This Is Hell!

This is Hell!

Longform interview Hell since 1996.

  • 1 hour 55 minutes
    Elon Musk Is a Symptom / Quinn Slobodian & Ben Tarnoff
    Quinn Slobodian returns with his co-author, Ben Tarnoff, to discuss their just-published book from Harper Collins, "Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed." "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview. Check out Quinn and Ben's book here: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/muskism-quinn-slobodianben-tarnoff?variant=43838135402530 Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell Please rate and review This Is Hell! wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps the show ascend the algorithm to reach new listeners.
    22 April 2026, 6:10 pm
  • 21 minutes 43 seconds
    Loyola University Union Thugs pt. 2 / Paige Warren
    Paige Warren, Co-Chair of the SEIU 73 Faculty Forward Union at Loyola, joins us to update us on the next steps Loyola University Chicago non-tenure-track faculty are taking for a fair contract after the passage of a strike authorization vote. This follows 14 months of bargaining with a stonewalling, corporatized administration. Paige is an Adjunct Instructor in the Department of English at Loyola University Chicago.
    21 April 2026, 8:03 pm
  • 1 hour 37 minutes
    The Cultural Marxism Conspiracy + Loyola Union Thugs pt. 2 / A.J.A. Woods
    intellectual historian A.J.A. Woods, author of, “The Cultural Marxism Conspiracy: Why the Right Blames the Frankfurt School for the Decline of the West" (Verso Books) discusses their book on the day it is published. A.J.A.’s writings on conspiracy theories and reactionary politics have been translated into four languages and appeared in Open Democracy, Patterns of Prejudice, and Marx & Philosophy Review of Books. Check out A.J.A.'s book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/804696/the-cultural-marxism-conspiracy-by-aja-woods/ "Rotten History" from Renaldo Migaldi follows the interview. After all that, we receive an update from Loyola University Chicago SEIU 73 Faculty Forward co-chair Paige Warren about next steps bargaining for a fair contract for non-tenture-track faculty with a corporatized university after a successful strike authorization vote. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell Please rate and review This Is Hell! wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps the show ascend the algorithm to reach new listeners.d
    21 April 2026, 7:04 pm
  • 1 hour 58 minutes
    Labor Struggle in Higher Ed: An Update from Loyola University Chicago SEIU 73 Faculty Forward Union
    Members of the leadership team of the SEIU 73 Faculty Forward Union representing non-tenure-track faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola University Chicago update us on their 14-month-old fight for a fair contract. NTT faculty Matt Williams, Paige Warren, Sarita Heer, and Deb Goodman discuss the precarity and exploitation facing faculty at Loyola and on campuses across the United States and the union's efforts to bargain collectively at a corporatized university. We will follow up with them next Tuesday after strike authorization votes have been tallied. "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview. You can follow their struggle at the SEIU 73 website: https://seiu73.org/updates/loyola-university-updates/ and in the Loyola Phoenix's ongoing coverage: https://loyolaphoenix.com/2026/04/faculty-shares-grievances-with-new-administrative-policies/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell Please rate and review This Is Hell! wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps the show ascend the algorithm to reach new listeners.
    15 April 2026, 8:19 pm
  • 1 hour 13 minutes
    Colonialism Continues From Oil To Cancer In Kenya / Nelly Madegwa
    Nelly Madegwa is co-author of The Intercept story supported by the Pulitzer Center, "Where There Is Salt: An American Company Drilled for Oil in Kenya — and Left Behind Soaring Cancer Rates," which she co-wrote with Georgia Gee.

Nelly is an award-winning journalist from Kenya whose reporting covers climate change, sustainable development, health, and human rights across Africa. She writes frequently from a gender perspective on issues ranging from public health to sexual violence

