September 24, 2026 - Jill Lepore, John Wilson, and John Cusack
About The Episode
Jill Lepore discusses her new book, The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State, tracing the growing power of data, algorithms and private technology companies over public life. Her previous book, We the People, won the 2026 Massachusetts Book Award for nonfiction. Lepore appears at a Porter Square Books event Tuesday, Sept. 29 at First Parish in Cambridge.
John Wilson, creator of HBO’s How To with John Wilson, turns his eye to one of the world’s most ubiquitous materials in his new documentary, The History of Concrete — finding questions about cities, permanence and decay along the way. The film opens Friday, Sept. 25 at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, Alamo Drafthouse Seaport and AMC Boston Common.
John Cusack talks about Momo, his first graphic novel, illustrated by Ignacio Noé — a hallucinatory trip through 1970s America where political paranoia, UFOs, theology and pop culture collide. Momo is out Sept. 29 from Mad Cave Studios.
