Deep Background with Noah Feldman

Deep Background with Noah Feldman

Behind every news headline, there’s another, deeper story. It’s a story about power. In Deep Background, Harvard Law School professor and Bloomberg View columnist Noah Feldman will bring together a cross-section of expert guests to explore the historical, scientific, legal, and cultural context that help us understand what’s really going on behind the biggest stories in the news.iHeartMedia is the exclusive podcast partner of Pushkin Industries.

Episodes

September 8, 2025 57 mins

Libya is swept up in a wave of revolution, and an American diplomat makes his mark on Benghazi.

For a list of books, documentaries and resources we used to research this episode visit: bit.ly/fiascopolitics


Subscribe to Pushkin+ to hear the entire season of Fiasco: Benghazi, ad-free, right now. Find Pushkin+ on the Fiasco show page in Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin.fm.

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How a prison massacre carried out under Libya’s long-time dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, set the stage for the Benghazi attack.

For a list of books, documentaries and resources we used to research this episode visit: bit.ly/fiascopolitics


Subscribe to Pushkin+ to hear the entire season of Fiasco: Benghazi, ad-free, right now. Find Pushkin+ on the Fiasco show page in Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin.fm.

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September 5, 2025 3 mins

Fiasco: Benghazi unpacks the 2012 attack in Libya that left four Americans dead, including Ambassador Chris Stevens—and the ensuing political storm, which raised questions about America’s role in the world, established a playbook to weaponize attention in the social media age, and ultimately changed the course of U.S. history.

For a list of books, documentaries and resources we used to research this season visit: bit.ly...

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Malcolm Gladwell visits Kennesaw State University to learn about Jiwoo, an AI Assistant that helps future teachers practice responsive teaching by simulating classroom interactions with students. Discover AI’s impact on teaching methods to prepare teachers for the classroom.

This is a paid advertisement from IBM. The conversations on this podcast don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.
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January 26, 2022 37 mins

Harvard epidemiologist and recurring guest Marc Lipsitch discusses what we can learn from omicron surge. Lipsitch also addresses some common omicron myths and discusses the possibility of a “master vaccine.” 

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January 19, 2022 32 mins

Zachary Karabell, financial executive and historian, discusses his recent book Inside Money: Brown Brothers Harriman and the American Way of Power, outlining the formation of American capitalism told through the history of one often-overlooked bank. He explains how the evolution of trust in financial systems has shaped American capitalism today and informs where it could go in the future.

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January 12, 2022 38 mins

Jamal Greene, co-chair of the Facebook Oversight Board, an independent governing body reviewing Facebook’s content moderation decisions and issuing binding rulings, explains the inner workings of the Board. Greene is the Dwight Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, where he focuses on constitutional law and American federal courts. 

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Erik Voorhees, founder of crypto management platform ShapeShift, makes a case for decentralized autonomous organizations, known as DAOs. Earlier this year, ShapeShift became a DAO, “moving from a centralized, closed-source application with bank accounts, governed and owned by shareholders, to a decentralized, open-source application without bank accounts, governed and owned by holders of the FOX Token.” Voorhees explains how DAOs w...

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December 15, 2021 28 mins

Hannah Kain, CEO of supply chain management company Alom, shares her analysis of how we got into the supply chain crisis and the larger story it reveals about trade wars, labor shortages, and the need for better automation systems. 

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Political strategist and media commentator James Carville shares his frank concerns about the Democratic party’s strategy and leadership. Carville discusses the risks of party disunity in this crucial time, the false equivalency of the far left and right, and why the Democratic party needs better salespeople. 


Harvard political scientist Theda Skocpol’s 2021 report on political organizing in Georgia and North Carolina can be rea...

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November 24, 2021 39 mins

Description: 

Jason Feifer, editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine, discusses the complicated role of revenue in publishing, especially in the world of business media. He also gives a surprisingly frank look at how Entrepreneur Magazine leans into non traditional practices to balance reader’ interest with the magazine’s revenue model.

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November 17, 2021 41 mins

Katie Worth, investigative reporter and author of the new book Miseducation: How Climate Change Is Taught in America, reviewed science textbooks from all fifty states and travelled the country interviewing teachers and students to compile a narrative about how climate change is being taught in American public schools. 

She joins Noah to discuss the partisan divide in climate change education, the lobbying forces shaping curriculum a...

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Presenting: An Excerpt from Miracle And Wonder: Conversations With Paul Simon by Malcolm Gladwell and Bruce Headlam. Download the audiobook today at miracleaudiook.com and receive an exclusive listener's guide pdf featuring additional commentary from Bruce, the producers and editors of Miracle and Wonder.

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November 10, 2021 33 mins

Jill Louise Busby, a former “woke influencer” with the handle @JillisBlack, opens up about examining her own complicity and calling bullshit on herself. She also discusses performative social media practices, having conversations across cultural lines, and the bounds of cancel culture. Bubsy’s book, Unfollow Me: Essays on Complicity, is out now.

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The Broken Constitution is a miniseries by Unknown History from Quick and Dirty Tips and Pushkin Industries. In this final bonus episode, Noah Feldman explains the contradictions and calculations Lincoln made as he drafted The Emancipation Proclamation and the long-term implications of Lincoln’s decision to break and remake the US Constitution.   


Noah’s Feldman’s book, The Broken Constitution: Lincoln, Slavery, and the Refoundi...

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November 3, 2021 39 mins

Esports, the industry of competitive, entertainment-style video game play, is rapidly growing and redefining the gaming industry. Its popularity also raises questions about the future of sports entertainment more broadly. Nicole LaPointe Jameson, CEO of the esports company Evil Geniuses, explains the industry and its potential.

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The Broken Constitution is a miniseries by Unknown History from Quick and Dirty Tips and Pushkin Industries. In this second of three bonus episodes, Noah Feldman explains the decisions Lincoln made when he took office that effectively broke the US Constitution in hopes of preserving the nation. 


Noah’s forthcoming book, The Broken Constitution: Lincoln, Slavery, and the Refounding of America, is out November 2.

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October 27, 2021 33 mins

Michele Roberts, executive director of the NBA Players Association, discusses how power is negotiated between NBA players and the league. She also comments on the rise of player activism and gives an inside perspective on recent NBA negotiations including the conditions of “the bubble” and the decision not to mandate COVID vaccinations.

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The Broken Constitution is a miniseries by Unknown History from Quick and Dirty Tips and Pushkin Industries. Over three bonus episodes, Noah Feldman talks about how Abraham Lincoln needed to break the Constitution in order to remake it. In this first episode, Noah explains why the US Constitution was built on a compromise that Lincoln devoted himself to preserving. Noah’s book, The Broken Constitution: Lincoln, Slavery, and the Ref...

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October 20, 2021 34 mins

Author Michael Pollan discusses the psychedelic powers of plants and the history of how humans have harnessed, ignored, and controlled these powers. He also discusses his prolific career and his most recent book, This is Your Mind on Plants.

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