Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Resistance Is the Story

When we tell the history of slavery, too often we tell it as a story of suffering relieved by benevolent reformers. But what if resistance — not submission — was the central thread all along?

This week on Writer’s Voice, we begin with historian Sudhir Hazareesingh, whose groundbreaking book Daring to Be Free reframes the history of Atlantic slavery as a history of rebellion: from African defense militias and shipboard revolts to maroon communities and the Haitian Revolution. He restores enslaved women and men to the center of their own liberation struggles — not as passive victims, but as strategists, spiritual leaders, and revolutionaries.

“From the very moment slave raiding parties are sent out… people begin to resist.” — Sudhir Hazareesingh

Then we revisit my 2012 conversation with novelist Jacqueline Sheehan about The Comet’s Tale, her powerful work of historical fiction about Sojourner Truth. Through Truth’s childhood in bondage, her spiritual awakening, and her emergence as a fearless abolitionist and women’s rights advocate, we explore resilience, moral courage, and the making of a revolutionary life.

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Tags: Sudhir Hazareesingh, Daring to Be Free, Atlantic slavery, slave resistance, Haitian Revolution, Solitude of Guadeloupe, maroon communities, Sojourner Truth, Jacqueline Sheehan, The Comet’s Tale, Abolition movement, Black history, Writers Voice podcast,

You May Also Like: Aaron Robertson, THE BLACK UTOPIANS, Ben Passmore on Black Resistance

Read The Transcript

Segment One: Sudhir Hazareesingh

There are many histories of the Atlantic slave trade. Few center the enslaved as agents of their own freedom.

In Daring to Be Free, Sudhir Hazareesingh challenges the myth that resistance was rare or exceptional. Instead, he shows that resistance was woven into the fabric of slavery from the very beginning.

Solitude and the Erased Women of Resistance

Hazareesingh opens with the story of Solitude of Guadeloupe — a freedom fighter who resisted Napoleon’s 1802 attempt to reinstate slavery and was executed while remaining defiant . Her story, erased for generations, symbolizes what he calls a “hidden history” of resistance.

For too long, he argues, histories focused on male leaders and major revolutions, especially Haiti. But enslaved resistance was constant — and women were central actors: strategists, healers, organizers, spiritual leaders .

Resistance Began in Africa

Hazareesingh emphasizes that rebellion did not begin in the Americas. It began in Africa itself.

From the moment slave raiders entered African villages, communities organized militias, fought capture, resisted transport, and even planned revolts while confined on the coast .

Shipboard insurrections were often planned before captives even boarded the ships. Resistance was integral to the system — not an exception to it.

Spiritual Traditions as Sources of Power

African religious traditions — including Obeah and Islam — fortified resistance movements . These spiritual systems preserved identity, offered psychological protection, and helped organize rebellion.

Under conditions of near-total domination, enslaved people carved out autonomous interior worlds — sustaining languages, faiths, and networks of solidarity .

Women as Network Builders

Women, often working inside plantation households, gathered intelligence and helped coordinate revolts . They maintained kinship networks that countered what one historian called slavery’s “social death.”

Hazareesingh discovered instead a story of social persistence: communities forming bonds across plantations, across ethnic lines, and even across racial boundaries.

Palmares and Cross-Boundary Alliances

One astonishing example: Palmares in 17th-century Brazil — a vast maroon society of thousands that developed political systems, agriculture, trade, and military defenses .

Palmares blended African and Indigenous military traditions and even attracted poor whites seeking more humane community .

Resistance was multiracial, transnational, and sustained.

Haiti: Rank-and-File Revolution

While Hazareesingh has written on Toussaint L’Ouverture, in this book he emphasizes rank-and-file insurgents .

The Haitian Revolution became a beacon of Black sovereignty — and a terror to slaveholding powers . News of the uprising spread rapidly via sailors and refugee networks .

Yet Haiti paid a devastating price: punitive indemnities imposed by France in 1825, U.S. intervention under Woodrow Wilson, and ongoing destabilization .

