Politics and Prose Presents

Politics and Prose
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Calling all book lovers: experience our renowned author talks in podcast form. Politics and Prose Presents allows you to visit our legendary independent bookstore from anywhere in the world. Listen to top authors and journalists discuss their latest books- ranging from topics like biography, politics, science, poetry, fiction, and everything in between. Make sure to like and Subscribe and visit us at www.politics-prose.com

  1. 8h ago

    Peter Bergen — All the Presidents' Wars: Twenty-Five Years of America's War on Terror - with Joby Warrick

    From the New York Times best-selling author, a tragic history of the United States’ war on terror across four presidential administrations. 2026 is the twenty-fifth anniversary of 9/11, the most devastating attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor. The resulting war on terror cost trillions of dollars and thousands of lives. And yet despite its blunders, this campaign has kept America safe from foreign attack. Based on hundreds of interviews, All the Presidents’ Wars focuses on critical decisions of four successive presidents—Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden. One of the few journalists to interview Osama bin Laden and have unparalleled access to the US intelligence community, Peter Bergen explores the birth of ISIS; the many terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda and its affiliated groups; the rise of al-Qaeda in Iraq, largely responsible for the Iraqi civil war in the mid-2000s; the resurrection of Afghanistan's Taliban; and Trump’s war with Iran. All the Presidents’ Wars is essential reading for understanding the devastating history of America's war on terror and for avoiding the mistakes of the past.  Peter Bergen is a journalist, documentary producer, professor, and author of seven books, including Manhunt, one of three New York Times bestsellers. He lives in Washington, DC. Bergen is in conversation with Joby Warrick, a bestselling author, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, and national security correspondent for The Washington Post, where he has served for almost three decades. He has written extensively on topics ranging from Middle East conflicts and terrorism to nuclear proliferation and climate change. Warrick is the author of three previous works of narrative nonfiction, including the 2016 Pulitzer Prize winner Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS. A native of North Carolina, he has two adult children and lives in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC. PURCHASE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9781324124061?ic_referral=Eu-hvvWWc3WoEdNJNPbpVol5ozETBydnLJGvft_1elYwMyc9R1_GjbC8XsJAnvOqSSBNq7IFxjcqjZ9ndt4b4FEClQVa_Yi98W7Vl6HhxHQLlRgFNDtbiEk0KfnHdiRrXLcia9s

  2. 1d ago

    Catherine Grace Katz — Shadow Before the Flame: The Hindenburg Disaster and the Prelude to War - With Robert Costa

    A gripping, major new history of the explosion of the “Titanic of the Skies,” the rise of Nazism and the beginning of World War IIFor thirty-seven seconds on May 6, 1937, the Hindenburg lit up the sky over Lakehurst, New Jersey in an indelible conflagration that shocked the world and brought the airship era to a close. In this definitive account, acclaimed historian Catherine Grace Katz brings together little-known research that unveils the disaster as a pivotal moment in time, at the crossroads of the rising tension between Germany (where the Hindenburg’s fateful trip began) and the US in the 1930s, as well as a rapidly changing age of aviation in which the airship had been deemed the future of air travel, a technology that would connect the world. While thirty-six people died in the explosion, many others crawled from the wreckage and survived to tell the tale. Katz traces the experiences of a captivating cast of characters: an heiress, a world-renowned acrobat, a German Jew working to save his family from the clutches of Nazism, a young cabin boy on his first voyage with the crew. Meanwhile, on the ground were two intrepid journalists whose reporting on the Hindenburg would invent breaking news as we now know it. In a deeply researched yet gripping, ticking-clock narrative, Shadow Before the Flame offers a portrait of an era—that brief suspended moment in time before war became an inevitability—tracing the rapid rise of fascism and march toward World War II. It is a story that begins with the promise of a future made bright by technological innovation and ends with caskets draped in swastikas in New York City. Catherine Grace Katz is a writer and historian from Chicago and author of The Daughters of Yalta. She graduated from Harvard in 2013 with a BA in history and in 2014 received her MPhil in modern European history from Christ’s College, University of Cambridge, where she wrote her dissertation on the origins of modern counterintelligence practices. After graduating, Catherine worked in finance in New York City before a very fortuitous visit to the bookstore in the lobby of her office in Manhattan led her to return to history and writing. She received her JD from Harvard Law School in May 2023. Katz is in conversation with Robert Costa, a national correspondent for "CBS News Sunday Morning" and chief Washington analyst for CBS News, where he has worked since 2022. He previously served as a national political reporter at The Washington Post and as moderator and managing editor of Washington Week on PBS. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge. He is from Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  PURCHASE BOOK: https://politics-prose.com/book/9780593832189?ic_referral=0b022rM9jg0hWhMrOyZtzlqxN6mxnrx1FSFwOp3eoj8wM5waSJE8GFVbp47hHaC6QE_3gI4W6PWHeCCq_yNDbMTE7c5PCMK6vSe3olPYaRiLQru1cvrTcqguGJNo1FNrl-6Jl0Q

