Lean Out with Tara Henley

Updated: 09 Jul 2025 • 203 episodes
tarahenley.substack.com/podcast

Conversations with heterodox authors and journalists from around the world, asking the questions that are not being asked. tarahenley.substack.com

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In recent years, I’ve read a lot of memoirs from women of my generation who feel stuck in specific ways: single, childless, consumed by work, and disillusioned with hook-up culture. My guest on today’s program is the author of the first memoir I have read about breaking free from that pattern — and the story of how it

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With the excesses of 2020 now being examined in mainstream outlets like The New York Times, we are witnessing a moment of introspection on the American left. To unpack this development, this week on the program, I’m joined by a writer who has studied the history of the left. And in today’s conversation, we wrestle with

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It’s common knowledge these days that the left has lost the working class. But there is little curiosity about how, and why, and what that means for our politics. My guest on today’s program has written a deeply researched book on the subject — and she has some ideas on where the left should go from here. Joan C. Willi

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Three and a half years ago, during the pandemic era, I launched Lean Out to explore some basic questions about illiberalism in our response to the crisis — and in our culture, our politics, and our newsrooms. Today, for our 200th episode of the show, I’m thrilled to be joined by two academics who have written a deeply

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In polarized times, our tolerance for different perspectives decreases. Groupthink becomes common, and we can often find ourselves either censored, or self-censoring. My guest on the program today has done a deep dive into this topic, and she has some thoughts on how we can begin to speak up — while still seeing our id

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Tonight, in London, England, a group of writers and thinkers will gather to debate a key cultural question: “Is woke dead?” And tomorrow, the inaugural conference of a new centre for social science kicks off. Academics will gather to talk through the intellectual origins of this movement and its politics, psychology, a

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