HeyJaredPeople's New Republic
Ethan, Johnny, and Jeremy read through the many Star Wars Expanded Universe novels in publication order and look at the politics, culture, and economics of both that world and ours through a historical materialist lens.Find us at…
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 5
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- Sep 11, 2026
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- Jul 10, 2026
Latest episodes
29 - X-Wing: Wedge's Gamble (opens the original)
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We're back to the X-Wing series with Michael A. Stackpole's 1996 sequel Wedge's Gamble. The Rogues have to capture Coruscant, a planet-sized city (that seems to be maybe the size of New York City) all by themselves. Like his last book, the writing is alright and he has some fun characters! His stuff is very readable! But can the readability and whimsy overcome the plot contrivances used to keep everyone within four or five blocks of each other? Topics include Stackpole's uncanny ability to give
28 - Shadows of the Empire (opens the original)
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In the early 90s, Lucasfilm execs asked themselves "What if we could make all the money off of licensed products for a blockbuster movie but didn't have to pay for an actual movie?" Steve Perry's 1996 turd Shadows of the Empire is part of their answer to this question. On a sentence-to-sentence level, this may be the worst novel we've read for this show (yes, even worse than Kevin J. Anderson), and it's not much better on the structural level! Topics include why they needed another white man to
27 - Before the Storm (opens the original)
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We start another trilogy with Michael P. Kube-McDowell's 1996 banger Before the Storm. We all loved this one! It has everything: meaningful discussion about politics and the role of military intervention, devastating takedowns of Luke's fake-transcended mommy issues by Leia, and Lando being cool as shit. Topics include those, what Yoda would be like as a misogynistic fathers-rights podcaster, Han treating Chewbacca as a slave, and the too-near-for-comfort comparison between the actions of the Ye
26 - X-Wing: Rogue Squadron (opens the original)
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We're joined by Hayley (of the Badvertising podcast) to begin the X-Wing series with Michael A. Stackpole's 1996 novel Rogue Squadron! Despite being a breath of fresh air after the long national nightmare that was KJA's tenure, can the book overcome its intensely unlikable cop protagonist and Stackpole's tendency to use English idioms with some nouns swapped out for Star Wars ones? Topics include Biggs Darklighter's family wealth built off exploiting non-humans on literal plantations, the restor
25 - Tales From Jabba's Palace (opens the original)
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At long last, we read Kevin J. Anderson's final Star Wars book project, 1995's Tales From Jabba's Palace. Unfortunately, it's more of a slog than anything else, and it lacks the gems that the last short story collection had. Whiffs abound from our regulars. Topics include why the fuck Kevin J. Anderson hates fat people so much, if Kathy Tyers is qualified to be telling a story about human trafficking, and the socialist character of the Gran homeworld Kinyen. Content warnings include slavery, tra
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