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Book of the Day/ American Studies

The Family Roe

An American Story

Joshua Prager

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Despite her famous pseudonym, "Jane Roe," no one knows the truth about Norma McCorvey (1947-2017), whose unwanted pregnancy in 1969 opened a great fracture in American life. Journalist Joshua Prager spent hundreds of hours with Norma, discovered her personal papers--a previously unseen trove--and witnessed her final moments. The Family Roe: An American Story (W. W. Norton, 2021) presents her life in full. Propelled by the crosscurrents of sex and religion, gender …
Human Rights

A History of False Hope

Investigative Commissions in Palestine

Lori A. Allen

Hosted by Rine Vieth
Lori Allen’s A History of False Hope: Investigative Commissions in Palestine (Stanford UP, 2020) is a deep engagement with Palestinian political history through an examination of international commissions. Over twenty commissions …
On Religion

On Religious Freedom in American-Occupied Japan

A Discussion with Jolyon Thomas

Jolyon Thomas

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Dr. Jolyon Thomas is the author of Faking Liberties: Religious Freedom in American-Occupied Japan, out now from the University of Chicago Press. Dr. Thomas is assistant professor of religious studies …
Philosophy

How Things Are

An Introduction to Buddhist Metaphysics

Mark Siderits

Hosted by Malcolm Keating
Mark Siderits’ How Things Are: An Introduction to Buddhist Metaphysics (Oxford University Press, 2022) is a wide-ranging survey of how Buddhist philosophers think about the nature of the world. The …
Popular Culture

Monstrous Youth

Transgressing the Boundaries of Childhood in the United States

Sara Austin

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan
In Monstrous Youth: Transgressing the Boundaries of Childhood in the United States (Ohio State Press, 2022), Sara Austin traces the evolution of monstrosity as it relates to youth culture from …
Russian and Eurasian Studies

Russian Grand Strategy in the Era of Global Power Competition

Andrew Monaghan

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
The status of Russia as a world power has been fiercely debated since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Although often ignored, Russia came back into the international limelight in …
Sociology

The Urbanization of People

The Politics of Development, Labor Markets, and Schooling in the Chinese City

Eli Friedman

Hosted by Michael Johnston
Amid a vast influx of rural migrants into urban areas, China has allowed cities wide latitude in providing education and other social services. While millions of people have been welcomed …
Biblical Studies

Introducing Old Testament Theology

W. H. Bellinger Jr.

Hosted by Jackson Reinhardt
A senior scholar and teacher with four decades of classroom experience offers a concise, student-level theology of the entire Old Testament. W. H. Bellinger Jr. uses ancient Israel's confession of …
Biography

Life Under the Palms

The Sublime World of the Anti-Colonialist Jacob Haafner

Paul Van Der Velde

Hosted by Cresa Pugh
Jacob Gotfried Haafner (1754–1809) was one of the most popular European travel writers of the early nineteenth century, writing in the Romantic mode. A Dutch citizen, Haafner spent more than …
Performing Arts

The Secret Life of Theater

On the Nature and Function of Theatrical Representation

Brian Kulick

Hosted by Andy Boyd
Unlike many books that examine the how of making theater, Brian Kulick's The Secret Life of Theater: On the Nature and Function of Theatrical Representation (Routledge, 2019) examines the why. Using Jorge …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel

Professor of Apocalypse

The Many Lives of Jacob Taubes

Jerry Z. Muller

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Genius or Charlatan? This is the story of Jacob Taubes, the controversial Jewish thinker whose tortured path led him into the heart of twentieth-century intellectual life Scion of a distinguished …
Nordic Asia Podcast

Spirit Possession in Buddhist Southeast Asia

Worlds Ever More Enchanted

Bénédicte Brac de la Perrière and Peter A Jackson

Hosted by Terese Gagnon
What is the relationship between Spirit Possession Rituals and Buddhism in mainland Southeast Asia? How has modernity transformed Spirit Possession cults in the 21st century and what has led to …
World Christianity

Telugu Christians

A History

James Elisha Taneti

Hosted by Byung Ho Choi
Telugu Christians: A History (Fortress Press, 2022) narrates the history of Telugu Christians, a faith community located in the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Pondicherry in southern India. A …
East-West Psychology Podcast

Reclaiming the Deep Feminine, Birthway as Sacred Activism, and Conscious Parenting

A Discussion with Reise Tanner

Reise Tanner

Hosted by Stephen Julich and Jonathan Kay
In this podcast we will be chatting with EWP PhD student Reise Tanner about her unique approaches to birthing through her work as a midwife, doula and birthing coach. She …
Catholic Studies

Seeing Jesus in the Eyes of the Oppressed

Franciscans Working for Peace and Justice

Paul T. Murray

Hosted by Allison Isidore
Following World War II, the United States enjoyed unprecedented prosperity as the post-war economy exploded. While Americans pondered affluence, U.S. Franciscans focused on the forgotten members of U.S. society, those …
Biology and Evolution

