’s son, Psoas of Midea, who leaves his wife and family to fight with the Greeks at Troy. This commoner’s story was lost to time—until Harlow Donne, a Canadian academic who has left his own wife and daughter behind to study at Oxford, discovers its relics nearly thirty centuries later.

As sole translator and interpreter of The Psoad, Harlow dedicates the poem and its footnotes to his daughter, Helen. Under his gaze, a personal message to his beloved child appears in the ancient text, like a palimpsest. Despite the thousands of years and hundreds of miles that separate Psoas and Harlow, a thread hasn’t frayed: the universal song of homesickness and regret, of love, ambition, and grief.

Son of Nobody takes readers from the plains of Troy to the halls of Oxford, from the classical to the contemporary, from ancient verses to modern footnotes. It is a dazzling, masterful feat of myth, history, and domesticity that explores how stories become facts, the price we pay to share them, and how we live—then, now, always.

Yann Martel is the author of Life of Pi, the international bestseller that won the 2002 Booker Prize and was adapted to the screen in the Oscar–winning film by Ang Lee. He lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

PURCHASE:

https://politics-prose.com/book/9781324118138?ic_referral=nNbuIx5f7F62JsCvZjo-0nXQbi0_MwCwtDE804OANgwwM8OksPLecqLumH0dJcGDnrD9j9CXQ3l0jvPAv-P6gatEDPYYC8rsTGHTlY5YhfszOPHLLhgf3M8uSrSvyN0ErvEu6iU

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Daniela Gerson — The Wanderers: A Story of Exile, Survival, and Unexpected Love in the Shadow of World War II - with Amanda Katz

Thursday, April 16, 2026 • Duration 51:03

An immigration journalist and her wife trace their family’s intertwined past to unearth a history of how hundreds of thousands of Polish Jews survived Hitler’s Holocaust at the brutal hands of Stalin — a story that sheds light on the enduring power of hope and love.
Daniela Gerson and her wife, Talia Inlender, met at a picnic in Los Angeles, not knowing that 75 years earlier, their grandparents had left homes only blocks away from each other in a small Polish town, and fled east to Ukraine. The Gersons and the Inlenders would go on parallel odysseys of 5,000 miles to survive the Holocaust – one that would, after a deceitful loyalty test from Stalin, put them on cattle cars to a Soviet Gulag, years in limbo in Central Asia, and would end, after a decade on the run, with new lives built on secrets and lies.
For years, Daniela and Talia simply accepted this painful shared history as a sign that they were b’shert, meant to be. Their families’ refugee past fueled their work: Daniela as an immigration journalist; Talia an immigration attorney. But as Daniela uncovered more, she realized that their grandparents shared this escape path in the Soviet Union with most Polish Jews who survived; a group — sometimes collectively called “the Wanderers” – that is almost entirely absent from popular understanding of World War II. And unlike most Holocaust sagas that focus on the exceptionality of the Nazi genocide, theirs was also a universal story of refugees making impossible decisions when forced to seek safety, protect their children, and find new homes. A story that, to the dismay of the world, remains relevant each time a political upheaval wreaks havoc on individual lives.
Part genealogical detective story, part gripping history, part contemporary reporting on war-torn territories, The Wanderers chronicles Daniela’s journey to unearth this past with her wife, and reveal its echoes in still-contested lands from Ukraine to Israel. The Wanderers is a groundbreaking narrative history, and a meditation on how a home left behind and a desperate journey to survive reverberates across borders and through generations.

Daniela Gerson is an award-winning immigration reporter whose work has appeared in The New York Times, CNN, Der Spiegel, Financial Times, and Los Angeles Times. An associate professor of journalism at California State University, Northridge and editor-at-large at Zocalo Public Square, she previously worked as a community engagement editor at the LA Times and as a staff immigration reporter for the New York Sun. She lives in Los Angeles with her two children and her wife, a nationally recognized immigration attorney.

