September 24, 2026 - Jill Lepore, John Wilson, and John Cusack

About this 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…