The Silken Thread

Five Insects and Their Impacts on Human History

Robert N. Wiedenmann and J. Ray Fisher

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Insects are seldom mentioned in discussions surrounding human history, yet they have dramatically impacted today's societies. The Silken Thread: Five Insects and Their Impacts on Human History (Oxford UP, 2021) …
Book of the Day/ Arguing History

Ukrainian Nationalism in Historical Context

A Discussion with John-Paul Himka, David R. Stone, and Alexander Watson

John-Paul Himka, David R. Stone, and Alexander Watson

Hosted by Charles Coutinho
In the midst of the ongoing war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, it is vital that the lay-educated public understand the historical origins of the conflict. It is with this in mind, that this episode of ‘Arguing History’, takes a look at the subject of ‘Ukrainian Nationalism and the Russian / Soviet state’. To guide us in this intricate and not well know matter, are three superb historians: John-Paul …
Music

Singing Like Germans

Black Musicians in the Land of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms

Kira Thurman

Hosted by Kristen Turner
Singing Like Germans: Black Musicians in the Land of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms by Kira Thurman (Cornell University Press, 2021) is a truly interdisciplinary study. Dr. Thurman’s work sits at …
High Theory

Care Ethics

A Discussion with Merel Visse and Inge van Nistelrooij

Merel Visse and Inge van Nistelrooij

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu
Merel Visse and Inge van Nistelrooij talk with Kim about Care Ethics. Over the course of the episode, we discuss works by many care ethicists and other philosophically inclined thinkers …
African Studies

Emirs in London

Subalteran Travel and Nigeria's Modernity

Moses E. Ochonu

Hosted by Sara Katz
Emirs in London: Subalteran Travel and Nigeria's Modernity (Indiana UP, 2022) recounts how Northern Nigerian Muslim aristocrats who traveled to Britain between 1920 and Nigerian independence in 1960 relayed that experience …
Irish Studies

Representing Magic in Modern Ireland

Belief, History, Culture

Andrew Sneddon

Hosted by Aidan Beatty
Andrew Sneddon is a Lecturer in International History at Ulster University. His research explores Irish witchcraft, magic and the supernatural in a comparative framework from the medieval to the modern …
Sociology

Rough Draft of History

A Century of US Social Movements in the News

Edwin Amenta and Neal Caren

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Rough Draft of History: A Century of US Social Movements in the News (Princeton UP, 2022) offers a new view of U.S. social movement history across the twentieth century by …
African Studies

Shari'a, Inshallah

Finding God in Somali Legal Politics

Mark Fathi Massoud

Hosted by Sara Katz
Western analysts have long denigrated Islamic states as antagonistic, even antithetical, to the rule of law. Mark Fathi Massoud tells a different story: for nearly 150 years, the Somali people …
South Asian Studies

The 24th Mile

An Indian Doctor's Heroism in War-torn Burma

Tehmton S. Mistry

Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall
The story of India and Indians in World War II has been overshadowed by other historical events of the 1940s, a busy decade that included such historical watersheds as Indian …
On Religion

On the New Age and Gnosticism

A Discussion with Mitch Horowitz

Mitch Horowitz

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Mitch Horowitz is a writer-in-residence at the New York Public Library, a lecturer-in-residence at the University of Philosophical Research in Los Angeles, and the PEN Award-winning author of books including …
Literature

Escape Route

Elan Barnehama

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb
In Elan Barnehama’s new novel, Escape Route (Running Wild Press 2022), it’s 1968 and 13-year-old Zach is about to become a bar mitzvah. That’s when his sister changes his life …
Sports

Bondi Beach

Representations of an Iconic Australian

Douglas Booth

Hosted by Keith Rathbone
Today we are joined by Douglas Booth, Dean of Adventure, Culinary Arts and Tourism at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, Canada and Professor Emeritus at the University of Otago …
High Theory

The Hyperlocal

A Discussion with Nicholas Birns

Nicholas Birns

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu
Nicholas Birns talks about ‘the hyperlocal’, a modality of American journalism in the early 1990s that he adapts to characterize a flexible and transposable concept of the local used in …
General History

Taking Leave, Taking Liberties

American Troops on the World War II Home Front

Aaron Hiltner

Hosted by Dexter Fergie
During the Second World War, locals in Australia and Britain described American GIs as “overpaid, oversexed, and over here.” But this conflict between civilians and the military didn’t only take …
Women's History

The Lady Makes Boots

Enid Justin and the Nocona Boot Company

Carol A. Lipscomb

Hosted by Jane Scimeca
In the summer of 1925, Enid Justin--daughter of H. J. Justin, founder of legendary Justin Boots--announced to her family that she was going to start her own boot company in …
Science

Plan S for Shock

Science. Shock. Solution. Speed.

