Welcome to the New Books Network.

Welcome to Madison's Notes, the official podcast of the James Madison program in American ideals and institutions at Princeton University.

I'm your host, Ryan Schenkel.

Thank you. at Princeton University. I'm your host, Ryan Schenkel. As we continue season five, I have with us now,

Dr. Matthew J. Frank, as our guest, a senior contributing fellow at Public Discourse, a visiting lecturer in the Department of Politics at Princeton University, as well as a senior fellow at the Witherspoon Institute,

and Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Radford University. He has written, edited, and

contributed to many books, including Against the Imperial Judiciary from 1996, available for purchase online.

Since I've known Professor Frank for many years, I did not learn until recently he was a fellow

cinephile, lover of movies. So I thought to have him on the podcast to discuss Frontier films

for America to 50 in light of the country's 250th anniversary, as well as the recent Artemis 2 Rocket.

So, Dr. Frank, welcome to Madison's Notes.

Thanks very much, Ryan. It's great to be here with you. Please call me, Matt. I'm looking forward to this conversation.

Okay. So how did you get here to Princeton?

When I was a professor of political science at Radford University, I applied for a visiting

fellowship in the James Madison program and got here for that academic year of 2008, 2009,

my first extended sojourn in Princeton.

I returned to Radford for the year that followed, but then

came back permanently to Princeton in the summer of 2010 to join the staff of the Witherspoon Institute,

where I directed something called the Center on Religion and the Constitution. For a number of

years, I joined the Madison program staff for a few years, and then I retreated to

part-time work. Everything in my life is now a side gig, which is fun. So I write a monthly column

called The Bookshelf, which I sometimes devote to movies instead of books, public discourse,

...