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Book of the Day
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Media
City of Newsmen
Public Lies and Professional Secrets in Cold War Washington
Kathryn J. McGarr
Hosted by
James Kates
Kathryn McGarr’s City of Newsmen: Public Lies and Professional Secrets in Cold War Washington (U Chicago Press, 2022) explores foreign policy journalism in Washington during and after World War II—a time supposedly defined by the press’s blind patriotism and groupthink. McGarr reveals, though, that D.C. reporters then were deeply cynical about government sources and their motives, but kept their doubts to themselves for professional, social, and ideological reasons. The alliance …
Disability Studies
Colonising Disability
Impairment and Otherness Across Britain and Its Empire, c. 1800-1914
Esme Cleall
Hosted by
Shu Wan
Colonising Disability: Impairment and Otherness Across Britain and Its Empire, c. 1800-1914 (Cambridge UP, 2022) explores the construction and treatment of disability across Britain and its empire from the nineteenth …
Environmental Studies
The Octopus in the Parking Garage
A Call for Climate Resilience
Rob Verchick
Hosted by
Karyne Messina
One morning in Miami Beach, an unexpected guest showed up in a luxury condominium complex’s parking garage: an octopus. The image quickly went viral. But the octopus―and the combination of …
MIT Press Podcast
Ithell Colquhoun
Genius of The Fern Loved Gully
Amy Hale
Hosted by
MIT Press
Tai Shani (Turner Prize winning artist, educator and author of Our Fatal Magic) and Amy Hale (anthropologist, folklorist, and writer) discuss the work of artist, occultist and writer Ithell Colquhoun …
Anthropology
Istanbul Appearances
Beauty and the Making of Middle-Class Femininities in Urban Turkey
Claudia Liebelt
Hosted by
Armanc Yildiz
In the past two decades, the consumption of beauty services and cosmetic surgery in Turkey has developed from an elite phenomenon to an increasingly common practice, especially among younger and …
Madison's Notes
Inflation, Past and Present
A Conversation with Tyler Goodspeed
Tyler Goodspeed
Hosted by
Annika Nordquist
We all know that things are a little more expensive when we head to the grocery store. But what does inflation actually mean? How did we get to where we …
Popular Culture
Celebrity Nation
How America Evolved into a Culture of Fans and Followers
Landon Jones
Hosted by
Latoya Johnson
Writer and editor Landon (Lanny) Jones, a former PEOPLE magazine editor, reveals how the cult of celebrity has shaped our politics, culture, and personal lives. In Celebrity Nation: How America Evolved …
Jewish Studies
Romania and the Holocaust
Events, Contexts, Aftermath
Simon Geissbühler
Hosted by
Ari Barbalat
From summer 1941 onwards, Romania actively pursued at its own initiative the mass killing of Jews in the territories it controlled. 1941 saw 13,000 Jewish residents of the Romanian city …
Islamic Studies
We'll Play Till We Die
Journeys Across a Decade of Revolutionary Music in the Muslim World
Mark LeVine
Hosted by
Kristian Petersen
In We'll Play till We Die: Journeys across a Decade of Revolutionary Music in the Muslim World (University of California Press, 2022), Mark LeVine, Professor at University of California, Irvine, dives …
Sports
The Business of College Sports
The Impact of NIL on NCAA Athletes
Richard Kent
Hosted by
Caleb Zakarin
In 2021, the NCAA began allowing student-athletes to receive compensation. NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) rule changes give student-athletes the right to work with companies in advertising campaigns, participate in …
British Studies
Eating the Empire
Food and Society in Eighteenth-Century Britain
Troy Bickham
Hosted by
Morteza Hajizadeh
When students gathered in a London coffeehouse and smoked tobacco; when Yorkshire women sipped sugar-infused tea; or when a Glasgow family ate a bowl of Indian curry, were they aware …
Burned by Books
The Disappeared
Stories
Andrew Porter
Hosted by
Chris Holmes
A husband and wife hear a mysterious bump in the night. A father mourns the closeness he has lost with his son. A friendship with a married couple turns into …
Children's Literature
Footprints Across the Planet
Jennifer Swanson
Hosted by
