Episode · Behind the Bastards · 2026-11-03
Books mentioned on Part One: Dennis Hastert: The Longest-Serving Republican Speaker of the House
Robert tells Miles Gray the tangled story of Dennis Hastert, the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House, pioneer of congressional corruption, and pedophile.
Robert Evans discussed Speaker by Dennis Hastert.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Speaker
Discussed“In his 2004 autobiography, uh, Hastard's autobiography, which was titled Speaker: Lessons from 40 years in coaching and politics, Hastard opens chapter 1, Just Call Me Denny, with a quote from Louiswis Carol”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (4) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Passing Alice in Wonderland
“with a quote from Louiswis Carol, the author of Alice in Wonderland, who also had a hobby of taking naked pictures of little girls. He's not known to have molested anyone”
Passing Lolita
“Was he a was he a big Lolita fan? No, but that was not his I mean he he picked a very different gender um in terms of his his predation.”
Passing Das Capital Volume One
“It's like it's I'm surprised it wasn't like they had beers, cigarettes, and a copy of Das Capal. And I said no. The communist was a big deal.”
Passing The Communist Manifesto
“Oh, you don't know this, Miles, but back in the uh the 50s and early 60s, every sixer of Schlitz came with a copy of the Communist Manifesto.”