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Books podcasts were talking about in September 2025
During September 2025, several prominent podcasts explored historical examinations, political theory, and influential literature. On The Ezra Klein Show, guest Cory Robin recommended Victor S. Navasky's Naming Names to focus on the McCarthy era and individual choices within Hollywood, alongside Bruno Leipold's Citizen Marx as a study of Karl Marx. Robin also discussed W.E.B. Du Bois's Black Reconstruction to illustrate the historical context of employment sanctions, while host Ezra Klein mentioned reading Clay Risen's Red Scare for historical texture on communism. Also on The Ezra Klein Show, Spencer Cox recommended Frank H. McCourt's Our Biggest Fight to argue how social media and technology diminish personal agency, and Yuval Levin's American Covenant as a constitutional exploration. On the Lex Fridman Podcast, guest Norman Ohler highlighted Albert Camus's The Stranger as a major stylistic influence stemming from his youth. Finally, on How I Write, Dan Wang named Stendhal and his major works, including The Charterhouse of Parma, as primary creative influences on his own writing style. These discussions frequently revisited historical crises, political frameworks, and personal artistic influences across different platforms.
The Ezra Klein Show
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Red Scare
Discussed“I was reading Klay Ryzen's excellent book, Red Scare, which taught me a lot.”
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Black reconstruction
Discussed“Web de boys and black reconstruction. You know this very violent moment against black people says it's it's employment sanctions that really is the driving engine.”
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Naming names
Recommended“a second book is Victor Navas's s naming names which is about the McCarthy era. And the reason I recommend it's about Hollywood s, is it really focuses on what we were just talking about the individual”
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Citizen Marx
Recommended“And the last book is called Citizen Marks. It's an academic book. It's a study of Karl Marx by a young political theorist named Bruno Leopold who's in Britain.”
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Our Biggest Fight
Recommended“I believe there's a great book called our our biggest fight by uh by Frank McCort that I would recommend where they make a really interesting argument”
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American Covenant
Recommended“And then American Covenant was his latest one, which is kind of the answer to A Time to Build. American Covenant is about the Constitution”
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Lions & scavengers
Discussed“It was about his new book, Lions and Scavengers, and talking to him about it surprised me.”
How I Write
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The Charterhouse of Parma
Discussed“My favorite writer, my favorite novelist is uh Standal um whose big works are the red and the black as well as the charter house of Parma.”
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Red and the Black
Discussed“I um just reread the red and the black um this summer and it was probably my fourth time reading my um favorite novel.”
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The Book of Nightmares
Discussed“I think that came out of his book, The Book of Nightmares.”
The Daily Stoic
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It's Better to Be Feared
Discussed“He's a senior writer at ESPN, the New York Times bestselling author of It's Better to Be Feared.”
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My first coach
Discussed“There's a story, have you read that book, My First Coach? It's about like quarterbacks and their dads.”
Modern Wisdom
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The Children of Men
Discussed“Have you seen the movie or read the book Children of Men.”
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When Harry met Sally
Discussed“There's a you know, one thing in in Steven Pinker's book I love is is he reference the movie Harry when Harry met Sally. So, for the your young listeners, it's an old movie from the I think 90s and and Harry basically he he meets meets Sally and she's a a friend of his current girlfriend and he hits”
Lex Fridman Podcast
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The Stranger, The Plague (Coles Notes)
Recommended“But the most influential book, maybe, is "The Stranger" by Camus. Because I like the language so much, and I'm really mostly interested in language. I don't really care what it's about. I was lying on the beach in Morocco when I was 20 and reading "The Stranger."”
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The Lost World
Discussed“As far as I can tell, Crichton just dreamed it up. In The Lost World, his sequel book, he hints that there's a research paper that says it, and that's where he got it from.”
The Joe Rogan Experience
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Holy Hell
Discussed“The documentary is called Holy Hell and it's about a guy who is a gay porn star and a hypnotist that was a yoga instructor.”
Interesting Times
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Where Is My Flying Car?
Discussed“I wrote this piece, actually for the Times, about this book by J. Storrs Hall called, "Where Is My Flying Car?"”
