Congressional Candidate, Millennial and geologist Jess Phoenix on representative democracy.

Representing Us

University of Amsterdam’s Claes de Vreese on global populism and the post-truth present.

Misinformation Crisis

Political scientist Virginia Eubanks on her new book, “Automating Inequality.”

Automating Inequality

Roosevelt Institute Fellow Dorian Warren discusses the politics of inequality today.

Law, Order and Justice

Knight First Amendment Institute’s Katie Fallow on free speech violations in government.

All the President’s Twitter Blocks

Shane Burley discusses his new book “Fascism Today: What It Is and How We End It.”

Fascism Strikes Back

Solutions Journalism and NYTimes’ David Bornstein on the constructive force of journalism.

Solutions Journalism and Solutions for Journalism

Renee DiResta of Data for Democracy on how antisocial media-tech companies are a threat.

A Union of Concerned Technologists

Counter Extremism Project’s Mark Wallace and Dartmouth’s Hany Farid on online extremism.

Combating Extremism Online

Jamie Fly and Laura Rosenberger of the Alliance for Securing Democracy on Russia and US.

Securing American Democracy

Harvard University sociologist Ya-Wen Lei on her new book “The Contentious Public Sphere.”

China’s Contentious Public Sphere

Yascha Mounk on “The People vs Democracy: Why Our Freedom is in Danger and How to Save It.”

Democrats vs. Authoritarians

Claire Evans on her new book “Broad Band: The Untold Story of Women Who Made the Internet.”

Mother Internet

Microsoft Research Principal Researcher Tarleton Gillespie on "Custodians of the Internet."

Guardians of the Web

NextGen America’s executive director Heather Hargreaves on the 2018 midterm elections.

The Post-Millennial Wave

“Good Germs, Bad Germs” author Jessica Snyder Sachs on the rise of drug resistance.

A Pro and Antibiotic Future

David Carroll of Parsons School of Design on privacy, media, and suing Cambridge Analytica.

At War With Cambridge Analytica

Investigative reporter Katherine Eban on generic pharmaceutical manufacturing dangers.

The Real Drug Crisis

Founder and director of Belt Publishing Anne Trubek on “Voices From the Rust Belt.”

Getting the Rust Belt Story Straight

John Lawrence, former Chief of Staff to Nancy Pelosi, on his book “The Class of ’74”.

Oversight, Partisanship, and 2018

Leslie Berlin of Silicon Valley Archives at Stanford, on “Troublemakers: Silicon Valley’s.

Tech Troublemakers

Bar-Ilan University chair in Science, Technology, and Society Oren Harman talks about his new book “Evolutions: 15 Myths That Explain Our World.”

The Lore of Life

Investigative reporter Julia Angwin on exposing technologies that injure society.

Confronting Algorithms of Bigotry

Dr. Alan Stern and Dr. David Grinspoon on their book on Pluto: “Chasing New Horizons.”

Our Galaxy and Beyond

Steven Olikara, founder of the Millennial Action Project on activating the next generation.

The Future Caucus

Democracy Works’ Kathryn Peters on election security, voter registration and democracy.

Democracy in the Internet Age

David Nevins of the Bridge Alliance, talks about reversing America's political disunity.

Building Bridges

Daniel Dale of the Toronto Star on fact-checking President Trump and covering activism.

Sweet Little (and Big) Lies

Stephanie DeGooyer, Fellow at Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study on authoritarianisim.

The Right to Have Rights

Jack Smith IV, senior writer for Mic, on American nationalism and White Supremacy.

Documenting a Fascist Ascent

Joan Donovan of Data & Society on technologies that degrade democracy and civil society.

Quarantining Hate Speech

Al Cross, dir. Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, U Kentucky, on media.

Guts, Heart and Minoritarian Rule

Patrick Kabanda talks about his new book “The Creative Wealth of Nations” and the arts.

The Creative Wealth of Nations

Tom Nichols, U.S. Naval War College professor, on his book “The Death of Expertise.”

Manchurian President and Alternative Realities

Soraya Chemaly, Women's Media Center Speech Project, on her new book “Rage Becomes Her.”

Rage at the Ballot Box

Richard Gingras, VP of News at Google, on journalism, citizenship, and disinformation.

News, Disinformation, and Free Expression

Tiffany Muller of End Citizens United, on her mission to undo the Supreme Court decision.

United Against Citizens

Jeffrey Prescott of National Security Action on an alternative to Trump's foreign policy.

Security, Nationalism, and the Four Freedoms

RAND CEO Michael D. Rich and political scientist Jennifer Kavanagh on “Truth Decay.

Truth Decay in America

KPBS investigative reporter Jean Guerrero on her new book “Crux: A Cross-Border Memoir.

Immigration, Dignity, and U.S.-Mexico Relations

Former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan discusses his new book “How Schools Work.

Truth and Lies of Education

North Carolina State scientist Rob Dunn discusses his new book “Never Home Alone.”

The Microbes Among Us

Philosopher William Egginton discusses his book "The Splintering of the American Mind."

The Splintering of the American Mind

Carl Zimmer discusses "She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions and Potential of Heredity."

Discovering Genes

Knight First Amendment Institute inaugural scholar David Pozen discusses the future of American law.

Disequilibrium on the Supreme Court

Patrick Kabanda, musician and consultant to the World Bank, talks about his new book “The Creative Wealth of Nations” and the importance of the arts in development.

Nicholas Buccola on his book "The Fire is Upon Us: Baldwin, Buckley, and Race in America."

