Not Dead Yet

Ok, they’ll bite. What’s a university? Ben and Chris are joined by legendary university president E. Gordon Gee. Public trust is in collapse, the core curriculum looks like a Cheesecake Factory menu, the math doesn’t add up, and college football looks a heckuva lot like professional football. The guys cover it all. Boy do Stirewalt and Gee love West Virginia.

The guys do some deep work. Prolific author and computer scientist Cal Newport joins the podcast. The gang talks about why email is a slog, what sparks human creativity, why the good life needs thoughtful deliberation, why Slack is a bummer, why the apocalyptic AI warnings are out of control, why productivity is different than busyness, and what we can do about it.

You write; they talk. Bicycle gangs are good, schools are overrated, chronological snobbery is bad, vocations are always plural, and Chris waxes poetic about his favorite hot dog.

The guys get fancy when Andrew Roberts, Baron Roberts of Belgravia, joins the pod. (Again with the historians.) The guys talk about Churchill and the Special Relationship between the United States and Great Britain. What was Churchill’s political philosophy? What did the wilderness years teach him? What’s the deal with the “Black Dog” anyway? And who would win in a cage match: Teddy Roosevelt or Winston Churchill?

Everyone knows the Warrior Poets get the headlines, but do Warrior Historians deserve the recognition? Do free societies produce better soldiers? How do leaders know when to be disagreeable? H.R. McMaster joins the guys to talk about the history of tanks, the dynamics of leadership and teamwork, and his reading list of American heroes. James Webb — Fields of Fire James R. McDonough — Platoon Leader: A Memoir of Command in Combat Charles B. McDonald — Company Commander: The Classic Infantry Memoir of World War II Leo Tolstoy — The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories Michael Shaara —The Killer Angels Anton Myrer — Once An Eagle John Keegan — The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme Lewis Sorley — Thunderbolt: General Creighton Abrams and the Army of His Time Carlo D'Este — Patton: Genius for War, A – The Definitive Portrait of the Complex and Misunderstood American Warrior

Everything’s great and nobody’s happy? Megan joins the guys to talk about affluenza. Each generation has to figure it out — so take some risks, make some bad decisions, and embrace scar tissue.

History, storytelling, and America, baby! Ken Burns joins the guys to talk about the work he’s done to translate the American experience to a wide audience. What makes a good documentary? What’s the deal with professional historians? Is “The Ashokan Farewell” a true playlist banger?

Ok, they’ll bite. What is poetry? Poet and critic Dana Gioia joins the guys to talk about poetry. How do poems reward the reader? What can verse tell us about memory? What’s the deal with poets?

As America celebrates 250 years, the guys talk with Jeff Rosen about the pursuit of happiness. Did Ben Franklin and John Adams really see it the same way? Does self-government depend on reading and virtue? How was Milton an influence on the Founders? Also… poetry?

Ben and Chris talk with one of the most interesting people in Silicon Valley who isn’t actually in Silicon Valley. Ben’s got morphine fog. Katherine’s got parenting sleep deprivation. Perfect conditions to talk about intergenerational family life, American dynamism, and the case for optimism.

Dave talks with the guys about the problem of replacing faith with the cheap imitations of disordered goods, the need for thick community, the emptiness of striving, and the need for grace. Come for the critique of moral therapeutic deism — stick around for David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech and Emo Philips’ stand-up.

Happy Fathers Day! While Chris is pulled away for journalism stuff, Ben talks about more important things with America’s football family. Jack and John Harbaugh talk about building character, raising families, and living with gratitude. “Who's got it better than us? Nobody!” Listeners: Always run out your pop flies, or Jack Harbaugh will make you — and probably your brother — walk home.

Indiana is better than West Virginia, nobody disagrees — except Chris. Ben, Chris, and the former Governor — and reality TV star? — Mitch Daniels talk about higher education, the need to deliver competency for taxpayers, and the looming debt crisis.

Ben can’t do pull-ups anymore, so it’s a great time to talk to Admiral William McRaven. The guys talk about the fine line between swagger and arrogance, the importance of clear communication, and the way McRaven built his teams of Navy Seals. Lots of conversation about failure as a teacher and McRaven’s top-5 must-read book recommendations. Show Notes: Admiral McRaven's book recommendations: — Marcus Aurelius: Meditations — Anton Myrer: Once an Eagle — Erich Maria Remarque: All Quiet on the Western Front — Will Durant — Ella Wheeler Wilcox — Rudyard Kipling — Stephen M. R. Covey: The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything — Ian MacHorton: The Hundred Days of Lt. MacHorton

This Q&A episode has everything. Habits, dispositional conservatism, family bookshelves, Bo Jackson, Viking longboats, Apollo space ships, theology, and more. In an effort to avoid premature elaboration, the gang does a lightning round of false binaries.

Ben and Chris talk with tech analyst Ben Thompson about the future. Is AI heaven, or hell, or both? Does the future belong to China or the United States? What’s the deal with Silicon Valley and does American ingenuity require a little insanity?

Singer, songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer Clint Black joins underachievers Ben and Chris. The gang talks about country music, writing, parenting, career choices, and gratitude. How much does art depend on lived-experience and pain, or can performers serve their audiences without working through their own trials?

Astronaut and Nebraskan Clayton Anderson joins the guys to talk about all things space. The human desire to explore, the vocation of spacewalking hundreds of miles above the earth, the rigors of NASA’s selection process, and the challenges of getting to Mars. Ben and Clayton agree Nebraska is better than West Virginia — it’s science.

Renaissance man Walter Russell Mead joins the guys to talk about history and global affairs. This episode has everything: Hamiltonians, Jeffersonians, Jacksonians, Wilsonians, Israel, Iran, tech companies, and the kitchen sink.

Ben and Chris talk a bit about their first jobs and how child labor laws are ruining the country. Then things get super nerdy when Nicholas Eberstadt joins the guys to talk about demographic decline, labor force participation, why men need work.