Robert-Jan Smits and Rachael Pells

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Plan S: the open access initiative that changed the face of global research.  Robert-Jan Smits and Rachael Pells's book Plan S for Shock: Science. Shock. Solution. Speed. (Ubiquity Press, 2022) tells …
On Religion

The Other Side of Nothing

The Zen Ethics of Time, Space, and Being

Brad Warner

Hosted by Gregory Soden
In the West, Zen Buddhism has a reputation for paradoxes that defy logic. In particular, the Buddhist concept of nonduality -- the realization that everything in the universe forms a …
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones

The Future of Public Opinion

A Conversation with Susan Herbst

Susan Herbst

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones
Politicians and corporations cannot only measure public opinion but also manipulate and create it. And they have been doing so since the 1930s when serious polling began. And as Professor …
Literary Studies

The Last Word

The Hollywood Novel and the Studio System

Justin Gautreau

Hosted by William Domnarski
Justin Gautreau's book The Last Word: The Hollywood Novel and the Studio System (Oxford UP, 2020) argues that the Hollywood novel opened up space for cultural critique of the film industry …
Burned by Books

I Know What's Best for You

Stories on Reproductive Freedom

Shelly Oria and Kirstin Valdez Quade

Hosted by Chris Holmes
Shelly Oria has just produced an anthology of writings on reproductive freedom that is available now from McSweeney’s Books, in partnership with The Brigid Alliance. Spanning nearly every genre of …
Book of the Day/ Biology and Evolution

Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You

Busting Myths about Human Nature (Second Edition)

Agustín Fuentes

Hosted by Sine Yaganoglu
There are three major myths of human nature: humans are divided into biological races; humans are naturally aggressive; and men and women are wholly different in behavior, desires, and wiring. Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You: Busting Myths about Human Nature (Second Edition) (U California Press, 2022) counters these pervasive and pernicious myths about human behavior. Agustín Fuentes tackles misconceptions about what race, aggression, and sex really mean for …
Women's History

Laboratory of Deficiency

Sterilization and Confinement in California, 1900-1950s

Natalie Lira

Hosted by Jennifer Davis Cline
Mirelsie Velázquez (Associate Professor & Rainbolt Family Endowed Presidential Professor, University of Oklahoma) speaks with Natalie Lira (Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) about Lira’s recent book, Laboratory of …
On Religion

On the Lives of Spiritually Fluid People

A Discussion with Duane Bidwell

Duane Bidwell

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Dr. Duane Bidwell works to reduce suffering and promote abundant life in all of his teaching, writing, and research. Experiences as chaplain, pastor, spiritual director, pastoral counselor, HIV/AIDS professional, and …
Critical Theory

The Homoerotics of Orientalism

Joseph A. Boone

Hosted by Morteza Hajizadeh
One of the largely untold stories of Orientalism is the degree to which the Middle East has been associated with "deviant" male homosexuality by scores of Western travelers, historians, writers …
Jewish Studies

Jewish Internationalism and Human Rights after the Holocaust

Nathan A. Kurz

Hosted by Amber Nickell
In Jewish Internationalism and Human Rights after the Holocaust (Cambridge UP, 2020), Nathan A. Kurz charts the fraught relationship between Jewish internationalism and international rights protection in the second half of …
Public Policy

Yes to the City

Millennials and the Fight for Affordable Housing

Max Holleran

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
The exorbitant costs of urban housing and the widening gap in income inequality are fueling a combative new movement in cities around the world. A growing number of influential activists …
Performing Arts

Silences So Deep

Music, Solitude, Alaska

John Luther Adams

Hosted by Andy Boyd
John Luther Adams's Silences So Deep: Music, Solitude, Alaska (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020) is a profound, funny, and enlightening memoir from one of our greatest contemporary composers. Adams describes the process of …
Literature

Outrageous Fortune

Gloomy Reflections on Luck and Life

William Ian Miller

Hosted by William Domnarski
In Outrageous Fortune: Gloomy Reflections on Luck and Life (Oxford UP, 2020), William Ian Miller offers his reflections on the perverse consequences, indeed often the opposite of intended effects, of …
Middle Eastern Studies

European Cultural Diplomacy and Arab Christians in Palestine, 1918–1948

Between Contention and Connection

Karène Sanchez Summerer and Sary Zananiri

Hosted by Roberto Mazza
European Cultural Diplomacy and Arab Christians in Palestine (1918-1948) (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020) investigates the transnationally connected history of Arab Christian communities in Palestine during the British Mandate (1918-1948) through the lens of …
High Theory

Drone Life

A Discussion with Amy Gaeta

Amy Gaeta

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu
Amy Gaeta uses the relationship between humans and technology, non-military use of drones being a prime example, to rethink concepts of passivity and how it can bring about change. She …
Science

