The Great Depression presented a crisis not only for the U.S. economy, but for American democracy. President Franklin Roosevelt wanted to save the nation’s system of government, and its economic system, while reforming both. What…
S4 E5: Feminism in Black and White
- March 4, 2020
- Tagged as: S4E5, Season 4
People fighting for more democracy in the United States often have to struggle against sexism and racism. In fact, those two struggles are often inseparable—certainly from the perspective of black women and some other women…
As the 2020 election approaches, the survival of the United States as a democratic republic is a topic of national conversation—Trumpian authoritarianism; voter suppression and gerrymandering; concerns about foreign intervention, election security, and the role…
After the Civil War, a surprising coalition tried to remake the United States into a real multiracial democracy for the first time. Reconstruction, as the effort was called, brought dramatic change to America. For a…
In the decades after America’s founding and the establishment of the Constitution, did the nation get better, more just, more democratic? Or did it double down on violent conquest and exploitation? Reported, produced, written,…
S4 E2: “The Excess of Democracy”
- January 22, 2020
- Tagged as: S4E2, Season 4
In the summer of 1787, fifty-five men got together in Philadelphia to write a new Constitution for the United States, replacing the new nation’s original blueprint, the Articles of Confederation. But why, exactly? What problems…
Scene on Radio host/producer John Biewen : Over the past few years, the survival of the United States as a democratic republic has become a topic of national conversation—Trumpian authoritarianism; voter suppression and gerrymandering; concerns…
In the American Revolution, the men who revolted were among the wealthiest and most comfortable people in the colonies. What kind of revolution was it, anyway? Was it about a desire to establish democracy—or something…
Our season-long series will touch on concerns like authoritarianism, voter suppression and gerrymandering, foreign intervention, and the role of money in politics, but we’ll go much deeper, effectively retelling the story of the United States…
Selected Scene on Radio Press On Being, The Long View, I: On Being White TED.com, TedXCharlottesville, John Biewen: Seeing White The New York Times, Listen to What They’re Saying The New York Times, 7 Great…