Best Penguin Random House Podcasts (2026)

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Amitav Acharya, "Tragic Nation: Burma--Why and How Democracy Failed" (Penguin Random House, 2023) 35:07

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9d ago35:07

35:07

What went wrong with Burma’s democratic experiment? How are we to understand the country’s turbulent politics in the wake of the 2021 coup? In this conversation with Duncan McCargo, Amitav Acharya talks about his new book on Burma, which draws extensively on communications with young activists he refers to as “thought warriors”. He also discusses t…

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Marc Berman, "Nature and the Mind: The Science of How Nature Improves Cognitive, Physical, and Social Well-Being" (Simon and Schuster, 2025) 33:54

2h ago33:54

33:54

Dr. Marc Berman, the pioneering creator of the field of environmental neuroscience, has discovered the surprising connection between mind, body, and environment, with a special emphasis on the natural environment. He has devoted his life to studying it. If you sometimes feel drained, distracted, or depressed, Dr. Berman has identified the elements …

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Charles G. Thomas, "Ujamaa's Army: The Creation and Evolution of the Tanzania People's Defence Force, 1964-1979" (Ohio UP, 2024) 57:11

1h ago57:11

57:11

The immediate postcolonial moment brought both promise and peril for the states of Africa and their security. The process of decolonization generated instability, and the emergent Cold War caught up the still-fragile independent states in a global ideological struggle between superpowers. While the political story of these states has been written i…

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How to Make Your Brain Your Best Friend 44:47

2h ago44:47

44:47

Your brain is the most remarkable thing in the known universe. Always trying to mend itself, and always trying to protect you, it’s in a constant state of flux — adapting, reconfiguring, finding new pathways. And it has an astonishing capacity for recovery. Rachel Barr struggled through years of devastating loss, heartache, and uncertainty until ne…

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Mary E. Stuckey, "Remembering Jefferson: Who He Was, Who We Are" (UP of Kansas, 2025) 41:59

1h ago41:59

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Mary E. Stuckey, the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Communication Arts & Sciences at Pennsylvania State University, has a brilliant new book that dives into the question of who we are as Americans, a theme that Stuckey has long researched and considered in much of her work (Defining Americans: The Presidency and National Identity, University Press …

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Dylan Loh, "China's Rising Foreign Ministry: Practices and Representations of Assertive Diplomacy" (Stanford UP, 2025) 34:14

21h ago34:14

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How has China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs transformed itself into one of the most assertive diplomatic actors on the global stage? What explains the rise of “wolf warrior” practices, and how should we interpret Beijing’s evolving diplomatic identity? In this episode, Duncan McCargo speaks with Dylan Loh, an Associate Professor in the Public Polic…

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What happens when liberalism stops feeling like a victory and starts feeling like an exhaustion? 1:25:32

3d ago1:25:32

1:25:32

In this episode of International Horizons, RBI Director (acting) Eli Karetny speaks with philosopher Alexandre Lefebvre about liberalism not merely as a political doctrine, but as a lived way of life. Against the backdrop of rising populism, nationalism, and post-liberal regimes, Lefebvre revisits the liberal tradition—from Locke and Mill to Rawls …

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Florentine Koppenborg, "Japan's Nuclear Disaster and the Politics of Safety Governance" (Cornell UP, 2023) 42:56

3d ago42:56

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Florentine Koppenborg’s Japan’s Nuclear Disaster and the Politics of Safety Governance (Cornell UP, 2023) begins with the understated observation that the triple disaster of March 2011 “exposed severe deficiencies in Japan’s nuclear safety governance.” This is the starting point for the rather curious story of the regulatory reforms taken up in the…

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James Greenwood-Reeves, "Justifying Violent Protest: Law and Morality in Democratic States" (Routledge, 2023) 1:14:23

4d ago1:14:23

1:14:23

Was the use of violence on January 6th Capitol attacks legitimate? Is the use of violence morally justified by members of Extinction Rebellion or Just Stop Oil campaigners? Justifying Violent Protest: Law and Morality in Democratic States (Routledge, 2023) addresses these issues head on, to make a radical, but compelling argument in favour of the l…

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Kevin J. Mitchell, "Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will" (Princeton UP, 2023) 32:26

5d ago32:26

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Scientists are learning more and more about how brain activity controls behavior and how neural circuits weigh alternatives and initiate actions. As we probe ever deeper into the mechanics of decision making, many conclude that agency--or free will--is an illusion. In Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will (Princeton UP, 2023), leading neuros…

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Bernard Forjwuor, "Critique of Political Decolonization" (Oxford UP, 2023) 53:55

6d ago53:55

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What is political independence? As a political act, what was it sanctioned to accomplish? Is formal colonialism over, or a condition in the present, albeit mutated and evolved? In Critique of Political Decolonization (Oxford UP, 2023), Bernard Forjwuor challenges what, in normative scholarship, has become a persistent conflation of two different co…

