What makes a country worth loving? Is patriotism about flags, freedom, democracy, or the people who hold a nation together behind the scenes?

In this episode of Transatlantic Bookmarks, we celebrate America’s 249th Independence Day by moving beyond the headlines to ask a bigger question: What makes a country worth fighting for, protecting, or simply loving? We discuss patriotism, democracy, American history, the Fourth of July, Michael Lewis’s Who Is Government?, Hamilton, Lonesome Dove, nationalism, citizenship, NATO, the European Union, Montenegro, and what literature can teach us about civic life.

Whether you’re interested in books, politics, history, literary fiction, democracy, public service, patriotism, or thoughtful long-form conversations, we hope you’ll join us.

📚 Books Mentioned

• Who Is Government? edited by Michael Lewis
• South and West by Joan Didion
• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
• Steep Trails by John Muir
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• Moneyball by Michael Lewis
• Flash Boys by Michael Lewis
• Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
• Ms. Mabel Goes to the Chopping Block by Jesse Q. Sutanto
• The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
• Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang-Zi

💌 Our Substack & Show Notes:
https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/

📚 Read Ksenija’s Novels:
https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/p/publications

📚 Ksenija on Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6449766.Ksenija_Popovi_

🎙️ ABOUT TRANSATLANTIC BOOKMARKS

Hosted by European novelist Ksenija Popović and American engineer Sue Graham Johnston, Transatlantic Bookmarks is a weekly literary podcast that uses books as the starting point for conversations about culture, history, psychology, morality, politics, and the questions hiding between the lines.

New episodes every Saturday.

👉🏻 CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro
00:42 Happy Fourth of July
03:31 What We’re Reading
08:09 American Democracy and Independence
13:17 The Price of Independence in the Balkans
24:05 Unsung Heroes in Government
34:41 What Is Patriotism Today?
51:34 Post-9/11 America and Post-Bataclan Paris
54:57 Can One Person Make a Difference?
01:04:12 Alexander Hamilton and the Founding Fathers
01:14:19 Book Recommendations

What happens when distance changes the way we see the world—and ourselves?

Inspired by Samantha Harvey’s Orbital, we explore the Overview Effect: the profound shift astronauts describe after seeing Earth from space. From there, the conversation expands into borders, war, loneliness, mortality, perspective, and the relief that can come from stepping back.

Along the way, we discuss the International Space Station, the former Yugoslavia, Viktor Frankl's Man’s Search for Meaning, climate anxiety, AI and art, social media, body image, and why some books help us see familiar things from a completely different angle.

📚 BOOKS MENTIONED:
• Training for the Uphill Athlete by Steve House, Scott Johnston, and Kilian Jornet
• Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose
• Orbital by Samantha Harvey
• In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
• Awe by Dacher Keltner
• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
• The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd
• Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

💌 Our Substack & Show Notes:
https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/

📚 Read Ksenija’s Novels:
https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/p/publications

📚 Ksenija on Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6449766.Ksenija_Popovi_

🎙️ ABOUT TRANSATLANTIC BOOKMARKS

Hosted by European novelist Ksenija Popović and American engineer Sue Graham Johnston, Transatlantic Bookmarks uses books as the starting point for conversations about culture, history, psychology, morality, politics, and the questions hiding between the lines.

New episodes every Saturday.

👉🏻 CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro
00:25 What We’re Reading
08:03 The Overview Effect
19:14 Isolation vs. Connection
26:09 When Borders Disappear
33:46 Judging from a Distance
39:05 Above Situationalists
48:26 Literature and Human Empathy
52:39 Literature, Climate, and the Earth
59:08 Mortality, Meaning, and Daily Life
01:01:40 Body Image and Beauty Standards
01:08:08 Book Recommendations

What makes a book dangerous?

In this episode of Transatlantic Bookmarks, we discuss banned books, censorship, school libraries, Pride Month, LGBTQ literature, free speech, and the role books play in helping us understand lives different from our own. From John Steinbeck and Upton Sinclair to Alice Walker and Andrew Sean Greer, we explore why certain books become cultural battlegrounds and who gets to decide what belongs on the shelf.

We also discuss book bans in the United States, the difference between age-appropriate reading and censorship, the role of librarians, LGBTQ representation in literature, and why societies often seem more comfortable with violence than with sex. At the center of the conversation is a simple question: what do we lose when access to books becomes restricted?

📚 BOOKS MENTIONED:
• No Shortcuts to the Top by Ed Viesturs (with David Roberts)
• Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
• White Teeth by Zadie Smith
• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
• Das Kapital by Karl Marx
• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
• The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
• The Works of Immanuel Kant
• Less by Andrew Sean Greer
• The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
• The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
• The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
• The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker

💌 Our Substack & Show Notes:
https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/

📚 Read Ksenija’s Novels:
https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/p/publications

📚 Ksenija on Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6449766.Ksenija_Popovi_

🎙️ ABOUT TRANSATLANTIC BOOKMARKS

Hosted by European novelist Ksenija Popović and American engineer Sue Graham Johnston, Transatlantic Bookmarks uses books as the starting point for conversations about culture, history, psychology, morality, politics, and the questions hiding between the lines.

New episodes every Saturday.

👉🏻 CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro
02:49 What We’re Reading
05:21 The Fear of a Different Opinion
08:54 The Role of Literature in Critical Thinking
09:20 Pride Month and LGBTQ Representation
16:23 Cultural Divides in America
21:23 Book Banning in the United States
25:55 The Case for Censorship
33:46 The Hypocrisy of Censorship
38:03 Censoring Socialism
43:36 LGBTQIA+ in the Balkans
49:28 Unexpected Events and Personal Stories
51:13 Pride Marches: Corporate Influence vs. Authenticity
52:45 The Role of Librarians in Democracy
56:13 Both Sides Are Banning