Luke Nichter is a professor of History and the James H. Cavanaugh Endowed Chair in Presidential Studies at Chapman University. Luke joins Adam to discuss his latest book, “The Year that Broke Politics:Collusion and Chaos in the Presidential Election of 1968” which was named one of the top books of 2023 by the Wall Street Journal.

Nichter shows 1968 to be a pivotal year in American politics, but not for the reasons we’ve come to accept. The conventional wisdom of the Republican and Democratic Party rivalry is redrawn to reveal sunrising insights about the cast of presidential candidates in the ‘68 election. It’s been said that history may not repeat but it does rhyme, and “The Year That Broke Politics” is both an astute reassessment of 1968 and something of a cautionary tale for 2024.

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White rural voters hold the greatest electoral sway of any demographic group in the United States, yet rural communities suffer from poor healthcare access, failing infrastructure, and severe manufacturing and farming job losses. Rural voters believe our nation has betrayed them, and to some degree, they’re right. In White Rural Rage, Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman explore why rural Whites have failed to reap the benefits from their outsize political power and why, as a result, they are the most likely group to abandon democratic norms and traditions. Their rage—stoked daily by Republican politicians and the conservative media—now poses an existential threat to the United States.

Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman join Adam to discuss their book White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy, which has been received with equal parts acclaim and blowback. The New York Times Bestseller has been called a searing portrait and damning takedown of America’s proudest citizens—who are also the least likely to defend its core principles.