  3. 2d ago

    David Corn — How Russia Won: Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and the Fight for America

    The definitive, sure to be headline-making, investigation into how Putin successfully mounted a decade-long covert war on the United States and how Donald Trump aided and abetted the operation and upended America and the world. How Russia Won tells the little-understood yet crucial story of how Vladimir Putin waged a secret campaign to subvert and weaken the United States—and how Trump, his MAGA movement, the Republican Party, and right-wing media have served as useful idiots for the tyrannical Russian leader, allowing him to succeed spectacularly. David Corn, a bestselling author and seasoned journalist expert in American politics has investigated the story from the beginning of the first Trump Administration through the beginning of his second term. Corn offers fresh reporting and analysis on: The direct contacts between Trump aides, including Rudy Giuliani, and Russian intelligence operatives.Republican legislators’ and Trump Administration officials’ use of Russian disinformation to defend Trump and smear Democrats.The extensive yet little-known Senate report produced by then-Senator Marco Rubio—Trump’s current Secretary of State—that blew apart Trump’s claim the Russia investigation was a hoax.The massive propaganda campaign Trump and MAGA Republicans pursued to cover up the truth about Putin’s clandestine intervention in US politics.The never-ending effort of Russian operatives to flood America with disinformation spread across social media that boosted Trump’s odds in both the 2020 and 2024 elections.The many ties between Trump’s second administration and pro-Putin advocates.The business enterprises of the Trump clan and their possible links to Russia.A compelling narrative with the verve and twists of a spy novel—yet it’s all true—How Russia Won makes crystal clear a truth hard to bear but necessary to see, and it explains a profoundly troubling reality: Putin has beaten America. David Corn is a veteran Washington, DC, journalist who has written or co-written five New York Times bestsellers, including the number-one bestseller Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump; Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War; and, most recently, American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy. He is the Washington, DC, bureau chief of Mother Jones and an MSNBC analyst. He has won the George Polk Award and a National Magazine Award. PURCHASE BOOK: https://politics-prose.com/book/9780063486201?ic_referral=BnPysOPMkEAUiYg8on6ifncpKNGoDJMhvq8teULJZMcwMxfOW_xG8t-6tNTzXEp8dns85CYWxaQ8rOdUUdSvTom8a-Tj0Vv7SqEtjQQds_7yLc2kGUkD9-VEu_Fm4F2navVaZTk

  4. 3d ago

    Kiran Desai — The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny: A Novel - with Aminatta Forna

    A spellbinding story of two young people whose fates intersect and diverge across continents and years—an epic of love and family, India and America, tradition and modernity, by the Booker Prize–winning author of The Inheritance of Loss When Sonia and Sunny first glimpse each other on an overnight train, they are immediately captivated yet also embarrassed by the fact that their grandparents had once tried to matchmake them, a clumsy meddling that served only to drive Sonia and Sunny apart.Sonia, an aspiring novelist who recently completed her studies in the snowy mountains of Vermont, has returned to her family in India. She fears that she is haunted by a dark spell cast by an artist to whom she had once turned for intimacy and inspiration. Sunny, a struggling journalist resettled in New York City, is attempting to flee his imperious mother and the violence of his warring clan. Uncertain of their future, Sonia and Sunny embark on a search for happiness together as they confront the many alienations of our modern world.The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny is the sweeping tale of two young people navigating the many forces that shape their lives: country, class, race, history, and the complicated bonds that link one generation to the next. A love story, a family saga, and a rich novel of ideas, it is the most ambitious and accomplished work yet by one of our greatest novelists. Kiran Desai is the bestselling author of the novels Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard and The Inheritance of Loss, which won both the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Born in India, she came to the United States when she was sixteen and now lives in New York City. Desai is in conversation with Aminatta Forna, a novelist, memoirist and essayist. Her novels are Happiness, The Hired Man, The Memory of Love and Ancestor Stones. She is currently at work on a volume about the nature, ecology and history of the East African Rift System. Aminatta is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was made OBE in the Queen’s 2017 New Year’s Honours list. Aminatta Forna is Director of the Lannan Center at Georgetown University.  PURCHASE BOOK: https://politics-prose.com/book/9780307744555?ic_referral=rvZjLEZCtTUWBn7cOYeRqlKtHw177zEWbhqQvX33IdAwM4-xW5BsvHh7hRBOun-R1skaR6mDkMKCMld56R5h3aofWJ127AZZSvNnqczaNoLt3SUFuvr8rt1r0vBP_VUz0gT_TaQ

