Fewer of us than ever are reading books for pleasure. Shilo Brooks is on a mission to change that. Old School is a new podcast from The Free Press about great books and how reading them can make us stronger, better men. The show features intimate conversations with fascinating men—from fitness gurus to philosophers—about the books that shaped their lives. New episodes out every Thursday. Read with us: https://bookshop.org/lists/old-school-with-shilo-brooks
Latest episodes
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3 min
A Note From Shilo
A message from our host. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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58 min
What ‘The Future Is Female’ Has Meant for Men
For decades, the fight for gender equality has squarely focused on lifting women up—in the workplace, politics, and beyond. But according to Richard Reeves, president of the Americ…
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53 min
Walter Isaacson on the Sentence That Created America
If America has a mission statement, it is this: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalie…
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55 min
The WWII Novel That Explains America
In this special episode, Shilo Brooks is joined by Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Jon Meacham at the Jack Miller Center’s annual summit on civic education. They took the stage at…
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55 min
Agatha Christie and the Kidnapping That Inspired Her Greatest Mystery
In this episode, Shilo sits down with veteran journalist Joe Nocera for a deep dive into the world’s best-selling novelist, Agatha Christie. Nocera’s new investigative podcast is a…
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51 min
Inside the Supreme Court with Amy Coney Barrett
In this special episode, taped live at the George W. Bush Presidential Center, Shilo sits down with Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett for a wide-ranging interview on the law.…
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43 min
A New Series From The Free Press | The Lindbergh Conspiracies
Hi Old School listeners! Veteran reporter Joe Nocera has launched a six part series about the Lindbergh kidnapping. Enjoy episode one here and then head on over to The Lindbergh C…
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49 min
Roald Dahl: Genius and Bigot
For tickets to our live recording with Jon Meacham in Philadelphia, click here and register. Use code TFP for a 20 percent discount. Roald Dahl gave the world Matilda, James and th…
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52 min
How Sports Became Our Civic Religion
For tickets to our live recording with Jon Meacham in Philadelphia, click here and register. Use code TFP for a 20 percent discount. In this episode, Shilo sits down with sportswri…
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53 min
The Ancient Jewish Wisdom Behind a $5 Billion Company
For tickets to our live recording with Jon Meacham in Philadelphia, CLICK HERE and register. Use code TFP for a 20 percent discount. As he built Kind Snacks into a $5 billion compa…
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49 min
Neal Stephenson on AI, Rome, and How Civilizations Decline
Neal Stephenson, the prophetic author of cyberpunk classics like Snow Crash and The Diamond Age, has shaped how we imagine the future, from the metaverse to crypto to AI. His scien…
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53 min
The Two Types of People Who Never Find Happiness
For tickets to our live recording with Jon Meacham in Philadelphia, CLICK HERE and register. Use code TFP for a 20 percent discount. Life is short. How do we live it well? Harvard…
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55 min
Hunting Humans for Sport
For tickets to our live recording with Jon Meacham in Philadelphia, CLICK HERE and register. Use code TFP for a 20 percent discount. Richard Connell’s 1924 short story “The Most Da…
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55 min
Joan Didion Knew What Hollywood Would Become
The perfect book to read around the Oscars this weekend? Joan Didion’s Play It as It Lays. In this episode, Shilo sits down with Peter Savodnik to discuss Didion’s 1970 novel—a boo…
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56 min
The NYC Public Defender Who Sends Books to Prisoners
In this episode, Shilo Brooks sits down with New York City public defender Ben Schatz to discuss the novel True Grit–and the nature of justice in America. Ben founded the nonprofit…
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55 min
‘The Brothers Karamazov’ Helped Inspire the Catholic App Hallow
Alex Jones was using apps like Headspace and Calm to quiet his mind, but he had fallen away from his Catholic faith. Then he read The Brothers Karamazov, and everything changed. Al…
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49 min
‘Lolita,’ Jeffrey Epstein, and the Real Meaning of a Challenging Classic
One particular novel is all over the Epstein files: Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita. Reportedly, this was the one and only book Jeffrey Epstein kept at his bedside table. He owned a firs…
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54 min
The Secret Lives of Ordinary People
Dylan Thomas is one of the 20th century’s legendary poets. In this episode, English journalist David Aaronovitch joins Shilo to discuss Thomas’ 1954 play Under Milk Wood, a portrai…
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1 h 03
David Mamet vs. the Snobs
Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright David Mamet spent his childhood cutting class and reading at the local library. His first pick was Sinclair Lewis’s Main Street, which he pulled o…
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53 min
Colin Quinn on Incels, Woke Activists, and Peaking at 14
In this episode, legendary comic Colin Quinn dives into a cult classic that still makes him cry with laughter: John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces. The novel follows the m…