world stage

Good friend Aaron Franz joins me on the show this week to discuss our recent work in The American Journal of Economics and Sociology. We begin by talking about some of the behind the scenes aspects of the issue. I talk about the whole process of how the issue came into being from the initial offer from Clifford Cobb, getting all the writers together, and dealing with all the road bumps along the way. Aaron and I talk about the actual writing process and the challenges involved in writing for an academic journal.

Aaron Franz joins us to discuss the 2002 biopic Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, which tells the story of game show producer and host Chuck Barris. Barris claims that while becoming a TV star he was recruited by and worked for the CIA as an assassin, killing a total of 33 people. In this episode we analyse this claim, which has been dismissed by the Agency as a ludicrous fantasy.