The Enslaved as the True Abolitionists

Hazareesingh challenges the narrative that white reformers abolished slavery. Most abolitionists advocated gradualism. The enslaved demanded — and fought for — immediate freedom .

Their revolts and persistent pressure forced political change.

Honoring Our Debts

In concluding, Hazareesingh calls for a “debt of memory” — telling the story truthfully — and for serious engagement with material reparations .

And he offers a lesson for today: unity, resilience, and moral courage in the face of authoritarianism .

Read An Excerpt

Segment Two: Jacqueline Sheehan

The Comet’s Tale — A Novel of Sojourner Truth

In our encore conversation from 2012, novelist Jacqueline Sheehan explores the inner life of Sojourner Truth.

Isabella’s Childhood in Bondage

Born Isabella Baumfree in Dutch New York, Sojourner Truth’s first language was Dutch .

Sheehan spent five years researching Truth’s early life, drawing from the dictated narrative recorded by Olive Gilbert in Massachusetts .

Her novel focuses intensely on childhood — the psychological resilience required to survive being treated as property and sold away from family .

The Power of Story

The title The Comet’s Tale comes from a fictionalized birth story told by Isabella’s mother — illustrating how oral tradition helped enslaved parents maintain connection with children sold away .

Storytelling becomes an act of survival.

Spiritual Seeking and Dangerous Faith

After gaining freedom, Isabella moved to New York City during a period of religious ferment .

She became involved in the cult of Matthias — a charismatic religious leader who manipulated followers and dictated their lives .

Later, after a profound spiritual epiphany, she renamed herself Sojourner Truth — believing God had called her to preach .

Though illiterate, she became a mesmerizing orator; newspaper accounts described the hair standing on listeners’ necks .

Florence, Massachusetts: Political Awakening

Truth eventually found community at the Northampton Association for Education and Industry — a utopian, abolitionist community based on equality of labor and one person, one vote .

There she interacted with Frederick Douglass and David Ruggles, and blended her spirituality with abolitionism and women’s rights activism .

She later supported Black soldiers during the Civil War and met Abraham Lincoln .

Resilience as Choice

Sheehan emphasizes Truth’s moral agency: despite enduring profound injustice, she chose not to live in hatred .

Her life illustrates that even under brutal conditions, individuals retain the capacity for courageous choice.

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Episode Summary

Something feels wrong with our attention — and with reality itself.

In Attensity! A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement, editors D. Graham Burnett, Alyssa Loh, and Peter Schmidt argue that this crisis is not about individual willpower. It’s about a multi-trillion-dollar industry built to monetize human attention.

They call it “human fracking.”

“These phones are the final node in a… $7 to $14 trillion industry that’s all about maximizing the amount of time that we engage with these devices… capturing our attention and turning it into money. And we call that ‘human fracking.’” — Peter Schmidt

In this conversation, we explore how the commodification of attention reshapes nearly every aspect of our lives.

We talk about attention as relational and ethical — not just measurable. And we examine why reclaiming attention must be a collective political movement, not a private detox.

Then, we listen to an excerpt from our 2025 conversation with Cory Doctorow about his book Enshittifcation.

Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast.

Tags: Attention Liberation Movement, Attensity book, D. Graham Burnett, Peter Schmidt, Alyssa Loh, human fracking, attention economy, digital capitalism, social media harm, attention activism, Cory Doctorow enshittification, attention sanctuaries, Writers Voice podcast

You may also like: Cory Doctorow, Enshittification, Cory Doctorow, Picks and Shovels

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Segment Summary

The Crisis of Attention

• Why attention is “the key question of our moment”
• The metaphor of “human fracking”
• The internal environmental crisis of the mind

Attention as World-Making

• Attention as relational and ethical
• Simone Weil and the spiritual dimensions of attention
• How degraded attention makes reality feel unreal

Movement, Not Detox

• Converting private shame into collective anger
• Why willpower isn’t enough
• Parallels to environmental and civil rights movements

Sanctuaries of Attention

• Study, organizing, sanctuary
• Libraries, classrooms, coffee shops, Sabbath
• Reimagining civic institutions as attention infrastructure

A Positive Vision

• Designing technologies for human flourishing
• What a liberated attentional world might feel like for the next generation

Listen to or Read a Sample from the book

Read the Poem: St. Francis and the Sow

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Episode Summary:

Historian Andrew Burstein joins us to talk about his biography, Being Thomas Jefferson. It’s an intimate portrait that looks beyond the marble statue and into the emotional life of one of America’s most influential founders.

