Backfire

How Sanctions Reshape the World Against U.S. Interests

Agathe Demarais

Hosted by Mathias Fuelling

Sanctions have become the go-to foreign policy tool for the United States. Coercive economic measures such as trade tariffs, financial penalties, and export controls affect large numbers of companies and states across the globe. Some of these penalties target nonstate actors, such as Colombian drug cartels and Islamist terror groups; others apply to entire countries, including North Korea, Iran, and Russia. U.S. policy makers see sanctions as a low-cost tactic …

African Studies

Space, Place and Identity

Wodaabe of Niger in the 21st Century

Florian Köhler

Hosted by Maggie Freeman

Known as highly mobile cattle nomads, the Wodaabe in Niger are today increasingly engaged in a transformation process towards a more diversified livelihood based primarily on agro-pastoralism and urban work …

Literature

We Are All Together

Richard Fulco

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb

Today I talked to Richard Fulco about his novel We Are All Together (Wampus Multimedia, 2022). Stephen Cane is a guitarist – he’s already walked out on one band to …

Writ Large

On Frantz Fanon's "The Wretched of the Earth"

A Discussion with Manan Ahmed

Manan Ahmed

Hosted by Zachary Davis

In 1925, on the French occupied island of Martinique, one of the most prominent voices in post colonial theory was born, Frantz Fanon. He was born to parents of both …

Catholic Studies

Christian Anarchist

Ammon Hennacy, A Life on the Catholic Left

William Marling

Hosted by Jackson Reinhardt

Ammon Hennacy was arrested over thirty times for opposing US entry in World War 1. Later, when he refused to pay taxes that support war, he lost his wife and …

East Asian Studies

The Politics of Time in China and Japan

Back to the Future

Viren Murthy

Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

Drawing on a wide range of texts and using an interdisciplinary approach, The Politics of Time in China and Japan: Back to the Future (Routledge, 2022) by Viren Murthy shows …

Psychology

Climate Psychology

A Matter of Life and Death

Wendy Hollway, Paul Hoggett, Chris Robertson, and Sally Weintrobe

Hosted by Karyne Messina

Climate Psychology: A Matter of Life and Death (Phoenix Publishing House, 2022) offers ways to work with the unthinkable and emotionally unendurable current predicament of humanity. The style and writing …

Religion

Orthodox Christianity, New Age Spirituality and Vernacular Religion

The Evil Eye in Greece

Eugenia Roussou

Hosted by Tiatemsu Longkumer

Eugenia Roussou's book Orthodox Christianity, New Age Spirituality and Vernacular Religion: The 'Evil Eye' in Greece (Bloomsbury, 2021) thoroughly illustrates the novel synthesis of Christian religion and New Age spirituality in …

Anthropology

Permanent Markers

Race, Ancestry, and the Body After the Genome

Sarah Abel

Hosted by Reighan Gillam

Over the past twenty years, DNA ancestry testing has morphed from a niche market into a booming international industry that encourages members of the public to answer difficult questions about …

Critical Theory

Indexicalism

The Metaphysics of Paradox

Hilan Bensusan

Hosted by Adam Bobeck

In Indexicalism: The Metaphysics of Paradox (Edinburgh UP, 2021), Hilan Bensusan clarifies the logic and structure of an essentially situated and indexical metaphysics that is paradoxical and can also be regarded …

Anthropology

Afro-Sweden

Becoming Black in a Color-Blind Country

Ryan Thomas Skinner

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Contemporary Sweden is a country with a worldwide progressive reputation, despite an undeniable tradition of racism within its borders. In the face of this contradiction of culture and history, Afro-Swedes …

Japanese Studies

Blind in Early Modern Japan

Wei Yu Wayne Tan

Hosted by Jingyi Li

While the loss of sight—whether in early modern Japan or now—may be understood as a disability, blind people in the Tokugawa period (1600–1868) could thrive because of disability. The blind …

World Affairs

Planet in Peril

Humanity's Four Greatest Challenges and How We Can Overcome Them

Michael Bess

Hosted by Vladislav Lilic

Michael Bess is the Chancellor's Professor of History at Vanderbilt University. His fifth and most recent book is Planet in Peril: Humanity’s Four Greatest Challenges and How We Can Overcome Them …

Sociology

Diaspora As Translation and Decolonisation

Ipek Demir

Hosted by Gargi Binju

Ipek Demir's book Diaspora As Translation and Decolonisation (Manchester UP, 2022) engages critically with existing conceptualisations of diaspora, arguing that if diaspora is to have analytical purchase, it should illuminate a …

International Horizons

What will be the Role of Europe in the Changing World Order?