Mel Rosenberg
In our conversation, award-winning author Jennifer Swanson’s talks about her love for communicating science through award-winning children's books (almost fifty, and counting!). We celebrate her most recent book, Footprints Across …
Nordic Asia Podcast
The Politics of Community-Making in New Urban India
Illiberal Spaces, Illiberal Cities
Ritanjan Das and Nilotpal Kumar
Hosted by
Kenneth Bo Nielsen
How is urban India changing? And how do communities inhabit and transform India’s new cities and urban spaces? In this episode Kenneth Bo Nielsen is joined by Ritanjan Das to …
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones
The Future of the Human Heart
A Discussion with Vincent M. Figueredo
Vincent M. Figueredo
Hosted by
Owen Bennett-Jones
Long considered the most important of all organs, the human heart has fascinated artists and scientists alike. Listen to cardiologist Vincent Figueredo discuss knowledge of and attitudes towards the heart …
Book of the Day
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Political Science
The State
Philip Pettit
Hosted by
Caleb Zakarin
In The State (Princeton University Press, 2023), the prominent political philosopher Philip Pettit embarks on a massive undertaking, offering a major new account of the foundations of the state and the nature of justice. In doing so, Pettit builds a new theory of what the state is and what it ought to be, addresses the normative question of how justice serves as a measure of the success of a state …
South Asian Studies
Composing Violence
The Limits of Exposure and the Making of Minorities
Moyukh Chatterjee
Hosted by
Yash Sharma
In 2002, armed Hindu mobs attacked Muslims in broad daylight in the west Indian state of Gujarat. The pogrom, which was widely seen over television, left more than one thousand …
Indian Ocean World
Cosmopolitan Cultures and Oceanic Thought
Dilip M Menon and Nishat Zaidi
Hosted by
Ahmed Almaazmi
Cosmopolitan Cultures and Oceanic Thought (Routledge, 2023) imagines the ocean as central to understanding the world and its connections in history, literature, and the social sciences. Introducing the central conceptual category …
History of Science
Split and Splice
A Phenomenology of Experimentation
Hans-Jörg Rheinberger
Hosted by
Victor Monnin
In Split & Splice: A Phenomenology of Experimentation (University of Chicago Press, 2023), Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, director emeritus at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, investigates …
African Studies
Touts
Recruiting Indentured Labor in the Gulf of Guinea
Enrique Martino
Hosted by
Sara Katz
Touts: Recruiting Indentured Labor in the Gulf of Guinea (de Gruyter, 2022) is a historical account of the troubled formation of a colonial labor market in the Gulf of Guinea …
Madison's Notes
Where Did Conservatism Go?
A Conversation with Yoram Hazony
Yoram Hazony
Hosted by
Annika Nordquist
Israeli political philosopher Yoram Hazony discusses the Enlightenment, the American Founding, his latest book, Conservatism: A Rediscovery (Regnery Publishing, 2022), and Conservatism's past and future. Dr. Hazony is the President of the …
MIT Press Podcast
Infrastructural Brutalism
Art and the Necropolitics of Infrastructure
Michael Truscello
Hosted by
MIT Press
Michael Truscello, author of Infrastructural Brutalism: Art and the Necropolitics of Infrastructure, discusses the ways in which infrastructure determines who may live and who must die under contemporary capitalism. In …
Sex, Sexuality, and Sex Work
Sexed Up
How Society Sexualizes Us, and How We Can Fight Back
Julia Serano
Hosted by
Eric LeMay
Today I interview Julia Serano about her new book, Sexed Up: How Society Sexualizes Us and How We Can Fight Back (Seal, 2022). Serano is an activist, performer, and acclaimed author of Whipping …
Jewish Studies
Flights of Spirit
Elly Gotz
Hosted by
Ari Barbalat
Today I talked to Elly Gotz, author of the memoir Flights of Spirit (Azrieli Foundation, 2018). Sixteen-year-old Elly Gotz hides with his family in an underground bunker in the Kovno ghetto in …
Military History
Dagger Fencing
The Italian School
Carlo Parisi
Hosted by
Boris Karpa
