Francis Fukuyama's “The End of History and the Last Man” is one of the most insightful books for understanding the strangeness and instability of this political moment.Fukuyama wrote his landmark book more than 30 years ago, and it’s typically remembered as a triumphalist argument, heralding the permanent victory of liberal democracy at the end of the Cold War. But that’s not quite right. Fukuyama also talked about the serious weaknesses he saw in liberal democracy — how it may not fully satisfy the human soul — and his warnings feel very prescient now.&nbsp;So I wanted to have Fukuyama on the show to talk through the ideas in his book and how he sees them today, at a time when liberal democracy seems increasingly imperiled around the world. Fukuyama is a political scientist at Stanford University and the author of a number of other great books of political theory, as well as a new memoir, “<a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374620431/intherealmofthelastman/" rel="noopener noreferrer">In the Realm of the Last Man</a>.”Mentioned:“<a href="https://pages.ucsd.edu/~bslantchev/courses/pdf/Fukuyama%20-%20End%20of%20History.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer">The End of History?</a>” by Francis Fukuyama“<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/73535/the-righteous-mind-by-jonathan-haidt/" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Righteous Mind</a>” by Jonathan HaidtBook Recommendations:“<a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250266774/recodingamerica/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Recoding America</a>”&nbsp;by Jennifer Pahlka“<a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/marc-j-dunkelman/why-nothing-works/9781541700215/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Why Nothing Works</a>” by Marc J. Dunkelman“<a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-God-Test/Robert-Wright/9781668061657" rel="noopener noreferrer">The God Test</a>” by Robert WrightThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at <a href="mailto:ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com</a>.You can find the transcript and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html</a>This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Jack McCordick. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Julie Beer. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Isaac Jones, Aman Sahota and Gautam Sirkishan. Our recording engineer is Aman Sahota. Cinematography by Marina King. Video editing by Kristen Williamson, Dani Dillon and Brandon Belk-Yee. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Annie Galvin, Rollin Hu, Kristin Lin, Emma Kehlbeck and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Shows is Annie-Rose Strasser.&nbsp;
Subscribe today at <a href="http://nytimes.com/podcasts">nytimes.com/podcasts</a> or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher">https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher</a>. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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