Capitalism is not up to the task of 21st century healthcare. Facing wars, an ageing population, fossil fuel-driven disasters, debilitating diseases, and the everyday rigors of life, the capitalist healthcare system instead prioritizes profit above all else.On this episode Jake Flores of "Pod Damn America" joins Jen and Lenore to discuss this crisis, then they get into a different healthcare model presented by, "Health Communism," a 2025 book written by Artie Vierkant and Beatrice Adler-Bolton of the "Death Panel" Podcast.It's a great book. It's a great episode. Don't miss it!Go support "Workers' Lit" on Patreon!https://patreon.com/workerslitGo check out Jake Flores' podcast, "Pod Damn America"https://www.patreon.com/poddamnamericaGo check out "Health Communism"https://www.versobooks.com/products/2801-health-communism

On September 28, 2021, Lee Mandelo released his debut novel: "Summer Sons," a southern gothic horror that wrestles with guilt, sexual repression, the long shadows of southern history, the evils of academia, and reinventing BDSM dynamics from first principles with your buddies.On September 28, 2026, Workers' Lit released an episode with Lee himself, looking back on "Summer Sons" as a book.We've had authors on to talk about their books, but never to break down their novels in a beat-by-beat way we typically review literature. We were thrilled to have Lee back on the show for this amazing topic.Want more of Workers' Lit/Lee collaboration content? You'd be crazy not to. Links to his two previous appearances and our coverage of "Woods All Black" here:https://open.spotify.com/episode/5j6AH8gxlpojTjZdEiuJH9?si=0qRwbRd3Q_G8w26qW-EGhwhttps://open.spotify.com/episode/5M8AaWNVKHh0zuhWDVbt81?si=fl-JuDvlTiqgoojLR7ztGghttps://open.spotify.com/episode/3CRYIorpGHJVC0oYvtJhLu?si=_qTz2i4OR9eWku4PjLnIzQWant to support Workers' Lit on Patreon? Of course you do. Link here!https://patreon.com/workerslitWant more of Lee? OBVIOUSLY! Link here!https://leemandelo.com/

Now is the time of monsters!Caleb from Kill The Computer and 60 Minute Drill returns to the pod to discuss the legendary Italian intellectual, Antonio Gramsci. Trace the life story of this short king with us as he travels from the poor countryside of his youth to meet baddies in a Moscow sanitarium all the way to revolutionary struggle and prison in fascist Italy…and bro didn’t stop there! As soon as he hit the jail cell he started, “The Prison Notebooks.”Over 3000 pages of documents, “The Prison Notebooks” contains keys for understanding the failure of the working class to defend its own interests, the way the ruling class exerts control despite all odds, and answers the key question: is Macklemore an intellectual?Go Support Workers’ Lit on Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/WorkersLitGo Check out Caleb’s podcasts!https://www.killthecomputer.com/https://linktr.ee/60MinuteDrill

This is a preview. To access the full episode please go support Workers' Lit on Patreon.https://www.patreon.com/WorkersLitOnce again it's time for an Article Brain, the monthly sub-series where we find the worst articles of our day and age to torment one another with.First up, we read Ross Douthat's departure from the New York Times. In typical Ross fashion, he manages to "both sides" in a way specifically designed to drive us insane.And then we get CNN's take on the AI Apocalypse. Sure, it's coming, but don't we prefer an American AI Apocalypse to a Chinese one??Links (not recommending you read these please God don't):https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/08/opinion/obama-trump-biden-enemy.htmlhttps://us.cnn.com/2026/09/15/tech/ai-kill-everyone-china

It’s another Patron-selection! Welcome to “All Systems Red,” a 2017 sci-fi adventure novella by Martha Wells.We talk about Wells’ life and the story, but a good chunk of this episode is dedicated to discussing robots in fiction more generally. What makes the robot who wants love such an interesting stand-in for real world alienation? Where do those parallels fall short? How does the rise of Gen AI (particularly AI slop) impact our relationship to robot narratives? Would Muderbot engage in kink at Pride discourse? All this and more will be answered!Support us on Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/workerslit

In the year 2000 a snarky chef named Anthony Bourdain published a collection of essays, rants, and observations about the food industry. The dude went on to do cool stuff, so much that our patrons voted for us to discuss this book!In this episode we discuss how restaurant culture has (and mostly hasn't) changed, how to have working class solidarity in weird situations, the beauty of loving your job and having dignity in it, and the new A24 Film, "Tony."Read the original Bourdain essay here:https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/04/19/dont-eat-before-reading-thisGo support us on Patreon here!https://www.patreon.com/workerslit

This is a preview. To access the full episode please go support Workers' Lit on Patreon.https://www.patreon.com/workerslitThe spookiness only grows!Jonathan Sims returns to Workers' Lit to talk with Aysha about his work, his novel, "The Burn Line" (which you should buy!), horror, trains, and more!This episode is exclusively for $5 patrons and up. Every patron we gets helps us keep the show going and growing, and we appreciate you all for it!Check out more of Jonathan's work here: https://jonathan-sims.com/Go buy Jonthan's newest book, "The Burn Line" https://www.sourcebooks.com/the-burn-line.html

It's about to get really spooky.Join us as we explore Robert W. Chambers' iconic 1895 short story collection, "The King In Yellow." Learn about this iconic influence on Lovecraft and eldritch horror as a genre, consider what might lie within the pages of that cursed play that makes you crazy, and consider whether you might in fact be the King of the United States.Joining us is Jonathan Sims, writer of the Magnus Archives/Magnus Protocol, voice actor in games such as Slay the Princess, and author of books such as, "Family Business." Together, we will answer such puzzles as why Rhode Island is so scary, what the deal is with American and British naming conventions, and why the second half of this collection really, really, REALLY drags.Also, would an eldritch being find Jacob sexy? We discuss!Check out Jonathan's work here:https://jonathan-sims.comGo support Workers' Lit on Patreon!https://patreon.com/workerslit

It’s a classic “we read a conservative book and get mad” episode!This time we take on pseduo-biographer and self-proclaimed public intellectual Eric Metaxes and his 2022 book, “Letter to the American Church.” Eric says he sees scary parallels to nazi Germany in today’s USA…and he thinks Donald Trump is going to stop it.Joining us is 7-time returning guest and evangelical-freak-understander Josh Boerman. Together we will crash out about Eric and, somewhere in the rage, try to figure out the core of his ideology and how to fight it.Check out Josh’s phenomenal podcasts, The Worst of All Possible Worlds and Ill Concieved, at his website!https://joshboerman.com/Go support Workers’ Lit on Patreon!https://patreon.com/workerslitLinks from the episode:https://www.christiancentury.org/reviews/2010-09/hijacking-bonhoefferhttps://currentpub.com/2024/10/20/bonhoeffer-family-to-eric-metaxas-we-are-horrified-to-see-how-the-legacy-of-dietrich-bonhoeffer-is-being-distorted-and-misused/https://manhattandeclaration.org/

This is a preview. To access the full episode please go support Workers' Lit on Patreon.https://www.patreon.com/WorkersLit/posts/article-brain-167304042It's August Article Brain! And we've got more brain worms than ever.This month, Lenore brings us an article about a trans woman who is bemoaning that the CIA is becoming less accepting of trans people (no mention of becoming more accepting of election results in the Global South). Jacob brings us an article by a never-Trump Republican claiming that actually, Democrats shouldn't run on popular things.