On this Summer Friday, we've put together some of our favorite recent interviews, including:

• The number of Americans who are part of any organized religion has been dropping for decades, and over the past ten years, dropped by about 11 points.  Ryan Burge, associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, research director for Faith Counts, and the author of The Nones: Where They Came From, Who They Are, and Where They Are Going (Fortress Press, 2021), digs into the patterns around the country and explains how the trend might affect presidential politics in 2024 and beyond.

• Neil Gross, sociology professor at Colby College in Maine, former police officer, and author of Walk the Walk: How Three Police Chiefs Defied the Odds and Changed Cop Culture (Metropolitan Books, 2023), argues police culture can become more humane and effective using the examples of three departments whose chiefs made it happen -- in Stockton, California; Longmont, Colorado; and LaGrange, Georgia.

• Katherine Marsh, journalist and author of books for middle-grade readers, including her latest, The Lost Year: A Survival Story of the Ukrainian Famine (Roaring Brook Press, 2023), argues that an unintended consequence of teaching kids critical reading skills is that they read less for fun.

• Elizabeth Glazer, founder of the journal Vital City and former director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, talks about indicators Vital City is collecting that show whether New York City is safe, vibrant and thriving.

• Sandra Fox, visiting assistant professor of American Jewish history at New York University, director of the Archive of the American Jewish Left in the Digital Age, founder and executive producer of the Yiddish-language podcast "Vaybertaytsh: A Feminist Podcast in Yiddish," and the author of The Jews of Summer: Summer Camp and Jewish Culture in Postwar America (Stanford University Press, 2023), talks about the origins of sleepaway camps for Jewish kids in the U.S. and their influence on American Jewish culture, as callers share their stories from summer camp.

These interviews were polished up and edited for time, the original versions are available here:

The Changing Religious Landscape and the 2024 Election (Jun 5, 2023)

Case Studies in Humane Policing (Mar 23, 2023)

Have We Taken the Fun Out of Kid's Reading? (Apr 10, 2023)

Thriving City (Apr 3, 2023)

Summer Camps and Jewish Cultural History (May 10, 2023)