Khiara M. Bridges — Expecting Inequity: How the Maternal Health Crisis Affects Even the Wealthiest Black Americans - with Akilah Johnson

Wednesday, April 15, 2026 • Duration 01:05:30

An unsettling exploration of the persistence of racism in reproductive healthcare in the US—and why even affluent Black women are imperiled by substandard care.
From a leading expert on race, class, maternal health, and reproductive rights.
Racism in maternal healthcare is not reserved for the poor. An unsparing picture of inequities in prenatal care and childbirth in the US, Expecting Inequity reveals that not only are Black people three-to-four times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause, but racial disparities in maternal mortality persist across income levels. That is, wealthier Black people are much more likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth, or the postpartum period than their white counterparts. Focusing on a San Francisco obstetrics clinic that caters to the affluent, Khiara Bridges looks at the choices around prenatal care and childbirth that class-privileged, pregnant Black people are making in order to survive what has been called the “Black maternal health crisis.”
Bridges, whose previous work exposed how race and racism are embedded in maternal healthcare for the poor, draws upon two years of participant-observation to show how wealthier Black people try to leverage their class privilege to avoid some of the negative effects of their Blackness—only to discover that in a country that has never reckoned with its horrific racial past, there is no escaping racism’s reach. Throughout the book, engaging, heartbreaking, infuriating stories of women’s experiences with pregnancy and prenatal care illustrate how race and racism matter regardless of wealth or status.

Khiara M. Bridges is a professor of law at UC Berkeley School of Law. Her books include Reproducing Race: An Ethnography of Pregnancy as a Site of Racialization.

Bridges is in conversation with Akilah Johnson, who joined The Washington Post in 2021 as a national reporter exploring the effect of racism and social inequality on health. In prior roles at ProPublica and the Boston Globe she covered the intersection of health, race, politics and immigration. At ProPublica, she won a George Polk award, National Magazine award and was Pulitzer finalist for examining covid-19's toll on Black Americans. At the Globe, she was part of a team of journalists who shared a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news coverage of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and she was a Pulitzer finalist as a member of the Spotlight Team investigation into racism in Boston. Her reporting has earned other national awards including NABJ Salute to Excellence Awards, ONA's Knight Award for Public Service and a National Headliner Award for Journalistic Innovation. Before her time at the Globe, Akilah covered education and public safety for the South Florida Sun Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale. She is a graduate of the University of Miami and alumna of the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford University.

David Pogue — Apple: The First 50 Years

Wednesday, April 15, 2026 • Duration 01:13:15

In time for Apple’s 50th anniversary, CBS Sunday Morning correspondent David Pogue tells the iconic company’s entire life story: how it was born, nearly died, was born again under Steve Jobs, and became, under CEO Tim Cook, the most valuable company in the world. The book features full-color photos, new facts that correct the record and illuminate its subversive culture, and fresh interviews with the legendary figures who shaped Apple into what it is today.
On April 1, 1976, two scruffy twentysomethings, both named Steve, founded a startup. Their goal: To bring the revolutionary power of computers to everyone.
Over the next five decades, Apple reshaped the technology and cultural landscapes, introducing the public to breakthroughs like the mouse, laser printing, CD-ROM, WiFi, digital video, home networking, touchscreen phones, and tablets. Jobs’s obsessive eye for detail set the stage for products—Mac, iMac, iPod, iTunes, iPhone, iPad, AirPods, Apple Watch—that married advanced technology with beauty, simplicity, and fine design.
Deeply researched and lavishly illustrated, Apple: The First 50 Years includes new interviews with 150 key people who made the journey, including Steve Wozniak, John Sculley, Jony Ive, and many current designers, engineers, and executives. The book busts long-held myths; goes backstage for both the titanic successes (450 million iPods, 700 million iPads, 2.2 billion iPhones) and the instructive failures (Lisa, Apple III, MobileMe); and assesses the forces that challenge Apple’s dominance as it enters its second half century.
Bursting with tales of frenetic all-nighters, engineering genius, and creative rebellion, this book is a true testament to Apple’s unique and innovative vision, and a must read for anyone whose life Apple has touched.

David Pogue is a seven-time Emmy Award winner for his stories on CBS Sunday Morning, a five-time TED speaker, host of twenty NOVA specials on PBS, and a New York Times bestselling author. He’s written about Apple for his entire career, including thirteen years as a Macworld columnist, thirteen more as tech columnist for The New York Times, and twenty years as the #1 bestselling author of books about Macs and iPhones. He lives with his family in New York.

PURCHASE:

https://politics-prose.com/book/9781982134594?ic_referral=tJjCKDTVd5sQFVxmpxUFPmcFgwsjBJqfSV7EQmOAmccwM2AVU2Z3-Xaxqz_IrEkBIdnZ5MyHSZt2Hx4MfspPgjmpeWg132pQSl9rAvQtRkh_2OxhDqdVXnGFbe-DEXqpknP7Beo

Anna Harwell Celenza — On the Record: Music that Changed America

Tuesday, April 14, 2026 • Duration 59:29

The surprising story of how iconic works of music sparked debate and action in the halls of Congress.

