Revolutionary Violence and One Battle After Another.
Revolutionary Violence and “One Battle After Another”
On this episode of The Time of Monsters: David Klion on the historical resonance of Paul Thomas Anderson’s new movie.

The Time of Monsters podcast features Nation national-affairs correspondent Jeet Heer’s signature blend of political culture and cultural politics. Each week, he’ll host in-depth conversations with urgent voices on the most pressing issues of our time.
Few movies have ever been as timely as Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film One Battle After
Another, which traces the battle between revolutionary resistance groups trying to protect
immigrants and an authoritarian government run by racists. There are scenes from the movie
that feel like they are being played out right now on the streets of Chicago, Los Angeles and
Portland. Although it presents a stylized version of reality, the film raises important questions
about different strategies of resistance. David Klion, a frequent guest, wrote about the movie
for The New Republic. David and I talked about the film, its roots in actual history but also
variance with that history as well as its relationship with the Thomas Pynchon novel Vineland.
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Fans cheer at an event for the movie One Battle After Another on September 18, 2025, in Naucalpan de Juarez, Mexico.
Few movies have ever been as timely as Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest, One Battle After Another, which traces the battle between revolutionary resistance groups trying to protect immigrants and an authoritarian government run by racists. There are scenes from the movie that feel like they are being played out right now on the streets of Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland. Although it presents a stylized version of reality, the film raises important questions about different strategies of resistance. David Klion, a frequent guest, wrote about the movie for The New Republic. David and I talked about the film, its roots in actual history but also variance with that history, as well as its relationship with the Thomas Pynchon novel Vineland.
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The Time of Monsters podcast features Nation national-affairs correspondent Jeet Heer’s signature blend of political culture and cultural politics. Each week, he’ll host in-depth conversations with urgent voices on the most pressing issues of our time.
The famed economist Larry Summers, not for the first time, finds himself the center of a
scandal. He’s had to take a leave from Harvard, where he teaches, because of embarrassing
emails he had with his late friend Jeffrey Epstein.
I talked to economic journalist and Nation contributor Doug Henwood, a long-time Summers
watcher, about the career of this controversial and influential figure. Summers has been one of
the most influential policy makers of his era, serving as Treasury Secretary and President of
Harvard. He has also embodied the major intellectual and political limitations of the ruling class.
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