Episodes

May 20, 2023

Crack-Up Capitalism w/ Quinn Slobodian

Featuring Quinn Slobodian on Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy. Radical libertarians, including anarcho-capitalists like Murray Rothbard, envision a world of micro-polities governed by private property and contract. In fact, we already live in their world, a world of zones—places where special rules tailor-made for capitalists prevail over the ordinary laws of the nation-state. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Listen to Quinn’s interview on Glo...
May 13, 2023

Trans Children w/ Jules Gill-Peterson

Featuring Jules Gill-Peterson on Histories of the Transgender Child. Amid this right-wing reaction, a discussion of the history of trans medicine and trans children—and also trans politics more generally. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Register for Socialism 2023 at socialismconference.org. Register before July 7 for the early bird discount rate! Subscribe to n+1 at nplusonemag.com/thedig. Enter THEDIG at checkout.
May 8, 2023

The Chicago Model w/ Stacy Davis Gates, Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, and Alex Han

Featuring Stacy Davis Gates, Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, and Alex Han on how Chicago’s labor left took over City Hall. Brandon Johnson’s mayoral victory, the product of a decade-plus of social movement union struggle, is a model for the left everywhere in the United States. Guest hosted by Micah Uetricht. Subscribe to n+1. Go to nplusonemag.com/thedig and enter THEDIG at checkout Buy Occupation: Organizer by Clément Petitjean haymarketbooks.org/books/2054-occupation-organizer
May 5, 2023

Philly’s Left Turn w/ Helen Gym & Nikil Saval

Featuring Nikil Saval and Helen Gym on how the history of Philadelphia social movements brought Nikil into the state senate and has made Helen, a long-time public education organizer, a frontrunner in the mayoral race. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Subscribe to Dissent dissentmagazine.org/subscribe Buy Angela Davis: An Autobiography haymarketbooks.org/books/2001-angela-davis
April 28, 2023

Superhighway!

We have as many roads in the United States as we have streams and rivers. Produced by Caroline Kanner and Jackson Roach, with original music by Jackson Roach. Edited by Liza Yeager and Mitchell Johnson. Subscribe to The Dig Presents, and support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig. Bibliography (in order of appearance): A Field Guide to Roadside Wildflowers at Full Speed – Chris Helzer Car Country: An Environmental History – Christopher W. Wells On Trails: An Exploration – Robert Moor Snell-Roo...
April 23, 2023

Teach the Children Well w/ Jennifer Berkshire & Jack Schneider

Featuring Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider on the politics of public education. The authors of A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling of Education and the Future of School and co-hosts of the education policy podcast Have You Heard discuss everything from charters and vouchers to teacher social movement unionism and the right-wing cultural wars against “woke” educators. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
April 15, 2023

How to Build a Fighting Labor Movement w/ Jane McAlevey

Featuring Jane McAlevey on how to organize mass numbers of new workers into unions that wage mass strikes to fight employers and revive the labor movement. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Dan’s 2019 interview with McAlevey thedigradio.com/podcast/strike-with-jane-mcalevey Buy Set Fear on Fire by LASTESIS versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2853-set-fear-on-fire Buy The New Cold War by Gilbert Achcar haymarketbooks.org/books/2007-the-new-cold-war
April 8, 2023

Zionism’s Civil War w/ Edo Konrad & Joshua Leifer

Featuring Edo Konrad and Joshua Leifer on how Zionism’s long-running contradictions led to the current political crisis in Israel. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out +972 Magazine at 972mag.com Subscribe to Jewish Currents‘ Israel/Palestine newsletter at jewishcurrents.org/newsletter Buy The New Cold War: The United States, Russia, and China from Kosovo to Ukraine by Gilbert Achcar haymarketbooks.org/books/2007-the-new-cold-war
March 31, 2023

The Dig Presents: A Garden in Cairo

It started with a few cones and a cryptic sign. Produced by Omar Etman. Edited by Liza Yeager, Mitchell Johnson, and Daniel Denvir. Special thanks to Alan Dean, Alex Lewis, and Nihal El Aasar. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
March 25, 2023

Sexual Hegemony w/ Max Fox and Chris Nealon

Featuring Max Fox and Chris Nealon on the late Christopher Chitty’s book Sexual Hegemony: Statecraft, Sodomy, and Capital in the Rise of the World System. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletters and vast archive at thedigradio.com Further reading: libcom.org/article/after-fall-communiques-occupied-california viewpointmag.com/2012/09/12/towards-a-socialist-art-of-government-michel-foucaults-the-mesh-of-power thenewinquiry.com/blog/in-love-and-memory Buy Abolition Geograp...
March 21, 2023

Trailer: The Dig Presents

Coming Soon: The Dig Presents is a new monthly series that features original documentary reporting, personal narrative, and other sonic experiments from a wide range of contributors.
March 19, 2023

Racism, Class, and the Opioid Crisis

Featuring Helena Hansen, Jules Netherland, and David Herzberg on how American capitalism and its illusions of whiteness both created the opioid crisis and shaped the response to it. We are discussing their book Whiteout: How Racial Capitalism Changed the Color of Opioids in America. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletters and vast archives at thedigradio.com Subscribe to Jacobin bit.ly/digjacobin and Catalyst bit.ly/digcatalyst
March 12, 2023