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Philip A. Wallach, "Why Congress" (Oxford UP, 2023) 49:37

6d ago49:37

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To achieve legitimate self-government in America's extended Republic, the U.S. Constitution depends on Congress harmonizing the country's factions through a process of conflict and accommodation. Why Congress (Oxford University Press, 2023) demonstrates the value of this activity by showing the legislature's distinctive contributions in two crucial…

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Amitav Acharya, "Tragic Nation: Burma--Why and How Democracy Failed" (Penguin Random House, 2023) 35:07

9d ago35:07

35:07

What went wrong with Burma’s democratic experiment? How are we to understand the country’s turbulent politics in the wake of the 2021 coup? In this conversation with Duncan McCargo, Amitav Acharya talks about his new book on Burma, which draws extensively on communications with young activists he refers to as “thought warriors”. He also discusses t…

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Danielle Allen, "Justice by Means of Democracy" (U Chicago Press, 2023) 55:44

7d ago55:44

55:44

Danielle Allen, the James Bryant Conant University Professor and the Director of the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, has a new book, Justice by Means of Democracy, that explores the foundational understanding of how humans best flourish, in particular in regard to the governmental system under which they live. Allen, …

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Jonathan Sumption, "The Challenges of Democracy: And the Rule of Law" (Profile Books, 2026) 29:59

13d ago29:59

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Across the globe, democracy is in crisis - in the UK alone, it has been rocked by Brexit, the pandemic and successive attempts by governments to bypass legal norms. But how did this happen, and where might we go from here? Jonathan Sumption cuts through the political noise with acute analysis of the state of democracy today - from the vulnerabiliti…

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Paul Kelly, "Against Postliberalism: Why ‘Family, Faith and Flag’ is a Dead End for the Left" (Polity, 2025) 40:20

13d ago40:20

40:20

Post-liberalism is all the rage on the American right, finding a common cause between legal theorists like Adrian Vermeule and Patrick Deneen and rising political stars like J.D. Vance, the serving vice president. In the UK, on the other hand, the movement has been pioneered by left-wing thinkers seeking to return lost working-class voters to the L…

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Joel S. Wit, "Fallout: The Inside Story of America's Failure to Disarm North Korea" (Yale UP, 2025) 49:23

13d ago49:23

49:23

After nearly four decades of negotiations, sanctions, summits, threats, and backdoor channels, the United States has failed to stop North Korea's nuclear program which now has the capability to strike American cities with weapons of mass destruction. In Fallout: The Inside Story of America's Failure to Disarm North Korea (Yale UP, 2025), Joel S. Wi…

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Lin Hongxuan, "Ummah Yet Proletariat: Islam, Marxism, and the Making of the Indonesian Republic" (Oxford UP, 2023) 46:44

14d ago46:44

46:44

In contemporary Indonesia the idea that Islam and Marxism are inherently incompatible has become deeply entrenched. However, as Lin Hongxuan's work Ummah Yet Proletariat: Islam, Marxism, and the Making of the Indonesian Republic (Oxford University Press, 2023) shows, the relationship between them in Indonesian history is deeply intertwined. Based o…

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Weila Gong, "Implementing a Low-Carbon Future: Climate Leadership in Chinese Cities" (Oxford UP, 2025) 42:49

15d ago42:49

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This episode explores what China’s subnational climate experiments tell us about the possibilities and limits of climate leadership in an era of intensified geopolitics. We discuss how China’s domestic governance dynamics matter for international climate cooperation and competition, especially as Chinese actors become central in the global low-carb…

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Joanna Siekiera, "International Law and Security in Indo-Pacific: Strategic Design for the Region" (Routledge, 2025) 1:05:11

17d ago1:05:11

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International Law and Security in Indo-Pacific: Strategic Design for the Region (Routledge, 2025) edited by Dr. Joanna Siekiera uses an interdisciplinary approach to discuss international law and conflict in the Indo-Pacific region, covering topics such as maritime security, climate change and international relations. Detailing how international re…

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Kwame Nkrumah and Pan-Africanism’s High Tide: A Conversation with Howard W. French 48:17

18d ago48:17

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The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide (Liveright, 2025), the second work in a trilogy from best-selling author Howard W. French about Africa's pivotal role in shaping world history, underscores Adam Hochschild's contention that French is a "modern-day Copernicus." The title--referring to a brief period …

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James Mitra on Season 14: Reflecting on 300+ episodes & what’s next for 40 Minute Mentor 4:50

20d ago4:50

4:50

Season 14 of 40 Minute Mentor has been one of our most special seasons yet, and in this short wrap-up episode, James reflects on the pocket-sized mentorship moments throughout this season and over the last 14 seasons. In this season alone, we’ve had some incredible guests joining us, and we covered everything from Co-Founder dynamics, High Performa…