Today, fighting with dagger versus dagger, or with knife versus knife, is not a common scenario that people might expect to face. However, it was more common in the Middle …
History Ex Silo
Empires after World War II: The Cases of the USSR and France
A Discussion with Rachel Applebaum and Emily Marker
Rachel Applebaum and Emily Marker
Hosted by
Stephen Bittner
Where lay the fissures of Soviet power in Eastern Europe during the Cold War? Why did France fail in its postwar efforts to make its African colonies part of France …
Think About It
Cleo McNelly Kearns on Mark Twain’s "Huckleberry Finn"
Book Talk 60
Cleo McNelly Kearns
Hosted by
Uli Baer
Celebrated, censored, canceled: Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn cannot be avoided. William Faulkner called Twain “the father of American literature.” Toni Morrison explained that “the brilliance of Adventures of …
Book of the Day
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Science, Technology, and Society
We Have Always Been Cyborgs
Digital Data, Gene Technologies, and an Ethics of Transhumanism
Stefan Lorenz Sorgner
Hosted by
Frances Sacks
The concept of transhumanism emerged in the middle of the 20th century, and has influenced discussions around AI, brain–computer interfaces, genetic technologies and life extension. Despite its enduring influence in the public imagination, a fully developed philosophy of transhumanism has not yet been presented. In We Have Always Been Cyborgs: Digital Data, Gene Technologies, and an Ethics of Transhumanism (Bristol UP, 2023), leading philosopher Stefan Lorenz Sorgner explores the critical …
Law
Historical Criminology
David Churchill, Henry Yeomans, and Iain Channing
Hosted by
Jane Richards
Historical Criminology (Routledge, 2022) breaks new ground by challenging researchers to question what we do, and why we do it. It draws out what criminologists can learn from historians, and examines the …
Critical Theory
Contemporary Art from Nigeria in the Global Markets
Trending in the Margins
Jonathan Adeyemi
Hosted by
Dave O'Brien
How does the art market work? In Contemporary Art from Nigeria in the Global Markets: Trending in the Margins (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022), Jonathan Adeyemi, who holds a PhD from, and was formerly …
Women's History
Do Everything
The Biography of Frances Willard
Christopher H. Evans
Hosted by
Jane Scimeca
Frances Willard (1839-1898) was one of the most prominent American social reformers of the late nineteenth century. As the long-time president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), Willard built …
Religion
Conspirituality
How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Public Health Threat
Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, and Julian Walker
Hosted by
Blair Hodges
Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Public Health Threat (PublicAffairs, 2023) is a much-needed analysis of wellness, new age, and yoga influencers who’ve gone down the rabbit hole …
Indian Ocean World
India in the Indian Ocean World
From the Earliest Times to 1800 CE
Rila Mukherjee
Hosted by
Ahmed Almaazmi
India in the Indian Ocean World: From the Earliest Times to 1800 CE (Springer, 2022) integrates the latest scholarly literature on the entire Indian Ocean region, from East Africa to China. Issues …
Anthropology
Life Beyond Waste
Work and Infrastructure in Urban Pakistan
Waqas Butt
Hosted by
Alize Arıcan
Over the last several decades, life in Lahore has been undergoing profound transformations, from rapid and uneven urbanization to expanding state institutions and informal economies. What do these transformations look …
History of Science
Horizons
The Global Origins of Modern Science
James Poskett
Hosted by
Victor Monnin
In Horizons: A Global History of Science (Mariner Books, 2022), James Poskett, Associate Professor in the History of Science and Technology at the University of Warwick, begins by asking, “Where …
Madison's Notes
The 10,000 Year Build-Up to Brexit
A Conversation with Ian Morris
Ian Morris
Hosted by
Annika Nordquist
How did Britain become a global superpower? Historian and classicist Ian Morris thinks geography has a lot to do with it. Prof. Morris discusses his latest book, Geography is Destiny …
MIT Press Podcast
The Science and Politics of Landing on Earth
