KPFA - Against the Grain

KPFA

4.8 (201)
POLITICS
UPDATED DAILY

Acclaimed program of ideas, in-depth analysis, and commentary on a variety of matters—political, economic, social, and cultural—important to progressive and radical thinking and activism. Against the Grain is produced and hosted by Sasha Lilley.

4D AGO

War and Film

Film brings to us — with unparalleled rawness — what feels like the intimate experience of war. But how true is that visceral feeling? And how do the tension and excitement of war on screen ultimately affect our sympathy toward each other and our humanity? David Thomson, one of the greatest film historians of our time, argues that movies — even those with antiwar intentions — perpetuate war. (Encore presentation.) Resources: David Thomson, The Fatal Alliance: A Century of War on Film Harper, 2023 The post War and Film appeared first on KPFA.

1 hr
5D AGO

The Mass Revolts of the 2010s

In the decade of the 2010s, more people took to the streets than in any other time in history. And yet those horizontal protests, often spread through social media, were frequently co-opted by the right — and the decade ended with the rise of authoritarianism. Journalist Vincent Bevins spoke to activists around the world about the lessons they drew from the failed mass revolts, and discusses how democratic movements regained power in Brazil from the despotic Jair Bolsonaro. (Encore presentation.) Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution Public Affairs, 2023 Vincent Bevins, “This Land Is Our Land: How Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement Emerged from Right-wing Rule Stronger Than Ever” The Nation, April 8, 2025 The post The Mass Revolts of the 2010s appeared first on KPFA.

1 hr
6D AGO

The Right on Campus

At the height of leftwing activism in the Sixties, conservatives funded tax-deducible rightwing groups on campuses to counter Black Power, demands for ethnic studies, and the New Left. As historian Lauren Shepherd illustrates, such groups like Young Americans for Freedom groomed future Republican leaders and influential conservatives, like Karl Rove and Newt Gingrich. There they learned to spin unpopular politics as popular. (Encore presentation.) Lauren Lassabe Shepherd, Resistance from the Right: Conservatives and the Campus Wars in Modern America University of North Carolina Press, 2023 American Campus Podcast The post The Right on Campus appeared first on KPFA.

1 hr
12/24/2025

Cats and Marxism

Should Marxism be rooted in inter-species liberation? Or is it already, unbeknownst to most of us? Leigh Claire La Berge has delved into what she considers an unrecognized trove of evidence for Marxism’s deep engagement with the feline as a way of making sense of class society — and what would be necessary to leap beyond it. She argues that the history of inter-species solidarity between radicals and cats (among other animals) is only now starting to be recuperated. (Encore presentation.) Leigh Claire La Berge, Marx for Cats: A Radical Bestiary Duke University Press, 2023 The post Cats and Marxism appeared first on KPFA.

1 hr
12/23/2025

Good Patients, Bad Addicts

When we think of potentially dangerous and addictive drugs, most of us think about illegal substances like heroine or cocaine. And yet widely-prescribed drugs like Xanax, Ritalin, Adderall, and Vicodin are also addictive, but legal in the United States. Historian David Herzberg discusses the artificial distinction that has been created between addictive drugs and medicines — with the key difference being the class and race of the consumers who use them and the partial protections that one group receives and the other does not. (Encore presentation.) David Herzberg, White Market Drugs: Big Pharma and the Hidden History of Addiction in America University of Chicago Press, 2020 The post Good Patients, Bad Addicts appeared first on KPFA.

1 hr
12/22/2025

Lessons from the U.S. Labor Party

“The bosses have two parties,” they said. “We need one of our own.” In 1996, representatives and activists from hundreds of local and international unions came together to launch a workers’ party — long missing from U.S. politics. Labor Party participant and economist Howard Botwinick discusses the organization’s challenges and promise, and the lessons from its rise and fall — including how the failure to build leftwing politics rooted in the working class created a vacuum that was ultimately filled by the right. (Encore presentation.) Labor Party Archive The post Lessons from the U.S. Labor Party appeared first on KPFA.

1 hr
12/17/2025

Fund Drive Special: Saving and Restoring Nature in Our Gardens

Entomologist Douglas Tallamy discusses what we can do to stem the extinction crisis — the loss of habitat and plant and animal species — by transforming the places where we live. The post Fund Drive Special: Saving and Restoring Nature in Our Gardens appeared first on KPFA.

1 hr
12/16/2025

Fund Drive Special: Local Police and the Civil Rights Movement

Historian Joshua Clark Davis disputes the idea that the Civil Rights movement did not organize against police repression. He discusses the extensive involvement of local police departments in disrupting and repressing the movement. The post Fund Drive Special: Local Police and the Civil Rights Movement appeared first on KPFA.

1 hr

See All (25)

4.8

out of 5

201 Ratings

Great Program

08/23/2025

Hija de La Orisha

I have been listening to Against The Grain for over a decade. Please keep up the great work. The topics covered by C.S. Song and Sasha Lilley are very informative and are needed more than ever, in these authoritarian times.
Excellent research and hosts

06/10/2021

DostDevil

Very thoughtful and informative! Sasha Lilley and CS Song are very adept at guiding the interviews forward. I almost always learn something that changes my knowledge of the world, even from the eps whose titles I am less interested in. My favorite was an interview with David Graeber.
KPFA, and public intellectualism, at its best

07/07/2020

Tkoshark

Simply one of the finest scholarly radio shows in America. I’d been listening to Against the Grain on FM for more than a decade, and I’m so grateful that it’s now offered via podcast so I can easily listen to it on the east coast. You’d be hard pressed to find a more fascinating podcast hearing from the most innovative leftist intellectuals today.
Are there any herbs for ‘orange-man-bad’ syndrome??

09/09/2020

whyareyouonlyonitunes

Extremely biased against Trump presidency. While there is some credible, unbiased, subjects discussed on this podcast, it fails to objectively evaluate the White House w/out selling the same old propaganda the left has been dishing for four years

Acclaimed program of ideas, in-depth analysis, and commentary on a variety of matters—political, economic, social, and cultural—important to progressive and radical thinking and activism. Against the Grain is produced and hosted by Sasha Lilley.