The NPR Politics Podcast

Bob is a political scientist with a long list of accolades to his name and an array of books, including 2015's Our Kids and 2020's The Upswing.

Bob is a political scientist with a long list of accolades to his name and an array of books, including 2015's Our Kids and 2020's The Upswing.

OK, and I'm going to be drawing here largely on on this new book, The Upswing.

I mean, look, one example is that and we talk about this in The Upswing and I talked about it in Bowling Alone.

He has a new book out about Gen Z's political coming of age. This month he's out with a new book called Fight, which is all about how Gen Z votes, how they live their lives, the things they believe in.

The big point that John made to me in our interview over and over again is the fact that this is a unique generation and it is a generation whose lives, perhaps from the moment they were born, have been in many ways defined by crisis.

And that's what De La Volpe digs into in this book, looking at how the crises of climate change, the pandemic, economic instability and mentalhealth challenges shape Gen Z's political outlook.

I learned both from reading the book and conversation with David Hogg, the Parkland activist who wrote the foreword to the book, that it's made these young people feel like they have to take ownership of the situation for themselves.

John De La Volpe said over and over again that he believes there is an alarming mentalhealth crisis among Gen Zers that he's very troubled by, and he wrote about this really interesting moment from a focus group in the book.

Sasha Eisenberg's The Engagement is an exhaustive, deep, really kind of monumental look at the long road to marriage equality in the United States.

From its early beginnings in places like Hawaii and Massachusetts, to the landmark 2015 Supreme Court ruling that made same-sex marriage legal across the country.

This book really gets at the complex relationship between the Supreme Court and public opinion.

And I told the story of a circle of very wealthy donors led by Tim Gill who had been a software pioneer... they built an infrastructure that is focused on marriage above or maybe at the expense of some of these other priorities.

He's also written three prior books, including 2012's The Victory Lab about modern political campaigns.

All right. So I went to the library over the weekend with my kid and we're looking through the kids section and he brings over to me a book that I absolutely cannot let go of and it is Lil NasX, C Is for Country.

Yes, that LilNasX. He has a kid's book and it's amazing. Is it like an alphabet book, like in the genre of alphabet books? Yes.

When I suggested this one, our producer Barton asked me if it was not suitable for work or suitable for work and I said that it's a children's book and I sure hope it's suitable for work.

My absolute favorite one is F because F is for fringe and feathers and fake fur. I love that for me. It features him hanging out in his house riding his horse Panini. I is for itty bitty pony and it is LilNasX in a pink cowboy outfit and a pink cowboy hat hopping up on his horse Panini and O, of course, is for Old Town Road.

But you don't have to take Kelsey's word for it. No, you can go and find this book wherever fine children's books are sold. Or even checked out for free. Checked out for free at the DC Public Library.

Steve is the author of Cokie, A Life Well Lived.

The earlier one is a story about how so many young women for a generation heard her on public radio or watched her on TV and said, I can be that smart. I can be that strong. I could be myself. And that was a marvelous legacy. But that was the public Cokie, the private Cokie, which Nina knew very well, was a woman who did something good for somebody else every single day of her life. And it was these private acts of friendship and charity and loyalty that in some ways, as I did the book, became even more important to me.

And for a very simple reason, not everybody can be a TV star or radio star like Cokie or Tamara or Nina, but everybody can be a good person and everybody can learn something from Cokie's private life that they can apply to their own.

And that's really the main message I wanted to convey in the book. I think a day doesn't go by that I don't think what would Cokie do?

Steve is the author of Cokie, A Life Well Lived.

If I had a problem with it, I wouldn't have spent two years writing a book about her. The more I got into it, the more I realized that there were really two Cokies and two stories.

The more familiar one is the story about how so many young women for a generation heard her on public radio or watched her on TV and said, I can be that smart. I can be that strong. I can be myself.

Raffensperger has a new book out which includes details all about that moment. It's called Integrity Counts.

In the book, you detail some of the threats and harassment that your family faced.

Hey there, it's Danielle I'm here to announce our next pick for the Politics Podcast book club, The Engagement by Sasha Eisenberg. It's the reallife epic story about how samesex marriage came to be legal in the U.S., complete with all the characters and politicking that made it happen.

This is Morning Edition from NPR News. I am lovable for you, Cal Grover. I'm Ian Martinez. And I'm Steve Inskeep. Our cohost there is a Muppet from Sesame Street. Grover, like NPR, is celebrating a 50th anniversary. Oh my goodness. Well, happy birthday to NPR. But in Grover's case, this is for the classic children's book, The Monster at the End of This Book. It's a fabulous classic children's book that basically breaks the wall to the reader, to children. And from what I understand, it's the first time it has happened with a children's book. This book was published in 1971, where Grover is speaking to the reader saying, don't go to the end of this book. There's a monster. Don't do it. He's building brick walls. He's doing whatever he can to convince the child reading, don't go there. And he warns us this morning, I'm sorry for our young listeners, spoiler alert, he's the monster.

This time we are talking to Kristen Kobus-Dum, author of Jesus and John Wayne, How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation. It's a genuinely fascinating book.

One of those is the pendulum swing of backlash and then gaining power. You write about the 2008 election saying that militant evangelicalism was always at its strongest with the clear enemy to fight. The 60s and 70s, it seemed like the clear enemy then was longhaired hippies... in your book.

the book again is Jesus and John Wayne, How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation.

the popularity of John Eldridge's book, Wild at Heart, caught my attention. Everybody was reading it in evangelical spaces in the early 2000s.

The book, by the way, sold more than 4 million copies. It was a big deal, still is in many circles.

author of Jesus and John Wayne, How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation. It's a genuinely fascinating book.

And there are these cycles that seem to repeat themselves throughout your book.

the book again is Jesus and John Wayne. How white evangelicals corrupted a faith and fractured a nation.

the popularity of John Eldridge's book, Wild at Heart caught my attention. Everybody was reading it in evangelical spaces in the early 2000s.

To Bo Baumer, Gordie Felt from the Families of Flight 93 and Tom McMillan, the author of the book Flight 93.

It is Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobus-Dum. It's an engrossing read about the intersection of white evangelicalism, the GOP, and masculinity. We will be talking about the book with Kristin in mid-September. So go get your copy of the book now, read it, and join our Facebook group.

Our May pick, like we have announced, remains Fulfillment by Alec Magillis.

and I am excited to announce our next pick for the NPR Politics Podcast Book Club. Fulfillment, Winning and Losing in One-Click America by Alec Magillis. It's a deeply reported book about Amazon's huge economic and political impact in America.

We announced it today in the Facebook group, and now we're announcing it here. It is Fulfillment by Alec Magillis. It is thus far, I am not finished with it yet, but thus far, an excellent, really well reported book about Amazon, about it being an economic and political behemoth.

Okay, I love my same day and two day delivery. So this sounds like that might mess with that. I just watched Nomadland with Frances McDormand, and I will say that, yeah, my picture of Amazon, not exactly bolstered by that movie. So I'm really interested to read it.

Our pick this time is Uncivil Agreement, How Politics Became Our Identity by Liliana Mason.

I wanted to start really simply with you, but basically with how your book starts, with a story you tell about the Eagles and the Rattlers.

So one of the big points of your book is about this change in how we are sorted and how we have increasingly lost what you call crosscutting identities.

Liliana, your book came out well before the 2020 election.