A Discussion with Eugene Richardson and Bruno Latour
Eugene Richardson and Bruno Latour
Hosted by
MIT Press
The philosopher Bruno Latour (We Have Never Been Modern, Laboratory Life, Science in Action) and Eugene Richardson, physician, anthropologist, and author of Epidemic Illusions discuss COVID, colonialism and Critical Zones …
Women's History
From Back Alley to the Border
Criminal Abortion in California, 1920-1969
Alicia Gutierrez-Romine
Hosted by
Jeannette Cockroft
In From Back Alley to the Border: Criminal Abortion in California, 1920-1969 (U Nebraska Press, 2020), Alicia Gutierrez-Romine examines the history of criminal abortion in California and the role abortion providers …
Children's Literature
Won Ton and Chopstick
A Cat and Dog Tale Told in Haiku
Lee Wardlaw
Hosted by
Mel Rosenberg
In this interview we celebrate Lee Wardlaw's writing career, over thirty books ranging from board books to YA, with over a million copies sold! We focus on two of her …
Book of the Day
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Political Science
Massive Resistance and Southern Womanhood
White Women, Class, and Segregation
Rebecca Brückmann
Hosted by
Susan Liebell
Massive Resistance and Southern Womanhood: White Women, Class, and Segregation (U Georgia Press, 2021) offers a comparative sociocultural and spatial history of white supremacist women involved in massive resistance. The book focuses on segregationist grassroots activism in Little Rock, Arkansas, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Charleston, South Carolina from the late 1940s to the late 1960s. Dr. Rebecca Brückmann combines theory and detailed case studies to interrogate the “roles, actions, self-understandings …
Global Media & Communication
Made in Censorship
The Tiananmen Movement in Chinese Literature and Film
Thomas Chen
Hosted by
Aswin Punathambekar and Jing Wang
Hello, world! This is the Global Media & Communication podcast series. In this episode, our host Ignatius Suglo discusses the book Made in Censorship: The Tiananmen Movement in Chinese Literature …
Military History
A Stranger in Your Own City
Travels in the Middle East's Long War
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad
Hosted by
AJ Woodhams
The history of reportage has often depended on outsiders--Ryszard Kapuściński witnessing the fall of the shah in Iran, Frances FitzGerald observing the aftermath of the American war in Vietnam. What …
Anthropology
Afro-Brazilians in Telenovelas
Social, Political, and Economic Realities
Samantha Nogueira Joyce
Hosted by
Reighan Gillam
In Afro-Brazilians in Telenovelas: Social, Political, and Economic Realities (Lexington Books, 2022), Samantha Nogueira Joyce examines representations of Blackness on Brazilian TV, interrogating the role of mass media in developing …
American West
Arid Empire
The Entangled Fates of Arizona and Arabia
Natalie Koch
Hosted by
Miranda Melcher
The iconic deserts of the American southwest could not have been colonized and settled without the help of desert experts from the Middle East. For example: In 1856, a caravan …
Indian Ocean World
Droughts, Floods, and Global Climatic Anomalies in the Indian Ocean World
Philip Gooding
Hosted by
Ahmed Almaazmi
Droughts, Floods, and Global Climatic Anomalies in the Indian Ocean World (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022) explores histories of droughts and floods in the Indian Ocean World, and their connections to broader …
Gender Studies
Changing the Subject
Feminist and Queer Politics in Neoliberal India
Srila Roy
Hosted by
Shraddha Chatterjee
In Changing the Subject: Feminist and Queer Politics in Neoliberal India (Duke UP, 2022), Srila Roy maps the rapidly transforming terrain of gender and sexual politics in India under the …
Shakespeare For All
Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" Part 1: The Story
A Discussion with Michael Dobson
Michael Dobson
Hosted by
Zachary Davis
Julius Caesar is one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, telling the story of one of history’s most famous events. In this tense political thriller, the Roman senator Brutus must decide …
East Asian Studies
The Precious Summary
A History of the Mongols from Chinggis Khan to the Qing Dynasty
Sagang Sechen. Translated by Johan Elverskog.