From Data to Quanta

Niels Bohr’s Vision of Physics

Slobodan Perovic

Hosted by Ana Georgescu
Niels Bohr was a central figure in quantum physics, well known for his work on atomic structure and his contributions to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. In From Data …
Sociology

8 Billion and Counting

How Sex, Death, and Migration Shape Our World

Jennifer D. Sciubba

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
As the world nears 8 billion people, the countries that have led the global order since World War II are becoming the most aged societies in human history. At the …
South Asian Studies

Agency and Knowledge in Northeast India

The Life and Landscapes of Dreams

Michael Heneise

Hosted by Tiatemsu Longkumer
The Nagas of Northeast India gives great importance to dreams as sources of divine knowledge, especially knowledge about the future. Although British colonialism, Christian missions, and political conflict have resulted …
Economics

Don't Trust Your Gut

Using Data to Get What You Really Want in LIfe

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

Hosted by Peter Lorentzen
Today I talked to Seth Stephens-Davidowitz about his new book Don't Trust Your Gut: Using Data to Get What You Really Want in LIfe (Dey Street Books, 2022) Looking for advice on how …
Food

Food Instagram

Identity, Influence, and Negotiation

Emily J. H. Contois and Zenia Kish

Hosted by Amir Sayadabdi
Image by image and hashtag by hashtag, Instagram has redefined the ways we relate to food. Emily J. H. Contois and Zenia Kish edit contributions that explore the massively popular …
Critical Theory

Scorched Earth

Beyond the Digital Age to a Post-Capitalist World

Jonathan Crary

Hosted by Cody Skahan
In this uncompromising essay, Jonathan Crary presents the obvious but unsayable reality: our ‘digital age’ is synonymous with the disastrous terminal stage of global capitalism and its financialisation of social …
Medicine

Successful Leadership in Academic Medicine

David M. Greer

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Good leadership in medicine is crucial, but unfortunately, often woefully inadequate. Those chosen to lead often have limited experience in leadership themselves, or worse, are appointed because of achievements that …
Book of the Day/ Economic and Business History

Why We Fight

The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace

Christopher Blattman

Hosted by Javier Mejia
In Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace (Viking, 2022), Chris Blattman explains the five reasons why conflict (rarely) blooms into war, and how to interrupt that deadly process. It's easy to overlook the underlying strategic forces of war, to see it solely as a series of errors, accidents, and emotions gone awry. It's also easy to forget that war shouldn't happen-and most of the time it doesn't …
Political Science

Just Health

Treating Structural Racism to Heal America

Dayna Bowen Matthew

Hosted by Lilly Goren
In the United States, systemic racism is embedded in policies and practices, thereby structuring American society to perpetuate inequality and all of the symptoms and results of that inequality. Racial …
Policing, Incarceration, and Reform

The Streets Belong to Us

Sex, Race, and Police Power from Segregation to Gentrification

Anne Gray Fischer

Hosted by Patrick Reilly
Anne Gray Fischer speaks about her path to and through research, including how sex workers informed her analysis of policing and state violence, the role of law enforcement in struggles over economic …
Italian Studies

Pasta, Pizza and Propaganda

A Political History of Italian Food TV

Francesco Buscemi

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
The three protagonists of Pasta, Pizza and Propaganda: A Political History of Italian Food TV (Intellect, 2022) are food, television and politics. These are the three main characters that interrelate …
Eastern European Studies

Jozef Pilsudski

Founding Father of Modern Poland

Joshua D. Zimmerman

Hosted by Piotr Kosicki
In the 1920s, Józef Piłsudski was a household name not just in Poland, but across Europe and across the Atlantic Ocean as well. Yet this complex and contradictory figure – …
On Religion

On Plural Marriage

A Discussion with Philippa J. Meek

Philippa J. Meek

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Philippa J. Meek is a doctoral fellow at the University of Exeter. Meek researches public perceptions versus the realities of plural marriage within Fundamentalist Mormon communities. This episode gives a …
Public Policy

City of Refugees

The Story of Three Newcomers Who Breathed Life into a Dying American Town

Susan Hartman

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
City of Refugees: The Story of Three Newcomers Who Breathed Life into a Dying American Town (Beacon Press, 2022) paints an intimate portrait of the newcomers revitalizing a fading industrial …
Indian Religions

The Transformation of Tamil Religion

Ramalinga Swamigal and Modern Dravidian Sainthood

Srilata Raman

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Srilata Raman's book The Transformation of Tamil Religion: Ramalinga Swamigal and Modern Dravidian Sainthood (Routledge, 2022) analyses the religious ideology of a Tamil reformer and saint, Ramalinga Swamigal of the 19th …
High Theory

