S7 Ep. 29: There’s Going to Be Trouble: Jen Silverman on Generational Divides in American Politics

fiction/non/fiction

As the presidential election heats up and President Joe Biden struggles to keep young voters’ support, novelist Jen Silverman joins co-host V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss generational divides in U.S. politics. Silverman, whose new book, There’s Going to Be Trouble, follows the political and sexual awakenings of a father and daughter in different eras, talks about how young people’s involvement in politics now compares to previous generations’ engagement. They address the question of whether today’s 20-something voters are more likely to protest than vote, consider how social media and technology relate to in-person conversations and activism, and reflect on the need to name and engage with the failures of earlier generations. Silverman also explains why they chose to write about anti-Vietnam War protests at Harvard in 1968 and the gilet jaunes (Yellow Vest) protests in Paris fifty years later, and reads an excerpt from There’s Going to Be Trouble.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf and Alijah Smith.

Jen Silverman

• There’s Going to Be Trouble
• We Play Ourselves
• The Island Dwellers
• Bath
• The Moors

Others:

• Family Ties (television sitcom)
• Changing Partisan Coalitions in a Politically Divided Nation | Pew Research Center
• “Who Are France's Yellow Vest Protesters, And What Do They Want?” by Jake Cigainero | NPR, December 3, 2018.
• “The Generational Rift that Explains Democrats’ Angst over Israel” by Steven Shepard and Kelly Garrity | Politico, October 12, 2023
• “Less than Half of Young Americans Plan to Vote in 2024, Harvard Poll Finds” by Joseph Konig | Spectrum News
• “Young Voters are Unenthusiastic about Biden, but He Will Need Them in 2024” by Dan Balz | The Washington Post
• “Climate Activists Target Jets, Yachts and Golf in a String of Global Protests Against Luxury” by David Brunat | AP News
• “The Weapons French police use During Protests” by Jean-Philippe Lefief and Marie Pouzadoux | Le Monde, April 6, 2023
• Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 7, Episode 24: “Emily Raboteau on Mothering and Climate Change”
• The Diary of Virginia Woolf, Volume 5 by Virginia Woolf

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices