Kerry Howley talks about her book "Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs: A Journey Through the Deep State," named one of the 10 Best Books of 2023 by the New York Times.Recorded November 14, 2023.Follow Culturally Determined @CulturallyDetLINKSKerry

Taylor's Version, with B.D. McClay

Dec 21st, 2023 1h 40m

B.D. McClay — essayist, critic, and scholar of Taylor Swift Studies — helps Aryeh understand the biggest cultural phenomenon of the year. Recorded November 5, 2023Follow Culturally Determined @CulturallyDetLINKSB.D.'s Substackhttps://notebook.s

Hating Gen X While Being Gen X, with Sarah Miller

Sep 18th, 2023 1h 5m

Sarah discusses her recent New York Times essay, "Hate Gen X? Get in Line (Behind a Gen X-er)." Why are young people lumping together Boomers and Xers? Why do so many Gen X writers spend time railing against "woke" ideas? Is Elon Musk more defi

Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew, with Jeremy Dauber

Sep 8th, 2023 48m 17s

Historian Jeremy Dauber talks about his new book, "Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew," which is part of the Yale Jewish Lives series. He discusses Brooks's Brooklyn childhood, his Borscht Belt years, writing on "Your Show of Shows" and working with C

What Do We Do with the Art of Monsters? with Claire Dederer

Aug 28th, 2023 47m 35s

Claire Dederer talks about her new book, "Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma," a blend of cultural criticism and memoir in which she thinks deeply about the work of great artists who were also horrible people.Recorded July 24, 2023.Follow Culturally Det

The Cruel Decade, with Kristian Vistrup Madsen

Aug 2nd, 2023 44m 2s

Art critic Kristian Vistrup Madsen discusses his essay on the 2000s, "Chains Or Whips? The Cruel Decade And Its Aftermath," in which he draws connections between Abu Ghraib, reality television, and Britney Spears to reflect on the culture of th

"The Vegan," a Novel, with Andrew Lipstein

Jul 11th, 2023 38m 32s

Andrew Lipstein discusses "The Vegan," his new novel about a hedge fund founder who has an unusual moral awakening after a dinner party prank he pulls goes disastrously awry. The novel considers artificial intelligence, Brooklyn mores, our rela

On Losing a Father and Finding Stoicism, with Tom Bissell

May 17th, 2023 43m 26s

Author Tom Bissell discusses his recent essay in Harper's, "Time Is a Violent Stream," about embracing Stoic philosophy after the death of his father. Why is Stoicism so useful during a time of crisis? What do contemporary popular books about S

Is MAGA Here to Stay? with Ross Barkan

May 11th, 2023 39m 9s

Ross discusses his recent essay disputing that Trump and MAGA are on the wane. Is MAGA even separable from Trump himself to begin with? How do the dynamics of the 2024 GOP primary differ from those of 2016? Plus: Critiquing reactions from both

Twitter Taught Us It Was Okay to Be Weird, with Phoebe Maltz Bovy

May 3rd, 2023 1h 6m

Self-described "Extremely Online" writer and podcaster Phoebe Maltz Bovy joins Aryeh to ponder whether Twitter is finally really and truly dead. Phoebe talks about how she lost her bluecheck before it was cool, Aryeh explains why he's not eager

The "Enshittification" of Online Life, with Cory Doctorow

Apr 7th, 2023 45m 33s

Novelist and Internet activist Cory Doctorow discusses "enshittification," the term he coined for how online platforms start out great but gradually become nightmarish for users. How can we fight back against the forces of enshittification? Cor

How QAnon Unhinged America, with Will Sommer

Mar 29th, 2023 52m 36s

Will Sommer talks about his new book, "Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America." Why didn't January 6th deflate QAnon? How has conspiracy thinking changed the GOP? Is the "cabal" that Q believers see themselve

