Civic Lens

00:36:35

Black Political Leadership, Representation & the...

Civic Lens ·

2026/10/05

Andra Gillespie is the author of The New Black PoliticianCory Booker, Newark, and Post-Racial America. Dr. Gillespie recommends the works of Drs. Byron D'Andra Orey, LaFleur Stephens-Dougan and Christopher Stout. More analysis like this straight to your inbox by subscribing to Civic Lens: marvinking1.substack.com

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00:41:50

Black Republicans, Political Identity & the Myth of a...

Civic Lens ·

2026/09/28

Corey Fields of Georgetown University and author of Black Elephants in the Room: The Unexpected Politics of African American Republicans, on what Black Republicans can teach us about the complexity of race, identity, and political behavior. Fields recommends Cathy Cohen's The Boundaries of Blackness and Jean Beaman's Citizen Outsider: Children of North African Immigrants in France.Get more analysis like this straight to your inbox by subscribing to Civic Lens: marvinking1.substack.com

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00:31:40

Mass Incarceration, Crime & the American Criminal...

Civic Lens ·

2026/09/28

Vanderbilt University Law Professor Jeff Bellin, author of Mass Incarceration Nation: How the United States Became Addicted to Prisons and Jails and How It Can Recover, traces the development of American mass incarceration from the crime increases of the 1960s and 1970s through the expansion of policing, prosecution, sentencing, and imprisonment that followed.Get more analysis like this straight to your inbox by subscribing to Civic Lens: marvinking1.substack.com

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00:23:26

Optimized Option: How AI is Changing Higher Education...

Civic Lens ·

2026/09/21

Liz Norell, Associate Director for Instructional Learning at The University of Mississippi's Center for Teaching and Learning, answers what if the biggest challenge facing higher education isn't technology—but keeping students motivated to learn?Liz recommends A Pedagogy of Kindness and 10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People .

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00:39:19

When Does a Child Become an Adult? Juvenile Justice |...

Civic Lens ·

2026/09/14

American law draws the line between childhood and adulthood in very different places—with consequences that can last a lifetime.Professor Cohen recommends: When They Us, Adolescence, and The Rage of Innocence by Kristen Henning. In re Gault, Roper v. Simmons, Graham v. Florida, Miller v. Alabama, and Jones v. Mississippi.

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00:36:21

The Limits of Presidential Power & Executive Orders |...

Civic Lens ·

2026/09/07

Bowdoin College's Andrew Rudalevige on how the presidency become so powerful and what it means for American democracy. Rudalevige is the author of By Executive Order: Bureaucratic Management and the Limits of Presidential Power and The New Imperial Presidency: Renewing Presidential Power after Watergate.Rudalevige recommends: Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents: The Politics of Leadership from Roosevelt to Reagan, The Hardest Job in the World: The American Presidency, The Development of

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00:25:18

Civil Religion and the Rise of Southern Politics |...

Civic Lens ·

2026/08/31

SMU's Matthew Wilson on how religious beliefs shape politics - even for people who rarely think about religion. Wilson is the co-author of Politics and Religion in the United States and From pews to polling places : faith and politics in the American religious mosaic. Wilson recommends: America's God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln,

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00:27:07

Southern Identity, Political Change & Why the South...

Civic Lens ·

2026/08/26

Chris Cooper on how the South has become more urban, diverse, and connected to the rest of America, yet its identity as Southern still matters. Cooper is the author of: Anatomy of a Purple State: A North Carolina Politics Primer and co-author with Gibbs Knotts of The Resilience of Southern Identity: Why the South Still Matters in the Minds of Its People.Cooper recommends: Southern Politics in State and Nation (Key), Movers and Stayers: The Partisan Transformation of 21st Century Southern Politics

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00:31:22

Political Polarization & The Changing American South...

Civic Lens ·

2026/08/24

Scott Huffmon (The Winthrop Poll⁠) of Winthrop University and Director of the Winthrop Poll discusses how migration has changed the South, evolving views on the Confederate Flag, polarization, and the Trump effect on South Carolina and Southern politics. Huffmon recommends: The Long Southern Strategy, American Experience on PBS - Civil Rights, and "Jail, No Bail"

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00:25:36

Corporate Taxes, Economic Inequality & Who Pays for...

Civic Lens ·

2026/08/17

Amy Hanauer of ITEP asks "When profitable corporations pay little or nothing in taxes, who makes up the difference?"Hanauer recommnds: Why Corporations Must Pay More, ITEP State Policy, The Price of Democracy: The Revolutionary Power of Taxation in American History, and Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America

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00:29:56

Black Veterans & The Struggle for Equal Citizenship |...

