The Back of the Book

Twenty-five years ago, the New York City band The Strokes released one of the most widely hyped debut albums in rock history. Critics saw them as the saviors of rock n’ roll. But if the cultural influence of modern rock music is any indication, that promise fell short. In his new book Is This It: The Never-Ending Rise and Fall of the Strokes (and Rock ‘n’ Roll), music journalist Steven Hyden considers the fickle fate of rock through the trajectory of the Strokes’ career. He joins the podcast to discuss how the Strokes fit into rock history, why they captured such attention, and what their latest releases indicate about the future of music. He and Chris also discuss cigarettes, the return of Oasis, and Wisconsin sports culture. 

Show Notes:Steven Hyden’s book, Is This It
Steven’s Substack, Evil Speakers
The Strokes song with a Barry Manilow melody, “Razorblade” 
Chris’s review of Steven’s Is This It in The Wall Street Journal
Chris discusses the Strokes on the Political Beats podcast
Lizzy Goodman, Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011
Time Stamps: 
2:19 — Introduction to the Strokes (and how they’d “save rock”)
6:16 — Generational views on rock music
14:04 — The 5x5 Continuum and cultural transference
19:12 — The “cool” aesthetic and cigarettes
23:05 — The Midwestern view of a New York band
28:24 — Is This It, American version
35:44 — Changes in music criticism
40:48 — Reality Awaits: music in the digital age
48:43 — Technology, music, and the middle-class band
52:50 — The Oasis reunion: a participatory performance
57:06 — In praise of Wisconsin sports culture

Opening and closing music: Brendan Benson, “Spit It Out,” used with permission from the artist.

Produced by Keira Stenson.

Let’s keep celebrating the semiquincentennial by tackling the remarkable history of our most inspirational founding document. Historian and Hoover Institution fellow Michael Auslin joins the podcast to discuss National Treasure: How the Declaration of Independence Made America. He and Chris cover the document’s chaotic creation, its less-than-ideal preservation, and its enduring impact on almost ten generations of Americans. 

Show Notes:
Michael Auslin’s book, National Treasure
Michael’s book event at AEI
Time Stamps: 
1:45 Myths and misconceptions about the Declaration
12:40 The forgotten Declaration takes center stage
23:34 The Civil War and consent of the governed
28:33 More reasons to loathe Woodrow Wilson
33:45 MLK and the “promissory note” of equality
42:30 The Declaration’s core claim of unity
46:16 The DSA’s challenge to the greatness of the Declaration
49:03 The Declaration preserved and displayed

Opening and closing music: Brendan Benson, “Spit It Out,” used with permission from the artist.

Produced by Keira Stenson.

The first topic for our new season is an important one, and that’s no lie. Chris talks to Christian B. Miller, the A.C. Reid Professor of Philosophy at Wake Forest University, about the virtue of honesty. What does it mean to be honest? Is it more rewarding—and less risky—to be dishonest today than it was in the past? How are Americans dishonest today online, on campus, and in politics? Christian’s new book is The Honesty Crisis: Preserving Our Most Treasured Virtue in an Increasingly Dishonest World (Oxford, 2026).

Time Stamps:
2:49 What is honesty?
15:14 Deepfakes and online infidelity
31:07 Academic dishonesty and the tragedy of Jason Arday
42:39 Honesty and politics
52:39 The exception of the arts

Show Notes:
Christian B. Miller’s book, The Honesty Crisis
Billy Joel, “Honesty”
Opening and closing music: Brendan Benson, “Spit It Out,” used with permission from the artist.

Produced by Keira Stenson.

In this special double feature, Chris welcomes the authors of two new books about the American way of life—one about the many things that make it great, and the other about something we’ve lost. First, Matthew Mehan of Hillsdale College’s Washington, DC, campus discusses his latest children's book, The American Book of Fables, a collection to help the young and old celebrate America’s 250th birthday. And in the back half, Andy Smarick of the Manhattan Institute talks about his first novel, Community Day, a mystery about the distressing decline of civil society.

Show notes: 
Matt's book, The American Book of Fables
Andy's novel, Community Day, on Substack and Amazon
Matt's other work
Andy's other work
Time stamps: 
0:49 – Matthew Mehan on The American Book of Fables
29:01 – Andy Smarick on Community Day 

Opening and closing music: Brendan Benson, “Spit It Out,” used with permission from the artist. 

Produced by Sean Doolan & Keira Stenson.

Chris talks to Melanie McDonagh about her new book, Converts: From Oscar Wilde to Muriel Spark, Why So Many Became Catholic in the 20th Century. Dr. McDonagh discusses some of the prominent (and less familiar) British artists, writers, and intellectuals who entered the Roman Catholic from the 1890s through the 1950s. What were the social and cultural origins of the century’s remarkable increase in Catholic conversions? What people and ideas brought figures like Wilde, Graham Greene, and Evelyn Waugh to Catholicism? And why did the stream of conversions drop off so dramatically in the 1960s?

Show notes: 
Melanie’s book, Converts
Melanie’s column at The Standard
David Jones, “Vexilla Regis”
Chris on Evelyn Waugh and Muriel Spark
Time stamps:
 
3:00 – Why chronicle conversions?
7:32 – The influence of St. John Henry Newman
13:07 – Origins of the conversion trend
31:43 – Clerics courting converts
36:55 – Sacramentality and art
52:00 – Vatican II and the Church today

Opening and closing music: Brendan Benson, “Spit It Out,” used with permission from the artist.

Produced by Sean Doolan.