125. Kurt Andersen on America's Inherent Pull toward Fantasyland, the Evil Geniuses Who Weaponize It, and a Future Diverged from the Status Quo

Many episodes of this show grapple with the perhaps unanswerable
question: why is America the way it is? Is there something
inherent in American culture that answers where we're going? Kurt
Andersen has been exploring the nature of American culture
throughout his varied career, from co-founding Spy Magazine,
writing for Time and The New Yorker,  writing several
novels, hosting the public radio show Studio 360, and most
comprehensively through his recent two volume history of America:
Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire and Evil Geniuses: The
Unmaking of America. He’s here today in conversation with Tom
Knoblauch about his intellectual journey and the answers he has
found in both our fantasies and our histories—and what this means
for America's future.