Nostalgia Trap

America is taking a turn into a dark cul-de-sac, and many liberals are hoping that Stephen Colbert and John Oliver's sunnier version of the national id will somehow, magically, win the day. But will …

Here's our attempt to put Charlie Kirk's assassination in the context of the algorithmic dream world we inhabit, the queer libidinal dimensions of love and murder, and the larger politics of incompet…

Like many hip youngsters of my generation, at some point in my twenties I got Jazz-pilled by Beat literature, with writers like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg name-dropping bop-era musicians like Mi…

It's hard to believe, but today it's been 20 years since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, a mega-event that, in hindsight, seems like a critical moment for understanding our current reality. Thi…

NOTE: This is a cross-post of my new podcast, 120 MONTHS, all about '90s music. I think Nostalgia Trap listeners will dig it. Follow the links to keep up with all our episodes!

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After listen…

February 1990 was a wild month in music, with new album releases from Oingo Boingo, Everything But the Girl, The Cramps, Primus, The Highwaymen, Midnight Oil, and Guided By Voices. 

All paying subscr…

Global capital is currently putting more resources into building AI infrastructure than any other mass project in human history, with little evidence that AI can ever turn the kind of profits needed …

I'm very excited to present the very first episode of my new podcast/YouTube channel/online content thing, 120 MONTHS. This is a project that I've been wanting to do for a very long time.

Along with …

Was 1999 the inflection point in American culture and politics? Writer Ross Benes joins me this week to talk about his book 1999: The Year Low Culture Conquered America and Kickstarted Our Bizarre Ti…

The Jeffrey Epstein saga continues to have legs, and this week Justin and I talk about what makes the story so appealing and operative for so many Americans, as we interrogate the elements of storyte…

Philip Seymour Hoffman is a towering figure in American cinema whose death in 2014 left a big gaping hole in the culture. I really think there has never been anyone really like him, before or since, …

Van Jackson, foreign policy writer and host of the excellent podcast Un-Diplomatic, joins me to freak out about ICE arresting local college professors, MAGA's Jeffrey Epstein fissures, Andrew Cuomo a…

Remember the heady days of Abercrombie and Fitch’s utter domination of the young, white middle class fashion market? What was that about? This week I’m joined by Ethan Lascity, an assistant professor…

Anyone with a brain and heart probably feels deeply conflicted about the Fourth of July, a celebration of American freedom that frequently feels crass and hollow in the context of an ever-expanding A…

Zohran Mamdani's win in NYC accelerates a civil war for the soul of the Democratic Party; ICE storm troopers refuse to take off their masks; Trump's bombing of Iran within the larger strategic maneuv…

Xaq Frohlich is Associate Professor of History of Technology at Auburn University. His work focuses on issues relating to food and risk at the intersections of science, law, and markets. In this conv…

Is the fight against Trump's rising authoritarianism in the streets? Or in the courts? Why not both? At the five month mark, Justin joins me to survey the damage, and to assess the left's strategies …

What happened to the idea that “conservatives can’t do comedy”? Much to the horror of liberals, the past decade has witnessed the rise of a right wing comedy industrial complex, primarily found on po…

Dazed and Confused (dir. Richard Linklater. 1993) remains a timeless classic of American adolescence…or does it? This week Justin joins me for a deep dive into one of the most nostalgia-laden films e…

What is “settler colonialism” and how is it different from other forms of imperialism? In this episode I share excerpts from S.C. Gwynne’s bracing, controversial book Empire of the Summer Moon: Quana…