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The Claremont Review of Books Podcast

35 Episodes

30 minutes | Mar 17, 2023
Theodore Dalrymple on the History of Mental Health Treatment
To close out the Fall 2022 issue, Spencer is joined by Anthony Daniels (pen name Theodore Dalrymple), a British physician, psychiatrist and prolific author of excellent books. They discuss the history of psychiatric treatment in the West, particularly its blatant barbarism until recently, where we've moved from barbarism to aggressive apathy as the mentally ill have been emptied from asylums to the city streets, where they languish, untreated. Daniels and Spencer talk about solutions to this unfortunate situation. Plus: a brief COVID retrospective from a sane medical professional.  
27 minutes | Feb 24, 2023
Charles Murray on Diversity & Democracy
Dr. Charles Murray, F. A. Hayek Chair Emeritus in Cultural Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Spencer to expand on his most recent essay for the CRB on how diversity and ethnic differences affect large democratic countries like the U.S. Dr. Murray discusses some of the evidence for his argument, as well as some ways in which these difficult truths can be applied to politics today. Plus: a reflection on the need to speak out in troubled times.
29 minutes | Feb 3, 2023
Barry Strauss on Julius Caesar
Cornell Professor and Hoover Institution Corliss Page Dean Fellow Barry Strauss joins Spencer to discuss his newest essay for the CRB on Caesar and the fall of the Roman republic. Strauss analyzes Caesar’s character and political calculations within the larger Roman political world. This naturally turns to contemporary discussion of what conditions would need to be met for a Caesar to emerge today.
43 minutes | Jan 18, 2023
Fall 2022 Review with Dr. Charles Kesler
Editor Charles Kesler and Associate Editor Spencer Klavan discuss the thought-provoking new fall 2022 CRB, including Michael Anton’s retrospective on the nuclear near-misses of 1983, Douglas Jeffrey's thoughtful insights into Merle Haggard's life, and Dr. Kesler’s own discussion of what 2022 might mean for 2024. Plus: how closely does the Late Roman Republic parallel us today?
22 minutes | Dec 9, 2022
Woke Racism with Dr. Harvey Mansfield
Harvard Professor and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Harvey C. Mansfield joins Spencer to discuss the state of woke dogma and groupthink at American universities. Mansfield reflects on the value of dissent for students who may be privately reconsidering the group mentality, which leads to broader discussion about the morality of equality and what we ought to do to shed the yoke of wokeism's inherent racism toward everyone.
37 minutes | Oct 28, 2022
Gunboat Diplomacy in Ukraine with Christopher Caldwell
Claremont Senior Fellow Christopher Caldwell joins Spencer to discuss Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and America’s involvement in it. Caldwell’s brief outline of Ukraine’s history with Russia leads them to a broader discussion of why Ukraine became the flash point for Russia’s ire, and how Americans are inclined to narrativize the war. As the conflict rages on in new and ill-defined ways, what position are everyday Americans left in?
32 minutes | Sep 23, 2022
Summer 2022 Review with Dr. Charles Kesler
Editor Charles Kesler and Associate Editor Spencer Klavan discuss the wide range of summer’s new CRB, including Chris Caldwell’s thorough analysis of America’s oblique but profound involvement in Ukraine, Michael Anton’s notes from quarantine in Dubai, and Dr. Kesler’s own essay on the several distinct generations of “voting rights”—a term which is gradually coming to imply representation by race or interest bloc. Plus: it’s been a very good year at the Supreme Court. What next?
39 minutes | Aug 12, 2022
Daniel J. Mahoney on the Disinformation of the 1619 Project
Professor Daniel J. Mahoney joins Spencer to discuss his thorough rebuttal to The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story. Exposing the Project’s willful ignorance and spiteful misinformation leads the two into a broader assessment of American education. The 1619 Project’s architects have engineered a comprehensive assault upon American history teaching from the earliest grades on upward—Professor Mahoney considers what can be done to countermand it.
37 minutes | Jul 22, 2022
The Close Read: Professor Allen Guelzo on The Historian’s Responsibility
Professor Allen C. Guelzo joins Spencer to discuss his review essay on Alan Taylor’s deflationist histories of America. Along the way, the two discuss the nature of history as a discipline in America and Europe, the true character of the United States, and the moral responsibilities of the historian.