Lust

A Discussion with Eric Wade

Eric Wade

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu
Eric Wade speaks with Saronik about lust. They discuss how depictions of sexuality in medieval literature have persisted through literary traditions and shaped modern ideas of Orientalism and the sexual …
Asian Review of Books

Everest 1922

The Epic Story of the First Attempt on the World's Highest Mountain

Mick Conefrey

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
It can be hard to think of Everest as unknown anymore. While it’s certainly a challenge to climb the world’s tallest mountain, someone–with enough time and money–has a good chance …
Middle Eastern Studies

The Fate of Abraham

Why the West is Wrong about Islam

Peter Oborne

Hosted by James M. Dorsey
Peter Oborne’s The Fate of Abraham: Why the West is Wrong about Islam (Simon and Schuster 2022) is as much a history of US, British, and French attitudes towards Islam …
Anthropology

At the Limits of Cure

Bharat Jayram Venkat

Hosted by Garima Jaju
Can a history of cure be more than a history of how disease comes to an  end? In 1950s Madras, an international team of researchers demonstrated that antibiotics were effective …
Neuroscience

A Synthesizing Mind

A Memoir from the Creator of Multiple Intelligences Theory

Howard Gardner

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Howard Gardner's Frames of Mind was that rare publishing phenomenon--a mind-changer. Widely read by the general public as well as by educators, this influential book laid out Gardner's theory of …
Academic Life

An Inside Look at the American Association of University Professors

Irene Mulvey

Hosted by Christina Gessler
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Why the AAUP was formed.Their role in supporting academic freedom. Why the threat to tenure is a threat to …
SSEAC Stories

HouseMate

Lessons from Singapore on How to Provide Universal Cheap Homeownership

Cameron Murray

Hosted by Natali Pearson
While Australia prides itself on being an egalitarian society, and owning a detached house on fenced block of land plays a much-revered role in the Great Australian Dream, in practice …
African American Studies

Plantation Politics and Campus Rebellions

Power, Diversity, and the Emancipatory Struggle in Higher Education

Bianca C. Williams, Dian D. Squire, and Frank A. Tuitt

Hosted by Adam McNeil
Plantation Politics and Campus Rebellions: Power, Diversity, and the Emancipatory Struggle in Higher Education (SUNY Press, 2021) provides a multidisciplinary exploration of the contemporary university's entanglement with the history of …
Book of the Day/ Critical Theory

The Club on the Edge of Town

A Pandemic Memoir

Alan Lane

Hosted by Dave O'Brien
What happened to arts organisations during the pandemic? In The Club on the Edge of Town: A Pandemic Memoir (Salamander Street, 2022), Alan Lane, Artistic Director of SlungLow, a theatre company based in Leeds in the North of England, explores this question by telling the story of the theatre company and the community in 2020. Beginning from the decision to partner with Britain’s oldest working men’s club, through the lockdown, to …
Critical Theory

Automated Media

Mark Andrejevic

Hosted by Reuben Niewenhuis
In this era of pervasive automation, Mark Andrejevic provides an original framework for tracing the logical trajectory of automated media and their social, political, and cultural consequences. Automated Media (Routledge …
Latin American Studies

The Condor Trials

Transnational Repression and Human Rights in South America

Francesca Lessa

Hosted by Kenneth Sanchez
In this episode of the New Books in Latin America Studies podcast, Kenneth Sánchez spoke with Dr Francesca Lessa about her interesting new book The Condor Trials: Transnational Repression and …
On Religion

On Taoism, Martial Arts, and Mad Monk Manifesto

A Discussion with Monk Yun Rou

Monk Yun Rou

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Monk Yun Rou was ordained in China as a Taoist monk in 2012. His writings and teachings propagate Taoist ideas and focus on environmental conservation, and political and social justice …
Literary Studies

Eternalized Fragments

Reclaiming Aesthetics in Contemporary World Fiction

W. Michelle Wang

Hosted by Gargi Binju
Eternalized Fragments: Reclaiming Aesthetics in Contemporary World Fiction (Ohio State UP, 2020) explores the implications of treating literature as art--examining the evolving nature of aesthetic inquiry in literary studies, with …
Science, Technology, and Society

Inequality

A Genetic History

Carles Lalueza-Fox

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Inequality is an urgent global concern, with pundits, politicians, academics, and best-selling books all taking up its causes and consequences. In Inequality: A Genetic History (MIT Press, 2022), Carles Lalueza-Fox …
Latino Studies

Tejanaland

A Writing Life in Four Acts

Teresa Palomo Acosta

Hosted by Tiffany Gonzalez
Tejanaland: A Writing Life in Four Acts (Texas A&M UP, 2021) by Teresa Palomo Acosta--poet, historian, author, and activist--spans three decades of her writing, from 1988 through 2018. The collection …
High Theory

Archives

A Discussion with Matt Poland

Matt Poland

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu
Matt Poland talks about the meaning of archives, the nature of their construction, the physical environments that archives engender, and their emancipatory possibilities. Besides his own work on the archives …
Policing, Incarceration, and Reform

Gifts from the Dark

Learning from the Incarceration Experience

Joni Schwartz and John R. Chaney

Hosted by Zalman Newfield
While in no way supporting the systemic injustices and disparities of mass incarceration, in Gifts from the Dark: Learning from the Incarceration Experience (Lexington Books, 2021), Joni Schwartz and John …
Biography

German, Jew, Muslim, Gay

The Life and Times of Hugo Marcus

Marc David Baer

Hosted by Armanc Yildiz
Hugo Marcus (1880–1966) was a man of many names and many identities. Born a German Jew, he converted to Islam and took the name Hamid, becoming one of the most …
Middle Eastern Studies

Nine Quarters of Jerusalem

A New Biography of the Old City

Matthew Teller

Hosted by Roberto Mazza
In Jerusalem, what you see and what is true are two different things. Maps divide the walled Old City into four quarters, yet that division doesn’t reflect the reality of …
Anthropology

Unmasked

Covid, Community, and the Case of Okoboji

Emily Mendenhall

Hosted by Sharonee Dasgupta
Unmasked: Covid, Community, and the Case of Okoboji (Vanderbilt UP, 2022) is the story of what happened in Okoboji, a small Iowan tourist town, when a collective turn from the coronavirus …
Military History

The Great Battles of All Time

Jeremy Black

Hosted by Charles Coutinho
Cannae and Agincourt, Waterloo and Gettysburg, Stalingrad and Midway, this compact volume, edited by master historian, Professor Jeremy Black, collects the most influential battles and conflicts in history. Covering the …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast

Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws

And Other Classical Myths, Historical Oddities, and Scientific Curiosities

Adrienne Mayor

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Adrienne Mayor is renowned for exploring the borders of history, science, archaeology, anthropology, and popular knowledge to find historical realities and scientific insights--glimmering, long-buried nuggets of truth--embedded in myth, legends …
Scholarly Communication

Combating Fraud and Plagiarism in the Publication of Academic Research

A Discussion with Jason Prevost

Jason Prevost of Brill

Hosted by Avi Staiman
Jason Prevost, coordinating Chair of the Publication Ethics Committee, and Senior Acquisitions Editor at Brill joins Avi Staiman, CEO of Academic Language Experts, to discuss how publishers handle ethical issues …
The Common Magazine

Adoption Day

The Common magazine (Spring, 2022)

Mark Kyungsoo Bias

Hosted by Emily Everett
Mark Kyungsoo Bias speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about his poem “Adoption Day,” which appears in The Common’s new spring issue. Mark talks about the inspiration and process behind …
How to Be Wrong

The Career of a Writer

A Discussion with Novelist Douglas Richards

Douglas Richards

Hosted by John Traphagan
In this episode of How To Be Wrong, we talk with novelist New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Douglas Richards, about his career as a writer and how his …
Nordic Asia Podcast

Japan’s Reaction to Russia’s War in Ukraine

Kamila Szczepanska and Silja Keva

Hosted by Ari-Joonas Pitkänen
Russia’s aggression in Ukraine has dramatically affected international politics, and the effects are also felt in East Asia. We have heard a lot about China’s position regarding the war, but …
Burned by Books

Ugly Freedoms

Elisabeth Anker

Hosted by Chris Holmes
With me on today’s show is Professor Elisabeth Anker, whose most recent book, Ugly Freedoms (Duke UP, 2022), works to understand how the idea of freedom, seemingly so fundamental to …
Book of the Day/ Biology and Evolution

Different

Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist

Frans de Waal

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
In Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist (W. W. Norton, 2022), world-renowned primatologist Frans de Waal draws on decades of observation and studies of both human and animal behavior to argue that despite the linkage between gender and biological sex, biology does not automatically support the traditional gender roles in human societies. While humans and other primates do share some behavioral differences, biology offers no justification for existing …
National Security

Proscribing Peace

How Listing Armed Groups as Terrorists Hurts Negotiations

Sophie Haspeslagh

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
In Proscribing Peace: How Listing Armed Groups as Terrorists Hurts Negotiations (Manchester UP, 2021), Dr. Sophie Haspeslagh offers a systematic examination of the impact of proscription on peace negotiations. With …
Historical Fiction

The Last Dress from Paris

Jade Beer

Hosted by C. P. Lesley
London, 2017. Lucille will do anything for her beloved grandmother. So when Granny Sylvie volunteers to send her to Paris to retrieve a beloved Dior creation left in the city …
Literary Studies

Ahab Unbound

Melville and the Materialist Turn

Meredith Farmer and Jonathan D. S. Schroeder

Hosted by John Yargo
Today’s guests are Meredith Farmer and Jonathan D.S. Schroeder, the co-editors of a bracing new collection of essays about the figure of Ahab in Melville’s novel Moby-Dick. Meredith is the …
East-West Psychology Podcast

'I Thought Memory Would Be Easy’

Academic and Poetic Borderlands as Decolonial Projects of Recovery

Monica Mody

Hosted by Stephen Julich and Jonathan Kay
In this episode, we meet East-West Psychology PhD, Monica Mody, who is a writer, poet, and educator aligned with earth-based and decolonial feminist perspectives. Monica speaks about her approaches to …
Geography

Abolition Geography

Essays Towards Liberation

Ruth Wilson Gilmore

Hosted by Catriona Gold
Gathering together Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s work from over three decades, Abolition Geography: Essays Towards Liberation (Verso, 2022) presents her singular contribution to the politics of abolition as theorist, researcher, and …
Science, Technology, and Society

How to Take Over the World

Practical Schemes and Scientific Solutions for the Aspiring Supervillain

Ryan North

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Taking over the world is a lot of work. Any supervillain is bound to have questions: What's the perfect location for a floating secret base? What zany heist will fund …
Fantasy

The Justice of Kings

Richard Swan

Hosted by Gabrielle Martin
The Justice of Kings (Orbit, 2022) opens with our young narrator, Helena, traveling from town to town as clerk to the King’s Justice, a learned and idealistic man called Vonvalt …
Indian Religions

The Stories Behind the Poses

The Indian Mythology That Inspired 50 Yoga Postures

Raj Balkaran

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Raj Balkaran's 200th podcast episode: Christa Kuberry interviews him on his beautifully written new book The Stories Behind the Poses: The Indian Mythology That Inspired 50 Yoga Postures (Leaping Hare, 2022), and highlighting their …
On Religion

On the Four Foundations of Mindfulness

A Discussion with Ben Connelly

Ben Connelly

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Ben Connelly is a Minneapolis-based Soto Zen teacher in the Katagiri-lineage. He offers a wide variety of secular mindfulness trainings, including for police departments, corporate settings, correctional facilities, and addiction …
High Theory

WikiVictorian

A Discussion with Helena DiGiusti

Helena DiGiusti

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu
Helena DiGiusti talks about @WikiVictorian, the Twitter account that she runs. More than a traditional wiki, it embodies the randomness and miscellaneous nature of so much of Victorian cultures. She …
Japanese Studies

Japanese Role-Playing Games

Genre, Representation, and Liminality in the JRPG

Rachael Hutchinson and Jérémie Pelletier-Gagnon

Hosted by Jingyi Li
Rachael Hutchinson and Jérémie Pelletier-Gagnon's edited volume Japanese Role-Playing Games: Genre, Representation, and Liminality in the JRPG (Lexington Books, 2022) examines the origins, boundaries, and transnational effects of the genre, addressing significant …
Literary Studies

Citizens and Rulers of the World

The American Child and the Cartographic Pedagogies of Empire

Mahshid Mayar

Hosted by John Yargo
In this episode of New Books in Literary Studies, John Yargo spoke with Mahshid Mayar about how children’s puzzles and schoolbooks at the turn of the 20th century helped shape …
Literary Studies

Cut/Copy/Paste

Fragments from the History of Bookwork

Whitney Trettien

Hosted by John Yargo
Today’s guest is Whitney Trettien whose book Cut/Copy/Paste: Fragments from the History of Bookwork was published through the University of Minnesota Press in 2022. Trettien is a Professor of English …
Performing Arts

Lovesong (Imperfect)

José Rivera

Hosted by Andy Boyd
José Rivera's Lovesong (Imperfect) (Broadway Play Publishing, 2021) follows a passionate love triangle in an unusual situation: the US government has outlawed death, trees grow lights instead of leaves, and lovers sword …
Book of the Day/ Biblical Studies

Satan and the Problem of Evil

From the Bible to the Early Church Fathers

Archie T. Wright

Hosted by Jackson Reinhardt
Satan's transformation from opaque functionary to chief antagonist is one of the most striking features of the development of Jewish theology in the Second Temple Period and beyond. Once no more than an "accuser" testing members of the human community, Satan, along with his demons, is presented by Jewish apocalyptic texts and the New Testament as a main source of evil in the world. In Satan and the Problem of …
Intellectual History

The Political Writings of Alexander Hamilton

Bradford P. Wilson and Carson Holloway, eds.