A Discussion with Sigmar Gabriel

Sigmar Gabriel

Hosted by International Horizons

The transatlantic relationship, arguably the bedrock of the world’s post-World War II international security architecture, came under significant threat during Donald Trump’s tenure in office, as Trump complained about European …

Book of the Day/ The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones

The Future of Xi and China

A Discussion with Sue Lin Wong

Sue Lin Wong

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones

What will a Chinese-dominated world look like? And since Xi Jin Ping will probably rule China for life, what does he want to do; what does he believe in and what does he mean for China and the world? Sue Lin Wong has made an excellent podcast series on him called "The Prince: Searching for Xi Jinping" and discussed the Chinese leader with Owen Bennett-Jones. Owen Bennett-Jones is a freelance journalist …

Middle Eastern Studies

Protesting Jordan

Geographies of Power and Dissent

Jillian Schwedler

Hosted by Ronay Bakan

Protest has been a key method of political claim-making in Jordan from the late Ottoman period to the present day. More than moments of rupture within normal-time politics, protests have …

Economics

The Economics of Platforms

Concepts and Strategy

Paul Belleflamme and Martin Peitz

Hosted by Peter Lorentzen

Digital platforms controlled by Alibaba, Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook, Netflix, Tencent and Uber have transformed not only the ways we do business, but also the very nature of people's everyday lives …

Writ Large

On Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy"

A Discussion with Nassime Chida

Nassime Chida

Hosted by Zachary Davis

When he was in his late 30s, the Italian poet Dante Alighieri got himself into some serious political trouble and was exiled from his beloved Florence. While in exile, he …

Medieval History

The Invention of Byzantium in Early Modern Europe

Nathanael Aschenbrenner and Jake Ransohoff

Hosted by Evan Zarkadas

A gulf of centuries separates the Byzantine Empire from the academic field of Byzantine studies. The Invention of Byzantium in Early Modern Europe offers a new approach to the history …

Biblical Studies

Daughter Zion's Trauma

A Trauma Informed Reading of Lamentations

James Yansen

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Utilizing insights from trauma studies, James Yansen's book Daughter Zion's Trauma: A Trauma Informed Reading of Lamentations (Gorgias Press, 2019) advances the view that awareness of trauma's potential effects sheds light …

American Studies

Heaven on the Hudson

Mansions, Monuments, and Marvels of Riverside Park

Stephanie Azzarone

Hosted by Robert Snyder

On the west side of Manhattan, Riverside Park winds between the banks of the Hudson River and the elegant housing of Riverside Drive. In her new book Heaven on the …

Literary Studies

Literature and the Environment

Critical and Primary Sources

Stephanie LeMenager and Teresa Shewry

Hosted by Gargi Binju

Bringing together 100 essential critical articles across 4 volumes, Literature and the Environment: Critical and Primary Sources (Bloomsbury, 2021) is a comprehensive collection of the most important academic writings on ecocriticism and …

Christian Studies

How to Inhabit Time

Understanding the Past, Facing the Future, Living Faithfully Now

James K. A. Smith

Hosted by Sarah Kearns

In this episode, we chat with Dr. James Smith, a professor of philosophy at Calvin University about his most recent book How to Inhabit Time: Understanding the Past, Facing the Future …

Economic and Business History

Impunity and Capitalism

The Afterlives of European Financial Crises, 1690–1830

Trevor Jackson

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Whose fault are financial crises, and who is responsible for stopping them, or repairing the damage? Impunity and Capitalism: The Afterlives of European Financial Crises, 1690-1830 (Cambridge University Press, 2022) …

Russian and Eurasian Studies

Digital Activism in Russia

The Communication Tactics of Political Outsiders

Sofya Glazunova

Hosted by Iva Glisic

Digital Activism in Russia: The Communication Tactics of Political Outsiders (Palgrave MacMillan, 2022) examines various forms of Russian online anti-establishment resistance, focusing in particular on the period between 2016 and 2019. Grounded …

Digital Humanities

Ourboox

A Conversation with Mel Rosenberg

Mel Rosenberg

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

In this interview, Mel Rosenberg discusses his love for children's literature, what makes for a memorable picture book, and the company he created, Ourboox. Ourboox is a free site that …