30 minutes | Jun 24, 2022
The Close Read: Spring 2022 Review with Dr. Charles Kesler
Enemies abroad and unrest at home: Editor Charles Kesler and Associate Editor Spencer Klavan discuss the wide range of spring’s new CRB, including Mark Helprin’s in-depth analysis of the war in Ukraine, Nathan Pinkoski’s careful examination of how Spain’s republic self-destructed, and Dr. Kesler’s own comments on the precarity of Court-made rights. Plus: an excerpt from Klavan, Sr.’s new book.
36 minutes | May 20, 2022
The Close Read: Nathan Pinkoski on Revolutionary Socialism
Nathan Pinkoski, research fellow and director of academic programs at the Zephyr Institute, joins Spencer to discuss the Spanish Civil War and its implications for modern America. Contrary to the simple morality tale most people learn in school, the history of Spain’s Civil war was a complex demonstration of how a republic can die from self-inflicted wounds. Americans would do well to take note.
27 minutes | Apr 22, 2022
The Close Read: Chris Flannery on Lincoln’s Most Notable Speeches
Chris Flannery, Senior Fellow at the Claremont Institute, contributing editor of the Claremont Review of Books, and author of The American Story podcast, joins Spencer to discuss the enduring wisdom and meticulous composition of Abraham Lincoln’s speeches. These are words that were intended for posterity, so it pays to turn to them in our perilous moment as we fight for America’s future.
31 minutes | Mar 18, 2022
The Close Read: Winter 2021/2022 Review with Charles Kesler
In his latest editor’s note, Dr. Kesler identifies an emerging conflict between the anti-American Left, and the “post-American” Right. Spencer and Dr. Kesler discuss the conservative movement’s past and future as illustrated in essays from the issue. Plus: the CRB takes on the delicate subject of race in America.
31 minutes | Feb 11, 2022
The Close Read: Dr. Leonard Sax on The God Hypothesis
Is there a God? Can we believe? Or has science disproven all that? A prevailing assumption in the academy is that your life means no more than that of a jellyfish. Dr. Leonard Sax joins Spencer to explain how that mindset is crippling young adults, and to discuss a new book by Dr. Stephen C. Meyer on the Return of the God Hypothesis.
27 minutes | Jan 7, 2022
The Close Read: Mark Helprin on Foreign Policy Blunders
Mark Helprin, novelist and senior fellow of the Claremont Institute, joins Spencer to discuss America’s—and the West’s—apparent death wish. By making us as vulnerable as possible abroad, while simultaneously mimicking the authoritarianism of our supposed enemies at home, our leaders are flirting with disaster. What will come next—and is there any hope for the future?
32 minutes | Oct 29, 2021
The Close Read: Dr. William Voegeli on Degraded Crime Policy
Dr. William Voegeli, senior editor of the Claremont Review of Books, joins Spencer to analyze the Left’s increasingly dangerous relationship with crime. Urban Democrats have embraced a counterintuitive policy preference, enabling astonishingly high crime rates rather than working to reduce them. At the heart of it all is an urgent need to explain away violent crime as a cry for help from the perpetrators, rather than an offense against justice in need of redress.
26 minutes | Sep 17, 2021
The Close Read: Jeffrey Anderson on America’s Mask Regime
Jeffrey Anderson, former Trump appointee to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, joins Spencer to analyze the dubious science of mask mandates. Anderson’s essay, which was featured on Tucker Carlson Tonight, identifies how masks have been used to make Americans more submissive and erode our form of government.
28 minutes | Sep 10, 2021
The Close Read: Glenn Ellmers on Harry V. Jaffas’ Lessons for the Modern Right
Glenn Ellmers, Claremont Institute senior fellow and author of the new book The Soul of Politics, joins Spencer to discuss the enduring relevance of Harry V. Jaffa’s life and scholarship for our challenging political times. Plus: is the modern academy unmaking our best and brightest?
31 minutes | Aug 20, 2021
The Close Read: The Fall of Afghanistan with Charles Kesler
The CRB’s Summer edition is wide-ranging, covering topics including masking, crime, and a prescient editor’s note about the fiasco that is Afghanistan’s fall. Join Dr. Kesler and Spencer as they discuss the significance of the collapse of Kabul, a brief history of how we got there, and what lessons can be gleaned from it all. Plus: an overview of the whole edition.
28 minutes | Jul 23, 2021
The Close Read: Andrew Roberts on Vindicating Churchill
Andrew Roberts, author of the new book Churchill: Walking with Destiny, joins Spencer to discuss the legacy of Winston Churchill and the lessons we can draw from his greatness. Plus: a sneak peek at Roberts’s forthcoming defense of King George III.
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