Labor Histories w/ Nelson Lichtenstein

Featuring Nelson Lichtenstein on his life and scholarship, from membership in the International Socialists and studies of the early United Auto Workers and CIO to his later turn to studying Walmart and international supply chains. Guest host Micah Uetricht interviews one of the greatest living labor historians. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletters and vast archives at thedigradio.com Buy Keywords for Capitalism by John Patrick Leary haymarketbooks.org/books/1886-keywo...
March 5, 2023

American Militarism w/ Nadia Abu El-Haj

Featuring Nadia Abu El-Haj on Combat Trauma: Imaginaries of War and Citizenship in Post-9/11 America. How the civil-military divide makes troops into super citizens and what it means that agents of state violence are turning to the grammar of identity politics—and more. The second in a two-part interview. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Subscribe to New Left Review newleftreview.org/subscriptions/new Buy My Country is the World: Staughton Lynd’s Writings, Speeches, and Statements Against ...
Feb. 25, 2023

Combat Trauma w/ Nadia Abu El-Haj

Featuring Nadia Abu El-Haj on Combat Trauma: Imaginaries of War and Citizenship in Post-9/11 America. A truly remarkable book about the unseen ideological foundations of American militarism: American civilians are enjoined to venerate troops, deferring to their traumatized positionality. The first in a two-part interview. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Buy: Fighting in a World on Fire by Andreas Malm versobooks.com/books/4138-...
Feb. 17, 2023

Higher Ed Industrial Unionism w/ Donna Murch and Todd Wolfson

Featuring Donna Murch and Todd Wolfson on Rutgers University workers’ industrial unionism strategy. The second in a two-part series on the crisis in American higher education. Check out Dan’s interview in The Nation: thenation.com/article/world/qa-daniel-denvir/ Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out The Dig’s newsletters and vast archives at thedigradio.com Buy Haunted by Slavery: haymarketbooks.org/books/1557-haunted-by-slavery Buy David Harvey’s Companion to Marx’s Grundrisse: verso...
Feb. 10, 2023

Higher Ed Crisis w/ Dennis Hogan

Featuring Dennis Hogan on the crisis in higher education. The first in a two-part series. Next up: Donna Murch and Todd Wolfson on how university workers can fight back through industrial unionism. Read Dan’s interview in The Nation thenation.com/article/world/qa-daniel-denvir Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletters and vast archives at thedigradio.com Buy On Shedding an Obsolete Past: Bidding Farewell to the American Century by Andrew Bacevich haymarketbooks.org/books/1...
Feb. 5, 2023

The Politics and Practice of Tenant Organizing

Featuring Shanti Singh, Tracy Rosenthal, René Moya, and Cea Weaver on the politics and practice of organizing tenants. Please donate generously to support Pioneer Tenants United zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/0ae18bb1-5cb9-475a-af13-aedbbd890497 Peruse our vast archives and weekly newsletters at thedigradio.com
Jan. 27, 2023

Freedom Dreams w/ Robin D.G. Kelley

Featuring Robin D.G. Kelley on Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig and get our weekly newsletter by email Peruse our newsletters and vast archives at thedigradio.com Check out America as Overlord haymarketbooks.org/books/1958-america-as-overlord The Men With the Pink Triangle haymarketbooks.org/books/1935-the-men-with-the-pink-triangle
Jan. 21, 2023

Gramsci, Organization, Crisis w/ Michael Denning

Featuring Michael Denning on Antonio Gramsci. The second of a two-part interview. Read the passages of Selections from the Prison Notebooks that Dan read to prepare: thedigradio.com/gramscinotebooks Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig and get our weekly newsletter by email Peruse our newsletters and vast archives at thedigradio.com Check out Socialism…Seriously: A Brief Guide to Surviving the 21st Century by Danny Katch haymarketbooks.org/books/1943-socialism-seriously Check out Black Women...
Jan. 14, 2023

Gramsci & Hegemony w/ Michael Denning

Featuring Michael Denning on Antonio Gramsci. Part one of an expansive two-part interview. Read the passages of Selections from the Prison Notebooks that Dan read to prepare: thedigradio.com/gramscinotebooks Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig and get our weekly newsletter by email Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com
Dec. 31, 2022

The Capitalist Conjuncture w/ Tim Barker

Featuring historian Tim Barker on monetary politics, inflation, and the general capitalist conjuncture. The second of a two-part interview. Check out my July 2021 interview with Barker if you want a more expansive primer on inflation thedigradio.com/podcast/inflation-politics-with-tim-barker Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our brilliant newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Get After Life: A Collective History of Loss and Redemption in Pandemic America haymarketbooks.o...
Dec. 22, 2022

Monetary Politics w/ Tim Barker

Featuring historian Tim Barker on the state of monetary politics amid the current fight over inflation. Check out my July 2021 interview with Barker if you want a more expansive primer on inflation thedigradio.com/podcast/inflation-politics-with-tim-barker Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our brilliant newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com
Dec. 17, 2022

New Deal Ruins w/ Edward Goetz

Featuring Edward Goetz on his book New Deal Ruins: Race, Economic Justice, and Public Housing Policy. Goetz tells the story of American public housing and then its destruction and dismantling, which took off in the 1980s and accelerated during the 90s under the Clinton Administration’s Hope VI program. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig and get our weekly newsletter by email plus swag. Check out Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire haymarketbooks.org/books/1861-light-in-gaza