From "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "Lift Every Voice and Sing" to Rhapsody in Blue and Hamilton, the story of America is written not only in its laws and speeches but also in its music. In On the Record: Music That Changed America, award-winning scholar and storyteller Anna Harwell Celenza reveals how certain songs and compositions didn’t just mirror history—they made it.

Across two centuries of American life, Celenza traces the extraordinary moments when music moved Congress, challenged power, and united people around shared ideals. Billie Holiday’s haunting performance of "Strange Fruit" brought the horror of racial violence into public view. Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring offered hope in an age of fear and suspicion. Nina Simone’s "Mississippi Goddam" gave voice to a new generation demanding justice, while Paul Simon’s Graceland reshaped global diplomacy.

Through vivid storytelling and rich historical insight, On the Record reveals how the interplay between art and politics has defined the American experiment. Each chapter connects a groundbreaking musical work to the social and legislative changes it inspired—from civil rights to women’s liberation; environmental protection to digital freedom.

This is not just a history of music—it’s a history of America heard through the songs and compositions that changed its course. Provocative, moving, and deeply original, On the Record reminds us that music doesn’t just reflect who we are. It helps us decide who we want to be.

Anna Harwell Celenza is a professor at Johns Hopkins University, holding a joint appointment at the Krieger School of Arts & Sciences and the Peabody Conservatory. She is also the author of eight children’s books. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

PURCHASE:

https://politics-prose.com/book/9781324004998?ic_referral=nUPUAYgpvwhwZv9QHtQGgjDehKYjBZSq2yrJpuH_UJ0wM4F5twZHOlvcuKjjerUTtx83uWDznNE-dHmIzSNf0vmytjbXKgPkNZoYqx3ZJyGXDUm9BXPocHMl0kHsv6ZCGucUskM

Joshua Hotaka Roth — Life Lines: Art, Memory, Relationship - with Mark Auslander

Tuesday, April 14, 2026 • Duration 01:00:05

Life Lines is an ethnographic exploration of elder care as a creative and relational process, centred on the author's journey caring for his aging father. Over five years, these shared moments opened up new understandings of his father's inner world, revealing the social and personal forces that shaped his life, dreams, and disappointments.

Blending personal narrative with ethnographic insight, Life Lines invites readers to reflect on the profound and often challenging journey of caring for an aging parent. As generations age and more families navigate the realities of advanced old age, this book offers a hopeful vision: caregiving can be more than a duty - it can become an opportunity for parents and adult children to forge deeper, more emotionally enriching relationships.

Through art, conversation, and shared discovery, Life Lines shows how we can move beyond care fatigue and disconnection, transforming the later years of life into a time of renewed connection, understanding, and appreciation.

Joshua Hotaka Roth is Professor of Anthropology and Asian Studies at Mount Holyoke College, author of the award-winning Brokered Homeland, and a leading scholar on migration, mobility, and aging in Japan.

Hotaka Roth is in conversation with Mark Auslander, PhD, a sociocultural and historical anthropologist, who currently teaches at American University in Washington DC. He has published extensively on art, ritual, race, and the politics of difference. He is author of the award-wining book, “The Accidental Slaveowner: Revisiting a Myth of Race and Finding an American Family” (University of Georgia Press, 2011) and co-editor with Magdalena Kazubowski-Houston of "In Search of Lost Futures: Anthropological Explorations in Multimodality, Deep Interdisciplinarity, and Autoethnography” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021). Mark has served as a curator and museum director, with emphases on natural science, cultural history, expressive arts, and community engagement.

PURCHASE:

https://politics-prose.com/book/9781487562830?ic_referral=if_sNCiMNjo-9KoUFuLfNKpcNO-Ma6j_4z88HhuXBBgwM2Vezv30ptnpLoAj2Np7gJCODX-M2Zo6TtJ39SDCXWj9N9YJFFOUlVcZj2sccem3JnCelFpGGgij_RMe3GiYhrd5fAY

Politics and Prose Presents – Details, episodes & analysis

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Politics and Prose Presents – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

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Other99+

Amazon10

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Latest published episodes

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Apple Podcasts

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Other99+

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