Ill Literacy: Books with Benson The Heartland Institute

In Episode 145 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with Hyrum Lewis, co-author ofThe Myth of Left and Right: How the Political Spectrum Misleads and Harms America. 
Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Hyrum Lewis, associate professor of history at Brigham Young University-Idaho, to discuss his new book (co-authored with his brother, Verlan), The Myth of Left and Right: How the Political Spectrum Misleads and Harms America. They chat about how, the book declares, there is no enduring philosophy, disposition, or essence uniting the various positions associated with the “liberal” and “conservative” ideologies of today—there is nothing other than tribal loyalty holding together the many disparate positions that fly under the banners of "liberal" and "conservative." They also discuss how the political spectrum came to the United States from Europe in the 1920s, and how the left and right have evolved in so many unpredictable and contradictory ways.
Get the book here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-myth-of-left-and-right-9780197680629?lang=en&cc=us
Show Notes: 
Acton Institute: Jonathan Leaf – “Getting Beyond Right-Wing and Left-Wing”
https://rlo.acton.org/archives/124983-getting-beyond-right-wing-and-left-wing.html
Deseret Magazine: Hyrum Lewis – “The myth of left and right”
https://www.deseret.com/2024/1/15/24002083/the-myth-of-left-and-right-politics/
The Public Discourse: Andrew Busch – “The Tribal, and Philosophical, Basis of the Left and Right in American Politics”
https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2023/05/88878/
Reason: Jesse Walker – “The Left-Right Spectrum Is Mostly Meaningless”
https://reason.com/2023/05/21/the-left-right-spectrum-is-mostly-meaningless/
The University Bookman: Lee Trepanier – “Essentially Lying About the Left and Right”
https://kirkcenter.org/reviews/essentially-lying-about-the-left-and-right/
Washington Examiner: Oliver Traldi – “Busting the myth of Left and Right”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/education/2573215/busting-the-myth-of-left-and-right/

In Episode 144 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with John M. Owen IV, author ofThe Ecology of Nations: American Democracy in a Fragile World Order. 
Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by John M. Owen IV, Ambassador Henry J. and Mrs. Marion R. Taylor Professor of Politics, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture and the Miller Center of Public Affairs, at the University of Virginia, to discuss his new book, The Ecology of Nations: American Democracy in a Fragile World Order. They chat about “ecosystem engineering”, how liberalism may have evolved in ways that are no longer conducive to its own survival, and the ways Owen believes liberalism should be reimagined to better confront the autocratic threat coming from China, Russia, and others. 
Get the book here: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300260731/the-ecology-of-nations/
Show Notes: 
American Enterprise Institute: “Discussing American Democracy and a Fragile World Order with John M. Owen IV” (VIDEO)
https://www.aei.org/events/discussing-american-democracy-and-a-fragile-world-order-with-john-m-owen-iv/
The Hedgehog Review: John M. Owen IV – “To Make the World Select for Democracy”
https://hedgehogreview.com/issues/america-on-the-brink/articles/to-make-the-world-select-for-democracy

In Episode 143 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with Martyn Rady, author ofThe Middle Kingdoms: A New History of Central Europe. 
Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Martyn Rady, Masaryk Professor Emeritus of Central European History at University College London, to discuss his new book, The Middle Kingdoms: A New History of Central Europe. They chat about how Central Europe has been more than just a fault line between the east and west and how the region developed its own cohesive identity and produced tremendous accomplishments in politics, society, and culture. They go on to discuss how Central Europeans launched the Reformation and Romanticism, developed the philosophy of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, and advanced some of the twentieth century’s most important artistic movements. 
Get the book here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/martyn-rady/the-middle-kingdoms/9781541619784/?lens=basic-books
Show Notes: 
The Critic: Victor Sebestyen – “Why central Europe has always mattered”
https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/august-september-2023/why-central-europe-has-always-mattered/
Financial Times: Ivan Krastev – “Shadowlands of empire: central Europe’s nervous east-west gaze”
https://www.ft.com/content/bb9fbe29-00bc-47bf-946b-456ab77e3fa1
Literary Review: Tim Blanning – “Emperors, Mystics & Tomcats”
https://literaryreview.co.uk/emperors-mystics-tomcats
The New Criterion: Jeremy Black – “Middle march”
https://newcriterion.com/article/middle-march/
The Spectator: Peter Frankopan – “Central Europe has shaped our culture for centuries – yet we still find the region baffling”
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/central-europe-has-shaped-our-culture-for-centuries-yet-we-still-find-the-region-baffling/
The Telegraph: Noel Malcolm – “Fish, tobacco and bureaucrats: a mad, marvellous history of central Europe”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/the-middle-kingdoms-by-martyn-rady-review-a-mad-marvellous/
Times Literary Supplement: Larry Wolff – “Among the dogmen”
https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-middle-kingdoms-martyn-rady-book-review-larry-wolff/
The Wall Street Journal: Robert D. Kaplan – “‘The Middle Kingdoms’ Review: Europe’s Eternal Battlefield”
https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/the-middle-kingdoms-review-europes-eternal-battlefield-1a0d92a2
The Washington Free Beacon: Jakub Grygiel – “From World Wars to the Cold War to Ukraine: How Central Europe Survives”
https://freebeacon.com/culture/from-world-wars-to-the-cold-war-to-ukraine-how-central-europe-survives/