Ukrainian Studies

Ukraine, Food and History

Olena Braichenko, Maryna Hrymych, Ihor Lylo, and Vitaly Reznichenko

Hosted by Nataliya Shpylova-Saeed

Ukraine: Food and History (O. Braichenko, 2020) tells about the past and present of Ukrainian cuisine. It includes recipes of dishes that everyone can cook and local products, which together present …

Japanese Studies

Overseas Shinto Shrines

Religion, Secularity and the Japanese Empire

Karli Shimizu

Hosted by Raditya Nuradi

Through extensive use of primary resources and fieldwork, Karli Shimizu's book Overseas Shinto Shrines: Religion, Secularity and the Japanese Empire (Bloomsbury, 2022) examines overseas Shinto shrines and their complex role in …

Darts & Letters

Mathematical Morality

The Ideology that Justifies Billionaires

Émile P. Torres

Hosted by Gordon Katic

How can billionaires justify the endless accumulation of wealth? Effective altruism. An almost religious philosophical belief. Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO and founder of collapsed crypto exchange FTX is a …

Book of the Day/ Diplomatic History

The Nuclear Club

How America and the World Policed the Atom from Hiroshima to Vietnam

Jonathan R. Hunt

Hosted by Grant Golub

The Nuclear Club: How America and the World Policed the Atom from Hiroshima to Vietnam (Stanford UP, 2022) reveals how a coalition of powerful and developing states embraced global governance in hopes of a bright and peaceful tomorrow. While fears of nuclear war were ever-present, it was the perceived threat to their preeminence that drove Washington, Moscow, and London to throw their weight behind the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty …

African Studies

Christianity, Politics and the Afterlives of War in Uganda

There is Confusion

Henni Alava

Hosted by Suvi Rautio

Today I had the pleasure of talking to Dr. Henni Alava, postdoctoral researcher at Tampere University, on her fascinating new book published by Bloomsbury as part of the New Directions in Anthropology …

Military History

The Wandering Army

The Campaigns That Transformed the British Way of War

Huw J. Davies

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In The Wandering Army: The Campaigns that Transformed the British Way of War (Yale University Press, 2022), Dr. Huw J. Davies presents a compelling history of the British Army in …

Dan Hill's EQ Spotlight

Why I Find You Irritating: Navigating Generational Friction at Work

Chris de Santis

Hosted by Dan Hill

Today I talked to Chris De Santis about his new book Why I Find You Irritating: Navigating Generational Friction at Work (Ampify, 2022). Soon, those who qualify as Millennials or part of Gen …

Asian Review of Books

The Sassoons

The Great Global Merchants and the Making of an Empire

Joseph Sassoon

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

The Sassoons were one of the great merchant families of the nineteenth century, alongside such names as the Jardines, the Mathesons, and the Swires. They dominated the India-China opium trade …

Recall This Book

The Nature of the Future

A Discussion with Elizabeth Kolbert

Elizabeth Kolbert

Hosted by Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz

How should humans respond to our ongoing human-made climate catastrophe? To answer that question, Recall this Book turned to prize-winning climate reporter Elizabeth Kolbert, who visited Brandeis this Fall. The …

Indian Religions

Human Being, Bodily Being

Phenomenology from Classical India

Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

In Human Being, Bodily Being: Phenomenology from Classical India (Oxford UP, 2021), Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad offers illuminating new perspectives on contemporary phenomenological theories of body and subjectivity, based on studies of diverse classical …

Writ Large

On John Rawl's "A Theory of Justice"

A Discussion with Michele Moody-Adams

Michele Moody-Adams

Hosted by Zachary Davis

How do you create a fair society? Who deserves to rule? What rights do citizens have? How are those rights protected? What does it mean to act morally within society …

Southeast Asian Studies

Vietnamese Migrants in Russia

Mobility in Times of Uncertainty

Lan Anh Hoang

Hosted by Patrick Jory

Vietnam and Russia share a common socialist history dating back to the Cold War. But since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and Vietnam’s đổi mới reforms, Russia …

Why We Argue

Seeing Truth in Plant Humanities

A Conversation with Romita Ray

Valerie Hegarty

Hosted by Alexis Boylan

Art historian Romita Ray has long puzzled power, visual culture, and how knowledge moves globally. Currently writing about tea, we talk with Ray about botany, picking tea, archives, and the …

Academic Life

When Your Professor Asks You to Cheat: A Conversation with Dr. Joel Heng Hartse

A Conversation with Dr. Joel Heng Hartse

Joel Heng Hartse

Hosted by Christina Gessler

We all know that academic integrity matters. But do we all agree on what academic integrity really is? Somewhere beyond the nuances and gray areas is blatant cheating. And that’s …