Baldwin and Buckley: Advocating and Denying Civil Rights

Justin Driver of Yale Law on constitutional law and the struggle to preserve democracy.

The Battle for the Constitution and Pelosi's Originalism

Vassar College president Elizabeth Bradley on free speech and engaged pluralism.

Grand Strategy for the Campus Commons and Beyond

Robert Boyers on "The Tyranny of Virtue: Identity… and the Hunt for Political Heresies."

Bias, Bigotry, and Tyrannical Discourse

Science journalist Lydia Denworth on the evolution, biology, and power of friendship.

The Science and Necessity of Friendship

Patricia Roberts-Miller of University of Texas on demagoguery and its historical origins.

Unbecoming a Democracy

Wired reporter Andy Greenberg discusses the next wave of Russian cyber crimes.

The Kremlin’s Hack Attacks

Wesleyan University’s Sonali Chakravarti on her book "Radical Enfranchisement."

Democratizing the Jury

NBC News reporter Brandy Zadrozny on coronavirus, anti-vaxxers, and conspiracy-mongers.

Facts and Fears of a Pandemic

Mother Jones’ Ali Breland on combating bigotry online and breaking up new media monopolies.

Breaking Up and Deradicalizing the Socials

Information warfare expert Molly McKew on foreign interference in US elections.

Knowing the Enemy of Truth

Center for Responsive Politics’ Anna Massoglia on campaign finance accountability issues.

The FEC is AWOL

NBC News dystopia reporter Ben Collins on exposing deception and companies that enable it.

Big Tech = Dystopia Incorporated

QAnon Anonymous host Travis View on QAnon conspiracy theorists and what motivates them.

The Cult of QAnon

Jennifer Mercieca on "Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump."

American Demagogue

Nico Gendron of The Wall Street Journal on engaging rural youth in a Local News Fellowship.

Gen Z in the Heartland

Online News Association CEO Irving Washington on the future of digital news.

The Revolution is Online

Materials scientist Ainissa Ramirez on her new book "The Alchemy of Us."

The Alchemy of Us

Rachel Graham on tracking COVID-19 from its inception to inform public health on Twitter.

@V2019N

Sarah Kendzior on her book "Hiding in Plain Sight" and the threat of authoritarianism.

Hiding in Plain Sight

UVA professor and coauthor of "Making Young Voters," John Holbein on civic participation.

The Youth Vote in 2020

Pulitzer Prize winning science journalist Laurie Garrett on predicting COVID-19.

The Pandemic’s Prophet

Lincoln Project’s John Weaver on holding people in power accountable to their oaths.

Army of the Decent

"Humankind" author and historian Rutger Bregman on hope for a prosocial society.

Dystopia for Realists

Garry Kasparov and Uriel Epshtein of the Renew Democracy Initiative on authoritarian rule.

Renewing Democracy for Today

Mother Jones voting rights correspondent Ari Berman on the pandemic and voting turnout.

Will COVID Paralyze the Vote in November?

Dr. Jeffrey Matthews, of U of Chicago Medicine, on hospitals’ response to the pandemic.

American Hospitals...Surviving and Treating the Pandemic

Jack Jackson on "Law Without Future: Anti-Constitutional Politics and the American Right."

America Without Law

Atlantic Magazine’s Adam Harris on John Lewis and a new Civil Rights Movement in America.

John Lewis and The Third Reconstruction

University of Chicago psychologist Katherine Kinzler on her new book “How You Say It.”

How to Speak Justly and Bridge Divides

Republican presidential campaign veteran Stuart Stevens on his new book "It Was All a Lie."

Gaslighting 2020 and Comorbidities of the GOP

Minister, activist and Princeton scholar Nyle Fort on re-imagining a post-pandemic America.

Will the Pandemic Mean Justice in America?

Cong. (Ret.) Katie Hill on her new book "She Will Rise" and the battle for true equality.

Political and Personal Accountability

Carl Bergstrom on "Calling Bull____: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World."

Calling Bull____ and the Threat of a Show Vaccine

Election security advocate Jennifer Cohn on election oversight and hand-marked paper trail.

Will There Be a Legitimate 2020 Election?

Yale University immunologist Akiko Iwasaki discusses an efficacious COVID vaccine.

Supercharging Antibodies for a COVID Vaccine

CNN’s Brian Stetler on the danger of disinformation on Election Night, Week, and Month.

Will Trump Hoax the Nation on Election Night?

American Autocracy

Civil Rights leader and MSNBC’s Rev. Al Sharpton on the mobilization of Black voters.

After 200K+ Dead, Vote For Your Life

MIT scholar Sinan Aral on how to regulate social media to have a constructive impact.

Four More Years of Social Media Failure

Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law’s Kristen Clarke on justice at the polls.

Voting is the Civil Rights Movement of 2020

Julie Swarstad Johnson and Christopher Cokinos on their new book "Beyond Earth’s Edge."

The Flight of Humane Poetics

CSIS fellow Jon Hillman on his new book "The Emperor’s New Road" and relations with China.

Chinese Hegemony

Neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett on her book "Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain."

Our Brains on Totalitarianism

Lincoln Project’s Mike Madrid on Georgia’s Senate run-off election and defeating Trumpism.

Republicanism vs. Trumpism

Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat on Trump’s defiance of the 2020 election results and history.

The Strongman in the USA

This public affairs talk show is a thoughtful excursion into the world of ideas across politics, media, technology, the arts, and all realms of civic life. First broadcast in 1956, it explores challenges of the digital age, American politics and emerging issues.

All Episodes of The Open Mind

Browse all episodes of The Open Mind

Season 1