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Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform

Episode Summary

In this episode of Writer’s Voice, former FBI agent, scholar, and author Michael German discusses his explosive book Policing White Supremacy: The Enemy Within. German, who infiltrated white supremacist and right-wing militia groups during his FBI tenure, offers a chilling insider perspective on how racist ideology persists and thrives inside U.S. law enforcement.

“What January 6 revealed is how deeply embedded far-right sympathies are in federal policing institutions.” — Mike German

He explains how decades of systemic bias, failed policy, and outright sympathies with white nationalist agendas have shaped the institutions meant to protect democracy. From January 6 to Charlottesville, from FBI surveillance priorities to underreported hate crimes, German shows how government agencies have enabled far-right violence—and what must happen at the state and local levels to fight back.

Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack.

You can support our show and the others you listen to by contributing through Lenny.fm. Your support helps us bring you more of the episodes, like this one, that you look forward to. Thanks for being a vital part of our community!

Key Words: Michael German, Policing White Supremacy, FBI white supremacist infiltration, domestic terrorism, Charlottesville riot, Proud Boys, January 6, right-wing extremism, Brennan Center, far-right violence in America

You Might Also Like: Talking the Trumpocene with Jeff Sharlet, Our Eroding Democracy: Steven Levitsky, Ted Rall, Harmon Leon

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform

Episode Summary

On this episode of Writer’s Voice, we speak with science journalist Lizzie Wade about her groundbreaking book Apocalypse: How Catastrophe Transformed Our World and Can Forge New Futures. Through stories of ancient climate collapse, pandemic upheavals, colonial conquests, and societal reorganization, Wade shows that the end of a world is often the beginning of something new.

“Bringing to an end a type of society that isn’t working for the new world that’s emerging is not necessarily a bad thing. That’s called adaptation.” — Lizzie Wade

From the Neanderthal “extinction” to the fall of ancient Egypt, from the Great Drowning of Indigenous Australian coastlines to the climate-driven rise of El Niño societies in Peru, Wade explores how disasters reshaped political systems and economies. Crucially, she argues that today’s climate, social, and technological apocalypses offer not just threats, but transformative possibilities.

Then we re-connect with former Writer’s Voice guest Betsy McCulley who I interviewed recently on the new podcast I host, Changehampton Presents. That episode is about native grasslands and why we should protect and restore them and we air a short excerpt on WV.

Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast 

You can support our show and the others you listen to by contributing through Lenny.fm. Your support helps us bring you more of the episodes, like this one, that you look forward to. Thanks for being a vital part of our community!

Key Words: Lizzie Wade, Apocalypse book, ancient disasters, rethinking apocalypse, end of the world, post-apocalyptic optimism, Changehampton, native grasslands

You Might Also Like: Betsy McCully, AT THE GLACIER’S EDGE

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