Burstein explores Jefferson as a political moralist, a lyrical writer, and as someone who imagined democracy while profiting from slavery, who preached equality while exercising enormous power over others, and as someone who believed passionately in the nation’s destiny while fearing the forces of centralized power that could tear it apart.

“The Jefferson that I write about in this book is a political moralist who converts knowledge into feeling.” — Andrew Burstein

We’ll talk about Jefferson’s psychological world, his relationship with Sally Hemings, his battles with Federalism, and how his inner life helped shape our nation and the ideals we’re struggling to protect today.

Then, we listen to an excerpt from our 2014 conversation with Danielle Allen about her book Our Declaration, A Reading Of The Declaration of Independence In Defense of Equality.

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Tags: Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Burstein, Being Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings, slavery, Founding Fathers, Federalism, Jeffersonian democracy, American Revolution, Writer’s Voice, Danielle Allen, Declaration of Independence,

You Might Also Like: Danielle Allen, OUR DECLARATION, Sojourner Truth, Her Story & Meaning,

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Andrew Burstein

Francesca Rheannon speaks with historian Andrew Burstein about Being Thomas Jefferson, a biography that examines Jefferson not just as a political figure, but as an emotional and psychological one.

Burstein describes Jefferson as “a political moralist who converts knowledge into feeling,” explaining how Jefferson’s seductive, lyrical writing helped forge America’s moral identity while masking deep personal fears and contradictions

The conversation explores Jefferson’s inner life, his need for control, his relationship with Sally Hemings, his rationalizations around slavery, and his enduring influence on American democracy. Burstein also traces Jefferson’s conflict with Federalism, his vision of an agrarian republic, and his belief that “the whole art of government is the art of being honest.”

It’s a candid discussion about legacy, race, power, self-deception, and what Jefferson’s emotional world still reveals about the United States today.

Andrew Burstein recently retired as Professor of History at Louisiana State University. In addition to Being Thomas Jefferson, He is the author of The Passions of Andrew Jackson, Jefferson’s Secrets, and several other books on early American politics and culture.

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Episode Summary:

In this episode of Writer’s Voice, Francesca Rheannon speaks with biographer Robert M. Dowling about his biography, Coyote: The Dramatic Lives of Sam Shepard.

Dowling explores Shepard’s groundbreaking theatrical innovations, his jazz-inspired rhythms, and his shamanistic approach to performance — along with the deep fear that powered his work. 

“He feared the estrangement — our estrangement from the earth, from ourselves, from reality even.” — Robert Dowling

Another writer who loved the deserts of California, as Sam Shepard did, was the poet Forrest Gander. We re-air a conversation with him from April of 2025 about his book-length poem, Mojave Ghost.

And finally, Francesca reads a powerful ode written by former US Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman to Renee Nicole Good, “For Renee Nicole Good Killed by I.C.E. on January 7, 2026.”

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Tags: Sam Shepard biography, Robert M. Dowling, Coyote, American playwrights, Forrest Gander, Renée Nicole Good, Amanda Gorman, Writer’s Voice podcast

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Robert M. Dowling

In our conversation about Coyote, Robert M. Dowling traces Sam Shepard’s evolution from “punk rock cowboy playwright” to cultural visionary, explaining how Shepard rejected realism to project inner turmoil directly onto the stage.

Dowling discusses Shepard’s use of humor as a survival mechanism, his musical sense of theater rooted in jazz and percussion, and his lifelong struggle with fear — shaped by a violent father and mirrored in what Shepard saw as America’s own self-loathing.

The episode also examines Shepard’s ideas about masculinity, political polarization, and alienation, before closing with a moving account of his final months and relentless devotion to writing.

