Open Source with Christopher Lydon

Latest Episodes
Russia and Ukraine in 2025
Were in the fourth summer of hot warfare between Russia and Ukraine. Its a cruel and deadly war that doesnt know how to stop. Anatol Lieven. Our guest to offer a helping hand is the ...
America, América
Were grappling with the prize historian Greg Grandins take on the making of the modern world. Theres a 600-page version in hard covers, but also a two-word version in his title, America, Amrica, c
The Hard Work of Organizing
Were retracing our steps out of the last bad-dream era in American life. Michael Ansara was in the thick of that struggle too, around war and justice. The Hard Work of Hope is his memoir ...
Occupied America
Were in Saratoga, New York, with the soulful American believer Marilynne Robinson, prize novelist and teacher of novelists. Shes known over the decades as the storyteller we trust to observe the tro
Trump at War
Were in the Orwellian aftermath of what President Trump has called his 12-day war in the Middle East. Its over, he proclaimed on Monday. Congratulations world, he said on his Truth Social site, i
Divided, Defensive Democracy
This week, its a conversation on the democracy question and the embattled fate of our own, beset as it is from within. Philosopher-historian Danielle Allen is our guest examiner of the cranky America
The Last Supper
Were with the writer Paul Elie, recalling the moment when popular culture came to sound like public prayer. There was Madonna in 1989, singing her number one hit Like a Prayer. The song is a ...
Capitalism and Its Critics
Were staring down the several crises in our economyand recalling the grand old joke that its easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. John Cassidy. John Cassidy of The ...
Trade, Trumped
Were staring down the global trade war with Mark Blyth at Brown University. He is the Peoples Economist from Scotland, who takes us home to his village pub in Dundee every once in a while ...
Gatsby at 100: Fitzgerald’s Warning about Trumpism
We have a key, finally, to the mystery of Donald Trump and where he came from. He was born almost exactly 100 years ago in the imagination of the novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald. What he ...