  5. 3d ago

    Sharon Weinberger — Valley of Death: How Big Tech Is Fueling the Future of War - with Dustin Volz

    Drawing on deep, exclusive reporting, a veteran national security correspondent reveals how a new military-industrial complex is arising from the cradle of Silicon Valley, with vast implications for American democracy and the global balance of power.Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Alexander Karp. These tech titans are fast becoming some of the most powerful figures in the realm of national security, with enormous implications for us all. As Sharon Weinberger reveals in this gripping account, the American military and spy agencies helped to create Silicon Valley as we now know it, and some of its biggest and most valuable companies today owe much of their success to the Pentagon and CIA. Beginning with the War on Terror and accelerating under Donald Trump, however, the old alliance between elected leaders in Washington and the unelected CEOs of Silicon Valley has grown increasingly uneasy as power has shifted to the private sector and Big Tech exerts greater and greater influence over its old patrons. Companies such as SpaceX and Palantir, along with newer entrants to the field such as Anduril, are proudly supporting—and quietly shaping—US national defense, whether by providing spies and soldiers with AI and cloud-computing tools or actual military hardware such as microwave weapons, hypersonic missiles, and advanced drones.  The implications of this historic shift are poorly understood and fraught with peril. What happens when mercurial billionaires like Elon Musk control weapons and technologies that were once the preserve of the US government? How will this new military-industrial complex affect the way wars are fought, or even which wars are fought? That is the urgent question before us today, at the dawn of this new era—and as Weinberger reveals, it is one on which our collective future might well hinge. Sharon Weinberger is the editor in chief of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and the author of the book, Valley of Death: How Big Tech is Fueling the Future of War. She was previously the National Security and Foreign Policy Editor for The Wall Street Journal. Her previous books include The Imagineers of War: The Untold Story of DARPA, the Pentagon Agency That Changed the World, A Nuclear Family Vacation: Travels in the World of Atomic Weaponry, and Imaginary Weapons: A Journey Through the Pentagon's Scientific Underworld. She has held fellowships at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, MIT’s Knight Science Journalism program, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the International Reporting Project at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Her writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, New York Magazine, the Washington Post, Foreign Policy, WIRED magazine, Nature, BBC, Discover, and Slate, among other publications. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and lives in Washington, D.C. Weinberger is in conversation with Dustin Volz, he covers cybersecurity and intelligence for The New York Times in Washington. He was previously a reporter at The Wall Street Journal. His award-winning work focuses on the hackers and spies who work in the shadows to achieve geopolitical advantage, and how businesses and governments are often ill-equipped to address these evolving threats.  PURCHASE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9780316595933?ic_referral=SHm_kt5OquVIeeeyH3v0JByDFPRyysWuE7c7SSlSME0wM3_OmUWFo8nI8tvJyfCTuC8KodWng_ld4Zdi-ImeylHlrhTpEfgapWiYk9kBVHGgileioyoPXd2m47eVvoCxPo3Yddg

  6. 4d ago

    Jessica Tarlov — I Disagree: Winning Arguments Without Losing Friends - with Aaron Parnas

