New York, N.Y.—January 9, 2024—The Nation, America’s leading source of progressive politics and culture, today announced the addition of two new weekly podcasts offering fresh perspectives on our tangible and intangible worlds: American Prestige with cohosts Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison, and Tech Won’t Save Us with host Paris Marx. The complementary programs will challenge conventional wisdom about the figures and forces shaping power, policy, and politics around the globe and in our everyday lives. Subscribe to The Nation’s podcast channel orwherever you get your podcasts: New episodes of American Prestige air Tuesdays; new episodes of Tech Won’t Save Us air Thursdays. The first episode of American Prestige presented by The Nation, “Kissinger and Nixon in Southeast Asia with Carolyn Eisenberg,” is out today.

Since 2021, American Prestige has filled a niche in the landscape of foreign policy podcasts. Skeptical of the narrow range of views on offer by most, cohosts Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison present fresh ideas that begin with a revolutionary premise: What would US foreign policy look like if the interests of all the people in the world, and not only those of a tiny subset of Americans, were taken into account? Popular guests and episodes include Noam Chomsky on the antiwar movement; Rashid Khalidi on the history of modern Palestine; Ada Ferrer on Cuba; Adam Tooze on the future of American hegemony; Jay Caspian Kang on the history of Asian American studies; and Katie Halper on voices of dissent in mainstream media.

Tech Won’t Save Us, which launched in the spring of 2020, similarly offers a challenge to dominant narratives—those of Silicon Valley—by presenting a better understanding of how power is wielded through technology, and why behemoths of the industry must be questioned and their motives exposed. Recognizing that tech is inherently political and that ignoring that has serious consequences, host Paris Marx encourages listeners to think beyond the confines of capitalism, to consider how we can dismantle oppressive technologies and develop technological power for the public good. The show recently ran an in-depth series, “Elon Musk Unmasked,” demystifying the billionaire by digging into his history and presenting an alternative narrative on his rise. Previous guests also include Naomi Klein, Timnit Gebru, Emily M. Bender, Aaron Benanav, Dan McQuillan, and Ben Tarnoff, as well as regular Nation contributors Kate Wagner, Jacob Silverman, Tim Schwab, and Edward Ongweso Jr.

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“The Nation’s podcast audience has grown substantially in the last few years,” said Nation multimedia editor, Ludwig Hurtado. “My goal is to continue to offer this community of listeners fresh, informative, and incisive takes on current affairs. I’m pleased to provide these two new shows for our podcast fans. Both fit in perfectly within our programming while providing unique perspectives on issues that matter deeply to our audience.”

“I’ve been reading The Nation since high school, and it’s a trip to actually officially be associated with the magazine, joining an almost comically long list of luminaries—Eric Foner, Toni Morrison, Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Vivian Gornick—who have contributed to the magazine,” added American Prestige’s Daniel Bessner. “It’s especially exciting to be doing it in podcast form, a medium whose potential is only beginning to be realized. I also can’t imagine any other place that would be as perfect a fit. Like our podcast, The Nation has a long-standing commitment to questioning cherished ideas and ideals when these don’t conform to left-wing principles of justice, solidarity, and equality. Like us, The Nation has long taken an interest in how US foreign policy has shaped, and is shaped by, the rest of the world.”

“I’m excited that American Prestige is partnering with The Nation,” said cohost Derek Davison. “As someone who has long admired The Nation’s commitment to a better, more equitable world, I can’t imagine a better partner in challenging the conventional wisdom around US foreign policy. At this inflection point in history, it is a privilege to have this opportunity to extend AP’s voice to The Nation’s audience, and I hope this will serve to uplift both outlets.”

“The hosts of American Prestige and Tech Won’t Save Us both quite literally speak truth to power to expand the ways in which listeners think and talk about these forces shaping our world,” added Hurtado. “Along with our existing programming, these shows will continue to empower a more informed public to think critically about issues of equity, justice, and democracy.”

“I’m thrilled to be partnering with The Nation to bring the critical perspectives on the tech industry and its depraved titans featured on Tech Won’t Save Us to an even wider audience,” said host Paris Marx. “Tech companies got off way too easy in the 2010s, but those days are over: The drawbacks of the digital transformation foisted upon us have been laid bare for all to see. The Nation has a long history of holding power to account, and there are few parts of American society that need that more right now than Silicon Valley.”

Beyond American Prestige and Tech Won’t Save Us, The Nation’s ever-expanding roster of regular podcasts cover politics, sports, culture, economics, and the courts. Justice correspondent and columnist Elie Mystal just concluded the inaugural season of Contempt of Court—a wisecracking, witty, and brutally insightful look at the most pressing questions facing our country’s highest (and inherently undemocratic) legislative body. The Nation will also continue to produce its flagship weekly news program Start Making Sense with contributing editor Jon Wiener; Edge of Sports with sports editor Dave Zirin; and The Time of Monsters with national affairs correspondent Jeet Heer. Our limited-run podcasts include Going for Broke with Ray Suarez—produced in partnership with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and named one of the 50 best podcasts of 2021 by The Atlantic—as well as Next Left, where politics gets personal with national affairs correspondent John Nichols; More Than Enough, a frank discussion about Universal Basic Income with host Mia Birdsong; and System Check, where cohosts Melissa Harris-Perry and Dorian Warren set about diagnosing and repairing our malfunctioning democracy. In partnership with WNYC Studios, The Nation previously developed the inaugural seasons of United States of Anxiety and There Goes the Neighborhood with host Kai Wright.

For interview requests or further information, please see contact information above.

About

Daniel Bessner is an historian of US foreign relations, and cohost of American Prestige, a podcast on international affairs. He is the author of Democracy in Exile: Hans Speier and the Rise of the Defense Intellectual. From 2019 to 2020, he served as a foreign policy adviser to the presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders.

Derek Davison is a writer and analyst specializing in international affairs and US foreign policy. He is the publisher of the Foreign Exchanges newsletter, cohost of the American Prestige podcast, and former editor of LobeLog.

Paris Marx is a tech critic and host of the podcast Tech Won’t Save Us. The author of Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation, they write the Disconnect newsletter.

Founded by abolitionists in 1865, The Nation has chronicled the breadth and depth of political and cultural life, from the debut of the telegraph to the rise of Twitter, serving as a critical, independent, and progressive voice in American journalism.