Reckoning with Jason Herbert
Reckoning with Jason Herbert is a long-form conversation podcast about history, the outdoors, and the stories that shape who we are.
Each episode features historians, writers, scientists, and thinkers in wide-ranging conversations about wild places, forgotten pasts, cultural memory, and the forces—human and natural—that continue to shape our lives.
This isn’t a news cycle show or a debate podcast. It’s a space for reflection, curiosity, and serious conversation—meant to be listened to slowly.
If you’re interested in history beyond textbooks, the outdoors beyond recreation, and stories that linger long after they’re told, this show is for you.
Reckoning with Jason Herbert
Episode 72: Robocop and guns in America with Drew McKevitt
This week Drew McKevitt returns to talk about Robocop (1987). We get into depictions of Detroit as a failed city and of Robocop as both the commercial answer to the Terminator and maybe the antithesis of Dirty Harry. And we dive deep into Drew’s new book to talk about the rise of the gun culture in the United States. Hanging with Drew is always a blast- he’s one of the smartest and funniest historians you’re gonna meet.
About our guest:
Drew McKevitt is an associate professor of history at Louisiana Tech University. He recently published a book called Consuming Japan: Popular Culture and the Globalizing of 1980s America. His new book is Gun Country: Gun Capitalism, Culture, and Control in Cold War America. His next project examines U.S. workers in foreign-owned manufacturing facilities in the United States since the 1970s. You can find him on twitter at @drewmckevitt or his website, https://andrewcmckevitt.com/