    The outspoken liberal voice on the Fox News show The Five shows us how to stay true to our values, find common ground, and communicate with confidence when engaging across political and social divides.Imagine you’re sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner, knowing it’s going to get heated. One uncle is ready to argue about politics, another relative has very different views, and you usually try to stay out of it, even though you have strong opinions yourself. Conversations like these have split some families up. Now imagine that dinner table debate broadcast daily to millions. Welcome to the world of Jessica Tarlov, an unflappable liberal voice on Fox News Channel’s The Five. When you’re outnumbered four to one on a daily basis, you better know your stuff. When you’re outnumbered four to one on the highest-rated show on cable news, you better have your beliefs on lockdown.In the conservative fishbowl of The Five, Tarlov is no stranger to navigating thorny, often contentious debates with poise, authenticity, and conviction. In this riveting guide, Jessica Tarlov shows us how she does it. Because at some point or other, we all face disagreements—whether with colleagues, family, or friends—and want to walk away with both our values and our relationships intact.Tarlov models an important and accessible route to building bravery for these conversations. She demonstrates that navigating contentious situations is a skill that requires radical honesty, knowing how to engage with numbers and statistics, understanding when to listen and when to talk, and articulating the common threads that unite us all. Tarlov has honed these skills with practice, and here, she reveals her tools of the trade for the first time.Whether you find yourself at a charged debate with the in-laws, or in a tricky conversation with your boss, Jessica Tarlov will prepare you to stand up for what you believe in, even if it means standing alone—and why standing alone doesn’t mean standing apart. Jessica Tarlov is a liberal co-host of The Five on FOX News, the most watched show in cable news. In addition to co-hosting The Five, Jessica plays an integral role in special coverage for the network and is a fixture on election nights and for breaking news. She also co-hosts the podcast Raging Moderates with NYU Professor Scott Galloway and previously worked as a Democratic pollster and researcher specializing in GenZ and Millennial trends. She holds a PhD in political science from the London School of Economics. Tarlov is in conversation with Aaron Parnas, one of the leading Gen Z voices shaping how news is consumed today. An independent journalist, political commentator, strategist, and attorney, Aaron has quickly become a key figure in the national political conversation, offering sharp insights at the intersection of law, media, and policy. He first gained widespread attention through viral, educational content that breaks down complex political issues in a fast, accessible way—particularly resonating with younger, highly engaged audiences. His rapid-response analysis of major court decisions, legislative battles, and election narratives has made him a trusted voice for millions across platforms. He played a significant role in shaping the digital narrative around the 2022 and 2024 election cycles, with his rapid-response commentary consistently reaching millions. During Senator Cory Booker’s record-breaking 25-hour Senate speech protesting the Trump administration’s policies, Aaron conducted the second interview—following Rachel Maddow—highlighting how quickly he’s become part of the political conversation. PURCHASE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9798217154135?ic_referral=ZmoUfCeObMxICb-9xeOwiDVvv3URSRcdDL_l8fd9qWwwM4gFa_OCN-MKon3w_tjchZ4V2Gr9d8VOygwb5emGOyvKqLyuGxEv7tUPyMyvsEZT9IJlkVa2E9AxlKYNbWiro3TlrAo

  7. 4d ago

    Sebastian Barry — The Newer World - with Marie Arana

    From “one of the best writers in the English language” (The Washington Post), a sweeping yet intimate novel about one man’s life in the aftermath of the Civil War“I knew as I made my way home that there was no home. All the old things...were gone forever.”Born into bondage in Union-leaning northwestern Tennessee, Tennyson Bouguereau’s life revolves around his sister, Rosalee, his work in the Magan family’s tobacco fields, and keeping apart from his pro-Confederate neighbors. In the wake of emancipation, when a gang of defeated soldiers descends on the farm—now also home to Irish immigrant Thomas McNulty; his companion, John Cole; and their adopted Lakota daughter, Winona—Tennyson commits a deadly act. Tennyson will not now have the chance to till the ten acres Magan has given him and Rosalee as their own. Instead, he must leave everything he knows, and venture into the newer world.Set against the rapidly shifting landscape of mid-19th century America, from a choir school in Nashville to an army camp in New Mexico, The Newer World is a lyrical, visceral novel about what it is to survive, and what might be lost along the way. Dreamlike and unforgettable, it is the work of a consummate storyteller at the height of his powers. Sebastian Barry was born in Dublin in 1955. He is the author of nine previous novels, as well as numerous plays. He is the first novelist to twice win the Costa Book of the Year award, for Days Without End and The Secret Scripture, has twice been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, for A Long Long Way and The Secret Scripture, and has thrice been longlisted for the Booker Prize, for Old God's Time, Days Without End and On Canaan’s Side. The 2018-2021 Laureate for Irish Fiction, he lives in County Wicklow, Ireland. Barry is in conversation with Marie Arana, a prizewinning author of eight books, nonfiction and fiction. Winner of an American Academy of Arts & Letters Award for Literature in 2020, she has been a former executive at two major publishing houses, a judge for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, a guest columnist on Latin America for the New York Times, a television commentator on books and publishing, and editor in chief of Book World at the Washington Post. She is also the inaugural Literary Director of the Library of Congress. Marie is most recently the author of “LatinoLand: A Portrait of America’s Largest and Least Understood Minority,” chosen by the New Yorker as one of the 12 Must Read Books of the Year. She is president of the 152-year-old Literary Society of Washington. PURCHASE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9780593654613?ic_referral=_EiwxKWupIuyPXxQBQ7ItqrRjRM9usAA8xMRMVUyb8EwM0EL4-nkKtqhmCJB84FfVISHKkJRE0_nKsOIoJObQskXNvQD3R__dsG57HuqNmJperHugrkgoOw-Nxu6mJZnhVET89k