In Episode 142 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with John C. McManus, author ofTo the End of the Earth: The US Army and the Downfall of Japan, 1945. 
Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by John C. McManus, Curators’ Distinguished Professor of U.S. military history at Missouri University of Science and Technology, to discuss his new book, To the End of the Earth: The US Army and the Downfall of Japan, 1945. They chat about the Philippines campaign, Okinawa, and the increasingly fanatical zeal and suicidal determination of the Japanese imperial forces. They also discuss major characters like MacArthur, Kreuger, Eichelberger, and Buckner as well as the incredible logistical hoops entailed in fielding a major army in the far-flung reaches of the Pacific. 
Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/702467/to-the-end-of-the-earth-by-john-c-mcmanus/
Show Notes: 
Wall Street Journal: Jonathan W. Jordan – “‘To the End of the Earth’ Review: Defeating Japan”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/to-the-end-of-the-earth-review-defeating-japan-1df44c74

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Peter Heather, chair of medieval history at King's College, London, to discuss his new book, Christendom: The Triumph of a Religion, AD 300-1300. They chat about how a small sect of isolated and intensely committed congregations became a mass movement centrally directed from Rome, the Church’s chameleonlike capacity for self-reinvention, and how nothing was inevitable about Christianity’s rise and dominance in Europe. 
Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/546307/christendom-by-peter-heather/
Show Notes: 
City Journal: Edward Short – “Fair Triumph, or Foul?”
https://www.city-journal.org/article/fair-triumph-or-foul
Literary Review: Costica Bradatan – “Onward Christian Emperors”
https://literaryreview.co.uk/onward-christian-emperors
New York Times: Paul Elie – “Looking at Early Christianity Through a Different Lens”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/31/books/review/christendom-peter-heather.html
Public Discourse: Robert Wilken – “ The History behind the Formation of Christendom”
https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2023/07/89727/
The Spectator: Eleanor Myerson – “The rocky path to Christian dominance in Europe”
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-rocky-path-to-christian-dominance-in-europe/
The Telegraph: Peter Stanford – “How 4th-century Christianity radically reinvented itself from a marginal sect to a world power”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/how-4th-century-christianity-radically-reinvented-marginal-sect/
Times Literary Supplement: Diarmid MacCulloch – “Kingdom of God”
https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-formation-of-christendom-judith-herrin-christendom-peter-heather-book-review-diarmaid-macculloch/
Washington Examiner: Diane Scharper – “How Christianity Happened”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/magazine-life-arts/376645/how-christianity-happened/

Heartland’s Tim Benson is once again joined by friend of the podcast H.W. Brands, the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin, to discuss his new book, Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics. They chat about how, while the Framers viewed political parties a fatal threat to republican virtues, parties emerged even before the ink on the Constitution was dry. They then discuss all things Federalist vs. Antifederalist/Republican, how contentious the political battles between them were, but yet how, despite all this, peaceful transfers of power continued.
Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/713058/founding-partisans-by-h-w-brands/
Show Notes: Wall Street Journal: Adam Rowe – “‘Founding Partisans’ and ‘A Republic of Scoundrels’: Opportunists and Patriots”https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/founding-partisans-and-a-republic-of-scoundrels-opportunists-and-patriots-b61dbf2f
Washington Post: C.W. Goodyear – “American political discord is as old as America itself”https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/12/06/founding-partisans-political-book-review/