Politics & Social Sciences

In A Beginner's Guide to Dying Simon considers and collates the things that have given him such a great sense of peace and contentment, and why dying at 46 really isn't so bad. And for that reason it's also only partly about 'dying'. It is mostly a hymn to the joy and preciousness of life, and why giving death a place can help all of us make even more of it.

At the beginning of 2022, after eight years of political reporting in the US, Jon Sopel returned home to the UK – and having spent almost a third of his career abroad, he found a very different place to the one he left. In Strangeland, his first book since launching the global hit podcast The News Agents, he asks: What is the Britain he’s come home to? In the US, Jon was the outsider looking in, firm in the belief that the common language of English masked our fundamental differences; in terms of values and beliefs, it seemed the British had much more in common with our European neighbours.

ADHD may be the defining diagnosis of our time. According to the latest data, more than 10 percent of American children (that’s 7.1 million kids) have been diagnosed with ADHD. And the number of stimulant prescriptions for adults in their 30s has shot up nearly threefold since 2012. In recent years, this explosion in demand has combined with other factors to create a widespread stimulant shortage in the US. In the second installment of Backfired, cohosts Leon Neyfakh and Arielle Pardes look at the unintended consequences of the ADHD industry, and trace the surprising path that brought us here.

In Taken As Red acclaimed political journalist Anushka Asthana takes listeners behind the scenes of the 2024 general election campaign. As the political landscape undergoes a seismic shift, this gripping account provides an unprecedented insider's perspective on the inner workings of Keir Starmer's Labour and Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives, and the events of this high-stakes electoral contest as it unfolded.

For centuries we’ve been sold a lie: that you need to own the land to care for it. Just 1% of the population own half of England, and this tiny landowning elite like to present themselves as the rightful custodians of the countryside. They’re even paid billions of pounds of public money to be good stewards. But what happens when they just don’t care?

In 2022, Andrew Tate went from a little-known kickboxer and failed reality TV star to a lifestyle icon for legions of men and boys, and a figure that would define a new era of misogyny. Tate started the year as a fringe internet celebrity, but by August he was the most googled man in the world. In that same month, Matt Shea and Jamie Tahsin gained access to his Bucharest compound and infamous War Room, making a documentary that would result in the first women coming forward to accuse him publicly of sexual and physical violence.

In 1896, a Jewish state was a pipe dream. Today the overwhelming majority of Jews identify as Zionists. How did this happen? Ilan Pappe unveils how a lobby changed the map of the Middle East. Zionists exerted pressure on the Congress, cracked down on dissent in the Labour Party, and relentlessly smeared critics.

Will Johnnie Veal—convicted of the murder of two police officers in 1970—be granted parole after 50 years in prison? How can he convince the parole board he’s reformed when he insists he’s innocent? What is prison time even supposed to accomplish? These are the questions that propel The Parole Room forward as it builds toward Johnnie’s 20th parole hearing—after 19 rejections.

The history of Latino culture in the Americas is much bigger and broader than we often realize. In this place, where the Old World and the New clashed and merged in spectacular fashion over the course of several centuries, we see a microcosm of world history with all its facets and complexities. In the six lectures of Great Figures of Latino History, art historian and anthropologist Dr. Khristin Montes will introduce you to many of the people that have shaped Latino culture and identity on scales both global and local.

Scientist and 'Chaser' Dr Darragh Ennis reveals everything about the human body in ten informative, bite-sized essays. We all have questions about our body that we really should know the answers to, so discover why blood is red, how our body defends itself, why we sleep, how hormones control everything we do and much, much more!

Apartheid Tropical conta a história de como, após abolição da escravatura, o Estado brasileiro escondeu em sua leis mecanismos sofisticados de segregação racial com o objetivo de eliminar a população negra do país, se estruturando a partir de micro-histórias que ajudam a reconstruir uma história maior. Cada episódio tem um eixo-temático e pelo menos um personagem negro como fio condutar da narrativa que ajuda a explicar os mecanismos legais de segregação do Brasil. Essas são as “micro-histórias”.

In Confronting the Presidents, O’Reilly and Dugard present 45 wonderfully entertaining and insightful portraits of each president, with no-spin commentary on their achievements—or lack thereof. These and many more questions are answered in each fascinating chapter of Confronting the Presidents. Written with O’Reilly and Dugard’s signature style, authority, and eye for telling detail, Confronting the Presidents will delight all listeners of history, politics, and current affairs, especially during the 2024 election season.

