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Hello and welcome to the Americano podcast, a series of discussions about American politics and life.

My name is Freddie Gray.

I'm the deputy editor of the spectator.

I am delighted to be joined today by Michael P. Gibson, who is the author of a fascinating

new book called Paper Belt on Fire.

And he's also the founder of a venture capital fund called 517.

Is it just, it is just 5.

1517.

Sorry, of course, because it's the year.

Yes.

How stupid of me not to get that right.

It is called the 1517 project.

Let's start with that, because that is the year that Martin Luther nailed his DCs to the door.

And the subtitle of the book is how renegade investors sparked a revolt against the university.

Your ambition with this fund and what you've been doing for the last 12 years, certainly,

is to shake up the American pursuit of knowledge, I think it's fair to say.

And in doing so, you have sort of gone to

war with American academia. Yeah. Is that a fair summary of what you're doing? Right. Much like Luther,

I guess I was part of the clergy. I almost became a professor. It's working towards a doctorate

...