Hosted by
Sarah Bramao-Ramos
Buddhist cosmological history of the universe, history of Chinggis Khan, history of China, and history of the Mongols — The Precious Summary, written in 1662 by Sagang Sechen, is many …
Madison's Notes
Truth, Fiction, and Student Loan Forgiveness
A Conversation with Beth Akers
Beth Akers
Hosted by
Annika Nordquist
With the Biden Administration's student loan relief coming down the pike, Annika sits down with Dr. Beth Akers, a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who specializes in higher …
MIT Press Podcast
Muse, Odalisque, Handmaiden
A Girl's Life in the Incredible String Band
Rose Simpson
Hosted by
MIT Press
Damon Kruskowski, author of Ways of Hearing and The New Analog, previously member of Galaxie 500 and currently a member of Damon & Naomi interviews Rose Simpson about her book …
Nomads, Past and Present
Embracing Landscape
Living with Reindeer and Hunting among Spirits in South Siberia
Selcen Küçüküstel
Hosted by
Maggie Freeman
Examining human-animal relations among the reindeer hunting and herding Dukha community in northern Mongolia, Embracing Landscape: Living with Reindeer and Hunting among Spirits in South Siberia (Berghahn Books, 2021), focuses …
Book of the Day
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Medieval History
Rome and the Invention of the Papacy
The Liber Pontificalis
Rosamond McKitterick
Hosted by
Miranda Melcher
The remarkable, and permanently influential, papal history known as the Liber pontificalis shaped perceptions and the memory of Rome, the popes, and the many-layered past of both city and papacy within western Europe. In Rome and the Invention of the Papacy: The Liber Pontificalis (Cambridge University Press, 2020), Dr. Rosamond McKitterick offers a new analysis of this extraordinary combination of historical reconstruction, deliberate selection and political use of fiction, to …
International Horizons
The Whys and Wherefores of Migration
A Discussion with James F. Hollifield
James F. Hollifield
Hosted by
International Horizons
This week on International Horizons, James Hollifield, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Tower Center for Political Studies, Southern Methodist University (SMU), discusses the epistemology of migration studies …
Military History
Dünkirchen 1940
The German View of Dunkirk
Robert Kershaw
Hosted by
Stephen Satkiewicz
The surprise success of the German offensive in the West that commenced on May 10, 1940 caught the Allies completely off-guard, and France would soon capitulate to the Germans in …
Literature
As Long As I Know You
The Mom Book
Anne-Marie Oomen
Hosted by
Megan Wildhood
In As Long As I Know You: The Mom Book (U Georgia Press, 2022), Ann-Marie Oomen offers a real-time narrative of walking her mother through dementia to the end of …
General History
Southern Europe in the Age of Revolutions
Maurizio Isabella
Hosted by
Miranda Melcher
After the turbulent years of the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna’s attempt to guarantee peace and stability across Europe, a new revolutionary movement emerged in the southern peripheries …
Indian Ocean World
Seasonal Knowledge and the Almanac Tradition in the Arab Gulf
Daniel Martin Varisco
Hosted by
Ahmed Almaazmi
Seasonal Knowledge and the Almanac Tradition in the Arab Gulf (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022) is the first in English to survey indigenous knowledge of seasonal, astronomical, and agricultural information in Arab Gulf almanacs …
Environmental Studies
Sea Change
An Atlas of Islands in a Rising Ocean
Christina Gerhardt
Hosted by
Brian Hamilton
Atlases are being redrawn as islands are disappearing. What does an island see when the sea rises? Sea Change: An Atlas of Islands in a Rising Ocean (U California Press …
Jewish Studies
Great Biblical Commentators
Biographies, Methodologies, and Contributions
Avigail Rock
Hosted by
Michael Morales
The vast and vibrant world of biblical commentary has, over the generations, shaped not only our understanding of the Tanakh, but Judaism's worldview and values as well. The biblical commentator …
Literature
After the Barricades
Jessica Stilling
Hosted by
G. P. Gottlieb
Today I talked to Jessica Stilling about her new novel After the Barricades (DX Varos, 2023). After her mother dies in a tragic accident, Anna cleans out her closet and finds …
Madison's Notes
After the Pill
A Conversation with Mary Eberstadt
Mary Eberstadt
Hosted by
Annika Nordquist
The pill has rocked our society to its core: but have we fully examined all its repercussions? Influential author and essayist Mary Eberstadt thinks we've only scratched the surface; in …
Military History
The Rise of the Military Entrepreneur
War, Diplomacy, and Knowledge in Habsburg Europe
Suzanne Sutherland
Hosted by
Douglas Bell
In The Rise of the Military Entrepreneur: War, Diplomacy, and Knowledge in Habsburg Europe (Cornell UP, 2022), Suzanne Sutherland explores the role of the military entrepreneur and explains how these international …
Madison's Notes
Money or Meaning?
A Discussion on Choice, Restlessness, and Higher Education with Ben and Jenna Storey
Ben Storey and Jenna Storey
Hosted by
Annika Nordquist
What kinds of tools do we need to make big decisions, and why aren't our universities training us to make them? Are universities doing students a disservice by occupying them …
MIT Press Podcast
Girls Against God
Jenny Hval
Hosted by
MIT Press
Cathi Unsworth, journalist and author of Bad Penny Blues, as well as numerous other novels, speaks with artists and author Jenny Hval about her recent book Girls Against God. At …
American West
Resisting Change in Suburbia
Asian Immigrants and Frontier Nostalgia in L.A.
James Zarsadiaz
Hosted by
Stephen Hausmann
The myth of the frontier West found its home in America's late twentieth century suburbs, argues University of San Francisco associate professor James Zarsadiaz in Resisting Change in Suburbia: Asian Immigrants and …
General History
Postcolonial People
The Return from Africa and the Remaking of Portugal
Christoph Kalter
Hosted by
Michael Vann
In the space of a few months in 1975, more than 500,000 Portuguese settlers fled their homes in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tomé and Principe, and East Timor and “returned” …
High Theory
Party
A Discussion with Sheila Liming
Sheila Liming
Hosted by
Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu
Sheila Liming talks about the party, social gatherings that occasion joy and dread and various emotions in between. The party is both a pause and an acceleration in the life-work …
Book of the Day
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Chinese Studies
Reproductive Realities in Modern China
Birth Control and Abortion, 1911-2021
Sarah Mellors Rodriguez
Hosted by
Laurie Dickmeyer
In Reproductive Realities in Modern China: Birth Control and Abortion, 1911-2021 (Cambridge UP, 2022), assistant professor of history at Missouri State University, Sarah Mellors Rodriguez explores the longue durée history of birth control and abortion in China from the Republican period to the present day. Drawing from a rich array of archival materials, oral histories, posters, films, novels, and other media, she delves into the diverse attitudes, policies, and practices …
Sociology
Decolonize Self-Care
Alyson K. Spurgas and Zoe Meleo Erwin
Hosted by
Michael Johnston
For twentieth-century feminists, it was a rallying cry for bodily autonomy and political power. For influencers and lifestyle brands, it’s buying fancy nutrition and body products at a premium. And …
Library Science
For the Encouragement of Learning
The Origins of Canadian Copyright Law
Myra Tawfik
Hosted by
Jen Hoyer
Myra Tawfik's book For the Encouragement of Learning: The Origins of Canadian Copyright Law (U Toronto Press, 2023) addresses the contested history of copyright law in Canada, where the economic and …
Early Modern History
Intelligence and Espionage in the English Republic C. 1600-60
Alan Marshall
Hosted by
Crawford Gribben
Alan Marshall's book Intelligence and Espionage in the English Republic C. 1600-60 (Manchester UP, 2023) is a richly detailed account of the ideas and activities in the early-modern 'secret state' and its …
MIT Press Podcast
The Place Is Here
The Work of Black Artists in 1980s Britain
Nick Aikens and Elizabeth Robles
Hosted by
MIT Press
Nick Aikens and Elizabeth Robles discuss The Place Is Here (Sternberg Press, 2019) and the range of perspectives on black art in Thatcherite Britain offered by the collection of artworks …
Madison's Notes
Economic Freedom from Kennedy to Reagan to Trump
A Conversation with Larry Kudlow
Larry Kudlow
Hosted by
Annika Nordquist
With contentious midterm elections coming up fast, Annika sits down with one of the best-known commentators and participants in the American political economy over the past four decades: Larry Kudlow …
Science, Technology, and Society
Stroller
Amanda Parrish Morgan
Hosted by
Frances Sacks
Among the many things expectant parents are told to buy, none is a more visible symbol of status and parenting philosophy than a stroller. Although its association with wealth …
Ukrainian Studies
In the Hour of War
Poetry from Ukraine
Carolyn Forché and Ilya Kaminsky
Hosted by
Nataliya Shpylova-Saeed
Ukraine may be the only country on earth that owes its existence, at least in part, to a poet. Ever since the appearance of Taras Shevchenko's Kobzar in 1840, poetry …
Performing Arts
Why Do Actors Train?
