In this sixth episode, I read excerpts from the following texts:·         *How We Got to Now: Six Innovation That Made the Modern World* by Steven Johnson·         *Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty* by Dan Jones·         *Critical Race Theory: An Introduction* by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic·         *Sitting with Elephants: Lessons in Humility from the African Bush* by Ronald Dulek

In the fifth episode, I read excerpts from the following texts:*The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory* by Jesse Walker*Ironic Life* by Richard Bernstein*How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America* by Heather Cox Richardson*Wrestling with the Divine: A Jewish Response to Suffering* by Shmuel Boteach

Episode 4In the fourth episode, I read excerpts from the following texts:*Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends on It,* by Ian Leslie – the ground of so much*Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism,* by Anne Applebaum – the need for simplicity in a complex world*Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West,* by Hampton Sides – hide-out on a New Mexico pillar*Vodka: A Global History,* by Patricia Herlihy – Russian aristocrats using vodka for social control

In the third episode, I read excerpts from the following texts:*Armies of Heaven: The First Crusade and the Quest for Apocalypse,* by Jay Rubenstein – Christians out enemy-ing the enemy*How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them,* by Jason Stanley – the need for an epic past*Art of Voice: Poetic Principles and Practice,* by Tony Hoagland and Kay Cosgrove – creating a believable, human voice with the mind in motion*Strangers from a Different Short: A History of Asian Americans,* by Ronald Takaki –  Asian moves to Hawaiian plantations*1776,* by David McCullough – perhaps General Washington’s saddest letter

In the second episode, I read excerpts from the following texts:*How Democracies Die* by Levitsky and Ziblatt -- here are the key signals for authoritarianism*Ballpark: Baseball in the American City* by Paul Goldberger --  finding space for Yankee Stadium*Frederick Douglass* by David Blight -- at the ten year anniversary of the assassination*Queen Victoria* by Lucy Worsley -- Albert's Christmas trees*Readings in Moby-Dick* -- "Meanings of the Sea" by William Hamilton -- water frees

In this first episode, I read excerpts from the following texts: *A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare* by James Shapiro -- secretly setting-up The Globe*The Wars of Reconstruction* by Douglas Egerton -- violent losers*The Electric Life of Michael Faraday* by Alan Hirshfeld -- almost missing the transformer*Nixonland* by Rick Perlstein -- multiple burglaries*Why Poetry* by Matthew Zapruder -- taking your head off