Science Fiction

Leech

Hiron Ennes

Hosted by Brenda Noiseux

“Soft sci-fi, gothic body horror” is how Hiron Ennes describes their debut novel, Leech (Tordotcom, 2022). But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Set in an isolated winter chateau …

Philosophy

Legitimate Opposition

Alexander Kirshner

Hosted by Robert Talisse

The idea of legitimate political opposition is familiar. A decent political order permits citizens, parties, and coalitions to challenge those in power. Under such conditions, there is an ongoing nonviolent …

Book of the Day/ East Asian Studies

Fragile Cargo

The World War II Race to Save the Treasures of China's Forbidden City

Adam Brookes

Hosted by Ed Pulford

The two parallel Palace Museums in Beijing and Taiwan, and their separate collections of thousands of precious artworks and artifacts from imperial times, reflects a key moment in the 1940s when the Republic of China and the People’s Republic became distinct entities. But the very survival of these vast troves of porcelain, sculpture, jade, paintings, books and many other items up to that moment was far from guaranteed given the …

Animal Studies

The Vegan Matrix

Understanding and Discussing Privilege Among Vegans to Build a More Inclusive and Empowered Movement

Melanie Joy

Hosted by Kyle Johannsen

A short guidebook to understanding and discussing privilege among vegans and vegan organizations in the wake of #metoo, including how to establish accountability while honoring dignity and ways to communicate …

Sociology

Egypt's Housing Crisis

The Shaping of Urban Space

Yahia Shawkat

Hosted by Rituparna Patgiri

Along with football and religion, housing is a fundamental cornerstone of Egyptian life: it can make or break marriage proposals, invigorate or slow down the economy, and popularize or embarrass …

Japanese Studies

Ryokan

Mobilizing Hospitality in Rural Japan

Chris McMorran

Hosted by John Traphagan

Today I talked to Chris McMorran about his new book Ryokan: Mobilizing Hospitality in Rural Japan (U Hawaii Press, 2022). Amid the decline of many of Japan’s rural communities, the hot springs …

Religion

The Next World

Extraordinary Experiences of the Afterlife

Gregory Shushan

Hosted by Tiatemsu Longkumer

In The Next World: Extraordinary Experiences of the Afterlife (White Crow Books, 2022), historian of religions Gregory Shushan explores the relationships between extraordinary experiences and beliefs in life after death …

Burned by Books

They're Going to Love You

A Novel

Meg Howrey

Hosted by Chris Holmes

Meg Howrey is the author of the novels They're Going to Love You, The Cranes Dance, and Blind Sight. She is also the coauthor, writing under the pen-name Magnus Flyte …

High Theory

Civil Disobedience

A Discussion with Eraldo Souza dos Santos

Eraldo Souza dos Santos

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu

Eraldo Souza dos Santos talks about the invention of civil disobedience as a form of political action around the world, and the need for its redefinition to describe activism present …

Writ Large

On Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre"

A Discussion with Sharon Marcus

Sharon Marcus

Hosted by Zachary Davis

The Victorian era is known for its class rigidity and moral strictness. In her 1847 novel Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë gave us a robust, layered character who pushes against cultural …

Russian and Eurasian Studies

Amanat

Women's Writing from Kazakhstan

Zaure Batayeva and Shelley Fairweather-Vega

Hosted by Agathe Guy

A man is arrested for a single typo, a woman gets on buses at random, and two friends reunite in a changed world.... Diverse in form, scope and style, Amanat …

American West

West Side Rising

How San Antonio's 1921 Flood Devastated a City and Sparked a Latino Environmental Justice Movement

Char Miller

Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

On September 9, 1921, a tropical storm raged above San Antonio, Texas. The rain that night flooded the city's many waterways, distributing unequal destruction throughout its many neighborhoods. For the whiter …

Nordic Asia Podcast

Transforming Journalism in Vietnam

An Exploration of Two Swedish Media Aid Projects

Andreas Mattsson

Hosted by Joanne Kuai

What is the journalism culture in Vietnam? What role does Sweden play in the transformation of Vietnamese journalism? How has Swedish media aid fulfilled its political aim to contribute to …

Book of the Day/ Art

Foreshadowed

Malevich’s "Black Square" and Its Precursors

Andrew Spira

Hosted by Allison Leigh

When Kasimir’s Malevich’s Black Square was produced in 1915, no one had ever seen anything like it before. And yet it does have precedents. In fact, over the previous five hundred years, several painters, writers, philosophers, scientists, and censors alighted on the form of the black square or rectangle, as if for the first time. Foreshadowed: Malevich’s "Black Square" and Its Precursors (Reaktion Books, 2022) explores the resonances between Malevich’s …

Secularism

Atheism in Five Minutes

Teemu Taira

Hosted by Carrie Lynn Evans

Atheism in Five Minutes, by Professor Teemu Taira, is part of Equinox Publishing’s “Religion in 5 Minutes” series. It offers insights into a number of commonly held questions about the …

Scholarly Communication

Absent Presences in the Colonial Archive

Dealing with the Berlin Sound Archive's Acoustic Legacies

Irene Hilden

Hosted by Jen Hoyer

Dealing with the colonial archive entails acknowledging the inability to know everything, accounting for the archive’s limited and incomplete condition. Dealing with the colonial archive is not merely about stories …

Iberian Studies

Women, Mysticism, and Hysteria in Fin-De-Siècle Spain

Jennifer Smith

Hosted by Carmen Gomez-Galisteo

Women, Mysticism, and Hysteria in Fin-De-Siècle Spain (Vanderbilt UP, 2021) argues that the reinterpretation of female mysticism as hysteria and nymphomania in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Spain was …

African Studies

Decolonizing 1968

Transnational Student Activism in Tunis, Paris, and Dakar

Burleigh Hendrickson

Hosted by Elisa Prosperetti

Decolonizing 1968: Transnational Student Activism in Tunis, Paris, and Dakar (Cornell UP, 2022) explores how activists in 1968 transformed university campuses across Europe and North Africa into sites of contestation …

Geography

Unpayable Debt

Denise Ferreira Da Silva

Hosted by Stentor Danielson

Unpayable Debt (Sternberg Press, 2022) examines the relationships among coloniality, raciality, and global capital from a black feminist “poethical” perspective. Inspired by Octavia E. Butler's 1979 sci-fi novel Kindred, in …

Film

The Shining

A Visual and Cultural Haunting

Craig Oldham

Hosted by Nathan Abrams

The Shining: A Visual and Cultural Haunting (Rough Trade Books, 2022) is an immersive, multi-dimensional examination of one of the most famous films in cinematic history. This loose-leafed and beautifully …

Middle Eastern Studies

Agents of the Hidden Imam

Forging Twelver Shi‘ism, 850-950 CE

Edmund Hayes

Hosted by Adam Bobeck

In 874 CE, the eleventh Imam died, and the Imami community splintered. The institutions of the Imamate were maintained by the dead Imam's agents, who asserted they were in contact …

Children's Literature

Helen Wu on Writing Children's Books for Chinese and American Audiences

Helen H. Wu

Hosted by Mel Rosenberg

Helen H. Wu is a children's book author and illustrator, author of Tofu Takes Time, illustrated by Julie Jarema (Beaming Books, 2022) and Long Goes To Dragon School, illustrated by …

Law

The Spaces of Mental Capacity Law

Moving Beyond Binaries

Beverley Clough

Hosted by Jane Richards

This book cuts new ground, challenging the assumption of law as an objective concept. It draws out the way that binary frameworks situate and create the notion of the individual in …

Book of the Day/ Education

Indentured Students

How Government-Guaranteed Loans Left Generations Drowning in College Debt

Elizabeth Tandy Shermer

Hosted by Thomas Discenna

It didn't always take thirty years to pay off the cost of a bachelor's degree. In Indentured Students: How Government-Guaranteed Loans Left Generations Drowning in College Debt (Harvard UP, 2021), Elizabeth Tandy Shermer untangles the history that brought us here and discovers that the story of skyrocketing college debt is not merely one of good intentions gone wrong. In fact, the federal student loan program was never supposed to make college affordable …

Popular Culture

Wandering Games

Melissa Kagen

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

In Wandering Games (MIT Press, 2022), Melissa Kagen analyzes wandering within different game worlds, viewed through the lenses of work, colonialism, gender, and death. Wandering in games can be a theme, a …

Military History

Agents of Subversion

The Fate of John T. Downey and the CIA's Covert War in China

John Delury

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Agents of Subversion: The Fate of John T. Downey and the CIA's Covert War in China (Cornell University Press, 2022) by Dr. John Delury reconstructs the remarkable story of a …

Human Rights

Transitional Justice

Ruti G. Teitel

Hosted by Lavinia Stan

Societies that are throwing off the yoke of authoritarian rule and beginning to build democracies face a daunting question: should they punish the representatives of the ancien regime or let …

