Q&A

Opportunity Zones were created under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, signed into law by President Trump in December 2017. Originally the brainchild of Napster co-founder Sean Parker and supported by both Republicans and Democrats, the idea was to attract investment to poor communities across the U.S. by offering tax breaks for investors. Brookings Institution senior fellow and former Wall Street Journal economics editor and columnist David Wessel (WES-uhl), author of "Only the Rich Can Play,"...

Paris was overtaken by the Nazis on June 14, 1940, and brutally occupied for more than four years. Thousands of Parisians died as a result. Martin Dugard, co-author with Bill O'Reilly of the bestselling "Killing" series and author of the new book "Taking Paris," talks about Paris during the time of the German occupation and the liberation of the city by the U.S. and French forces in August 1944. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Peter Canellos, Politico editor-at-large and the author of The Great Dissenter, talked about the life, career, and legacy of Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan of Kentucky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lawrence Wright, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Looming Tower" and New Yorker staff writer, discusses his latest book "The Plague Year: America in the Time of COVID." He talks about the origins of COVID-19, the response to the outbreak by the Chinese government, and the handling of the pandemic by the Trump administration and CDC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wall Street Journal columnist and Manhattan Institute senior fellow Jason Riley talks about the life and influence of economist Thomas Sowell ("SOUL"), now 91, whose writings on economics, race, culture, education and politics have inspired conservatives and libertarians for a half-century. Mr. Riley is the author of the biography "Maverick" and is also the host of a documentary on Mr. Sowell that came out in January 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jessica DuLong, the former chief engineer on NYC fireboat John J. Harvey, talks about the rescue of nearly 500,000 people, by boat, off the island of Manhattan following the 9/11 attacks. It was the largest maritime evacuation in history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Three House lawmakers - Reps. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Jason Crow (D-CO), and Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) - recount their first-hand experiences on January 6, when a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brown University professor Megan Kate Nelson teaches a class about guerilla warfare, which is largely characterized by its tactics, including ambushes and surprise raids on unsuspecting troops and towns. She talks about the guerrilla soldiers fighting on both the Union and Confederate sides during the Civil War. These small bands of men on horseback were nimble and difficult to capture, especially Confederate guerrillas who often did not wear uniforms and blended back into the population...

Breitbart editor-in-chief Alex Marlow argues that the mainstream media has destroyed its credibility. He's interviewed by Reason Magazine editor at large Matt Welch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brown University professor Megan Kate Nelson teaches a class about guerilla warfare, which is largely characterized by its tactics, including ambushes and surprise raids on unsuspecting troops and towns. She talks about the guerrilla soldiers fighting on both the Union and Confederate sides during the Civil War. These small bands of men on horseback were nimble and difficult to capture, especially Confederate guerrillas who often did not wear uniforms and blended back into the population...

Historian Harlow Unger chats with Brian Lamb about the work and legacy of Thomas Paine. Mr. Paine's political writings inspired American revolutionaries, but his later writings on religion made him a pariah. Harlow Unger's book, "Thomas Paine and the Clarion Call for American Independence," is the latest of 27 he has written, including many on the Founding Fathers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian Eleanor Herman joins Brian Lamb to talk about her book, "Sex with Presidents," about sex scandals involving U.S. presidents going back to the early years of the Republic. Eleanor Herman is the author of many other books, including "Sex with the Queen" and "Sex with Kings." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Clinton administration aide Gary Ginsberg, author of "First Friends," talked about the personal confidants of U.S. presidents and the influence they wielded. He talks about banker and businessman Bebe Rebozo, who Richard Nixon knew for 44 years, and civil rights leader Vernon Jordan, one of Bill Clinton's closest advisers for much of his political career, among others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Washington Post syndicated finance columnist Michelle Singletary discusses how people should react financially during an economic downturn. She also talks about her love of budgets, her hatred of debt, and the future of the U.S. economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jessica DuLong, the former chief engineer on NYC fireboat John J. Harvey, talks about the rescue of nearly 500,000 people, by boat, off the island of Manhattan following the 9/11 attacks. It was the largest maritime evacuation in history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Ritchie, historian emeritus of the U.S. Senate, talks about the influence of Drew Pearson’s muckraking “Washington Merry-Go-Round” columns, which derailed many political careers in Washington and drew the ire of every president from FDR to Nixon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist and historian Craig Fehrman analyzes American presidents through the lens of the books they've written. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why do people like to get intoxicated? Edward Slingerland, professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia, tries to answer the question in his latest book, "Drunk," which looks at the evolutionary purpose of intoxication and the role that drinking has played throughout history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Were government-mandated lockdowns in the U.S. necessary to stop the pandemic? John Tamny, director of the Center for Economic Freedom at FreedomWorks, says they weren’t and argues they have done more harm than good. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Harvard professor Annette Gordon-Reed talks about the history and legacy of Juneteenth - June 19th - the day in 1865 that enslaved African Americans in Texas were informed of their emancipation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices