He was born into abject poverty in Czechoslovakia, fought for the British and was decorated for his heroism in WWII, and became a successful businessman and press baron courted by political leaders around the world. Yet Robert Maxwell ended his life reviled as the embodiment of greed and corruption. The writer John Preston discusses his book, Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell, with Andrew Marr.
The journalist Julia Langdon was appointed the political editor of the Daily Mirror in 1984 when Maxwell owned the newspaper. She looks back at his often extraordinary behaviour. But Langdon also examines the difficult and changing relationship between those in power in politics and the media moguls.
Maxwell was brash and theatrical working from luxury apartments at his rechristened Maxwell House, complete with Doric columns at the entrance. Emily Bell, formerly a media journalist now academic at Columbia University, sees certain parallels with Trump Tower. But the media landscape since Maxwell’s days has changed dramatically, and it’s now the owners of today’s social media companies who wield the power.
He was born into abject poverty in Czechoslovakia, fought for the British and was decorated for his heroism in WWII, and became a successful businessman and press baron courted by political leaders around the world. Yet Robert Maxwell ended his life reviled as the embodiment of greed and corruption. The writer John Preston discusses his book, Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell, with Andrew Marr.
The journalist Julia Langdon was appointed the political editor of the Daily Mirror in 1984 when Maxwell owned the newspaper. She looks back at his often extraordinary behaviour. But Langdon also examines the difficult and changing relationship between those in power in politics and the media moguls.
Maxwell was brash and theatrical working from luxury apartments at his rechristened Maxwell House, complete with Doric columns at the entrance. Emily Bell, formerly a media journalist now academic at Columbia University, sees certain parallels with Trump Tower. But the media landscape since Maxwell’s days has changed dramatically, and it’s now the owners of today’s social media companies who wield the power.
The era of the Enlightenment, which gave rise to our modern conceptions of freedom and democracy, was also the height of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. America, a nation founded on the principle of liberty, is also a nation built on African slavery, Native American genocide, and systematic racial discrimination. White Freedom traces the complex relationship between freedom and race from the eighteenth century to today, revealing how being free has meant being white.
Tyler Stovall explores the intertwined histories of racism and freedom in France and the United States, the two leading nations that have claimed liberty as the heart of their national identities. He explores how French and American thinkers defined freedom in racial terms and conceived of liberty as an aspect and privilege of whiteness. He discusses how the Statue of Liberty—a gift from France to the United States and perhaps the most famous symbol of freedom on Earth—promised both freedom and whiteness to European immigrants. Taking readers from the Age of Revolution to today, Stovall challenges the notion that racism is somehow a paradox or contradiction within the democratic tradition, demonstrating how white identity is intrinsic to Western ideas about liberty. Throughout the history of modern Western liberal democracy, freedom has long been white freedom.
A major work of scholarship that is certain to draw a wide readership and transform contemporary debates, White Freedom: The Racial History of an Idea(Princeton UP, 2021) provides vital new perspectives on the inherent racism behind our most cherished beliefs about freedom, liberty, and human rights.
Marshall Poe is the editor of the New Books Network. He can be reached at marshallpoe@newbooksnetwork.com
The year 2020 saw a record-breaking wildfire season. With those wildfires came many destroyed homes. Rebuilding with fire-resistant materials reduces the risk of future fires burning down a house, but as NPR science correspondent Lauren Sommer explains, only three Western states require building with fire-resistant materials. Without such improvements, communities face increased risks with the next fire.
Dr. Bob calls up Dr. Julie Gerberding to address vaccines, the CDC, and how public trust factors into both. Julie has vast experience with all of those topics, having served as president of Merck vaccines and also as CDC director under George W. Bush, the first woman to serve in that role. First, Bob and Julie discuss the vaccine rollout, how the variants may affect things, and Merck's failed efforts to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. Then, an important discussion about the CDC, and how to avoid politics from interfering with science in the future. Plus, the lifelong lessons she learned about infectious diseases during the HIV epidemic as Bob's Chief Resident at UCSF in the 80s.
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A group of Republican Senators are sending Biden a counter-proposal on Covid relief. They want to slash the bill by over a trillion dollars, and limit the size and scope of stimulus checks. They’re framing it as a bipartisan solution, but Democrats are reportedly planning to move forward with their own plan using budget reconciliation.
The average number of new cases in the US has dropped off significantly since peaking three weeks ago, but January was still an awful month in the pandemic, and the presence of new variants has the potential to disrupt progress. Johnson & Johnson released data for their one-shot vaccine candidate last Friday. We explain what to make of it.
And in headlines: several members of Myanmar’s ruling party were detained in a possible military coup, Hong Kong residents can now apply to become permanent British citizens, and Trump hires two new attorneys for his Senate impeachment trial.
For more than nine years, Ryan Anderson helped The Heritage Foundation confront some of the biggest cultural issues facing America. Today, he embarks on a new endeavor as president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
Anderson, the former William E. Simon senior research fellow at Heritage, joins The Daily Signal Podcast to talk about his vision for EPPC and why it’s important for conservative to speak up and not back down to the left. He also talks about President Joe Biden’s rhetoric vs. the reality of his policy agenda.
Throughout his tenure at Heritage, Anderson authored or co-authored books on religious liberty and marriage and even had his work cited by Supreme Court justices. One of his most memorable experiences came during a debate with Piers Morgan on same-sex marriage: https://youtu.be/vrk1R-3X9Hc
Learn more about Anderson and read his Daily Signal contributions below.
Also on today's show, we read your letters to the editor and share a good news story about one way in which the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is helping the needy across Israel this winter.