Media

Watch, listen, and read

Keynotes, television, podcasts, and essays from more than a decade of public work, plus a press kit for producers, editors, and hosts.

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Watch

Talks and conversations

The Aspen Institute

The Aspen Institute · Jun 2019Keynote at the Aspen Institute’s Weave the Social Fabric conferenceLove as a social value that can bridge political and racial divides. Braver Angels

Braver Angels · Jun 2020Arriving at the Grand Divide, with Jonathan Haidt and April LawsonHow America reached its divisions, and the paths back. The Glenn Show

The Glenn ShowBraver Angels: Glenn Loury and John Wood Jr.A long conversation on race, politics, and depolarization. Conversations with Coleman

Conversations with ColemanIs the American Dream Dead?With Coleman Hughes, on depolarization and the American Dream. DarkHorse

DarkHorseTrump Impeachment, with Bret WeinsteinTwo longtime bridge-builders on a polarizing moment. Braver Angels

Braver AngelsThe Meaning of January 6thA conversation with Ciaran O’Connor. Braver Angels

Braver AngelsDepolarizing America’s Gun ConversationHow the Braver Angels method applies to guns. The Change Maker Podcast

The Change Maker PodcastBridging the DivideWith former Augusta mayor Deke Copenhaver.

On television

Fox News

Fox News · Sep 2025Fox News appearanceOn civic courage and engaging in politics “the right way,” days after the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Fox News @ Night

Fox News @ Night · May 2023Fox News @ Night appearanceResponding to President Biden’s commencement address at Howard University. C-SPAN 3

C-SPAN 3 · Jun 2021C-SPAN 3 appearanceA 40-minute appearance, archived in full.

His shows

Co-host

The Braver Angels Podcast

Conversations across the political divide from America’s largest bridging organization, with guests from James Comey to Jonathan Haidt.

Listen on Apple Podcasts →

Host

The John Wood Jr. Show

Politics, race, religion, and the movement to rebuild trust, with guests including Ayaan Hirsi Ali, John McWhorter, and Dennis Prager.

Listen on Apple Podcasts →

As a guest

Selected podcast appearances

Jul 2025The Long Bridge Across the Partisan DivideThe Glenn Show
Is the American Dream Dead?Conversations with Coleman
Sep 2021Are We In a Transformational Moment?What Could Go Right? (The Progress Network)
Feb 2022On American polarization and being a Black conservativePeople Who Read People
Why America is like great jazzKibbe on Liberty
Jul 2023Melodies of ReconciliationReconciliation Roundtable
2019John Wood Jr. of Better AngelsDarkHorse Podcast
Jan 2025Martin Luther King, Conservative?AEI

Read

Selected essays and op-eds

A longtime contributing opinion writer for USA Today, with essays in National Affairs, The Dispatch, Quillette, Persuasion, and The Wall Street Journal.

National Affairs

Martin Luther King’s Transcendent Conservatism

Fall 2024

The Dispatch

MLK and the Content of Character

Aug 2023

Quillette

Martin Luther King’s Understanding of Racism

Jan 2024

Persuasion

Remember Martin Luther King Jr.? Kendi’s antiracism won’t work, but King’s does

Nov 2020

Yale Divinity Reflections

A Revolution in Reconciliation

Spring 2018

The American Interest

The Intellectual Dark Web Cannot Defeat Identity Politics

Apr 2019

Full essay archive →USA Today columns →

Press kit

Short bio for programs, introductions, and bylines

For interviews and appearances, write to press@johnwoodjr.com.

John Wood Jr. is a writer, public intellectual, and one of the most distinctive voices in American civic life. The son of a liberal Black Democrat and a conservative white Republican, he spent nine years as National Ambassador for Braver Angels — the organization he named — and is now the founder and president of The OmniAmerican Society, dedicated to renewing American civic identity across the partisan divide. His work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Quillette, National Affairs, The Dispatch, and Reflections: A Journal of the Yale School of Divinity. A longtime contributing opinion writer for USA Today, he is a noted extemporaneous speaker recognized for his ability to hold audiences across the ideological spectrum, with appearances on Fox News, Newsmax, and C-SPAN. He is the longtime co-host of The Braver Angels Podcast and his forthcoming book, The Politics of Grace: Christian Nationalism and the Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., is expected in 2027.

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