Delving In with Stuart Kelter

Mia Bennett is a professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Washington, who focuses on the geopolitics of the arctic, the current dramatic transformation the region is undergoing due to climate change, and the interests and power dynamics of both state actors and indigenous groups in or near the region. She is the author of the blog, Cryopolitics and co-author, with Klaus Dobbs, of a recent book-length treatment of the subject, Unfrozen: the Fight for the Future of the Arctic, published in December of 2025.Recorded 8/24/26.

Lee Kuhnle and Nathan Radke are professors at Humber Polytechnic College in Toronto and authors of the recently published, Uncover Up: How to Think Clearly in an Age of Conspiracies. They are also co-hosts of the Uncover Up podcast, a show dedicated to evidence-based and entertaining analysis of conspiracies and related issues.Recorded 7/27/26.

Jamison Firestone is an American-born attorney, now living in London. In 1991, shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union, he moved to Russia to establish its first independent foreign law firm, specializing in corporate law, in a newly forming, highly dynamic, extraordinarily lucrative financial environment. He lived in Russia for 18 years, six of them as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia. Firestone was in the front lines, not only as a witness but also as a major actor in the unfolding events in Russia, as it started to transform itself into a free market economy, only to see it hijacked by corruption, violence, and organized crime. He is the co-founder, along with Sir William Browder, of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign, which was named for Firestone’s employee, Sergei Magnitsky, an auditor who was investigating high level corruption when he was arrested on false charges, imprisoned in harsh conditions, and a year later murdered in prison. Firestone was also a friend and ally of Alexei Navalny, who was similarly murdered for challenging state-sponsored corruption in Russia. Today’s interview will focus on Firestone’s recently published memoir, Rule of Lies: My Wild Ride Through Chaos, Corruption, and Murder in Putin’s Russia.Recorded 7/14/26.

Anne-Marie Erickson is the author of the memoir, In the Evening, We’ll Dance: A Memoir in Essays on Love and Dementia, which bears witness to the demise of her beloved husband, Dick Cain. As might be expected, this is a sad story, but not only. Right up until the very end, about ten years ago, the couple was able to express their love of one another and, thanks to their mutual love of language, Ann-Marie was, much of the time, able to decipher Dick’s not-necessarily-intentional use of metaphor to convey deep insights into their relationship, the world, and mortality. It’s an inspirational book that assiduously avoids clichés and platitudes, deeply honest about what it’s like to stay committed to the love of one’s life. She acknowledges the heartbreak, the exasperation, and the rage that goes with this territory, but she also doesn’t allow herself to become mired in negativity, and manages to gather sacred moments as they come, of meaning and closeness, as jewels on a strand that ultimately must end.Recorded 12/30/25.

Stephen Marche is a Canadian novelist, essayist, and journalist, a scholar of philosophy and literature, and a former teacher of Renaissance drama at the City University of New York, resigning in 2007 to pursue a full-time writing career ever since. He has written five novels, numerous essays for The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and The Guardian, and four works of non-fiction: How Shakespeare Changed Everything published in 2011, The Unmade Bed: The Messy Truth About Men and Women in the Twenty-First Century published in 2017, The Next Civil War: Dispatches from the American Future, published in 2022, and On Writing and Failure: Or, On the Peculiar Perseverance Required to Endure the Life of a Writer, published in 2023.Recorded 12/3/25.