Louis Menand: 'Freedom Was the Slogan of the Times'
Why postwar culture from Jack Kerouac to Andy Warhol to James Baldwin to Susan Sontag to Yoko Ono battled boundaries hemming them in.
Podcast: The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie
Want to know what comes next in politics, culture, and libertarian ideas? Reason’s Nick Gillespie hosts relentlessly interesting interviews with the activists, artists, authors, entrepreneurs, newsmakers, and politicians who are defining the 21st century.
Subscribe:
Latest Episode
More Episodes
Ted Henken: How Social Media Fuels the Protests in Cuba
Demonstrators are making themselves heard via Facebook, Signal, and other platforms. Is that enough to overthrow an authoritarian regime?
Abigail Shrier: Trans Activists, Cancel Culture, and the Future of Free Expression
The Irreversible Damage author talks about getting deplatformed from Target and her support for gender-reassignment interventions.
Erik Voorhees: Bitcoin's Point Is 'To Change the Whole Financial System of the Planet.'
The cryptocurrency pioneer explains why governments can't stop bitcoin 'despite all their guns and weapons.'
Justin Amash: The Libertarian Party Needs To Stop 'Edge-Lording' and Get Serious About Elections
The former Michigan congressman says "horrible messaging" is a sign of insecurity.
Vijay Boyapati: The Bullish Case for Bitcoin
The former Google engineer talks about inflation, the Austrian school of economics, and how bitcoin is revolutionizing banking.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis: Why I'm All In on Bitcoin
The Wyoming Republican believes bitcoin provides a serious alternative store of value, will spur renewable energy, and just might save the dollar.
Steven Johnson: How We Doubled Life Expectancy in the 20th Century
The Extra Life author on past scientific breakthroughs, COVID-19 vaccines, and renewing trust and confidence in public health agencies.
Andrew Doyle: Free Speech and Why It Matters
The creator of Titania McGrath on cancel culture, government overreach, and younger generations' willingness to censor
Freddie deBoer: Let's Kill the 'Cult of Smart' and Legacy Media
A third-generation Marxist critiques the contemporary left and discusses what progressives and libertarians might have in common.
Scott Winship: Don't Believe Horror Stories About Fertility Rates, Income Inequality, and Economic Mobility
Americans have a reputation for being cockeyed optimists, but we're suckers when it comes to "declension narratives" about the fallen state of our world.
John Samples: Facebook's Oversight Board Was Right To Uphold Trump Ban
A member of the board (and a Cato Institute vice president) defends the controversial decision to kick the former president off the social media platform.
John McWhorter: 'The Idea That America Is All About Despising Black People? That's Fantasy.'
The Columbia linguist discusses his new book Nine Nasty Words and dismisses the ideological excesses of the 'anti-racism' movement.
The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie
Art Tavana: What Guns N' Roses Tells Us About the American Dream
How Axl Rose reflected a country desperate but unwilling to move on from a worn-out postwar consensus on national identity, gender roles, and global hegemony.
Jane Coaston: Meet the Libertarian New York Times Podcaster
"At some point, a regulation or a law with the absolute best of intentions will be wielded by people who may not have the absolute best of intentions."
Jesse Singal: Why We Keep Falling for Psychological Quick Fixes
From "power poses" to the self-esteem movement to implicit bias tests, Americans are suckers for bad ideas from psychologists.
Chef Andrew Gruel: "I'm Not an Asshole. Gavin Newsom Is."
The culinary innovator behind Slapfish on what it's been like to run a business with government at all levels arbitrarily flipping the on-off switch.
Ronald Bailey: Covid-19 Should Be Our Last Pandemic
Technological breakthroughs mean we'll never again have to suffer with disasters like the novel coronavirus—if politicians will get out of the way.
Melissa Chen: "Ideas Have Consequences. So Does Silence."
The Singapore-born journalist and free-speech activist says identity politics are destroying the media, higher ed, and Hollywood.
Stewart Brand: We Are (Still) As Gods
The former Merry Prankster and Whole Earth Catalog founder talks about psychedelics, computers, bringing back woolly mammoths, and his new documentary.
Peter Suderman: The $1.9 Trillion American Rescue Plan Has Almost Nothing To Do With Covid
Joe Biden's spending bill is a Democratic Party wish list masquerading as a public health measure.
Elon Musk, Welfare King!
The tech billionaire isn't alone among the mega-wealthy in getting piles of money from government at all levels, say the authors of Welfare for the Rich.