Middle Eastern Studies

Transnational Palestine

Migration and the Right of Return Before 1948

Nadim Bawalsa

Hosted by Roberto Mazza

Tens of thousands of Palestinians migrated to the Americas in the final decades of the nineteenth century and early decades of the twentieth. By 1936, an estimated 40,000 Palestinians lived …

Education

Teaching the Middle Ages through Modern Games

Using, Modding and Creating Games for Education and Impact

Robert Houghton

Hosted by Rudolf Thomas Inderst

Games can act as invaluable tools for the teaching of the Middle Ages. The learning potential of physical and digital games is increasingly undeniable at every level of historical study …

Islamic Studies

Hamas and Ideology

Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qara?awi on the Jews, Zionism and Israel

Shaul Bartal and Nesya Rubinstein-Shemer

Hosted by Yakir Englander

Sheikh Yusūf al- Qaraḍāwī is regarded as the most influential contemporary Muslim religious figure. His best-selling book, Al-Ḥalal wal-Ḥaram fi al-Islam ("The Forbidden and the Permitted in Islam") is …

Film

Comedy Against Work

Utopian Longing in Dystopian Times

Madeline Lane-McKinley

Hosted by Annie Berke

Comedy is so frequently the topic of cultural dialogue, but it is rarely taken seriously as an object of study. Comedy Against Work: Utopian Longing in Dystopian Times (Common Notions …

Children's Literature

Little Dandelion Seeds the World

Julia Richardson

Hosted by Mel Rosenberg

Julia Richardson is an award-winning children’s book author. Today we talk with her about her debut picture book, Little Dandelion Seeds the World (Sleeping Bear Press, 2021), which won the …

British Studies

A Brief History of the British Monarchy

From the Iron Age to King Charles III

Jeremy Black

Hosted by Charles Coutinho

The British monarchy is at a turning point. Concise and engaging, Jeremy Black's A Brief History of the British Monarchy: From the Iron Age to King Charles III (Robinson, 2022) …

Book of the Day/ Medieval History

The Mongol Storm

Making and Breaking Empires in the Medieval Near East

Nicholas Morton

Hosted by Maggie Freeman

For centuries, the Crusades have been central to the story of the medieval Near East, but these religious wars are only part of the region’s complex history. As Nicholas Morton reveals in The Mongol Storm: Making and Breaking Empires in the Medieval Near East (Basic Books, 2022), during the same era the Near East was utterly remade by another series of wars: the Mongol invasions. In a single generation, the …

Politics & Polemics

Conservatism

A Rediscovery

Yoram Hazony

Hosted by Hope J. Leman

Conservatism needs to be rediscovered. That is, it needs to be differentiated from the post WWII concept of liberal democracy and return to its traditional three pillars of religion, nationalism …

Iberian Studies

Jamón and Halal

Lessons in Tolerance from Rural Andalucía

Christina Civantos

Hosted by Paula De La Cruz-Fernández

In this episode, I interview Dr. Christina Civantos (University of Miami, FL, USA) about her open access book Jamón and Halal: Lessons in Tolerance from Rural Andalucía (Amherst College Press, 2022) …

Early Modern History

The Art of Childbirth

A Seventeenth-Century Midwife's Epistolary Treatise to Doctor Vallant

Cathy McClive

Hosted by Jana Byars

Cathy McClive (Florida State University) offers the first full-length bilingual edition of an extraordinary treatise on childbirth written by a seventeenth-century French midwife in The Art of Childbirth: A Seventeenth-Century Midwife's Epistolary …

Middle Eastern Studies

Palestine in the Victorian Age

Colonial Encounters in the Holy Land

Gabriel Polley

Hosted by Roberto Mazza

In this episode I have interviewed Gabriel Polley, winner of the Ibrahim Dakkak Award for the best essay published in 2021 by the Jerusalem Quarterly. Narratives of the modern history …

Women's History

Anti-Fascism, Gender, and International Communism

The Comité Mondial Des Femmes Contre la Guerre Et Le Fascisme, 1934-1941

Jasmine Calver

Hosted by Rebecca Turkington

Women played an essential role in the international struggle against fascism during the interwar period, though their work has been neglected in broader historiography. In Anti-Fascism, Gender, and International Communism …

