How do you attempt to document an event as complex and inexplicable as the Vietnam War? Filmmaker Lynn Novick says it helped to prioritize Vietnamese voices as well as people with a flair for speaking. "There's a poetry in just how people express themselves that we look for," said Novick. She and Ken Burns co-directed The Vietnam War, airing now on PBS. In ... Show More
Sep 28
Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on Viral Misinformation and Public Health Failures
Today on The Gist, guest host Bryan Green introduces Mike Pesca's two-part conversation with physician, epidemiologist, and former Detroit health director Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. In part one, El-Sayed discusses the collision between digital misinformation and biological virality, the ... Show More
34m 38s
Sep 25
Django Gold: "Don't Be Funny"
Today on The Gist, guest host Adaam James Levin-Aredi introduces an installment of Funny You Should Mention featuring comedian and writer Django Gold. Mike Pesca sits down with Gold, a former writer for The Onion and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, to dissect the craft of sta ... Show More
54m 55s
Sep 23
KJ Steinberg: "The echoes of trauma are loud and they are long."
Today on The Gist, guest host Adaam Levin introduces two conversations exploring truth, perspective, and personal endurance. First, Mike Pesca speaks with KJ Steinberg, creator and showrunner of the Hulu limited series The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, to examine the ethics of dra ... Show More
48m 19s
Sep 2017
Preview: 'The American War,' a podcast guide to the new PBS documentary 'The Vietnam War'
Over 10 episodes, host Alyssa Rosenberg will be joined by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and other collaborators on the film to discuss how America lost its way in Vietnam and how this documentary tries to help us find our way back.
3m 3s
Apr 2022
[BEST OF] The Vietnam War
<em>[Orginally released Nov 2018]</em> <p>Historian David Parsons joins Breht to talk about the Vietnam War, Ho Chi Minh, American Imperial War Crimes, Historical Memory, and much more!<br /> <br /> David Parsons is an author, historian, and leftist podcast host of The Nostalgia ... Show More
2h 7m
Jun 2025
How ICE raids echo US wars abroad, with Viet Thanh Nguyen
What does it mean to be the “other”? Viet Thanh Nguyen, a South Vietnamese-born American writer links his personal story to US actions abroad and at home, discussing ICE raids, protests, and the war on Gaza, showing how these issues are deeply connected. In this episode: Viet Tha ... Show More
25m 22s
<p>The vast ambition of Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's PBS documentary <em>The Vietnam War</em> has precedents, but most of them are other Burns and Novick documentaries. The two directors' collaborations -- including 1994's <em>Baseball</em> and 2007's <em>The War</em>, about WW2 - ... Show More
