CAPITOL HILL TO CHARTER SCHOOL: Former Hill staffer, author Animal Town, A.D. ULTMAN, examines corruption at core of political system from his new perch today as a charter school teacher

A.D. Ultman grew up on a farm on the Great American Plains. He was educated at leading public universities on the East and West Coasts, studying cognitive science and political theory. He began his career as a U.S. Senate staffer and then spent eight years building and leading a successful corporate market research and consulting practice in Washington, DC. He resigned his position in 2017 to travel and study political systems around the world. Since then, he has been an independent writer and teacher and now a teacher at a Charter School, in the US, a “public school” run as a school of choice for parents and student, free of many state and local regulations, as well as ideologies, imposed upon traditional public schools. Ultman holds a B.S. in psychology and political science and a M.A. in political science. Inspired by George Orwell and intended for readers ages 12 and up, A.D. Ultman’s Animal Town masterfully explains today's political landscape and cautions against extremism on all sides. Animal Town is a book made for the political moment but rooted in perennial wisdom-and could not be timelier message for the youth of America. Animal Townis a nuanced and sophisticated treatment of contemporary politics, grounded in the words and actions of American political and cultural leaders. It is related through the compelling story of a young jackrabbit's struggle to understand the nature of freedom, a weasel's quest for wealth and power, and the conflicting dogmas preached by a zealous fox and a radical gopher. In Animal Town's anthropomorphic world reminiscent of George Orwell's Animal Farm, predator and prey species of the American prairie have built a democratic, capitalist society where animals live together in harmony. Then, for the first time in memory, a predator kills a prey. The tragedy triggers a resurgence of species-based politics that threatens the very existence of Animal Town. Animal Town https://animaltownbook.com/is described as a prescient cautionary tale exposing the danger of far-right and far-left political extremism. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-aidan-byrne0/support