Her work has appeared in The Elephant, Minority Africa, taz, and Africa Uncensored. Her storytelling blends investigative and data-driven reporting with human-interest narratives. Nelly is a Pulitzer Center Persephone Miel Fellow. https://theintercept.com/2026/04/06/amoco-bp-oil-kargi-kenya-cancer/ She was first runner-up in the 2021 African Journalist Gender Equality Awards. She also holds a certificate in explanatory journalism from the Knight Center. We will have new installments of Rotten History and Hangover Cure. We will also be sharing your answers to this week's Question from Hell! from Patreon. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell
    14 April 2026, 12:00 am
  • 1 hour 52 minutes
    AI Grifters in Power & Reactionary Third Way Centrist Dems / Henry Burke
    Henry Burke of the Revolving Door Project joins us to discuss his recent writing, "How OpenAI Hacked The Military-Industrial Complex" at The Lever and, "Centrists: Better Things Aren’t Possible" at The American Prospect. "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview. Check out Henry's articles here: https://www.levernews.com/how-openai-hacked-the-military-industrial-complex/ and here: https://prospect.org/2026/03/10/centrists-better-things-arent-possible-democrats-south-carolina-third-way/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell Please rate and review This Is Hell! wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps the show ascend the algorithm to reach new listeners.
    8 April 2026, 5:58 pm
  • 1 hour 34 minutes
    Ukraine Going From Maidan To War / Volodymyr Ishchenko
    Research associate at the Institute of East European Studies, Freie Universität Berlin and sociologist Volodymyr Ishchenko returns to discuss the Russia-Ukraine war and many of the misconceptions we may have regarding the ongoing conflict. His writing has appeared in The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Jacobin and New Left Review. He is the author of “Towards the Abyss: Ukraine from Maidan to War”, published by Verso Books. We will have new installments of Rotten History and Hangover Cure. We will also be sharing your answers to this week's Question from Hell! from Patreon. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell
    6 April 2026, 12:00 am
  • 1 hour 37 minutes
    Death by AI / Andy Worthington
    Andy Worthington returns to the show to discuss his recent writing, including "The Horrors of AI-Driven Military Targeting, From Gaza to Iran," and "900 Days of Genocide in Gaza." "The Moment of Truth" with Jeff Dorchen follows the interview. Check out Andy's writing at his website: https://www.andyworthington.co.uk/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell Please rate and review This Is Hell! wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps the show ascend the algorithm to reach new listeners.
    1 April 2026, 11:05 pm
  • 1 hour 23 minutes
    Fighting Against The Corporate Monsters Of Plastic / Diane Wilson
    Author, Executive Director of San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeepers, and Goldman Prize winner Diane Wilson returns to This Is Hell! to talk about her ongoing hunger strike to protest Dow’s environmental damage to San Antonio Bay and the surrounding community. We will have new installments of Rotten History and Hangover Cure. We will also be sharing your answers to this week's Question from Hell! from Patreon. Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/thisishell
    31 March 2026, 6:32 pm
  • 1 hour 14 minutes
    2026 Listener Favorites (so far): Imperial Boomerangs / Séamus Malekafzali
    While Chuck is away this week undergoing physical therapy, we are featuring some of your favorite interviews of 2026 so far. This time, we revisit our January 15th conversation with Séamus Malekafzali. He joined us to discuss his recent piece at The Nation, "The Assassination That Paved the Way for Trump’s Venezuela Attack: How Trump’s illegal 2020 killing of Qassem Soleimani—and the West’s indifferent response—laid the groundwork for the brazen abduction of Nicolás Maduro." Check out the article here: https://www.thenation.com/article/world/trump-soleimani-venezuela-maduro/ Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell Please rate and review This Is Hell! wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps the show ascend the algorithm to reach new listeners.
    27 March 2026, 5:32 pm
  • 59 minutes 53 seconds
    2026 Listener Favorites (so far): Escape from Capitalism / Claire Mattei
    While Chuck is away for the week to endure the torture of physical therapy, we revisit your favorite interviews of 2026 so far. In this episode, we revisit your most-suggested interview, Chuck's January 27th conversation with Clara Mattei. Clara is professor of economics at The University of Tulsa and the Founding President of FREE—the Forum for Real Economic Emancipation. She joined us to discuss her new book, "Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention,” from Simon & Shuster. Score your copy of "Escape from Capitalism" here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Escape-from-Capitalism/Clara-E-Mattei/9781668085141 Help keep This Is Hell! completely listener supported and access bonus episodes by subscribing to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisishell Please rate and review This Is Hell! wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps the show ascend the algorithm to reach new listeners.
    25 March 2026, 9:09 pm
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