Freedom Hasn’t Always Meant Choice | Interview: Sophia Rosenfeld

The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg

The Dispatch

Politics, News

4.7 • 6.6K Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2026

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On today’s episode, Jonah spoils himself by conversing with historian Sophia Rosenfeld about the history of choice, changes in the meaning of freedom, the significance of the mundane, and the American Revolution’s impact on Europe. Shownotes:—The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life—Jerry Muller: The Mind and the Market: Capitalism in Western Thought—Moscow On The Hudson Coffee Coffee Coffee—FDR: Second Bill of Rights—Milton Friedman: Free to Choose: A Personal Statement—Irving Kristol: “The American Revolution as a Successful Revolution”—Jonah: “The American Revolution was a Really Big Deal”—Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, & the Great Depression The Remnant is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a non-partisan, conservative perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including access to all of Jonah’s G-File newsletters—⁠click here⁠. If you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of The Remnant is brought to you by our friends at the Pacific Legal Foundation.
0:05.9	PLF is a national nonprofit law firm with more than 200 active lawsuits representing Americans
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0:18.5	They represent a California family who have oil reserves
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0:34.4	And they represent all their clients free of charge because they believe all Americans should
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1:08.0	Your moment of serenity. Brought to you by twining sleep.
1:13.6	Twinings. Alive in every drop. Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention.
1:38.3	Can you digger? Greetings, dear listeners, this is Jonah Goldberg, host of the Remnant podcast, brought to you by the Dispatch and Dispatch Media.
1:53.7	Today, with continuing counter-programming to the wacky Japanese game show that is American politics. We have a very exciting guest. We have
2:01.4	Sophia Rosenfeld, who's the Walter Annenberg Professor of History and former chair of the
2:07.0	Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches European and American
2:11.8	intellectual and cultural history with a special emphasis on the Enlightenment, which is so hot right now.
2:19.2	And her latest book is The Age of Choice, A History of Freedom in Modern Life. Sophia, welcome to The Remnant.
2:25.9	Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. As you are warned, as listeners expect, first question
	...

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