Robert M. Dowling is s professor of English at Central Connecticut State University. In addition to Coyote, He is the author of the biography, Eugene O’Neill: A Life in Four Acts.

Listen to or Read a Sample from Coyote

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

In this episode of Writer’s Voice, journalist Nell Bernstein examines the decades-long movement to end youth incarceration in the United States, drawing on her book In Our Future We Are Free. Bernstein traces how incarcerated young people, their parents, lawyers, and organizers pierced the invisibility of youth prisons and achieved a historic 75% reduction in youth incarceration nationwide.

“Youth prisons are inherently abusive by design.” — Nell Bernstein

In the second segment, chef and writer Tamar Adler discusses Feast On Your Life, a deeply personal calendar-based book that explores how cooking, leftovers, sobriety, ritual, and attention can transform the ordinary into something sustaining—even during periods of despair.

“The bean broth wouldn’t let me be.” — Tamar Adler

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Key Words: youth incarceration, prison abolition, juvenile justice reform, Nell Bernstein, In Our Future We Are Free, Tamar Adler, Feast On Your Life, sustainability, leftovers,

You Might Also Like: Nell Bernstein, BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE, Katherine Harvey, The Bare Bones Broth Cookbook

Read the Transcript on Substack

Segment One: Nell Bernstein

Bernstein reflects on the evolution of her reporting from Burning Down the House to In Our Future We Are Free, documenting how youth prisons—institutions she describes as abusive by design—have been challenged and dismantled through organizing led by incarcerated young people and their families.

She explains why youth incarceration is not rehabilitative but criminogenic, how racialized fear narratives like the “super predator” myth enabled abuse, and why abolition—not cosmetic reform—is necessary. Bernstein also draws connections to present-day immigration detention and reflects on what this movement teaches us about sustained social change under authoritarian conditions.

Segment Two: Tamar Adler

Segment Two Summary: Tamar Adler

Adler describes writing Feast On Your Life during a period of depression, using daily attention to food and cooking as a way to heal. Organized month-by-month, the book reflects on sobriety, leftovers, seasonal abundance, restraint, imagination, ritual, and gratitude.

She discusses cooking “as if people mattered,” the ethical and ecological connections embedded in everyday meals, and how small rituals—packing lunches, saving bean broth, sharing fruit—create meaning and resilience. Drawing on Ursula K. Le Guin’s carrier bag theory, Adler frames her work as a quiet, gathering-oriented alternative to spectacle-driven narratives.

Read An Excerpt

Key Topics

• Youth prison abolition and organizing
• Racialized incarceration and the “super predator” myth
• Solitary confinement and institutional invisibility
• Trauma, criminogenic systems, and community care
• Cooking as attention, connection, and ethics
• Ritual, seasonality, and everyday meaning
• Sobriety, restraint, and renewal

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Today we explore what it really means to share the planet with other forms of life. We’ll talk with writer Bridget Lyons about her acclaimed book, Entwined: Dispatches from the Intersection of Species, a collection of essays that invites us to see animals, plants, and even ourselves in a radically more connected way.

“Part of the reason I wrote this book was to encourage people, inspire people to just go outside and look around and see who else is living around you.” — Bridget Lyons

And then we’ll hear an excerpt from our conversation with ecologist and author Carl Safina about his book Alfie and Me, the extraordinary story of a baby owl that helped him rethink what animals know — and what humans believe. 

“People have often said humans are the only logical animals, but I think that’s almost completely backward. We’re really the only illogical animals.” — Carl Safina

Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast.

Key Words: Bridget Lyons, Entwined, Carl Safina, Alfie and Me, Writers Voice podcast, animal intelligence, anthropomorphism, biodiversity, environmental ethics, sea stars, interspecies relationships

You Might Also Like: Adam Nicholson on BIRD SCHOOL, Richard Louv, OUR WILD CALLING & Carl Safina, BEYOND WORDS

Read the Transcript on Substack

Segment One — Bridget Lyons on Entwined

Bridget Lyons describes how her essays begin with encounters with other species — kelp, whales, sea stars, fireweed, octopuses — and expand into questions about value, empathy, humility, and how humans might live differently on the planet.

