The WBT Podcast

By The WBT

What's The WBT Podcast about?

A group of veterans and people connected to the veteran community writing and podcasting about violence and trauma.

Thanks for listening. Please check out our website, featuring new fiction, poetry, essays, and reviews. Support us on Patreon if you like.

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5241924

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The WBT Podcast episodes:

04.10.2022
Dewaine Farria and revolutions of all colors
A conversation with USMC veteran Dewaine Farria, whose novel, Revolutions of All Colors, spans different countries and colors to explore how minority groups navigate their identities. Farria, along with host Adrian Bonenberger, discuss (among other things) the culture of Ukraine,...
01.20.2022
Chekhov's Ward No. Six: Madness and Magic Circles
Wrath-Bearing Tree editors Mike Carson, Adrian Bonenberger, and David James sit down to discuss Chekhov's Ward No. 6, a short story about a doctor who encounters a life-changing experience when visiting a mental ward in his hospital.
01.01.2022
America's "First Principles," with Tom Ricks
Chat with Pulitzer Prize-winner Tom Ricks about his recent book "First Principles," written in order to consider the curricula and intellectual schemas on which the first four U.S. presidents based their views, and to better understand the quandary in which...
12.01.2021
The War for the Soul of the Navy SEALS
Conversation between WBT co-host Adrian Bonenberger and New York Times Staff Writer David Philipps about Philipps' new book, "Alpha: Eddie Gallagher and the War for the Soul of the Navy SEALS." Philipps discusses researching the book, his thoughts about what...
11.07.2021
When Might Makes Right: practicing history through games and movies
Adrian Bonenberger talks with Bret Charles Devereaux, PhD, lecturer in UNC-Chapel Hill's department of history, about his blog, A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantries (or "ACOUP"), and some of the more extraordinary and engaging claims he's made on it. Discussion topics...
10.02.2021
Falling Man and 9/11
Brian Castner, Adrian Bonenberger, and poet Brian Turner read and discuss Don DeLillo's "Falling Man" on the 20th anniversary of the tragedy. While the trio starts off somewhat critical of the book, through conversation they decide that the book has...
08.25.2021
Patrick Wyman's The Verge, and the fall of Kabul
The WBT podcast co-hosts Adrian Bonenberger and Michael Carson talk with podcaster, writer, and historian Patrick Wyman about his debut history book, "The Verge." The group also discusses the fall of Kabul and Afghanistan to the Taliban, which occurred on...
07.18.2021
Exploring the Arctic with Andrea Pitzer and Brian Castner
Adrian Bonenberger is joined by Brian Castner and Andrea Pitzer to talk about their newest books. Castner's Stampede: Gold Fever and Disaster in The Klondike" looks at the gold rush in Alaska and Canada that unfolded at the end of the...
06.01.2021
For Honor: Tolstoy's great novella "Hadji Murat"
Wrath-Bearing Tree co-editors David James and Adrian Bonenberger sit down with British author and former professor Garry Craig Powell to talk about Leo Tolstoy's powerful and nearly perfect story "Hadji Murat"—how the author accomplishes his goal, and how the audience...
04.18.2021
Inside the Pech River Valley with Wesley Morgan and "The Hardest Place"
A talk between Adrian Bonenberger of The WBT and Wesley Morgan, author of The Hardest Place: The American Military Adrift in the Pech Valley. The talk covers a lot of topics in Morgan's book, including the cultural feedback loop bringing...
03.30.2021
Lost Poets of The First World War, featuring Connie Ruzich
A conversation with Professor of English Connie Ruzich, PhD, and Jennifer Orth-Veillon, PhD, about overlooked voices in WWI poetry, hosted by WBT co-editor Adrian Bonenberger. The poems that were read and discussed are linked here: John Allan Wyeth's "Transport" "Night Watch"...
03.15.2021
Afghanistan: a decade after deployment
WBT's Adrian Bonenberger talks with Jim Dao, the New York Times reporter who embedded with 1-87, 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division during a deployment to Afghanistan from 2010-11. The two have a frank discussion of journalism, some of the things...
03.07.2021
Vonnegut's "Mother Night" — the evils men do
Wrath-Bearing Tree co-editors Adrian Bonenberger, Michael Carson, and David James discuss Kurt Vonnegut's "Mother Night," a deep, subversive, and challenging satirical look at nationalism and "the totalitarian mind" that operates as a companion piece to Slaughterhouse Five.
02.14.2021
Veterans and forever war: reading Two Grenades and Empire City
Peter Molin, Patrick Deer, and Matt Gallagher talk about Elliot Ackerman's short story "Two Grenades," from the fiction anthology "The Road Ahead," and then discuss Gallagher's latest book, "Empire City," and its parallels to the modern day veteran insurrection potentials.
02.08.2021
Borges' "Deutsches Requiem": a criminal culture laid bare
Adrian Bonenberger, Mike Carson, and David James reread Borges' "Deutsches Requiem," a short but extremely powerful confessional where the South American writer broke with his habit to look at a political character, and political characteristics. The conversation wandered outside the...
01.18.2021
Barthelme, Mackin, and dreams of war
Adrian Bonenberger and Brian Castner talk with Will Mackin about Donald Barthelme, Denis Johnson, and "Bring out the Dog." In the course of the conversation explore ideas like how to portray the regret of serving, the role of postmodernism in...
12.31.2020
Svetlana Alexievich's Zinky Boys, featuring Brian Castner and Wesley Morgan
Adrian Bonenberger (@AdrianBonenber1) is joined by Brian Castner (@Brian_Castner) and Wesley Morgan (@wesleysmorgan) to discuss Svetlana Alexievich's "Zinky Boys," a creative non-fiction series of interviews dedicated to the USSR's catastrophic intervention in Afghanistan.
12.21.2020
The Murder and Missionaries, feat. Phil Klay
Wrath-Bearing Tree co-editors Adrian Bonenberger and Andria Williams are joined by National Book award winner Phil Klay to talk about his new book, Missionaries, and Anton Chekhov's short fiction story "The Murder."
10.26.2020
Stories we tell each other and ourselves
WBT co-editors Andria Williams and Adrian Bonenberger chat about "The Progress of Love," a short story by Alice Munro. Williams first encountered the story at her MFA program in Minnesota. Bonenberger had never read it before. The two discuss Munro's...
09.30.2020
Leaving the Cult of Smart
Fredrik "Freddie" deBoer, PhD, joins WBT's Adrian Bonenberger to discuss de Boer's controversial new book "The Cult of Smart." DeBoer argues that the current academic system is incompatible with a true meritocracy. The two also discuss the positive impact that...
08.13.2020
Homage to Catalonia, with Brian Castner and Matt Gallagher
Adrian Bonenberger of The WBT is joined by Brian Castner, writer, veteran, journalist, and author of "The Long Walk," and Matt Gallagher, writer, veteran, journalist, and author of "Empire City" to discuss George Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia." The trio try...
07.05.2020
Isaac Babel's Red Cavalry
WBT's Michael Carson, David James, and Adrian Bonenberger discuss Isaac Babel's short fiction collection "Red Cavalry," as well as Babel's life, times, and unorthodox (revolutionary?) literary project.
07.01.2020
The Life and Times of J.M. Coetzee
WBT editors Andria Williams, David James, and Mike Carson discuss the relationship between silence and the imagination in the work of J.M. Coetzee. We cover Waiting for the Barbarians, Life and Times of Michael K, and Disgrace, but also, as...
06.01.2020
Albert Camus, The Plague, and Quarantine with Jennifer Orth-Veillon
Jennifer Orth-Veillon discusses her recent WBT essay, Reading Camus’ ‘The Plague’ in 2020: A Dispatch from Lyon, France, by Jennifer Orth-Veillon and John Tyrrell, from the May issue of WBT. Read Jennifer's essay here: https://www.wrath-bearingtree.com/2020/05/reading-camus-the-plague-in-2020-a-dispatch-from-lyon-france-by-jennifer-orth-veillon-and-john-tyrrell/
05.26.2020
Stefan Zweig, Nazis, and the world of the imagination
Mike Carson, David James, and Adrian Bonenberger sit down to talk about Austrian writer Stefan Zweig's masterwork novella, "The Royal Game," aka "Chess Game" ("Schachnovelle" in the original German). It's a cold open, and recorded on Zoom so the audio...
09.20.2019
Interview With Jenn Blatty
An interview conducted in May with J.T. Blatty, a U.S. Army veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, a photojournalist, and documentarian. Jenn was getting ready for photography exhibitions that were received well, in Chicago as well as elsewhere--a link to one...
12.26.2018
Stolen Valor
Wrath-Bearing Tree / The WBT editor Adrian Bonenberger talks Stolen Valor with Kristiana Willsey, PhD, a folklorist who specializes in military culture and storytelling. Dr. Willsey can be found on Twitter (@BlueWindGirl) and Instagram (SpindleWise), and currently lectures at the...
11.02.2018
Snow-Blind
WBT editor and author Adrian Bonenberger interviews journalist and author Nolan Peterson about Peterson's debut short fiction collection: Snow-Blind. The book is available via Amazon, here: www.amazon.com/Snow-Blind-Other-…ook/dp/B07F2DBHHF
08.21.2018
WBT Editors talk Richard Rorty and John Rawls
Amalie Flynn, Michael Carson, and David James try to work out the connections between and relevance of the influential liberal American philosophers Richard Rorty and John Rawls.
07.29.2018
WBT Editors talk Art and Politics
What, if any, obligation do artists have in confronting today's politically charged world? The Wrath-Bearing Tree editors, David James, Amalie Flynn and Mary Doyle talk politics and art.
06.30.2018
The War Horse Writing Retreat
In this episode, The WBT podcast travels to the Boulder Crest Retreat in Virginia to attend The War Horse writing retreat. We speak to Thomas Brennan, the founder of The War Horse about why he has made it his mission...
06.15.2018
Amalie Flynn and Lynn Houston on Poetry
On this episode of The WBT Podcast, poetry editor Amalie Flynn interviews award winning poet Lynn Houston about her work.

What's The WBT Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The WBT Podcast episodes:

Dewaine Farria and revolutions of all colors

Chekhov's Ward No. Six: Madness and Magic Circles

America's "First Principles," with Tom Ricks

The War for the Soul of the Navy SEALS

When Might Makes Right: practicing history through games and movies

Falling Man and 9/11

Patrick Wyman's The Verge, and the fall of Kabul

Exploring the Arctic with Andrea Pitzer and Brian Castner

For Honor: Tolstoy's great novella "Hadji Murat"

Inside the Pech River Valley with Wesley Morgan and "The Hardest Place"

Lost Poets of The First World War, featuring Connie Ruzich

Afghanistan: a decade after deployment

Vonnegut's "Mother Night" — the evils men do

Veterans and forever war: reading Two Grenades and Empire City

Borges' "Deutsches Requiem": a criminal culture laid bare

Barthelme, Mackin, and dreams of war

Svetlana Alexievich's Zinky Boys, featuring Brian Castner and Wesley Morgan

The Murder and Missionaries, feat. Phil Klay

Stories we tell each other and ourselves

Leaving the Cult of Smart

Homage to Catalonia, with Brian Castner and Matt Gallagher

Isaac Babel's Red Cavalry

The Life and Times of J.M. Coetzee

Albert Camus, The Plague, and Quarantine with Jennifer Orth-Veillon

Stefan Zweig, Nazis, and the world of the imagination

Interview With Jenn Blatty

Stolen Valor

Snow-Blind

WBT Editors talk Richard Rorty and John Rawls

WBT Editors talk Art and Politics

The War Horse Writing Retreat

Amalie Flynn and Lynn Houston on Poetry