Introducing: Endgame with Fintan O'Toole

The second episode of Endgame with Fintan O’Toole welcomes the poet and critic Dan Chiasson, whose recent Bernie for Burlington: The Rise of the People’s Politician is part intellectual biography, part memoir and paean to a region of the country where progressives have often gone to test out their visions for a better society. O’Toole and Chiasson talk about Bernie Sanders’s early embrace of public media, his commitment to labor, and his lifelong emphasis on the pursuit of happiness as a political goal.

For our series premiere, Annette Gordon-Reed joins Fintan O'Toole to discuss Thomas Jefferson's political convictions and contradictions, including his early drafts of the Declaration of Independence, his relationships with the Hemings family, and the contemporary resonance of his advocating for freedom within a racist society. Annette Gordon-Reed has been a frequent contributor to The New York Review for the last ten years. Her Pulitzer Prize–winning The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family revised our understanding of Thomas Jefferson’s relationship with Sally Hemings, and for the Review she has written about subjects ranging from W.E.B. Du Bois to Hillary Clinton to the history of Texas. She is the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard. Her latest book is Jefferson on Race: A Reader. Endgame with Fintan O'Toole is a New York Review podcast. Our theme music is "Political World" by Bob Dylan, courtesy of Universal Music Publishing Group and Sony Music Entertainment. Our show art is designed by Jason Logan. And our producer is Erica Getto. New episodes drop every Tuesday across podcast platforms and at YouTube.com/@nybooks. For more, head to nybooks.com.

Welcome to Endgame, where every week Fintan O'Toole will be exploring some of the major contradictions that have shaped the United States since its founding 250 years ago.