The Mystery of Havana Syndrome, with Nicky Woolf

Mar 24th, 2023 38m 1s

Journalist Nicky Woolf discusses his podcast "The Sound: Mystery of Havana Syndrome." What really caused the strange symptoms afflicting American diplomats in Cuba? What, if anything, do loud crickets have to do with it? Is the whole thing simp

On Writing and Failure, with Stephen Marche

Mar 7th, 2023 41m 5s

Stephen talks about his new book, "On Writing and Failure." Aryeh and Stephen discuss morality and art, Canadian vs. American literary culture, the link between writing and mental illness, and more.Recorded February 22, 2023LINKSStephen's new b

Grifters to the Left of Me? Kooks to the Right? with Nick Clairmont

Feb 24th, 2023 1h 6m

A kooky tweet from Rebekah Jones, the Florida Covid whistleblower who might not actually be a whistleblower, inspires Aryeh and Nick to debate whether the left has a grifter problem, the morality of Al Sharpton, whether liberals willfully misun

The Israeli Democratic Roadshow, with Ora Peled Nakash

Feb 7th, 2023 1h 8m

Aryeh speaks with his cousin Ora Peled Nakash about the growing Israeli protest movement, which was sparked by Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu's move to limit the independence of Israel's judicial system. Ora explains why she was personally motiv

The Rise of a New Left, with Raina Lipsitz

Jan 30th, 2023 1h 11m

Raina Lipsitz discusses her new book, "The Rise of a New Left: How Young Radicals Are Shaping the Future of American Politics." Are charismatic figures like AOC and Bernie responsible for the resurgence of socialism in the US? Or did structural

Should We Be Scared of TikTok? with Leigh Stein

Jan 21st, 2023 1h 6m

Writer and "BookTok" expert Leigh Stein tries to assuage Aryeh's fears about the wildly popular video app. Should we be worried about TikTok's Chinese origins? Is the app poisoning the minds of America's youth—or is that idea just the sign of a

Kissing Cousins, with Sophie Zucker

Dec 2nd, 2022 38m 6s

Comedian Sophie Zucker talks about her new one-woman musical, "Sophie Sucks Face," which tells the story of a young Jewish woman who makes out with her cousin at their grandfather's funeral.Recorded November 21, 2022LINKSSophie Sucks Facehttps:

Twitter Tech Turmoil, with Josh Barnard

Nov 20th, 2022 58m 12s

Josh Barnard, a software engineer and tech-industry veteran who worked at Twitter during and after the 2016 election, discusses Elon Musk's chaotic changes at the company. Were Twitter's employees a bunch of woke leftists? Does Musk understand

Mistaken for a Conservative, with Kat Rosenfield

Nov 14th, 2022 1h 6m

Kat discusses her recent essay in National Review, "Why I Keep Getting Mistaken for a Conservative." Has online political life swallowed offline political life? Has technology made concerns about book bans a thing of the past? Plus: Is Aryeh a

Musk Takes Twitter, with Dave Karpf

Nov 6th, 2022 1h 5m

Aryeh and Dave Karpf, an associate professor in the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University, discuss Elon Musk's ownership of Twitter. Is he going to run the company into the ground—and would that be good for America?

The Podcast That Sells Itself, with Laura Mayer

Oct 31st, 2022 1h 5m

Laura Mayer talks about "Shameless Acquisition Target," her new podcast series about how market forces and bad choices have changed the podcast industry. Mayer has worked as a radio and podcast editor, producer, and executive—but this is her fi

Rehashing "The Rehearsal," with Joanna Mang

Sep 16th, 2022 1h 3m

Aryeh and Joanna analyze Nathan Fielder's HBO series "The Rehearsal." What is the show actually about? Can the viewer separate reality from "reality"? Is Nathan the show's villain, hero, or something else? How sympathetic should we feel toward

The End of Solitude, with William Deresiewicz

Sep 6th, 2022 1h 29m

William Deresiewicz, author of the new book "The End of Solitude: Selected Essays on Culture and Society," discusses how technology is changing our sense of self, how every aspect of higher education is failing, the late Harold Bloom, Great Boo