Uncommon Knowledge by topic: Politics, U.S.
Thomas Sowell—Economic Facts and Fallacies
Thomas Sowell has studied and taught economics, intellectual history, and social policy at institutions that include Cornell University, UCLA, and Amherst College. Now a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Sowell has published more than a dozen books, the latest of which is a revised and expanded second edition of Economic Facts and Fallacies.
Politics and Policy with Mitch Daniels
Mitch Daniels is the forty-ninth governor of Indiana. He served as political liaison to President Ronald Reagan and as director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush.
Stanley Kurtz—Radical-In-Chief
An author, journalist, and social anthropologist (PhD Harvard), Stanley Kurtz is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and a contributing editor to National Review Online. His latest book is Radical-in-Chief: Barack Obama and the Untold Story of American Socialism.
Richard Epstein and John Yoo—Order in the Court
Richard Epstein is a professor of law at the New York University law school, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago law school. His latest book is The Case Against the Employee Free Choice Act. John Yoo is a professor at the University of California at Berkeley law school. His most recent book is Crisis and Command.
Politics with Haley Barbour
Michael Barone
Journalist, pundit, and scholar, Michael Barone is the senior political analyst for the Washington Examiner, a frequent commentator on Fox News, and a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Mark Steyn and Rob Long—The Gipper Then and Now
Reviewing clips of Ronald Reagan’s speeches, Long and Steyn reflect on Reagan’s relevance to issues confronting America today. Speaking of Reagan’s “The Last Stand on Earth” address, Steyn remarks on “how easily you can pick up the argument [made in 1964 about the threat of Soviet communism] and drop it right down into the current circumstances [the threat of Islamic extremism].”
John Podhoretz — The Purposes of Political Combat
The editor of Commentary magazine and the film critic for The Weekly Standard, John Podhoretz served as a speechwriter in the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. He is the author of Hell of a Ride: Backstage at the White House Follies.
“The End of the World as We Know It,” with Mark Steyn
Responding to critics who have called his America Alone “alarmist,” Steyn defends the tone and central premise of his book. “This book is about…the larger forces at play in the developed world that have left Europe too enfeebled to resist its remorseless transformation into Eurabia and that call into question the future of much of the rest of the world, including the United States, Canada, and beyond.”
Uncommon Knowledge classic: “The Sixties” with Hitchens and William F. Buckley
In this rereleased interview from 1998, Christopher Hitchens, a contributing editor of Vanity Fair magazine, is a self-proclaimed radical. William F. Buckley, Jr., editor-at-large of National Review magazine, is one of the most noted conservatives in the country. During the 1960’s, Hitchens enjoyed the counter-culture, whereas Buckley was one of the founders of the politically conservative counter counter-culture. Thirty years later (1998), and Hitchens and Buckley are still wrangling over the Revolution. (24:52)