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Jeff Roche, "The Conservative Frontier: Texas and the Origins of the New Right" (U Texas Press, 2025) 1:20:52

21d ago1:20:52

1:20:52

American conservatism as we know it today is a West Texas export, argues College of Wooster professor Jeff Roche in The Conservative Frontier: Texas and the Origins of the New Right (U Texas Press, 2025). Tracing the roots of the state's conservative movement back to the giant cattle ranches and tycoons of the nineteenth century, Roche argues that …

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Celina Su, "Budget Justice: On Building Grassroots Politics and Solidarities" (Princeton UP, 2025) 35:32

22d ago35:32

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Amid political repression and a deepening affordability crisis, Budget Justice: On Building Grassroots Politics and Solidarities (Princeton UP, 2025) challenges everything you thought you knew about “dull” and daunting government budgets. It shows how the latter confuse and mislead the public by design, not accident. Arguing that they are moral doc…

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Alex Depledge MBE on taking a Founder’s Mind into the Government & why the UK is a great place to scale 40:59

20d ago40:59

40:59

What does it really take to build and scale Startups in the UK, even when the odds feel stacked against you? Find out from today’s 40 Minute Mentor, Alex Depledge MBE, serial entrepreneur, Co-Founder and CEO of Resi, and Entrepreneurship Advisor to the Chancellor of the Exchequer - the first time an entrepreneur has ever sat at the heart of the UK …

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Mirya Holman, "The Hidden Face of Local Power: Appointed Boards and the Limits of Democracy" (Temple UP, 2025) 44:08

23d ago44:08

44:08

The Hidden Face of Local Power: Appointed Boards and the Limits of Democracy (Temple UP, 2025) by Dr. Mirya Holman explicates the purpose, role, and consequences of appointed boards in U.S. cities. Dr. Holman finds cities create strong boards that generate policy, consolidate power, and defend the interests of businesses and wealthy and white resid…

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Matt Sleat, "Post-Liberalism" (Polity, 2025) 42:13

27d ago42:13

42:13

Liberalism may feel as though it has been around forever - as the "dominant ideology of the modern west" - but not even its advocates and detractors can agree what it is. Political sophisticates ask whether it is classical-, social-, ordo- or neo-liberal while American main street associates it with socialism. Yet a new generation of "post-liberal"…

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Kathryn Chelminski, "Governing Energy Transitions: A Study of Regime Complex Effectiveness on Geothermal Development in Indonesia and the Philippines" (Cambridge UP, 2025) 55:30

27d ago55:30

55:30

As the world moves with increasing urgency to mitigate climate change and catalyze energy transitions to net zero, understanding the governance mechanisms that will unlock barriers to energy transitions is of critical importance. Governing Energy Transitions: A Study of Regime Complex Effectiveness on Geothermal Development in Indonesia and the Phi…

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Talent Predictions for 2026: How to attract and hire the best talent in the year ahead with Amplified People Group’s Sophie Graci, Zach Rose, James Adams and Lisa Crane 44:21

27d ago44:21

44:21

What does the hiring landscape really look like for 2026, and how can founders attract and retain exceptional talent in a market that’s evolving faster than ever? Continuing on from Wednesday’s episode on People Predictions for 2026, James Mitra is joined by more Amplified People Group team members, Sophie Graci and Zach Rose from JBM, James Adams …

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Stephen Skowronek, "The Adaptability Paradox: Political Inclusion and Constitutional Resilience" (U Chicago Press, 2025) 53:36

28d ago53:36

53:36

The Adaptability Paradox: Political Inclusion and Constitutional Resilience (U Chicago Press, 2025) is a complex and important analysis of the American constitutional system, of the U.S. Constitution itself, and the way that pressures on that system have pushed and pulled on the institutions of government, federalism, and ultimately democracy. Step…

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People Predictions for 2026: The Future of Leadership and High-Performing Teams with Amplified Group’s Sophie Matthews, Nat Falconer, Mikael Nilsson and Logan Black 43:53

29d ago43:53

43:53

What does the year ahead really hold for leaders, founders and people teams? In this special 40 Minute Mentor roundtable, James Mitra is joined by Amplified Group’s people experts, Sophie Matthews, Nat Falconer and Mikael Nilsson from Foundation Partners, and Logan Black from Unleashed, to explore the biggest people and talent trends shaping 2026. …

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Peace A. Medie, "Global Norms and Local Action: The Campaigns to End Violence Against Women in Africa" (Oxford UP, 2020) 1:02:06

1M ago1:02:06

1:02:06

In Global Norms and Local Action: The Campaigns to End Violence against Women in Africa (Oxford UP, 2020), Peace A. Medie studies the domestic implementation of international norms by examining how and why two post-conflict states in Africa, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire, have differed in their responses to rape and domestic violence. Specifically, she…