About the Hosts

Jonathan Weiler is a teaching professor of global studies. He received his Ph.D. in political science from UNC Chapel Hill. He has written four books, including Authoritarianism and Polarization in American Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2009), co-authored with political science professor Marc Hetherington), which won the Philip Converse award from the American Political Science Association in 2016, in recognition of the book’s lasting impact on the field. He has also written Prius or Pickup: How the Answers to Four Simple Questions Explain America’s Great Divide (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018), also co-authored with Hetherington.

Matthew Andrews is a teaching associate professor of history. A multiple award-winning teacher, Andrews is an American historian with an interest in the links between sports and American history and culture. He is particularly interested in the ways sports both reflect and affect American politics, race and gender identities, and social reform movements.

Weiler and Andrews also host the podcast “The Agony of Defeat,” a multifaceted podcast about the intersections of sports, politics and history.