Jason Riley: Thomas Sowell's Unique Insights on Race, Economics, and Politics
A new documentary and forthcoming biography pay tribute to the economist's intellectual fearlessness and commitment to empirical research.
Conor Friedersdorf: Stand Against Left-Wing and Right-Wing P.C.
The Atlantic writer says that illiberalism and the urge to shut down debate need to be confronted across the political spectrum.
Rep. Peter Meijer: Only GOP Freshman Who Voted To Impeach Trump Tells All
The 33-year-old successor to Justin Amash's House seat says his party has abandoned limited government, economic freedom, and individualism.
Grant McCracken: The New Honor Code vs. Radical Wokeism
The anthropologist and brand consultant explains why we need fewer blanket accusations of racism and more mutual respect and compassion.
Corey DeAngelis: Why 2021 Is a Turning Point for School Choice
The silver lining to disastrous education lockdowns? A massive increase in support for all sorts of student-centered reforms.
Chris Stewart: Race, COVID-19, and the Future of School Choice
Black families need control of their children's K-12 education, says the Minnesota activist. The past year's lockdowns might just make that happen.
Carl Hart: Drug Use for Grown-Ups
The Columbia neuroscientist talks frankly about using heroin responsibly and "chasing liberty in the land of fear."
Mike Masnick: In Defense of Section 230 and a Decentralized Internet
Techdirt's founder wants to give end users, not politicians and tech giants, more control over what we can say and see online.
Alex Winter: Frank Zappa's Ultra-Individualist Legacy
The rock legend fought for free speech and self-expression in ways that appealed to dissidents in America and communist countries alike.
Charles Wininger: Why We Should Listen To Ecstasy and Other Psychedelics
A 71-year-old therapist comes out of the "chemical closet" to promote MDMA as a means of self-discovery
Sally Satel: The Secret History of the Opioid Epidemic
The story of why pain relievers took root in Appalachia begins decades before the introduction of OxyContin.
Alex Nowrasteh and Benjamin Powell: Immigrants Revitalize Faith in American Institutions
A new book, Wretched Refuse?, documents that newcomers not only increase economic activity but often revitalize faith in free market, limited-government institutions.
Damon Root: Why Frederick Douglass Loved the Constitution (and You Should Too)
The escaped slave called the Constitution "a glorious liberty document" that justified extending equality to blacks and women.
Ajit Pai on Net Neutrality, 5G, and Why He Wants To 'Clarify' Section 230
The outgoing FCC chairman discusses 'light-touch' regulation and the future of free speech on the internet.
Glenn Greenwald on Biden, Free Speech, and Leaving The Intercept
There’s no journalist more relentlessly iconoclastic than Greenwald, who won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the Snowden revelations.
Libertarian History/Philosophy
Charles Koch and Brian Hooks: Believe in People
The libertarian billionaire and the head of his foundation discuss their new book, leaving partisanship behind, and learning from their critics.
Virginia Postrel: When Calico Was Treated Like Cocaine
The former Reason editor discusses her new book, The Fabric of Civilization, and why she's optimistic about the future.
Shelby Steele: What Really Killed Michael Brown?
A new documentary argues that Great Society liberalism laid the foundation for 2014's police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
Brian Riedl: Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and $6 Trillion Budgets
How to slow massive and unchecked national deficits in an age of runaway spending and divided government.
Morris P. Fiorina: Why 'Electoral Chaos' Is Here To Stay
Whether Trump or Biden wins, the Stanford political scientist says "unstable majorities" will persist in the coming decade.
Bob Chitester: How Free To Choose Changed the World
Here's the inside story of Milton Friedman's path-breaking PBS series about economic and political freedom, from the man who produced it.
Ira Glasser: Would Today's ACLU Defend the Speech Rights of Nazis?
The subject of the new film Mighty Ira explains why social justice warriors are wrong to attack free speech.
Corey DeAngelis: COVID-19 Is Super-Spreading School Choice
Lockdowns are forcing students, parents, educators, and even taxpayers to look for all sorts of alternatives to the status quo.
Scott Barry Kaufman on Narcissists and Libertarians
The author of the new book Transcend updates Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs for an era of pandemics, racial strife, and extreme polarization.
Jo Jorgensen: Don't Waste Your Vote on Trump or Biden
The Libertarian presidential nominee won't win but is upbeat about Gen Z and protests against lockdowns and police violence.
Taghi Amirani: How the U.S.-Backed 1953 Coup in Iran Is Still Changing Global Politics
New documentary explains why installing the shah in 1953 led to ruinous American covert operations throughout the Cold War and beyond.