Embodiment for Theatre Makers and Thinkers
Brad Krumholz
Hosted by
Andy Boyd
Why Do Actors Train?: Embodiment for Theatre Makers and Thinkers (Bloomsbury, 2023) powerfully demystifies the actor-training process by focusing on acting as embodied cognition. In this framework, thought is action …
Education
Teachers as Policy Advocates
Strategies for Collaboration and Change
May Hara and Annalee G. Good
Hosted by
Alex Tabor
May Hara and Annalee G. Good's Teachers as Policy Advocates: Strategies for Collaboration and Change (Teachers College Press, 2023) argues that teachers’ active participation in policy advocacy is crucial to …
Economics
The Global Architecture of Multilateral Development Banks
A System of Debt or Development?
Adrian R. Bazbauers and Susan Engel
Hosted by
Sidney Michelini
Adrian Bazbauers and Susan Engel’s 2021 book The Global Architecture of Multilateral Development Banks: A System of Debt or Development? (Routledge, 2023) explores the evolution of the 30 functioning multilateral development …
Geography
Over Researched Places
Towards a Critical and Reflexive Approach
Cat Button and Gerald Taylor Aiken
Hosted by
Stentor Danielson
Cat Button and Gerald Taylor Aiken's Over Researched Places: Towards a Critical and Reflexive Approach (Routledge, 2022) explores the implications that research-density has on the people and places researched, on …
Book of the Day
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Women's History
The Suffragist Peace
How Women's Votes Lead to Fewer Wars
Robert F. Trager and Joslyn N. Barnhart
Hosted by
Miranda Melcher
In the modern age, some parts of the world are experiencing a long peace. Nuclear weapons, capitalism and the widespread adoption of democratic institutions have been credited with fostering this relatively peaceful period. Yet, these accounts overlook one of the most dramatic transformations of the 20th century: the massive redistribution of political power as millions of women around the world won the right to vote. The Suffragist Peace: How Women …
Academic Life
Navigating the Community College Job Market
A Discussion with Rob Jenkins
Rob Jenkins
Hosted by
Christina Gessler
What makes a community college job interview different than one at a four-year college or a university? Do you need a PhD to get hired? What are they looking for …
Jewish Studies
A Brilliant Commodity
Diamonds and Jews in a Modern Setting
Saskia Coenen Snyder
Hosted by
Miranda Melcher
During the late nineteenth century, tens of thousands of diggers, prospectors, merchants, and dealers extracted and shipped over 50 million carats of diamonds from South Africa to London. The primary …
Asian Review of Books
Yamuna's Journey
Translated by Deepra Dandekar
Baba Padmanji
Hosted by
Nicholas Gordon
In 1856, the East India Company imposed the Hindu Widow Remarriage Act, allowing widows to remarry after their husband’s death. The Act was controversial at the time: Hindu traditionalists, particularly …
Indian Religions
The Making of Contemporary Indian Philosophy
Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya
Elise Coquereau-Saouma and Daniel Raveh
Hosted by
Raj Balkaran
This book engages in a dialogue with Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya (K.C. Bhattacharyya, KCB, 1875-1949) and opens a vista to contemporary Indian philosophy. KCB is one of the founding fathers of …
Almost Good Catholics
Down to Earth: In Pursuit of Humility
A Discussion with Richard Foster and Brenda Quinn
Richard J. Foster and Brenda Quinn
Hosted by
Krzysztof Odyniec
Quaker theologian Richard J. Foster and charismatic pastor Brenda Quinn talk with me about Foster’s new book (which Quinn worked on with him), Learning Humility: A Year of Searching for …
