Forthright Radio

“A new administration must screen out those who regard Government service as the door to power or wealth, those who cannot distinguish between private gains and public trust, and those who believe that old-fashioned honesty with the public’s money is both old and out of fashion.” John F.

Gal Beckerman is an author and a staff writer at The Atlantic. His latest book is HOW TO BE A DISSIDENT. Before coming over to The Atlantic, whose books section he also ran, he was an editor at the New York Times Book Review for six years. He also served as the opinion editor at the Forward newspaper and a staff editor and writer at the Columbia Journalism Review. His writing has appeared in a number of places over the years, including the Washington Post, The New Republic and Bookforum.

Our guest today is Amherst College’s Professor of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought, Douglas Lawrence. He is the author of seven books, including the nonfiction books, The Memory of Judgment: Making Law and History in the Trials of the Holocaust; and Will He Go? Trump and the Looming Electoral Meltdown in 2020; as well as the novels, The Catastrophist, and The Vices.

Media around the globe reported the death of Ted Turner on May 6, 2026, at the age of 87. Phillip Evans, a spokesman for the family, confirmed the death. He announced in 2018 that he had Lewy body dementia, a progressive brain disorder. Turner’s Montana properties included the flagship 113,000-acre Flying D Ranch south of Bozeman.

Returning to Forthright Radio is Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia, Suzanne Simard. You may remember our interview with her in 2021, when her book, FINDING THE MOTHER TREE: DISCOVERING THE WISDOM OF THE FOREST was published.

Our guest today is journalist, Christopher Mathias. His recent book is TO CATCH A FASCIST: THE FIGHT TO EXPOSE THE RADICAL RIGHT, published by Atria. It’s a deep dive into the resurgence of white nationalist and Neo-Nazi movements in the US, that centers on anti-fascist groups working to expose and stop their violence and intimidation. Demonized as “extremist” by both conservatives and liberals, “antifa” became a bogeyman during Donald Trump’s first term.

Dr. Charles G. Curtin is the director of Regenerative Conservation Design. He is the author of The Science of Open Spaces: Theory and Practice for Conserving Large, Complex Systems and the coeditor of Complex Ecology: Foundational Perspectives on Dynamic Approaches to Ecology and Conservation. His latest book is PLACE-BASED SOLUTIONS: THE POWER OF REGENERATIVE THINKING IN THE FACE OF CRISIS, published by Johns Hopkins University Press.

One month ago today, on February 13, 2026, our guest was the Fred Harvey Harrington Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Alfred McCoy. We discussed his latest book, COLD WAR ON FIVE CONTINENTS: A GLOBAL HISTORY OF EMPIRE AND ESPIONAGE, published by Haymarket Books.

Dr. Christine Webb is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at New York University, where she is part of the Animal Studies program. Her research is driven by growing awareness that the ecological crisis demands a profound shift in how we understand other animals and our place among them. Her work seeks to elucidate the complex dynamics of animal social life, and to apply this knowledge to foundational questions in animal ethics and conservation.

Our guest on this edition of Forthright Radio is the Fred Harvey Harrington Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Alfred McCoy. For well over five decades he has specialized in the foreign policy of the United States, European colonization of Southeast Asia, and CIA covert operations and illegal international drug trade.