Apresentamos as facetas do consumo e espetacularização do horror a partir de referencial teórico de Freud e da Escola de Frankfurt, entre outros pensadores. Trata-se de debater o gosto e os significados culturais em torno da atmosfera sinistra presente nos filmes de terror, programas policialescos e a comoção gerada em em séries e documentários sobre assassinatos que relatam acontecimentos reais. A relação entre consumo, inconsciente, cultura de massas e o medo será abordada, enfatizando estes considerados estranhos comportamentos sociais.

Society has never been more egalitarian—in theory. Prejudice is taboo, and diversity is strongly valued. At the same time, social and economic inequality have exploded. In We Have Never Been Woke, Musa al-Gharbi argues that these trends are closely related, each tied to the rise of a new elite—the symbolic capitalists.

Karl Marx (1818–1883) was living in exile in England when he embarked on an ambitious multivolume critique of the capitalist system of production. Though only the first volume saw publication in Marx’s lifetime, it would become one of the most consequential books in history. This magnificent new edition of Capital is a translation of Marx for the twenty-first century.

Explore the foundational text of yoga philosophy with Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras as interpreted by Swami Vivekananda. This insightful commentary on the ancient sutras reveals the essence of yoga practice, encompassing the physical, mental and spiritual dimensions. Swami Vivekananda's clear and profound explanations make these teachings accessible to modern audiences, offering a comprehensive guide to achieving mental clarity, inner peace and ultimate self-realization.

The only child of Holocaust survivors who fled to Australia in 1950, Kruszelnicki has always forged his own destiny in an idiosyncratic way. Before he became one of the world's favourite scientific storytellers, he ambled through a convoluted cacophony of a career. In this long-awaited autobiography, you will learn that it's okay not to have a linear path through life, and that by following our curiosities and our passions, we can bend the universe to our liking.

The devastation of 7 October 2023 and the horrors that followed astounded the world. But the Israel-Palestine conflict didn't start on 7 October. It didn't start in 1967 either, when Israel occupied the West Bank, or in 1948 when the state of Israel was declared. It started in 1882, when the first Zionist settlers arrived in what was then Ottoman Palestine. Ilan Pappe untangles the history of two peoples, now sharing one land.

Through clear-eyed essays and vibrant conversations, infused with data and poetry, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson guides us through solutions and possibilities at the nexus of science, policy, culture, and justice. Visionary farmers and financiers, architects and advocates, help us conjure a flourishing future, one worth the effort it will take—from every one of us, with whatever we have to offer—to create.

S--t You Should Care about was launched as a WordPress blog by three best friends in the back of a political science lecture. Today it's a global ecosystem of content - two podcasts, 3.5 million Instagram followers and a daily newsy. They are your culture vultures, news agents and (reluctant) agony aunts all rolled into one. Make It Make Sense is a collage of cultural analysis, anecdotes, personal essays, poems, and lists, interplayed like a conversation between friends.

Fox News war correspondent Trey Yingst shares his gripping, firsthand account of the events of October 7, 2023, and the ensuing war, offering riveting insight and fresh facts that clarify the scope and magnitude of this latest and most dramatic outbreak in one of the bloodiest, most nuanced, and longest-standing conflicts in modern history.

Challenging the view that autism is something that needs to be ‘cured', Virginia Bovell testifies to the extraordinary care Danny has received for over 30 years and the everyday kindness and decency of the people – ‘the band of angels' – that surround him. She asks us to consider what makes a thriving individual versus an inadequate one; what it means to be ill versus what it means to not to conform; what roles society values and rewards; and how humans might flourish outside of failing political and economic systems.

Something’s gone wrong in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. We can all feel it, but if we’re being honest, most of us don’t understand it. At the end of the day, we don’t have all the facts, and if you don’t know how something works, how do you fix it? A Return to Common Sense is a concise, no-nonsense, dare we say fun, guide to how America works and a roadmap to reclaiming a government of, by, and for the people.

It’s rare that a campaign season has anything like an IRS whistleblower and a California US attorney saying they were blocked from pursuing charges, foreign wire transfers of millions of dollars going to several members of politician’s family, suspicious slap-on-the-wrist plea deals, mounds of incrimination texts, a previously unacknowledged child with a stripper, and multiple congressional investigations. It’s unprecedented to have them all tied to one politician like Joe Biden.

Did you know that trees collaborate, communicate, and engage in chemical warfare? Or that humans are better at smelling rain than sharks are at smelling blood? Sometimes, life gets boring. Your sense of wonder often gets lost in a pile of chores, paperwork, and obligations. With tons of boredom-busting facts and mysteries about plants, animals, history, space travel, and everything in between, you have a set of fail-safe conversation starters up your sleeve.