Episodes

  • EP 167: Richard V. Reeves on Why Modern Men Are Struggling
    Dec 18 2024

    No podcast series on the challenges facing modern men is complete without hearing from my guest on today’s program. He’s a policy scholar who has been ringing the alarm on the social, economic, and health crises facing men for years now — so much so that he recently founded a national research organization dedicated to tackling these issues. Today on Lean Out, we’re pleased to bring you an encore presentation of our 2022 conversation about his ground-breaking book.

    Richard V. Reeves is the founding president of the American Institute for Boys and Men. His latest book is Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What To Do About It.

    This podcast series is dedicated to Marc Antione Jubinville. May he rest in peace.

    You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

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    37 mins
  • EP 166: Nicholas Eberstadt on Men Without Work
    Dec 11 2024

    This week at Lean Out, we continue our podcast series on the challenges facing modern men, from declining educational achievement to rising suicides and overdoses. We’re happy to bring you an encore presentation of an interview from 2022, with a political economist who says prime, working age men in America are facing Great Depression-era levels of joblessness. The collapse of work — today on Lean Out.

    Nicholas Eberstadt holds the Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute. He’s also the author of Men Without Work.

    This podcast series is dedicated to Marc Antione Jubinville. May he rest in peace.

    You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

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    35 mins
  • EP 165: Daniel Cox on the Growing Gender Gap
    Dec 4 2024

    Today at Lean Out, we continue our series on the challenges facing modern men. My guest on the program has done pioneering work on the increasing gender gap in American society and politics. He’s thought a lot about the dangers of men and women growing apart — and about how we might come together.

    Daniel Cox is director of the Survey Center on American Life. He is also a senior fellow in polling and public opinion at the American Enterprise Institute. His forthcoming book is titled Uncoupled, and he writes the Substack newsletter American Storylines.

    This podcast series is dedicated to Marc Antione Jubinville. May he rest in peace.

    You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

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    30 mins
  • EP 164: Zaid Jilani on Why It's Not Always Easy Being a Man
    Nov 27 2024

    The American election highlighted ongoing tensions between men and women — but election commentary often failed to acknowledge the crises that modern men are facing, from declining educational achievement and employment to increased suicides, overdoses, and loneliness. Today at Lean Out, we kick off a series exploring these issues, with a guest who’s recently published a powerful essay highlighting why we need to reconsider how we think and talk about men.

    Zaid Jilani is the freelance American journalist behind the Substack newsletter The American Saga. His recent essay is titled “Democrats Need to Realize It’s Not Always Easy To Be a Man.”

    This series is dedicated to Marc Antoine Jubinville. May he rest in peace.

    You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

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    30 mins
  • EP 163: Ruy Teixeira: The Progressive Moment is Over
    Nov 22 2024

    With Donald Trump winning the presidency, the popular vote, the Senate, and the House, in what The New York Times has described as a “crushing electoral rebuke” of the Democrats, there is a lot of soul-searching going on in the party. Our guest on the program today tried to warn the Democrats in his previous book. He says the progressive moment in American politics is now over — and the Democrats are going to have to face that fact if they want to win again.

    Ruy Teixeira is a cofounder and politics editor of The Liberal Patriot newsletter on Substack and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. His latest book, with John B. Judis, is Where Have All the Democrats Gone? The Soul of the Party in the Age of Extremes. Ruy Teixeira is our guest today, in this special bonus episode.

    You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

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    48 mins
  • EP 162: Andy Mills on What the Media Missed
    Nov 20 2024

    In 2016, the election of Donald Trump took the mainstream media by surprise, with many in the press struggling to understand his rise to power and the factors driving it. Now, in the wake of Donald Trump’s decisive win, here we are again. My guest on today’s program suspected we might be missing the story, and just days before the election, published a brilliant podcast episode unpacking the comeback of Donald Trump.

    Andy Mills is an award-winning American reporter and podcast producer, and co-creator of The Daily at The New York Times and The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling at The Free Press. He’s now the host of the Reflector podcast.

    You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

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    1 hr and 18 mins
  • EP 161: Larissa Phillips on Loving Your Neighbour
    Nov 13 2024

    Since last week’s election win for Donald Trump, we are seeing a renewed sense of scorn for Republican voters in parts of the mainstream media. The Guardian’s Rebecca Solnit, for example, writes in her column that “our mistake was to think we lived in a better country than we do.” My guest on today’s program doesn’t see it that way. She’s a lefty Democrat who moved from Park Slope, Brooklyn, to Trump country — and she writes that the gift of living in a rural county is that “I keep finding reasons to see my political adversaries as human.”

    Larissa Phillips runs the Honey Hollow farm in upstate New York. She’s the founder of the Volunteer Literacy Project, and her essay for The Free Press is, “Whatever Happens, Love Thy Neighbor.”

    You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

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    30 mins
  • EP 160: The Big Fix in the Canadian Economy
    Nov 6 2024

    If you’re living in Canada and you have a cell phone plan, or a bank account, or have taken a flight recently, or struggle to afford groceries, you already know how expensive and dysfunctional the country has gotten for consumers. Our guests on the podcast today have written a book about the rise of corporate monopolies (and duopolies and oligopolies) — and, as they write, this market concentration “goes well beyond the usual suspects.”

    Vass Bednar is the executive director of McMaster University’s Master of Public Policy in Digital Society program, a contributing columnist to The Globe and Mail, and the host of its podcast Lately. Denise Hearn is a resident senior fellow at the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment at Columbia University. Their new book, for the McGill Max Bell Lectures, is The Big Fix: How Companies Capture Markets and Harm Canadians.

    You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com

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    36 mins