The podcast episodes 'The Great Political Fictions: Phineas Redux' The Great Political Fictions: Phineas Redux and 'The Great Political Fictions: Fathers and Sons' The Great Political Fictions: Fathers and Sons both examine seminal works of political fiction that reflect the political realities and tensions of their respective eras.

The 'Phineas Redux' episode discusses how Anthony Trollope's novel satirizes the polarization and hypocrisy of parliamentary politics in Victorian Britain, while the 'Fathers and Sons' episode positions Ivan Turgenev's work as a wistful exploration of the ideological conflicts and disillusionment in 1860s Russia.