Avi's Conversational Corner
A podcast on culture, history, and politics in a broad perspective
About the show
Welcome! Here I will talk to a range of people on issues which interest me and I hope you, from religious slogans and wargaming to deeper political ideas to forgotten historical episodes. Bring up a chair, get comfortable, and enjoy!
- Avi
Episodes
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Episode 23 (Stumbling Colossus, 2): For God and Country
January 19th, 2022 | 42 mins 44 secs
cities, gilded age, midwest, politics, race
Dr. Miles Smith discusses how Protestant America went from elation at the end of the Civil War to dread over their future at the end of WWI.
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Episode 22 (Stumbling Colossus, 1): The WASPs
January 10th, 2022 | 1 hr 2 mins
antisemitism, higher education, politics, protestantism, race
Professor Samuel Goldman discusses the rise, fall, and legacy of one of America's great self-appointed elites.
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Episode 21: Teaching the Founding Fathers
December 13th, 2021 | 1 hr 1 min
1619 project, enlightenment, founding fathers
Dr. Jay Cost discusses the pros and cons of the Founding Fathers and the American experiment more generally.
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Episode 20: Conservatives and the University
November 22nd, 2021 | 44 mins 3 secs
Professor James Patterson discusses the challenges of conservative teachers and students in existing and potentially new universities.
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Episode 19: Obedience in Our Time
November 8th, 2021 | 44 mins 59 secs
antigone, aristotle, just war theory, macintyre, obedience
Dr. Pauline Shanks Kaurin discusses the meaning and imperative of obedience and morality in a postmodern age.
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Episode 18: The Life, Death, and Future of Small Town America
August 10th, 2021 | 30 mins 2 secs
albany, carpet industry, mohawk valley, state university of new york
Historian David Pietrusza discusses his hometown of Amsterdam, NY from its heyday to its decline to its possible revival.
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Episode 17: West Virginia - Past, Present, Future
June 7th, 2021 | 37 mins 46 secs
kevin williamson, opioids, trump, west virginia
Andrew Donaldson, West Virginia native, comes on to discuss the much misunderstood state, its problems and its prospects.
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Episode 16: Charlie Brown's America
May 24th, 2021 | 47 mins 41 secs
Professor Blake Scott Ball discusses how Charles Schulz understood America - and how America understood his work in Peanuts.
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Episode 15: Teaching in America
October 10th, 2020 | 48 mins 17 secs
Teacher and writer Daniel Buck discusses the challenges and promise of teaching in America from multiple perspectives.
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Episode 14: Power, Freedom, and Jews
August 26th, 2020 | 1 hr 38 mins
I talk with Nathan Sharansky and Gil Troy about their new book Never Alone, a memoir and musing on power and freedom around the world and among Jews.
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Episode 13: New Media - Promise and Peril
August 11th, 2020 | 54 mins 43 secs
Tech journalist and sociology grad student Hutton discusses the good and bad of political social media, gaming communities, podcasts, and more.
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Episode 12: Evangelicals - The Next Generation
July 7th, 2020 | 42 mins 49 secs
Josh, a medical student and young Evangelical, discusses the past, present, and future of Evangelical Christianity
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Episode 11: Jews and the Military (Yagil Henkin)
June 16th, 2020 | 49 mins 15 secs
idf, israel, jews, vietnam, wwi, wwii
Dr. Yagil Henkin discusses the evolving attitudes of the Jews towards military force and the use thereof.
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Episode 10: The Agony of the Kresy
February 25th, 2020 | 37 mins 34 secs
belarussians, gulag, hitler, jews, katyn, poland, poles, stalin
Tim Bucknall discusses the destruction and rebuilding of the Polish borderlands and its community in WWII and beyond.
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Episode 9: Spaceship Paganism and Transgender Souls
February 4th, 2020 | 39 mins 40 secs
antinatalism, mars, religion, science, transgender
Rabbi Tzvi Kilov discusses the great potential of technology to reach into the beyond, the world of spirits and souls and God.
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Episode 8: Conservative Orders and Hispanic Americans (Jos. Laughon)
August 26th, 2019 | 47 mins 8 secs
Joseph and I discuss the relevance of Russel Kirk, LA city traditions present and (possibly) future, and why Hispanic Americans are not the bogeyman the right claims it to be.