KPFA - Against the Grain

Jessica Mitford revived muckraking journalism in the United States, shaping generations of investigative writers who followed her. She also lived an remarkable life on the left, despite her ultra-reactionary English upper class origins. Carla Kaplan argues that Mitford is woman for our times.
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Are women as strong as men? According to science writer Starre Vartan, in some cases, they are stronger. She argues that scientific research over the last several decades shows that culture shapes strength as much as hormones — and that much of what we presume about sex differences, strength, and athleticism harms all of us.
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Photo by Peter Zhan on Unsplash
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The United States spends as much on healthcare as almost half the world combined, yet so many Americans are unhealthy. Would universal healthcare be enough alone to rectify this costly state of ill health? Stephen Bezruchka posits that inequality is at the root of our affliction — and that taxing the rich is a necessity.
Stephen Bezruchka, Born Sick in the USA: Improving the Health of a Nation Cambridge University Press, 2026
Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash
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In the decade of the 2010s, more people took to the streets than in any other time in history. And yet those horizontal protests, often spread through social media, were frequently co-opted by the right — and the decade ended with the rise of authoritarianism. Journalist Vincent Bevins spoke to activists around the world about the lessons they drew from the failed mass revolts, and discusses how democratic movements regained power in Brazil from the despotic Jair Bolsonaro.
Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution Public Affairs, 2023
Vincent Bevins, “This Land Is Our Land: How Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement Emerged from Right-wing Rule Stronger Than Ever” The Nation, April 8, 2025
Photo credit: Jonathan Rashad
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It’s often argued that culture is the gateway to politics — that if you can influence cultural values, it will ultimately change society as whole. In the late Sixties, the counterculture was animated by that idea, including Rolling Stone Magazine, which began in the Bay Area. Peter Richardson reflects on Rolling Stone’s debt to the counterculture – and the limits to both endeavors.
Peter Richardson, Brand New Beat: The Wild Rise of Rolling Stone Magazine UC Press, 2026
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