American Id

I stumbled upon this like everyone else, bad online experiences. While I believe in the topic and find it very informative, the formatting is amateurish and confusing. It feels like an infomercial. Host A: asks a question Host B: answers Host A: reads an eloquent article on the subject but doesn’t reveal its a citation. For 30 minutes I was asking myself “if you had thesis level knowledge of the answer… why did you ask the question?” Reminds me of a vacuum food saver infomercial you see at 3am. The host miraculously possesses in-depth knowledge beyond what the subject matter expert does, and it feels very fake and pretentious. Great subject, but like 99% of podcasts, the execution is flawed. Hire a producer.

This pod goes deep on Tolkien, fascism and defending against it. It thoroughly breaks down how media and culture is used by fascists (and others) to promote a message of hate and exclude any they deem unworthy. It deserves to be an university lecture series but you’re getting it for free! These one-star reviews telling on themselves…

Dr Holtz and Dr Franson provide incisive critical commentary on the mechanisms of the right-wing fascist movement in the United States. They have been studying this for years and will give you a detailed account. Plus, they’re amusing. A nice combo.

This week, I had covid and didn’t want to work, so I gave in and started reading the LotR series. I don’t know why I put it off for so long. It might honestly have been the associations I’d heard about with white supremacist and patriarchal groups. Plus, the movies and the fans seemed to take themselves so seriously and the movies certainly don’t pass the Bechdel test. I don’t know, as a woman, it just didn’t feel particularly welcoming- the story or the fan base. As soon as I started reading, though, I found myself instantly charmed by JRR Tolkien’s neurodivergent, “history-loving” narrator voice. I’m a history writer myself (coincidentally writing about the hippie movement right now) and this was a kindred spirit moment. Honestly, the movies are impressive, but Tolkien himself is a character sorely missing from the movie series. I suddenly “got it”. It’s about the tangents, man! The insanely detailed tangents about a world that exists in this one guy’s head. Anyway, about halfway through the first book, I happened to hear Dani shout out her new podcast on this week’s Lovett or Leave It and thought, “That’s too much of a coincidence” so I came over to give it a listen and- holy crap. You guys have seriously embodied the thorough, history-loving, no-stone-left-unturned-or-unanalyzed voice of Tolkien himself. He’d be so proud. And I’m so glad to have (not just some but all!) context while I’m reading. This podcast goes completely above and beyond and beautifully incorporates historical fact, political and media theory, and personal stories. I’m enjoying this immensely and I’m all in. Thanks for the clearly hard work you’re putting into this, you two. I feel genuinely lucky I get to have you to guide me through my first read.