Podcasts

Hot off the heels of The Atlas Society’s newest publication, The Pocket Guide to Free of Speech, we invite you to join David Kelley, Ph.D., and Rob Tracinski for a special webinar discussing freedom of speech, its basic principles, its implementation in the U.S. Constitution, and how it is perceived today.

Join Atlas Society Senior Scholar and Professor of Political Economy at Duke Richard Salsman, Ph.D., for an analysis of the November 5th elections, their significance, and why the results may signify an endorsement not only of Trump as a candidate but of MAGA values and Republican rule broadly (and lastingly). View Full Transcript

Join Atlas Society CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 228th episode of The Atlas Society Asks, where she interviews author, essayist, and journalist Ashley Rindsberg about his recent article in "The Free Press" concerning how Wikipedia devolved from a formerly objective online encyclopedia to what he describes as a partisan project, where a handful of editors are reshaping history before our eyes.

"Fascism ruled most during the 1920s and 1930s, the major examples being Mussolini in Italy, Franco in Spain, Hitler in Germany, the Tōhōkai party in Japan, and FDR in the U.S. Depending on the country and period, fascism also entails populism, militarism, xenophobia, and racism. The fact that the collapse of socialism in the 1990s wasn’t followed by a widely accepted moral case for capitalism left room for a revival and spread of fascism, roughly a century after it first ruled. Since Nazism is a contraction of nationalism and socialism, liberty-loving Americans should worry that nationalism is endorsed by many Republicans while socialism is endorsed by many Democrats. If these elements continue to grow and coalesce, evil will surely ensue."

Join Atlas Society CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 227th episode of The Atlas Society Asks, where she interviews author George Gilder about his recent book "The Israel Test: How Israel's Genius Enriches and Challenges the World," exploring Israel’s stunning rise as a world capitalist and technological power and makes the case that widespread antagonism toward the current state of Israel springs from, like anti-Semitism everywhere, envy of superior accomplishment.

Join Atlas Society CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 226 episode of The Atlas Society Asks, where she interviews Otto Penzler, proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City and regarded as one of the world's foremost authorities on crime, mystery, and suspense fiction.

Join Atlas Society CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 225 episode of The Atlas Society Asks where she interviews Elaine Kamarck. Senior fellow in Governance Studies and the director of the Center for Effective Public Management at Brookings, Kamarck joins JAG for a talk about her work in electoral politics and her recent paper on the growing gender gap among young people, exploring what impact this will have on politics, relationships, and culture.

Join Atlas Society Senior Scholar and Professor of Political Economy at Duke Richard Salsman, Ph.D., for a historical and philosophical analysis of Republican governance and efforts to uphold the U.S. Constitution by modern Republicans.

Join Atlas Society founder and Senior Scholar David Kelley, Ph.D., along with Senior Scholar and Professor of Philosophy at Rockford Stephen Hicks, Ph.D., for a special webinar discussing a new initiative to unify liberty advocates across the secular-religious spectrum to forge common cause against common foes: collectivism, irrationalism, and authoritarianism.

Regulars enjoyed previous interviews with Rand biographers Anne Heller and Jennifer Burns, so naturally we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to interview the author of the latest addition to this genre with Alexandra Popoff’s Ayn Rand: Writing a Gospel of Success. Popoff began her career as a journalist working in Moscow, later emigrated to Canada where she lectured in Russian literature, and is the award-winning author of literary biographies such as Sophia Tolstoy (2010), The Wives: The Women Behind Russia’s Literary Giants (2012),Tolstoy’s False Disciple: The Untold Story of Leo Tolstoy and Vladimir Chertkov (2014), and Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century (2019).

Join CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 222nd episode for The Atlas Society Asks where she interviews Todd Rose about his recent book "Collective Illusions: Conformity, Complicity, and the Science of Why We Make Bad Decisions," which draws on cutting-edge neuroscience and social psychology research, and acclaimed author demonstrates how so much of our thinking is informed by false assumptions—making us dangerously mistrustful as a society and needlessly unhappy as individuals.

Join Atlas Society CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 221st episode of The Atlas Society Asks, where she interviews Nicaraguan academic, political activist, and former presidential candidate Félix Maradiaga. Don't miss as the duo discuss Maradiaga's work to promote the ideas of liberty in Nicaragua and his unlawful imprisonment by the Daniel Ortega regime for speaking about against government repression.

Join Atlas Society Senior Fellow Antonella Marty and Senior Fellow Robert Tracinski along with special guest, Secretary General of FundaLib, Juan Pina for the 220th episode of The Atlas Society Asks where the trio sit down for an Objectivist analysis of current events in Venezuela and what it means for the future of liberalism in the country.

Join Atlas Society CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 220th episode of The Atlas Society Asks where she interviews writer, speaker, and brand consultant Henry Oliver about his new book "Second Act: What Late Bloomers Can Tell You About Reinventing Your Life," which encourages people to think about themselves as late bloomers and realize that it is never too late to discover our hidden talents and accomplish our goals.

Bryan Caplan is the author of Build, Baby, Build: The Science and Ethics of Housing Regulation, which takes readers on a journey through what is wrong with housing regulations—and what we can do about it. A Professor of Economics at George Mason University, Caplan is also a New York Times bestselling author of several books, including The Myth of the Rational Voter, Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids, and The Case Against Education. When not teaching or publishing new articles for outlets like The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, or TIME, Caplan spends his time as editor and chief writer for the Bet On It Substack hosted by the Salem Center for Policy at the University of Texas.

Join Atlas Society Senior and Professor of Philosophy at Rockford University Stephen Hicks, Ph.D. for a deep dive into Friedrich Nietzsche and his various remarks on the concept and practice of slavery, including his perspective on servitude to some higher authority as the most ennobling of sort of life.

Join Atlas Society Senior Senior Scholar and Professor of Political Economy at Duke, Richard Salsman, Ph.D., and Senior Fellow Robert Tracinski for the 217 episode of The Atlas Society Asks where the duo discuss "open" borders vs. "closed" borders vs. "managed" borders, whether the "Ellis Island model" is irrelevant given our current welfare state, and more.

"Profit foes accept the ‘zero-sum’ fallacy and the myth that factors of production create equal value. Disdain for profit reflects a deeper distrust of its ethical essence – rational self-interest. Profit is crucial to capitalism, but even in our personal (non-commercial) lives, we’re rational and right to maximize the benefits versus the costs of our actions. On economic, ethical, and personal grounds, profit deserves our unabashed allegiance." - Richard Salsman

"In its 2024 platform, the Republican Party materially altered, for the better, its formal stance on abortion, away from the oxymoronic 'unborn child' language of 2016. This could be the start of something good and permanent. Thankfully the GOP has a 'pro-choice wing' headed by Nancy Mace (Rep-SC). Also, the ending of Roe v. Wade (1973) by SCOTUS in 2022, although problematic, at least allowed extended abortion rights to women in many states. In time, we could see a full, universal right." - Richard Salsman

Join Atlas Society CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 216th episode of The Atlas Society Asks where she interviews author James P. Pinkerton about his book "The Secret to Directional Investing: Making Money Amidst the Red-Blue Rumble," which offers a new way of thinking about investing, steeped in culture and history.

Ayn Rand was not a "liberal Democrat" in the sense of being an advocate of the welfare state. But was she a defender of "liberal democracy"? And would she have been tempted by "free-market authoritarianism"?