Genocide Studies

Primo Levi and Ka-Tzetnik

The Map and the Territory

Yochai Ataria

Hosted by Yakir Englander

Primo Levi and Ka-Tzetnik: The Map and the Territory (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022) is about Primo Levi and Ka-Tzetnik, both Auschwitz survivors and central figures in the shaping of Holocaust memory …

Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel

The Grieving Brain

The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss

Mary-Frances O'Connor

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

For as long as humans have existed, we have struggled when a loved one dies. Poets and playwrights have written about the dark cloak of grief, the deep yearning, how …

Writ Large

On James Baldwin's "The Fire Next Time"

A Discussion with Josef Sorett

Josef Sorett

Hosted by Zachary Davis

The writer and activist James Baldwin grew up in a majority white America that saw white American lives as standard and universal, and Black American lives as different and particular …

General History

Lapidarium

The Secret Lives of Stones

Hettie Judah

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Inspired by the lapidaries of the ancient world, Lapidarium: The Secret Lives of Stones (John Murray/Penguin, 2022) by Hettie Judah is a beautifully designed collection of true stories/essays about sixty …

Women's History

Skirts

Fashioning Modern Femininity in the Twentieth Century

Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell

Hosted by Jane Scimeca

While the story of women’s liberation has often been framed by the growing acceptance of pants over the twentieth century, the most important and influential female fashions of the era …

NYIH Conversations

Dirty Work

Essential Jobs and the Hidden Toll of Inequality in America

Eyal Press

Hosted by New York Institute for the Humanities

In the episode of Conversations from the Institute, we hear from Eyal Press, who is the author of Absolute Convictions: My Father, a City, and the Conflict that Divided America …

International Horizons

Protests in Iran

Maybe not the Tocqueville Paradox

Ali Ansari

Hosted by International Horizons

In mid-September of this year, a young Iranian woman named Mahsa Amini died under suspicious circumstances after her arrest by the morality police for improperly covering her hair. Her death …

Book of the Day/ Animal Studies

Rescue Me

On Dogs and Their Humans

Margret Grebowicz

Hosted by Jimena Ledgard

Margret Grebowicz's Rescue Me: On Dogs and Their Humans (U Minnesota Press, 2022) is a little book about the oldest relationship we humans have cultivated with another large animal—in something like the original interspecies space, as old or older than any other practice that might be called human. But it’s also about the role of this relationship in the attrition of life—especially social life—in late capitalism. As we become more …

Literature

The Dead Won't Tell

S. K. Waters

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb

In The Dead Won't Tell (Camcat Books, 2022), Abbie Adams is hired to write an article about an unsolved murder that took place in a small southern college town on …

Jewish Studies

The Heresy of Jacob Frank

From Jewish Messianism to Esoteric Myth

Jay Michaelson

Hosted by Zalman Newfield

In The Heresy of Jacob Frank: From Jewish Messianism to Esoteric Myth (Oxford University Press, 2022), Jay Michaelson explores the religious philosophy of the mercurial eighteenth-century figure Jacob Frank, who …

Art

Global Objects

Toward a Connected Art History

Edward S. Cooke

Hosted by Nushelle de Silva

A bold reorientation of art history that bridges the divide between fine art and material culture through an examination of objects and their uses art history is often viewed through …

Medicine

Inside the Orphan Drug Revolution

The Promise of Patient-Centered Biotechnology

James A. Geraghty

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Advances in medicine have made possible better treatments for widespread, familiar human illnesses like cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Yet there are thousands of much less common diseases, most of …

Burned by Books

If I Survive You

Jonathan Escoffery

Hosted by Chris Holmes

Jonathan Escoffery is the author of the linked story collection, If I Survive You, a New York Times Editor’s Choice and an Indie National Bestseller. If I Survive You was …

Writ Large

On "1001 Nights"

A Discussion with Paulo Lemos Horta

Paulo Lemos Horta

Hosted by Zachary Davis

Humans love stories. And no collection of stories is more beloved worldwide than the Middle Eastern folk tales known as One Thousand and One Nights. The original collection only contained …

Indian Ocean World

Kala Pani Crossings

Revisiting 19th Century Migrations from India's Perspective

Ashutosh Bhardwaj and Judith Misrahi-Barak

Hosted by Gargi Binju

When used in India, the term Kala pani refers to the cellular jail in Port Blair, where the British colonisers sent a select category of freedom fighters. In the diaspora …

African Studies

How Insurgency Begins

Rebel Group Formation in Uganda and Beyond

Janet I. Lewis

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

How and why do rebel groups initially form? Prevailing scholarship has attributed the emergence of armed rebellion to the explosion of pre-mobilized political or ethnic hostilities. However, this book finds …