She explains that real connection begins with paying attention:

“Part of the reason I wrote this book was to encourage people, inspire people to just go outside and look around and see who else is living around you.”

Lyons argues that wonder leads to empathy and responsibility:

“As you become more connected to them, you feel more empathy for their life situation and what’s going on with them.”

One of the book’s core themes is rethinking value — not just in economic terms, but in terms of being:

“Can I, as a person, learn to value this creature for just being who it is, rather than for how it serves me, how it bothers me, etc.”

Lyons also speaks about humility in the face of ecological complexity:

“We all need a hefty, hefty dose of humility.”

And about how curiosity builds respect across species:

“The more you learn, or the more you learn that you don’t know, or the more that you marvel at something that another creature is doing, the more I think you’re creating a bridge.”

Segment Two — Carl Safina on Alfie and Me (archival excerpt)

Carl Safina tells the story of raising a baby screech owl named Alfie and what that relationship revealed about how animals experience the world — and how humans misunderstand it.

Safina challenges the idea that humans are uniquely rational:

“People have often said humans are the only logical animals, but I think that’s almost completely backward. We’re really the only illogical animals.”

He explains how human beliefs often override evidence:

“We’re the only ones who carry on through the world based on our beliefs rather than on evidence about how the world is and what the world around us is.”

Safina describes why freedom matters even when safety is available:

“That is not life. It’s pure safety, but there’s no shot at being part of the world or part of the future.”

And he reflects on what it means to witness another being’s full life unfold:

“I got to know something about these birds, and then I started to ask myself, well, why are we so blind to all of this?”

Key Topics

• The “intersection of species”
• Anthropomorphism and connection
• Wonder, humility, and ecological awareness
• How humans assign value
• Extinction and regeneration
• Animal intelligence and culture
• What owls — and other animals — reveal about how the world works

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Eric Lichtblau joins Writer’s Voice to discuss his new book, American Reich, a gripping investigation that begins with the murder of Blaze Bernstein in Orange County and expands into a sweeping analysis of white nationalism in 21st-century America.

“We’ve seen an enormous surge in hate crimes across the board… and this is horribly symptomatic of the rise of the neo-Nazis in the 21st century.” — Eric Lichtblau

Lichtblau traces how online extremism, political normalization of hate, and leaderless neo-Nazi networks have collided to shape a dangerous new era—one that has produced waves of hate crimes, radicalized young white men, and emboldened supremacist movements.

Lichtblau also explores the role of Trump-era politics, the mechanics of recruitment and radicalization — and what gives him hope for resistance and solidarity.

We also re-air a clip from our 2017 interview with photojournalist Zach Roberts about his viral photos of the brutal beating of De’Andre Harris by white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia during the Unite the Right rally on August 12 of that year.

Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast.

Key Words: American Reich, Eric Lichtblau, Writer’s Voice podcast
white supremacy, neo-Nazis, hate crimes, online extremism
replacement theory, Trump white nationalism

You Might Also Like: Zach Roberts on Charlottesville attack, Michael German on POLICING WHITE SUPREMACY

Subscribe (free or paid) for Substack transcripts

Key Topics

• The murder of Blaze Bernstein as a window into national extremism
• How Trump-era rhetoric normalized white supremacist ideology
• Historical cycles of xenophobia and racism in America
• Online radicalization & social platforms as recruitment engines
• Atomwaffen Division, James Mason, and leaderless resistance
• Replacement theory explained
• Why young white men become targets for recruitment
• The reality of modern hate-crime statistics
• Community resistance and hope

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

What does a 2,000-year-old epic have to say to us today about exile, duty, love, power, war, misinformation, and the fragile hopes of human community?

A great deal, say translators Scott McGill and Susannah Wright, whose new English translation of Virgil’s Aeneid captures both the grandeur of the epic and its deeply human emotional core.

“We were really keen to try to capture…the humanity of the poem, the deep pathos that Virgil generates, the power of the emotional world of the poem.”

