Pushkin.

It's hard to read the news these days without asking yourself, how did we get here?

Fiasco is a history podcast for the co-creators of Slow Burn.

In our first season, Bush v. Gore, we examine an unmistakable turning point in American politics, the 2000 election, which resulted in a high-stakes stalemate, ended with one of the most controversial rulings in Supreme Court history.

So if you're trying to make sense at the present moment, check out Fiasco, Bush v. Gore. Listen on theHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

From Pushkin Industries, this is Deep Background, the show where we explore the stories behind the stories in the news.

I'm Noah Feldman. Today, our show is just a little bit different, because we're going to explore a story behind

the story in the news, but the story in the news is just the basic idea of crisis.

In recent weeks, the United States has felt like a nation in crisis, and then that national

crisis is repeated out at the individual

level for hundreds or thousands or maybe even millions of people, each of whom is struggling

with the core questions of how to live. To talk about crises and how we can draw on the resources of spirituality to address them,

I'm joined today by Professor Michael Alexander.

Professor Alexander is a professor of religious studies at the University of California, Riverside,

and he's the author of an extraordinary new book called Making Peace with the Universe,

Personal Crisis and Spiritual Healing. I've known McKee since we were graduate students together,

and I had the pleasure and the privilege of hearing him talk through and work on the ideas

that went into this book for years.

When the book finally emerged, it moved me tremendously.

It's written excessively, it's written beautifully,

and it's written in a way that can affect the reader at an individual personal level.

In other words, it's nothing like an academic book usually is.

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