African American Studies

Bodies Out of Place

Theorizing Anti-Blackness in U.S. Society

Barbara Harris Combs

Hosted by Omari Averette-Phillips

Bodies Out of Place: Theorizing Anti-Blackness in U.S. Society (U Georgia Press, 2022) asserts that anti-Black racism is not better than it used to be; it is just performed in …

Jewish Studies

Wartime North Africa

A Documentary History, 1934-1950

Aomar Boum and Sarah Abrevaya Stein

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Aomar Boum and Sarah Abrevaya Stein's book Wartime North Africa: A Documentary History, 1934-1950 (Stanford UP, 2022), the first-ever collection of primary documents on North African history and the Holocaust, gives …

The Vault

Second Thoughts on Consistency

A Lecture by Hans Magnus Enzensberger

Hans Magnus Enzensberger

Hosted by New York Institute for the Humanities

In October 1981, Hans Magnus Enzensberger gave the Institute’s James lecture, titled “Second Thoughts on Consistency.” Enzensberger, who died in November, 2022, at the age of 93, was a German translator …

Book of the Day/ American West

Cheap Land Colorado

Off-Gridders at America's Edge

Ted Conover

Hosted by Daniel Moran

Today I talked to Ted Conover, author of Cheap Land Colorado: Off-Gridders at America's Edge (Knopf, 2022) In May 2017, Conover went to Colorado to explore firsthand a rural way of life that is about living cheaply, on your own land—and keeping clear of the mainstream. The failed subdivisions of the enormous San Luis Valley make this possible. Five-acre lots on the high prairie can be had for five thousand dollars …

Catholic Studies

Teaching in Black and White

The Sisters of St. Joseph in the American South

Barbara E. Mattick

Hosted by Allison Isidore

Teaching in Black and White: The Sisters of St. Joseph in the American South (Catholic University of America Press, 2022) discusses the work of the Sisters of St. Joseph of …

American South

The Life of Elreta Melton Alexander

Activism within the Courts

Virginia L. Summey

Hosted by Brandon Jett

Virginia L. Summey's book The Life of Elreta Melton Alexander: Activism within the Courts (U Georgia Press, 2022) explores the life and contributions of groundbreaking attorney, Elreta Melton Alexander Ralston (1919–98) …

Scholarly Communication

Scientific Writing = Thinking in Words

David Lindsay

Hosted by Daniel Shea

Listen to this interview of David Lindsay, emeritus professor of the University of Western Australia. We talk about his book Scientific Writing = Thinking in Words (CSIRO Publishing, 2020) and how your …

Law

Human Rights at Risk

Global Governance, American Power, and the Future of Dignity

Salvador Santino F. Regilme and Irene Hadiprayitno

Hosted by Jane Richards

Human Rights at Risk: Global Governance, American Power, and the Future of Dignity (Rutgers University Press, 2022) is a fascinating book that brings together social scientists, legal scholars, and humanities scholars from …

Writ Large

On "Genesis"

A Discussion with Ronald Hendel

Ronald Hendel

Hosted by Zachary Davis

In a podcast about books that have changed the world, I bring you the book that I think changed the world the most: The Hebrew Bible. Specifically, the first book …

East Asian Studies

The Curious Case of the Camel in Modern Japan

(De)Colonialism, Orientalism, and Imagining Asia

Ayelet Zohar

Hosted by Nathan Hopson

Ayelet Zohar’s The Curious Case of the Camel in Modern Japan: (De)Colonialism, Orientalism, and Imagining Asia (Brill, 2022) traces the use of camels in the visual vocabulary of Japan’s definition …

Children's Literature

A Gift of Feathers

Ken Schept

Hosted by Zalman Newfield

When she finds a feather, Grandma Dot adds it to her collection. Feathers, she tells her two granddaughters, remind Grandma Dot of people she’s lost. At first, the girls see …

Music

Devotional Refrains in Medieval Latin Song

Mary Channen Caldwell

Hosted by David Kunsman

Mary Channen Caldwell in her new book Devotional Refrains in Medieval Latin Song (Cambridge University Press 2022) opens up new avenues for investigation by centering the refrain as an area of focus …

Iberian Studies

War, Judgment, And Memory In The Basque Borderlands, 1914-1945

Sandra Ott

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

During the first half of the twentieth century, the French Basque province of Xiberoa was a place of refuge, conflict, and foreign occupation. With the liberation of France in 1944 …