Gabfest Reads: How Tana French Uses Genre Tropes to Tell Great Human Stories

John Dickerson talks with author David E. Sanger about his new book, New Cold Wars. They discuss how Russia and China came to reach their new levels of power, the role the Middle East and Obama Administration played in all of this, and more. Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at [email protected]. (Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Donald Trump’s first criminal trial and the Supreme Court argument on a criminal charge related to another Trump case and talk with The Atlantic’s Mark Leibovich about his profile of Governor Gavin Newsom.    Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Norman Eisen for CNN: Don’t call it a ‘hush money’ case Brian Beutler for the Politix podcast: Alvin Bragg’s Liberal Critics Are Wrong Ben Protess, Jonah E. Bromwich, Maggie Haberman, and Wesley Parnell for The New York Times: Prosecutors and Defense Lawyers Begin to Seat Jurors for Trump Trial and Maggie Haberman: A Weary Trump Appears to Doze Off in Courtroom Ahead of Criminal Trial David Bauder for AP: Trump trial: Why can’t Americans see or hear what is going on inside the courtroom? Ann E. Marimow for The Washington Post: Supreme Court divided over key charge against Jan. 6 rioters and Trump Michael C. Dorf for Dorf On Law: The Ejusdem is Loose -- SCOTUS Insurrectionist Case Edition Mark Leibovich for The Atlantic: Gavin Newsom Can’t Help Himself HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher: Gov. Gavin Newsom Here are this week’s chatters: Emily: Uri Berliner in The Free Press: I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust.; David Folkenflik for NPR: NPR editor Uri Berliner resigns with blast at new CEO; Alicia Montgomery for Slate: The Real Story Behind NPR’s Current Problems; A24’s Civil War; and HBO’s The Last of Us John: The Annie E. Casey Foundation; diversitydatakids.org by Brandeis’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management: Child Opportunity Index (COI); Aliya Schneider for The Philadelphia Inquirer: ‘They’re cheating.’ President Biden floats higher tariffs on Chinese imports in Pittsburgh speech; John Dickerson for Slate’s Navel Gazing podcast; and CBS News Prime Time with John Dickerson David: Trevor Aaronson, Sam Eifling, and Michael Mooney for Audible’s Hold Fast podcast and Jacques Billeaud for AP: Backpage founder will face Arizona retrial on charges he participated in scheme to sell sex ads Listener chatter from Josh in Brisbane, Australia: Ross Scott’s website Stop Killing Games   For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily talk with Anna Sale about her podcast, Death, Sex & Money, which is now on Slate. See Death, Sex & Money podcast: A Sociopath’s Guide to Death, Sex, and Money and Patrick Page in All The Devils Are Here.    In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with Tana French about her book, The Hunter: A Novel.   Email your chatters, questions, and comments to [email protected]. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)   Podcast production by Cheyna Roth Research by Julie Huygen   Hosts Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week’s essay, John remembers dropping his son off at college, and trying to hold onto moments and feelings while you can.    Notebook Entries: Notebook 75, page 6. September 2021: They chose you.   Notebook 15, page 4. April 2004: Sitting with Brice by waterfall. Throwing rocks in stream. Loading sand from dump truck and loader and back again.   References: What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith Songwriter Nick Cave Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin   Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Email us at [email protected]    Want to listen to Navel Gazing uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Navel Gazing and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/navelgazingplus to get access wherever you listen.   Host John Dickerson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the revival of Arizona’s 1864 abortion ban; the end of No Labels; and the past and future of presidential debates.    Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Mary Jo Pitzl and Reagan Priest for The Arizona Republic: Arizona House GOP halt Democrats’ effort to overturn Civil War era law in chaotic session Dan Balz for The Washington Post: The Arizona Supreme Court just upended Trump’s gambit on abortion Jamelle Bouie for The New York Times: The Man Who Snuffed Out Abortion Rights Is Here to Tell You He Is a Moderate Ramtin Arablouei and Rund Abdelfatah for NPR’s All Things Considered: Abortion was once common practice in America. A small group of doctors changed that A.O. Sulzberger Jr. for The New York Times: Reagan Says Ban On Abortion May Not Be Needed David Faris for Slate: Why No Labels Didn’t Stick Slate’s Political Gabfest: The “No Mugshot” Edition Thomas B. Edsall for The New York Times: Has No Labels Become a Stalking Horse for Trump? Michael H. Brown for The Washington Post: Joseph Lieberman, senator and vice-presidential nominee, dies at 82 Here are this week’s chatters:  Emily: Dartmouth’s Leslie Center for the Humanities: People, Place, Podcasts: Emily Bazelon and Erica Heilman in Conversation and the Rumble Strip podcast  John: Slate’s Navel Gazing podcast and Rachel Wolfe for The Wall Street Journal: The Calls for Help Coming From Above the Poverty Line David: Hannah Seo for The New York Times: Is It Better to Brush Your Teeth Before Breakfast or After? Listener chatter from Mark Phillips in Baltimore, Maryland: Ben Crair for The New Yorker: The Magic of Bird Brains   For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily discuss AI communications with loved ones after they die. See Walter Marsh for The Guardian: Laurie Anderson on making an AI chatbot of Lou Reed: ‘I’m totally, 100%, sadly addicted’ and Ira Glass for This American Life: The Ghost in the Machine. See also Niamn Ancell for Cybernews: These apps could resurrect your relatives using artificial intelligence; Rebecca Carballo for The New York Times: Using A.I. to Talk to the Dead; and Tamara Kneese for Wired: Using Generative AI to Resurrect the Dead Will Create a Burden for the Living.   In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with Tana French about her book, The Hunter: A Novel.   Email your chatters, questions, and comments to [email protected]. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)   Podcast production by Cheyna Roth Research by Julie Huygen   Hosts Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week’s essay, John Dickerson looks back on a Sunday morning in 2021, and ruminates on the empty spaces left behind by the people that once filled our lives.    Notebook Entries: Notebook 75, page 6. September 5, 2021: “Oh my god. We dropped our son at college and our dog is dead.” – Anne.   References: “Sunday Morning Coming Down” by Johnny Cash “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot “When Someone You Love is Upset, Ask This One Question” by Jancee Dunn for the New York Times “A Case of ‘Sunday Neurosis’” by Jena McGregor for the Washington Post “Waking Early Sunday Morning” by Robert Lowell Master of Change: How to Excel When Everything is Changing by Brad Stulberg Jason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed “Alabama Pines” by Jason Isbell    Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.   Host John Dickerson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here are this week’s chatters: Emily: Scott Bauer for AP: Wisconsin voters approve ban on private money support for elections and Unfair Share: The Gerrymandered Chocolate Bar on Kickstarter John: Joey Roulette and Will Dunham for Reuters: Exclusive: White House directs NASA to create time standard for the moon and John Dickerson Introduces: Navel Gazing  David: Corvid Research: All in the (crow) family; 3 Body Problem on Netflix; The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu; and Foundation and For All Mankind on Apple TV+ Listener chatter from Kim in Spartanburg, S.C.: The fish doorbell and thunder_keck on TikTok: fish doorbell season is back  For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily discuss the April 8 total solar eclipse. See John Dickerson and David Parkinson for CBS News: Massive storm system threatening millions across U.S. See also Atlas Obscura’s Ecliptic Festival; Annie Dillard for The Atlantic: “Seeing a partial eclipse bears the same relation to seeing a total eclipse as kissing a man does to marrying him.”; The Guardian: Columbus and the night of the bloody moon; and John Uri for NASA: Eclipses Near and Far. In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with Tana French about her book, The Hunter: A Novel. Email your chatters, questions, and comments to [email protected]. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Jared Downing Research by Julie Huygen Hosts Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz Follow Slate Political Gabfest on Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/Gabfest/  @SlateGabfest on X / https://twitter.com/SlateGabfest Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Political Gabfest host John Dickerson has been a journalist for more than three decades, reporting about presidential campaigns, political scandals, the evolving state of our democracy. Along the way, he’s also been recording his observations in notebooks he has carried in his back pocket. On the Navel Gazing podcast, John Dickerson invites you to join him in figuring out what these thirty years of notebooks mean: sorting out what makes a life --or a day in a life— noteworthy. Listen to Navel Gazing every week, starting April 6th, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz are live in Washington, D.C. to discuss the Supreme Court (again) and abortion (again); Donald Trump’s ups and downs in New York courtrooms and Ronna McDaniel’s rise and fall on NBC; and Gallup’s World Happiness Report 2024.   Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Ann E. Marimow and Caroline Kitchener for The Washington Post: Supreme Court skeptical of efforts to restrict access to abortion pill Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U.S. 727 (1972) 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, et al., 600 US _ (2023) Juhi Doshi for ABC News: What is the Comstock Act? The 151-year-old law mentioned in SCOTUS abortion pill case SCOTUSblog: Idaho v. United States Pam Belluck for The New York Times: What to Know About the Federal Law at the Heart of the Latest Supreme Court Abortion Case Geoff Mulvihill and Kimberlee Kruesi for AP: Which states could have abortion on the ballot in 2024? The New York Times: Keeping Track of the Trump Criminal Cases and Michael M. Grynbaum and John Koblin: NBC News Cuts Ties With Ronna McDaniel After Network Firestorm Brian Beutler for Off Message: The Political Economy Of Normalization Gallup: World Happiness Report 2024 Clare Ansberry for The Wall Street Journal: U.S. No Longer Ranks Among World’s 20 Happiest Countries The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt Here are this week’s chatters: Emily: The Wall Street Journal: Evan Gershkovich: Updates on the WSJ Reporter Detained in Russia David: Tim Newcomb for Popular Mechanics: A Controversial Pyramid Isn’t Actually 27,000 Years Old—and Now, the Mystery Deepens and Paul M.M. Cooper for Fall of Civilizations Podcast: Episode 18 Is Out Now! John: National Archives: From Alexander Hamilton to Jeremiah Wadsworth, [20 August 1787]; John Dickerson for Slate’s Navel Gazing podcast (coming soon); John Dickerson on Court TV (not available); Emily Bazelon on C-SPAN; and David Plotz on C-SPAN: Washington Journal Newspaper Roundtable.  Listener chatter from Phil Goldstein in Washington, D.C.: The New York Times: Flesh Descending In A Shower.; An Astounding Phenomenon In Kentucky--Fresh Meat Like Mutton Or Venison Falling From A Clear Sky. For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily answer audience questions. See Gina M. Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce. In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with Tana French about her book, The Hunter: A Novel.   Email your chatters, questions, and comments to [email protected]. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with special thanks to Patrick Fort for on-site production and Katie Rayford for logistics support  Research by Julie Huygen   Hosts Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz Follow Slate Political Gabfest on Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/Gabfest/ @SlateGabfest on X / https://twitter.com/SlateGabfest Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the Supreme Court’s busy week on government speech and immigration authority; Donald Trump’s bond issue and words problem; and COVID learning loss. Join us for Political Gabfest Live in Washington, D.C. on March 27! Tickets are on sale now; get ‘em before they’re gone.    Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Amy Howe for SCOTUSblog: Court sympathetic to NRA’s free speech claim and Supreme Court skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies Lindsay Whitehurst for AP: Supreme Court appears receptive to NRA free-speech lawsuit against a former New York state officia Hogan Gore for the Austin American-Statesman: 5th Circuit Court of Appeals leaves SB 4 on hold after dueling orders on Texas immigration law Ben Protess, Maggie Haberman, and Kate Christobek for The New York Times: Trump Spurned by 30 Companies as He Seeks Bond in $454 Million Judgment Ruth Marcus for The Washington Post: Fair’s fair: Trump should be able to appeal the judgment against him and Catherine Rampell:Trump can’t find anyone to spot him $424 million. Would you? Sarah Mervosh, Claire Cain Miller, and Francesca Paris for The New York Times: What the Data Says About Pandemic School Closures, Four Years Later Slate Political Gabfest: The “Stop Counting Now” Edition Weakley County, TN Here are this week’s chatters: Emily: Small Game: A Novel by Blair Braverman and Small Game: A Novel at the DC Public Library John: Ramishah Maruf for CNN: MacKenzie Scott donates $640 million after open call for nonprofits and Ahjané Forbes for USA Today: Ticketless passenger found in Delta flight’s lavatory, forcing plane to turn around David: Sarah Zhang for The Atlantic: DNA Tests Are Uncovering The True Prevalence Of Incest and City Cast: Work with us.   Listener chatter from Joshua Weaver in Austin, Texas: Matthew Brown for AP: Montana man used animal tissue and testicles to breed ‘giant’ sheep for sale to hunting preserves   For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily talk about The Mysterious Case of The Reappearing Princess. See Karla Adam for The Washington Post: Will Princess Kate video put an end to royal communications mess? and Mark Landler for The New York Times: The Royals Tried to Control Their Image Online. The Internet Had Other Ideas.   In the latest Gabfest Reads, Emily talks with Tana French about her book, The Hunter: A Novel.   Email your chatters, questions, and comments to [email protected]. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)   Podcast production by Cheyna Roth  Research by Julie Huygen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Emily Bazelon talks with author Tana French about her new book, The Hunter. They discuss the different perspectives French uses throughout her books, how French happened into writing mysteries, writing as an outsider to Ireland, and more. Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at [email protected]. (Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices