The Lede

On the podcast this week, journalist and author Jason Burke joins Faisal Al Yafai to discuss the wave of leftist violence that swept Europe and the Middle East in the 1970s, why its defeat cleared the ground for Islamist movements, and what the West got wrong about political violence in the decade that followed, as set out in his book, "The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s."

Produced by Finbar Anderson

On this week's episode of the podcast, journalist and author Sally Hayden joins Faisal Al Yafai to discuss reporting on the artificial families formed by Rwandan genocide survivors, secret weddings under Islamic State rule in Iraq, reporting on the ongoing war in Lebanon — and why she believes journalism loses sight of the people at the center of every crisis, as set out in her recent book, “This Is Also a Love Story.”

Produced by Finbar Anderson

On this week's episode of the podcast, political scientist Shadi Hamid joins Faisal Al Yafai to discuss why Osama bin Laden got exactly the overreaction he wanted from 9/11, how 25 years of the war on terror reshaped America and the Middle East, and why he believes a more secular America has become a more polarized one, as set out in his new book with Matthew Kaemingk, “Can Religion Save Democracy?”

Produced by Finbar Anderson

On this week's episode of the podcast, Guardian senior international correspondent Luke Harding joins Faisal Al Yafai to discuss the war Europe is already fighting but won't admit to, the North Korean soldiers dying in the fields of western Russia, and why Trump's second term marks a breach with what America once claimed to be, as set out in his new book "Betrayal."

Produced by Finbar Anderson

With the podcast team away until the end of the month, listen again to this episode from earlier in the year.

On this week's episode of the podcast, journalist and author Suzy Hansen joins Faisal Al Yafai to discuss how ordinary people experience authoritarianism in the 21st century, what a decade spent in one Istanbul neighborhood reveals about Turkey under Erdoğan, and why the West so often misreads the Middle East, as set out in her new book, "From Life Itself."

Produced by Finbar Anderson