Civic Lens ·

2026/08/10

Christopher Sebastian Parker asks what happens when people fight for democracy abroad but are denied its promises at home. Parker is the author of: Fighting for Democracy: Black Veterans and the Struggle Against White Supremacy in the Postwar South and Change They Can't Believe In: The Tea Party and Reactionary Politics in America.Parker recommends: Divisions: A New History of Racism and Resistance in America's World War II Military, Freedom Struggles: African Americans and World War I,

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00:27:08

Capitalism, Consumer Activism & Free Enterprise...

Civic Lens ·

2026/08/03

Cornell historian, Larry Glickman, explains that capitalism isn't a fixed system, but an idea that Americans have continually reinvented. Glickman is the author of Free Enterprise: An American History and Buying Power: A History of Consumer Activism in America. Glickman recommends: The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism by Edward Baptist, The Incorporation of America, by Alan Trachtenberg, The Submerged State: How Invisible Government Policies Undermine

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00:22:45

#19 John Dinan on Federalism, State Constitutions,...

Civic Lens ·

2026/07/26

John Dinan of Wake Forest University, and author of ⁠The American State Constitutional Tradition⁠, explains why so many of the decisions that shape our daily lives happen in state capitals instead of Washington.

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00:21:24

#18 Boris Heersink on Party Brands, MAGA, and the...

Civic Lens ·

2026/07/20

Boris Heersink tells us why party brands are so useful to voters and how Trump's hold on the GOP has shaped that party's brand. Heersink is the author of Republican Party Politics and the American South, 1865–1968 with Jeffrey Jenkins and National Party Organizations and Party Brands in American Politics: The Democratic and Republican National Committees, 1912-2016.Also mentioned: Learning from Loss: The Democrats, 2016–2020 and The Elephants in the Room: How Trump Voters Seized the Party

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00:23:36

#17 Michael Kang on Campaign Finance, Judicial...

Civic Lens ·

2026/07/13

Michael Kang of Northwestern University's Pritzker School of Law, and author of Free to Judge: The Power of Campaign Money in Judicial Elections, along with co-author Joanna Shepherd, joins Civic Lens to discuss the changing role of money in legislative and judicial elections. Also mentioned: Brennan Center for Justice and The Brave New World of Judicial Election by Charles Geyh.

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00:22:41

#16 - Arin Dube on the Minimum Wage, Labor Markets,...

Civic Lens ·

2026/07/06

Arin Dube, of UMass Amherst, and author of The Wage Standard: What's Wrong in the Labor Market and How to Fix It, speaks on the minimum wage, labor markets, and economic inequality. He was featured in The New Yorker, An Economist’s Quest to Solve America’s Wage Problem, and maintains a Substack.

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00:29:32

#15 Teri Incampo on Theater, Storytelling, and the...

Civic Lens ·

2026/06/29

Teri Incampo from the University of Mississippi on the value of theater as an artistic medium, her latest research, and how we can all become more thoughtful consumers of film and theater. Mentioned in the podcast: Is God Is?, Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner, Keke Palmer, Darkology: Blackface and the American Way of Entertainment by Rhae Lynn Barnes, Bodies in DissentSpectacular Performances of Race and Freedom, 1850–1910 by Daphne A. Brooks, and Cracking Up: Black Feminist Comedy in the

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00:22:14

#14 Elizabeth Armstrong on Gender Inequality, Higher...

Civic Lens ·

2026/06/22

University of Michigan sociologist Elizabeth Armstrong discusses emerging research on workplace experiences, where many college-educated women continue to encounter barriers to advancement even in professional careers.Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality by Elizabeth Armstrong and Laura T. Hamilton. Gender Flashpoints: The Power of Dialogue by Abigail C. Saguy

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00:22:18

#13 Chris Berry on Property Taxes, Assessment Vales,...

Civic Lens ·

2026/06/15

Chris Berry, William J. and Alicia Townsend Friedman Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago, explains how property values are determined, but also how this widely used system suffers from a perpetual bias against lower-valued properties.Also mentioned: Property Tax FairnessImperfect Union: Representation and Taxation in Multilevel Governments by Chris BerryPlundered: How Racist Policies Undermine Black Homeownership in America by Bernadette Atuahene

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00:27:48

#12 Matt Mitten on Doping, WADA, and the Integrity of...

Civic Lens ·

2026/06/09

Matt Mitten, Professor of Law and Executive Director, National Sports Law Institute; WADA Prohibited List; USADA; World Anti-Doping Code

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