In this conversation, they talk about collaboration, emotion, translation craft, and why the Aeneid remains one of the most morally and politically provocative works ever written—wrestling with migration, empire, trauma, rage, resilience, and the cost of duty.

They also explore unforgettable characters like Aeneas and Dido, the role of Rumor as an ancient “fake news engine,” and what we gain when we keep engaging with the classics today.

We also play clips from some of our favorite episodes of 2025: Links to episodes

Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast.

Key Words: Virgil, Aeneid translation, Scott McGill, Susannah Wright, Aeneas and Dido, Roman empire, epic poem, Writer’s Voice podcast,

You Might Also Like: James Romm, DYING EVERY DAY & Robert Knapp, INVISIBLE ROMANS, James Romm, THE SACRED BAND

Key Topics

• Why translate the Aeneid now
• Collaboration and co-translation
• Emotional depth vs. epic grandeur
• Aeneas’s duty, sacrifice, and humanity
• Dido’s heartbreak and power
• Ambiguity of empire & colonialism
• Refugees, displacement & war
• Rumor as ancient misinformation
• Violence, morality & the troubling ending
• Why the classics still matter today

Read Interview Transcript

The ending of 2025 allowed us to reflect on some of our favorite episodes of the year. We had so many rich conversations in 2025 that this is by no means a complete list, but merely a sampler.

February — Aaron Robertson, The Black Utopians

Explores the hidden history of Black utopian communities in America—visions born from struggle, fueled by hope, political imagination, and self-determination, from Promised Land, Tennessee to radical Black movements in Detroit. Listen.

March — Amanda Becker, You Must Stand Up

Examines the fallout from the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, documenting legal chaos, ongoing threats to reproductive rights, and how activists, doctors, and voters continue the fight for abortion access. Listen

March — Omar El-Akkad, One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

A powerful critique of empire, media silence, and Western complicity in violence, written through the lens of Gaza; a deeply personal reckoning with responsibility, morality, and witnessing atrocity in real time. Listen

Ray Nayler, Where the Axe Is Buried

A dystopian novel about AI-ruled governments, mass surveillance, and the dangers of unchecked technological power—raising urgent questions about ethics, capitalism, and resistance. Listen

Silvia Park, Luminous

A haunting, philosophical novel questioning what happens when AI blurs the boundary between human and machine, exploring slavery, autonomy, inequality, and whether true human-robot equality is even possible. Listen

Bruce Holsinger, Culpability

A deeply human story about a family shattered by a self-driving car tragedy, exploring AI ethics, responsibility, grief, and who bears moral accountability when machines make life-altering decisions. Listen

May — Brian Goldstone, There Is No Place For Us: Working and Homeless in America

A devastating and deeply reported portrait of working families experiencing homelessness in the U.S., revealing how poverty, prosperity inequality, and policy failures create a humanitarian crisis far larger than official counts admit. Listen

Reality Winner — I Am Not Your Enemy

A gripping conversation with the NSA whistleblower about why she leaked evidence of Russian election interference, the government’s harsh punishment, and what her case reveals about secrecy, democracy, and justice. Listen

November Double-Bill — Cory Doctorow, Inshittification

Explains how tech platforms decay from user-friendly tools into exploitative corporate machines—and what systemic solutions like antitrust enforcement and tech worker resistance could change. Listen

November Double-Bill — Bill McKibben, Here Comes the Sun

A surprisingly hopeful conversation about how renewable energy is reshaping global power, offering real potential for economic justice, climate repair, and a rebalanced world.

1000th Episode — Julian Brave Noisecat, We Survived the Night

A moving memoir weaving Indigenous oral tradition, history, and contemporary struggle, exploring land, culture, trauma, resilience, and what we can learn from Indigenous ways of connection and community. Listen

We hope you’ll join us in 2026 for more of Writer’s Voice — compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

In this episode of Writer’s Voice, we explore the what’s going on with the current resurgence of psychedelics. My guest is Joe Dolce, whose new book, Modern Psychedelics: The Handbook for Mindful Exploration, dives deep into what these substances really do, why so many people are using them, and how science, politics, medicine, and culture are reshaping the conversation.