  8. 5d ago

    Jonathan Kaufman — When America Roared: How the 1980s Saved, Then Broke, the Country--and Led Us to Today - with David Wessel

    The panoramic story of the 1980s, exploring the triumphs and failures of the decade that shaped the 21st century more than any other, from a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter who witnessed the transformations firsthandIn January 1980, America seemed broken. Inflation raged. Interest rates topped 20 percent. Americans were held hostage in Iran. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan with impunity. Japan was eating American manufacturing alive. Three broadcast networks controlled what Americans watched. The idea of a Black president seemed fantasy. China had been closed for 30 years. The Berlin Wall seemed permanent.    Ten years later, everything had changed. The economy was booming. The Soviet Empire was collapsing. American businesses were competitive again.  In this immersive, character-driven narrative, Jonathan Kaufman lays bare the contending ideologies—and people—who battled for control of business, media and politics in the 1980s, shaping the way we live today. As Ronald Reagan and conservatives pummeled the Democratic party, as Jack Welch redefined what it meant to be the leader of a Fortune 500 company, and as deregulation spearheaded by Mark Fowler allowed television to become the hundreds of specialized and partisan channels we watch now, the groundwork was laid for our current economic and political conflicts. The decade also launched social and political movements whose victories transformed the country. Karen Nussbaum and Jane Fonda galvanized a struggling women’s movement, Evan Wolfson spearheaded the gay community’s legal fight against a hostile government, and Barack Obama cut his teeth as a community organizer in Chicago—all building long-lasting movements whose success progressives can learn from today.From pivotal moments in board rooms and court rooms, to cultural touchstones like the birth of hip hop and of conservative talk radio, as well as the author’s eyewitness experiences in Tiananmen Square and Prague, When America Roared is the riveting story of how the 1980s built the world we live in, for better and for worse. It is the decade that made us—and the key to understanding where we go from here. Jonathan Kaufman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter whose long list of bylines includes The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News. His wide ranging work has covered topics such as labor, local activism, racism and job discrimination, and corporate tax dodging,  and has also been recognized with the Gerald Loeb Award, the George Polk Award, and the Columbia University School of Journalism, among others. He is the author of The Last Kings of Shanghai: The Rival Jewish Dynasties that Helped Create Modern China; A Hole in the Heart of the World: Being Jewish in Eastern Europe and Broken Alliance: The Turbulent Times Between Blacks and Jews in America, winner of the National Jewish Book Award. He is director of the School of Journalism at Northeastern University in Boston. Kaufman is in conversation with David Wessel, a senior fellow in Economic Studies at Brookings and director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, the mission of which is to improve the quality of fiscal and monetary policies and public understanding of them. He joined Brookings in December 2013 after 30 years on the staff of The Wall Street Journal where, most recently, he was economics editor and wrote the weekly Capital column. He appears frequently on NPR’s Morning Edition and posts frequently on BlueSky at ‪@davidmwessel.bsky.social David is the author of two New York Times best-sellers: In Fed We Trust and Red Ink. His most recent book is Only the Rich Can Play, the story of Opportunity Zones. PURCHASE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9780593300206?ic_referral=GNbt1pkk0vLJejbV0iWLgoL3NhV-pwmYxeUL_VL8OtYwM4yzz_wdcbl53rfImZcKZB6JyKXEZqFEG-5qPw8YM0vvB5400kjLy8EEnTzlmEpI545Jva02yZgvWVz4EZRhSo3nRGo

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About

Calling all book lovers: experience our renowned author talks in podcast form. Politics and Prose Presents allows you to visit our legendary independent bookstore from anywhere in the world. Listen to top authors and journalists discuss their latest books- ranging from topics like biography, politics, science, poetry, fiction, and everything in between. Make sure to like and Subscribe and visit us at www.politics-prose.com

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  • Creator
    Politics and Prose
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    805
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Politics and Prose
  • Show Website
    Politics and Prose Presents

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