Hosted by Hope J. Leman
How much does the average person know about Alexander Hamilton (1755 or 1757-1804)? Would we have guessed that this hero of many fiscal conservatives wrote, “A national debt, if it …
Asian American Studies

Climate Lyricism

Min Hyoung Song

Hosted by Jennifer Lee
In Climate Lyricism (Duke University Press, 2022), Min Hyoung Song models a climate change-centered reading practice that helps us better understand and respond to climate change by moving from forms …
Irish Studies

The Fadden More Psalter

The Discovery and Conservation of a Medieval Treasure

John Gillis

Hosted by Danica Ramsey-Brimberg
In The Faddan More Psalter: The Discovery and Conservation of a Medieval Treasure Dr. John Gillis explores the conservation, construction, and context of an early medieval psalter discovered by chance in …
Psychology

Senior Sociopaths

How to Recognize and Escape Lifelong Abusers

Donna Andersen

Hosted by Deidre Tyler
Senior Sociopaths: How to Recognize and Escape Lifelong Abusers (Anderly Publishing, 2022) is the first book to examine antisocial behavior in the over-50 crowd. This is a far bigger problem …
Middle Eastern Studies

The Irish Imperial Service

Policing Palestine and Administering the Empire, 1922–1966

Seán William Gannon

Hosted by Roberto Mazza
Seán William Gannon's book The Irish Imperial Service: Policing Palestine and Administering the Empire, 1922–1966 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018) explores Irish participation in the British imperial project after ‘Southern’ Ireland’s independence in 1922 …
Literature

Proof of Life

Sheila Lowe

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb
Proof of Life (Write Choice Ink 2021) is the second book in author Sheila Lowe’s Beyond the Veil paranormal suspense series. In the first book (What she Saw 2013), a …
African American Studies

Espionage and Enslavement in the Revolution

The True Story of Robert Townsend and Elizabeth

Claire Bellerjeau and Tiffany Yecke Brooks

Hosted by Katrina Anderson
Today I talked to Claire Bellerjeau about her book (co-authored with Tiffany Yecke Brooks) Espionage and Enslavement in the Revolution: The True Story of Robert Townsend and Elizabeth (Lyons Press, 2021). In January 1785 …
General History

Benjamin Franklin

Cultural Protestant

D. G. Hart

Hosted by Zachary McCulley
Benjamin Franklin grew up in a devout Protestant family with limited prospects for wealth and fame. By hard work, limitless curiosity, native intelligence, and luck (what he called "providence"), Franklin …
On Religion

On Byzantium and 'Romanland'

A Discussion with Anthony Kaldellis

Anthony Kaldellis

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Anthony Kaldellis is Professor and Chair of the Department of Classics at The Ohio State University. He is the author of many books, including The Christian Parthenon, Hellenism in Byzantium …
Native American Studies

Conversations with LeAnne Howe

Kirstin L. Squint ed.

Hosted by Deidre Tyler
Conversations with LeAnne Howe (UP of Mississippi, 2022) is the first collection of interviews with the groundbreaking Choctaw author, whose genre-bending works take place in the US Southeast, Oklahoma, and beyond …
General History

Who Killed Jane Stanford?

A Gilded-Age Tale of Murder, Deceit, Spirits and the Birth of a University

Richard White

Hosted by Ryan Tripp
In 1885 Jane and Leland Stanford cofounded a university to honor their recently deceased young son. After her husband’s death in 1893, Jane Stanford, a devoted spiritualist who expected the …
High Theory

Cognitive Cultural Studies

A Discussion with Torsa Ghosal

Torsa Ghosal

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu
Torsa Ghosal talks about Cognitive Cultural Studies, a field that entails methodologies that situate the human mind in historical and cultural contexts, sometimes working against models of the mind proceeding …
East Asian Studies

From Policemen to Revolutionaries: A Sikh Diaspora in Global Shanghai, 1885-1945

Yin Cao

Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Shanghai became a cosmopolitan hub with communities of Japanese, British, Russians, Jews, and others including Indians – most of whom were Sikhs …
Biology and Evolution

Extinctions

Living and Dying in the Margin of Error

Michael Hannah

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Today I talked to Michael Hannah about his book Extinctions: Living and Dying in the Margin of Error (Cambridge UP, 2021). Are we now entering a mass extinction event? What can mass …
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones

The Future of Philanthropy

A Conversation with Emma Saunders-Hastings

Emma Saunders-Hastings

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones
Philanthropists are praise for their generosity but does their desire to keep control of what happens to their donations mean they exercise power in ways that clash with democratic principles …
On Religion

On the Roman Catacombs

A Discussion with William Gruen

Willliam Gruen

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Ever wonder about the Roman catacombs? Look no further. Today I talked to William "Chip" Gruen of Muhlenberg College about his article "Roman Catacombs" from the collection The Reception of Jesus in the First …
Finance

Does Financial Repression Work?

A Conversation with Michael Pettis

Michael Pettis

Hosted by Robert Kowit
Michael Pettis is Professor of Finance at Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management. He started his career in banking in 1987 just in time for the tidal wave of emerging …