Dolce tells us why this is both an “exciting and confusing time” in psychedelic history—a time when reliable guidance is urgently needed in a moment of expanding access and misinformation. 

“I thought it was a good opportunity… there’s still so much confusion and so much misinformation about what these are, how they work, why they work, who they don’t work for, who should take them, who shouldn’t take them.” — Joe Dolce

We talk about what psychedelics can help heal — from PTSD and addiction to  depression and traumatic brain injury, why set and setting matter so deeply, how to micro dose psychedelics and how these substances can change not only individual consciousness, but maybe even how we relate to each other, to nature, and to the world we’re trying to save. 

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Key Words: Writer’s Voice podcast, Francesca Rheannon, Joe Dolce interview, Modern Psychedelics book, psychedelics research, PTSD psychedelics, traumatic brain injury psychedelics, microdosing, ibogaine therapy, MDMA therapy, psilocybin depression, psychedelics and spirituality

You Might Also Like: David Goodman, AN AMERICAN CANNABIS STORY & Carl Hart, DRUG USE FOR GROWNUPS, Alexandra Chasin, ASSASSIN OF YOUTH & Mason Tvert, MARIJUANA IS SAFER

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Episode Summary

Joe Dolce traces the renewed psychedelics movement from cultural taboo to scientific renaissance. He explains why psychedelics are not like traditional pharmaceuticals, discusses risks, cautions, and who shouldn’t take them, and explores compelling new research into “critical periods of brain learning,” microdosing, mystical experience, and emotional healing. The conversation also looks at capitalism, policy battles, the underground psychedelic community, and the deep spiritual questions these substances raise.

Listen to or Read A Sample

Key Topics

• Why psychedelics are returning to medicine and culture
• The difference between psychedelics and pharmaceuticals
• Preparing for a psychedelic experience: set, setting & safety
• Psychedelics and trauma healing
• Spiritual experience and meaning
• Microdosing: myth vs reality
• Policy, legality & capitalism
• The underground psychedelic community
• How people are accessing psychedelics today

Resources

The Fireside Project

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Francesca speaks with Jonathan Slaght about his remarkable book Tigers Between Empires: The Improbable Return of Great Cats to the Forests of Russia and China.

Slaght tells the story of the 35-year Siberian (Amur) Tiger Project, one of the longest-running wildlife studies in the world, and how science, persistence, and cross-border collaboration helped bring a species back from the edge of extinction.

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Key Words: Jonathan Slaght interview, Tigers Between Empires, Amur tiger conservation, Siberian Tiger Project, wildlife conservation Russia China,
endangered species recovery, human–wildlife conflict

You Might Also Like: Adam Hart, DEADLY BALANCE, Gloria Dickie, EIGHT BEARS

Read Edited Interview Transcript

About the Episode

Jonathan Slaght recounts the extraordinary history of the Amur (Siberian) tiger’s decline and recovery, drawing on decades of field research conducted by Russian and American scientists working across political boundaries.

Our conversation opens with the story of Lidiya, a tigress whose seven-year reproductive record illustrates how a single animal can anchor population recovery when conditions are right. Slaght explains how the Siberian Tiger Project broke new ground by tracking individual tigers across their entire lifespans, yielding insights into reproduction, survival, territory size, and the pressures that most threaten the species .

The conversation traces how 19th-century border treaties between Russia and China fragmented tiger habitat, accelerating hunting and habitat loss—only for those same borders, decades later, to become sites of coordinated protection. Slaght discusses the pivotal role of Soviet-era hunting bans, protected areas, and later rapid-response teams that reduced human-tiger conflict by intervening quickly when tigers approached villages .

He also reflects on the conservation philosophy of “green fire,” inherited from Aldo Leopold and championed by early project leaders, which treats top predators as essential to ecosystem health rather than threats to be eliminated.

Finally, Slaght looks ahead, emphasizing that government commitment and international collaboration—including newly coordinated Russian-Chinese protected areas—are essential to sustaining the Amur tiger’s recovery in a time of climate change and geopolitical strain .

Read An Excerpt