BEST PODCASTS BEGS

 

1.- SWAY

Kara Swisher - who made her name drawing out the Silicon Valley elite and here expands to media, business and politics - takes a productively combative approach to interviews.

She is one of the few journalists with the guts to call out political hopefuls like Andrew Yang and Matthew McConaghey for vagueness and puffery and still line up on all-star guest the next week.

2.- The Just Enough Family

Succession fans will find much to love in this addictive series about the rise and fall of a high-society New York family.

New Yorker writer Ariel Levy tells the story of corporate raider Saul Steinberg and his relatives, replete with eccentric characters and dastardly schemes that illuminate how wealth erodes family connections.

3.- Poog

Comedians Kate Berlant and Jacqueline Novak know the idea of achieving one's ''best self'' is a myth.

Yet they're so dedicated to obsessing over wellness trends that it can be hard to tell whether they're joking when they swear allegiance to something called face yoga.

Amid laughs, listeners will reconsider this multibillion-dollar industry.

4.- Spectacle

Writer Mariah Smith compellingly argues that reality TV, still dismissed as trash, is worthy of scholarship.

One episode focuses on an HIV-positive Real World star who reshaped the AIDS conversation, another on Survivor predicting political divides in America.

By contextualizing these shows, she proves how they reflected and galvanized cultural change.

5.- 9/12

The best work yet from prolific podcaster Dan Taberski [ Missing Richard Simmons ] focuses not on Sept 11 itself but how that day changed America.

He unspools the tale of how the CIA recruited Hollywood creators to dream up the attacks that U.S. enemies might attempt next, examines the persecution of Muslim Americans and traces the rise of conspiracy theories.

A genial but shrewd interviewer, Taberski paints a portrait of a society redefining its identity in the wake of tragedy.

The World Students Society thanks author Eliana Dockterman.