Episode
The Emergency with George Packer | Bonus Episode
- Published
- May 1, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 4029
- Processing state
not_requested
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/reading-hannah-arendt-with-roger-berkowitz-1160305/episodes/the-emergency-with-george-packer-bonus-episode/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/reading-hannah-arendt-with-roger-berkowitz-1160305/the-emergency-with-george-packer-bonus-episode.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
In this bonus episode, Roger Berkowitz welcomes George Packer—National Book Award–winning author of The Unwinding, staff writer for The Atlantic and contributor to The New Yorker—to discuss his 2025 novel The Emergency and his upcoming appearance at The Arendt Forum (October 15–17, 2026), the Hannah Arendt Center's 20th anniversary fall gathering on Solidarity. Packer explains that the pandemic and January 6th, and the rapid collapse of shared “ground truth,” drove him from nonfiction toward a fable-like fiction set in an unnamed empire collapsing from distraction and loss of faith. They discuss the novel’s central father–daughter relationship, youth movements “Together” and “Dirt,” the “suicide spot,” and Packer’s view that both movements express despair and a revolt against humanity. Packer contrasts journalism’s labor with fiction’s imaginative construction, and ends by emphasizing a humbled ethic of care—“opening the door”—rather than policy prescriptions. Rate and review if you like this podcast! ABOUT: Produced by the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College, this podcast offers close readings of Arendt's books alongside engaging interviews and thought-provoking conversations. Released weekly, each episode provides listeners with a deeper understanding of Arendt's philosophy and its relevance to contemporary issues. Available on all major podcast platforms, listeners join us on a captivating intellectual journey through the mind of Hannah Arendt. New episodes every Friday morning! Join Roger Berkowitz, Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College, as he discusses the works of German Jewish political theorist Hannah Arendt (1906-1975). THE HANNAH ARENDT CENTER: The Hannah Arendt Center provides an intellectual s…