This Is Hell!

The Best of 2023 continues with our April interview with Malcolm Harris on his Little, Brown and Company book, "Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World." After the interview, we read your first answers to 2024's first Question from Hell and the Worst of Rotten History from Renaldo Migaldi. Check out Malcolm's book here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/malcolm-harris/palo-alto/9780316592031/?lens=little-brown Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

The Best of 2023 continues with writer, professor and musician Sheila Liming on her recently published book, "Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time." Check out Sheila's book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/717263/hanging-out-by-sheila-liming/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

The best of 2023 continues with Miliaku Nwabueze on her May 5 Scalawag essay, "How to Build the End of the World: In Defense of the Chaotic Protester." Check out Miliaku's article here: https://scalawagmagazine.org/2023/05/black-radical-tradition-cop-city/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

The Best of 2023 continues with our April 10th interview with Rasha Al Aqeedi about her New Lines Magazine article, "Living — and Reliving — the US Invasion of Iraq." Check out Rasha's article here: https://newlinesmag.com/first-person/living-and-reliving-the-us-invasion-of-iraq/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

The Best of 2023 continues! M.E. O’Brien joins us in Hell to discuss her new book "Family Abolition: Capitalism and the Communizing of Care" published by Pluto Press. Check out M.E.'s book here: https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745343846/family-abolition/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Continuing the Best of 2023 series, distinguished anthropologist Alex Hinton joins Chuck to discuss his Sapiens article, "Two Myths Fueling the Conservative Right's Dangerous Transphobia." The discussion includes Alex's insights from the most recent CPAC. This interview originally aired on June 21st. After the interview, we have both a new Rotten History and a new Moment of Truth. Alex is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University, Director of the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights, and UNESCO Chair on Genocide Prevention. Check out Alex's article here: https://www.sapiens.org/culture/transphobia-myths/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

The Best of 2023 continues with Matt Kennard and Claire Provost on their Bloomsbury book, "Silent Coup: How Corporations Overthrew Democracy." This interview originally aired on May 16th. Check out "Silent Coup" here: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/silent-coup-9781350269989/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell

The Best of 2023 continues with historian Jo Guldi on her Boston Review article, "The Earth for Man," on land redistribution which is adapted from her Yale University Press book, "The Long Land War: The Global Struggle for Occupancy Rights." Following the interview, we read the rest of your answers to the Question from Hell and select our favorite of the week and Sebastian Wuepper delivers another timely Past Inside the Present. Check out Jo's article here: https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/the-earth-for-man/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell

The Best of 2023 continues with our October interview with Alan Guebert who had just posted the The Baffler Magazine article, “Farmed Out: American agriculture is about business, not food.” Plus, a Moment of Truth with Jeffrey Dorchen and your answers to the week's Question from Hell! Check out Alan's article here: https://thebaffler.com/salvos/farmed-out-guebert Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel joins This Is Hell! to discuss her essay on the Palestinian liberation, "'We Cannot Cross Until We Carry Each Other.'" After the interview, the we read the first batch of your answers to the Question from Hell, followed by Rotten History. Check out Arielle's article here: https://jewishcurrents.org/we-cannot-cross-until-we-carry-each-other Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Our Best of 2023 series continues with Stefania Maurizi, an investigative journalist currently contributing to the major Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano after working for the last 14 years for la Repubblica, consistently rated among the top two Italian newspapers, and for the italian newsmagezine l’Espresso. She has worked with Julian Assange and his organization WikiLeaks since 2009, teaming up with large teams of international media to cover and investigate all of WikiLeaks' secret documents. Stefania speaks with host Chuck Mertz about her book "Secret Power: WikiLeaks and Its Enemies" recently published by Pluto Press: https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745347615/secret-power/ After the interview, more of your answers to the Question from Hell and a Moment of Truth from Jeff Dorchen. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Today's episode features our second-most played interview of 2023, according to SoundCloud's data. Reporter, public records requester, researcher Julia Rock joins us to discuss her article at The Lever, "How Big Pharma Actually Spends Its Massive Profits: New research shows that pharmaceutical companies have spent more on enriching shareholders than drug research and development over the past decade." After the interview, we read more of your answers to this week's Question from Hell and an all-new installment of Rotten History from Renaldo Migaldi. Check out Julia's article here: https://www.levernews.com/how-big-pharma-actually-spends-its-massive-profits/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Back by popular demand in our Best of 2023 series: Journalist Christopher Ketcham who co-wrote The Intercept piece, "The Shutdown of “Luxury Emissions” Should Be at the Center of Climate Revolt." After that, Sebastian Wuepper returns with a new The Past Inside the Present. Check out Christopher's article here: https://theintercept.com/2022/12/13/climate-protest-private-jets-schiphol-airport/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Brian Mier returns to This Is Hell! to discuss his recent publication, "Anticorruption and Imperialist Blind Spots: The Role of the United States in Brazil’s Long Coup," in Latin American Perspectives. This is the first peer-reviewed study confirming that the United States played a crucial role in Brazil's long coup, which threw the left out of power in 2016 and brought about far-right rule in 2018 under the guise of anti-corruption. After that, the rest of your answers to the Question from Hell, including the week's winner, and another Moment of Truth from Jeff Dorchen. Check out Brian's article here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0094582X231213614 Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Olivia Riggio on her Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting article, “Blaming Mass Shootings on Mental Illness Doesn’t Address Either Issue: Rationalizing the horrors of a mass shooting by emphasizing the perpetrator’s mental state does little to address the larger issue,” followed by Rotten History. Check out Olivia's article here: https://fair.org/home/blaming-mass-shootings-on-mental-illness-doesnt-address-either-issue/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Christopher Ketcham on his Harper's Magazine article, "The Machine Breaker: Inside the mind of an ‘ecoterrorist’." Then a Past Inside the Present with Sebastian Wuepper. Check out Christopher's article here: https://harpers.org/archive/2023/11/the-machine-breaker/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Kay Gabriel on her n+1 magazine article, "The Anti-Trans Panic and the Crusade Against Teachers: The goal is to crumble popular support for public education." Plus, a Moment of Truth from Jeff Dorchen and Rotten History from Renaldo Migaldi. Check out Kay's article here: https://www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/the-anti-trans-panic-and-the-crusade-against-teachers/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Susan Neiman on her The New York Review of Books essay, "Germany on Edge: In recent weeks, Germany’s reflexive defenses of Israel and suppression of its critics have assumed a fevered pitch." Then another installment of The Past Inside the Present with Sebastian Wuepper. Check out Susan's article here: https://www.nybooks.com/online/2023/11/03/germany-on-edge-israel-palestine/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

Pooja Bhatia Agarwal joins This Is Hell! to discuss her recent Baffler article, "Deadly Strain: How the UN sought to deny its role in Haiti’s cholera epidemic." Plus, another dose of Rotten History from Renaldo Migaldi. Check out Pooja's article here: https://thebaffler.com/outbursts/deadly-strain-bhatia Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell

The Intercept's Nick Turse joins This Is Hell! to discuss his just-published report, "Civilian Harm Secret Pentagon Investigation Found No One at Fault in Drone Strike That Killed Woman and 4-Year-Old." In the undeclared drone war, nobody is accountable. Check out Nick's report here: https://theintercept.com/2023/11/12/somalia-drone-strike-civilian-deaths/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access weekly bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell