<![CDATA[The Free Press: Old School with Shilo Brooks]]>https://www.thefp.com/s/old-school-with-shilo-brookshttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XTc7!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9cb7f208-a15c-46a8-a040-7e7a2150def9_1280x1280.pngThe Free Press: Old School with Shilo Brookshttps://www.thefp.com/s/old-school-with-shilo-brooksSubstackSat, 13 Jun 2026 17:47:43 GMT<![CDATA[Walter Isaacson on the Sentence That Created America]]>https://www.thefp.com/p/walter-isaacson-on-the-sentence-thathttps://www.thefp.com/p/walter-isaacson-on-the-sentence-thatThu, 11 Jun 2026 09:02:09 GMTIf America has a mission statement, it is this:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

In a special conversation recorded at the George W. Bush Presidential Center, acclaimed biograph…

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]]><![CDATA[The WWII Novel That Explains America]]>https://www.thefp.com/p/the-wwii-novel-that-explains-americahttps://www.thefp.com/p/the-wwii-novel-that-explains-americaThu, 04 Jun 2026 09:01:55 GMTIn this special episode, Shilo Brooks is joined by Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Jon Meacham at the Jack Miller Center’s annual summit on civic education.

They took the stage at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, the perfect setting for a discussion about one of Meacham’s favorite books: The Winds of War. Written by Herman Wouk and publ…

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]]><![CDATA[Agatha Christie and the Kidnapping That Inspired Her Greatest Mystery]]>https://www.thefp.com/p/agatha-christie-and-the-kidnapping-that-inspired-her-greatest-mysteryhttps://www.thefp.com/p/agatha-christie-and-the-kidnapping-that-inspired-her-greatest-mysteryThu, 28 May 2026 09:02:07 GMTIn this episode, Shilo sits down with veteran journalist Joe Nocera for a deep dive into the world’s best-selling novelist, Agatha Christie.

Nocera’s new investigative podcast is all about the Charles Lindbergh Jr. kidnapping, one of history’s most infamous crimes, and a key inspiration behind Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express.

They dig into why mys…

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]]><![CDATA[Inside the Supreme Court with Amy Coney Barrett]]>https://www.thefp.com/p/inside-the-supreme-court-with-amyhttps://www.thefp.com/p/inside-the-supreme-court-with-amyThu, 21 May 2026 09:02:53 GMTIn this special episode, taped live at the George W. Bush Presidential Center, Shilo sits down with Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett for a wide-ranging interview on the law.

They discuss Barrett’s lifelong love of reading, her tumultuous confirmation process, the Constitution and what it should take to amend it, how she approaches cases where her …

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]]><![CDATA[The Great Writers Who Were Terrible People]]>https://www.thefp.com/p/the-great-writers-who-were-terriblehttps://www.thefp.com/p/the-great-writers-who-were-terribleThu, 07 May 2026 09:05:50 GMT

For tickets to our live recording with Jon Meacham in Philadelphia, click here and register. Use code TFP for a 20 percent discount.

Roald Dahl gave the world Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He was also a vicious antisemite.

A Broadway play about Dahl’s legacy; the new Michael Jackson biopic; Kanye West’s attempt…

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]]><![CDATA[How Sports Became Our Civic Religion]]>https://www.thefp.com/p/how-sports-became-our-civic-religionhttps://www.thefp.com/p/how-sports-became-our-civic-religionThu, 30 Apr 2026 09:05:45 GMTFor tickets to our live recording with Jon Meacham in Philadelphia, click here and register. Use code TFP for a 20 percent discount.

In this episode, Shilo sits down with sportswriter Wright Thompson to explore what the ESPN mainstay has learned from decades of covering elite athletes such as Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan. Does greatness require rage, d…

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]]><![CDATA[The Ancient Jewish Wisdom Behind a $5 Billion Company]]>https://www.thefp.com/p/the-ancient-jewish-wisdom-behindhttps://www.thefp.com/p/the-ancient-jewish-wisdom-behindThu, 16 Apr 2026 09:05:52 GMTFor tickets to our live recording with Jon Meacham in Philadelphia, CLICK HERE and register. Use code TFP for a 20 percent discount.

As he built Kind Snacks into a $5 billion company, Shark Tank’s Daniel Lubetzky didn’t turn to start-up gurus or business manuals—but to a 2,000-year-old Jewish text.

After the death of his father, a Holocaust survivor with …

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]]><![CDATA[Neal Stephenson on AI, Rome, and How Civilizations Decline]]>https://www.thefp.com/p/neal-stephenson-on-ai-rome-and-howhttps://www.thefp.com/p/neal-stephenson-on-ai-rome-and-howThu, 09 Apr 2026 09:05:48 GMTNeal Stephenson, the prophetic author of cyberpunk classics like Snow Crash and The Diamond Age, has shaped how we imagine the future, from the metaverse to crypto to AI. His science fiction has a way of becoming reality.

But Stephenson’s thinking is just as rooted in the past, returning to timeless questions of empire and decline. In this episode, he jo…

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]]><![CDATA[The Two Types of People Who Never Find Happiness]]>https://www.thefp.com/p/the-two-types-of-people-who-neverhttps://www.thefp.com/p/the-two-types-of-people-who-neverThu, 26 Mar 2026 09:05:47 GMTFor tickets to our live recording with Jon Meacham in Philadelphia, CLICK HERE and register. Use code TFP for a 20 percent discount.

Life is short. How do we live it well?

Harvard professor Arthur Brooks has spent years studying happiness. In this episode, he joins Shilo to explore what neuroscience, faith, and philosophy reveal about how to live a happy …

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]]><![CDATA[Hunting Humans for Sport]]>https://www.thefp.com/p/hunting-humans-for-sporthttps://www.thefp.com/p/hunting-humans-for-sportThu, 19 Mar 2026 09:05:34 GMTFor tickets to a live recording with Jon Meacham in Philadelphia, CLICK HERE and register. Use code TFP for a 20 percent discount.

Richard Connell’s 1924 short story “The Most Dangerous Game” tells of a hyper-sophisticated aristocrat who hunts human beings for sport on his private island.

In this episode, best-selling author, screenwriter, and former Nav…

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]]><![CDATA[Joan Didion Knew What Hollywood Would Become]]>https://www.thefp.com/p/joan-didion-knew-what-hollywood-wouldhttps://www.thefp.com/p/joan-didion-knew-what-hollywood-wouldThu, 12 Mar 2026 09:05:51 GMTThe perfect book to read before the Oscars this weekend? Joan Didion’s Play It as It Lays.

In this episode, Shilo sits down with Peter Savodnik to discuss Didion’s 1970 novel—a book that seemed to anticipate everything ugly about Hollywood, celebrity culture, and the spiritual emptiness that we now take for granted on the red carpet and on social media.

T…

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]]><![CDATA[The NYC Public Defender Who Sends Books to Prisoners ]]>https://www.thefp.com/p/the-nyc-public-defender-who-sendshttps://www.thefp.com/p/the-nyc-public-defender-who-sendsThu, 05 Mar 2026 10:05:30 GMTIn this episode, Shilo Brooks sits down with New York City public defender Ben Schatz to discuss the novel True Grit—and the nature of justice in America.

Ben founded the nonprofit Books Beyond Bars, which sends requested books (not just random donations) to individuals locked in New York jails and prisons, giving them dignity, mental escape, and intelle…

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]]><![CDATA[‘The Brothers Karamazov’ Helped Inspire the Catholic App Hallow]]>https://www.thefp.com/p/the-brothers-karamazov-helped-inspirehttps://www.thefp.com/p/the-brothers-karamazov-helped-inspireThu, 26 Feb 2026 10:05:17 GMTAlex Jones was using apps like Headspace and Calm to quiet his mind, but he had fallen away from his Catholic faith. Then he read The Brothers Karamazov, and everything changed.

Alex, who went on to recommit himself to Christ and start Hallow, the Catholic prayer app with millions of users worldwide, believes Dostoevsky’s classic is the perfect book to r…

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]]><![CDATA[‘Lolita,’ Jeffrey Epstein, and the Real Meaning of a Challenging Classic ]]>https://www.thefp.com/p/lolita-jeffrey-epstein-and-the-real-ca1https://www.thefp.com/p/lolita-jeffrey-epstein-and-the-real-ca1Thu, 19 Feb 2026 10:05:17 GMTOne particular novel is all over the Epstein files: Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita.”

Among the more than three million files related to Jeffrey Epstein that were released three weeks ago are scores of references to the book. “Lolita” pops up in emails and in photos, released by the House Committee on Oversight, that show young women with quotes from the book written on their bodies.

Reportedly, this was the one and only book Epstein kept at his bedside table. He owned a first edition. He was a massive fan of Nabokov. And, of course, his plane was famously nicknamed the “Lolita Express.”

“Lolita” is a book about a 37-year-old man who kidnaps and serially rapes a 12-year-old girl. There has long been a fascination with “Lolita” in American pop culture. The illicit relationship it depicts is often glamorized in film, music, and art.

Today, Rafaela Siewert interviews Shilo Brooks about “Lolita”—and how a novel about a homicidal pedophile rapist came to occupy such a prominent place in American life. You can watch the full episode below or listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Why is Humbert Humbert such a compelling character?

Rafaela Siewert: There are moments where Humbert Humbert refers to himself as a pervert. He has some degree of self-awareness. Does the book ask the reader to humanize this man, even though he’s a predator? How do you understand Nabokov’s intent here?

Shilo Brooks: Part of the genius of Nabokov as a writer is that you do come to sympathize with Humbert Humbert in a bizarre way. And it makes you feel uncomfortable because you start to see his point of view, even though it is clear from the very beginning that this book will be told from the perspective of an insane person. Nabokov is interested in exploring, like any great artist, the full range of human psychic possibility in all of its goodness and all of its evil.

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]]><![CDATA[‘Lolita,’ Jeffrey Epstein, and the Real Meaning of a Challenging Classic]]>https://www.thefp.com/p/lolita-jeffrey-epstein-and-the-realhttps://www.thefp.com/p/lolita-jeffrey-epstein-and-the-realThu, 19 Feb 2026 10:05:17 GMTOne particular novel is all over the Epstein files: Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita. Reportedly, this was the one and only book Jeffrey Epstein kept at his bedside table. He owned a first edition. It pops up in emails and in photos, released by the House Oversight Committee, that show young women with quotes from the book written on their bodies.

Lolita is abo…

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]]><![CDATA[The Secret Lives of Ordinary People]]>https://www.thefp.com/p/the-secret-lives-of-ordinary-peoplehttps://www.thefp.com/p/the-secret-lives-of-ordinary-peopleThu, 12 Feb 2026 10:10:19 GMTDylan Thomas is one of the 20th century’s legendary poets.

In this episode, English journalist David Aaronovitch joins Shilo to discuss Thomas’ 1954 play Under Milk Wood, a portrait of a small Welsh seaside town, originally produced for radio.

With rich, musical language, Thomas reveals the secret interior lives of the villagers—their dreams, lusts, resen…

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]]><![CDATA[David Mamet vs. the Snobs]]>https://www.thefp.com/p/david-mamet-vs-the-snobshttps://www.thefp.com/p/david-mamet-vs-the-snobsThu, 05 Feb 2026 10:05:20 GMTPulitzer Prize–winning playwright David Mamet spent his childhood cutting class and reading at the local library. His first pick was Sinclair Lewis’s Main Street, which he pulled off the shelves at just 11 years old.

Decades later, David thinks the book is terrible, its author “a horrible writer,” and its heroine an insufferable busybody. In this episode…

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]]><![CDATA[Colin Quinn on Incels, Woke Activists, and Peaking at 14]]>https://www.thefp.com/p/colin-quinn-on-incels-woke-activistshttps://www.thefp.com/p/colin-quinn-on-incels-woke-activistsThu, 29 Jan 2026 10:10:17 GMTIn this episode, legendary comic Colin Quinn dives into a cult classic that still makes him cry with laughter: John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces.

The novel follows the misadventures of an overweight, pretentious misanthrope still living with his mother in 1960s New Orleans. It’s a book that turns fart jokes into high art. It’s also, somehow, a…

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]]><![CDATA[Dante: The Most Famous, Least Read Poet]]>https://www.thefp.com/p/dante-the-most-famous-least-readhttps://www.thefp.com/p/dante-the-most-famous-least-readThu, 22 Jan 2026 10:10:25 GMTDante Alighieri is one of the most consequential poets in human history, and his The Divine Comedy is essential to understanding Western civilization itself. And yet, though most of us have heard of Inferno, Dante remains one of the least read of all the greats. His masterpiece unfolds in three parts—Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso—charting a journey …

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]]><![CDATA[America’s Most Righteous War Produced Its Best Anti-War Novel]]>https://www.thefp.com/p/americas-most-righteous-war-producedhttps://www.thefp.com/p/americas-most-righteous-war-producedThu, 15 Jan 2026 10:10:21 GMTIn Venezuela, a U.S. operation that captured President Nicolás Maduro has sent shock waves through the hemisphere. In Iran, a deadly crackdown on nationwide protests has Washington threatening the possibility of direct military action. Meanwhile, war rages on from Ukraine to Sudan. All this instability and conflict makes now a good time to revisit the m…

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