MIT Press Podcast
Black Film, British Cinema II
Clive Nwonka and Anamik Saha
Hosted by
MIT Press
Clive Nwonka and Anamik Saha discuss their forthcoming book Black Film, British Cinema II (publishing in March with Goldsmiths Press), a book which brings together scholars, thinkers and practitioners to …
Madison's Notes
The Hundred Year War for the American Right
A Conversation with Matthew Continetti
Matthew Continetti
Hosted by
Annika Nordquist
What is the American Right, where does it come from, and how has it changed over time? Journalist and author Matthew Continetti discusses his recent book: The Right: The Hundred …
Sociology
The Political Economy of Fortune and Misfortune
Prospects for Prosperity in Our Times
Scott Timcke
Hosted by
Michael Johnston
Luck greatly influences a person's quality of life. Yet little of our politics looks at how institutions can amplify good or bad luck that widens social inequality. But societies can …
Popular Culture
Rude Girls
Women in 2 Tone and One Step Beyond
Heather Augustyn
Hosted by
Rebekah Buchanan
In her latest book, Rude Girls: Women in 2 Tone and One Step Beyond (Sally Brown Publishing, 2023), Heather Augustyn explores the ska revival in the UK during the lates 1970s and 1980s …
Literary Studies
Fighting Over There
U.S. War Making and Contemporary Refugee Literature
Alaina Kaus
Hosted by
Deidre Tyler
U.S. foreign policy has long been built on a dichotomy of an irreplaceable "here" and an expendable "there." In his 2003 announcement of the military campaign in Iraq, George W …
Book of the Day
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Islamic Studies
Broken
The Failed Promise of Muslim Inclusion
Evelyn Alsultany
Hosted by
Kristian Petersen
In Broken: The Failed Promise of Muslim Inclusion (NYU Press, 2022), Evelyn Alsultany, Professor at the University of Southern California, argues that, even amid challenges to institutionalized Islamophobia, diversity initiatives fail on their promise by only focusing on crisis moments. Muslims get included through “crisis diversity,” where high-profile Islamophobic incidents are urgently responded to and then ignored until the next crisis. In the popular cultural arena of television, this means …
Biblical Studies
Before There Was a Bible
Authorities in Early Christianity
Lee Martin McDonald
Hosted by
Rob Heaton
Before There Was a Bible: Authorities in Early Christianity (T&T Clark, 2023) is a natural outgrowth from McDonald’s significant and ongoing work in the field of canon studies, which traces the …
Secularism
Empire and Progress in the Victorian Secularist Movement
Imagining a Secular World
Patrick J. Corbeil
Hosted by
Carrie Lynn Evans
Empire and Progress in the Victorian Secularist Movement: Imagining a Secular World (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022) by Dr. Patrick Corbeil is the first extensive historical analysis of the relationship between empire …
General History
On Time
A History of Western Timekeeping
Kenneth Mondschein
Hosted by
Boris Karpa
Western culture has been obsessed with regulating society by the precise, accurate measurement of time since the Middle Ages. In On Time: A History of Western Timekeeping (Johns Hopkins UP …
Food
Ed Mitchell's Barbeque
Ed Mitchell, Ryan Mitchell, and Zella Palmer
Hosted by
Laura Goldberg
Ed Mitchell’s journey in the barbeque business began in 1991 with a lunch for his mama, who was grieving the loss of Ed’s father. Ed drove to the nearby Piggly …
Burned by Books
The Society of Shame
Jane Roper
Hosted by
Chris Holmes
In this timely and witty combination of So You've Been Publicly Shamed and Where'd You Go, Bernadette? a viral photo of a politician's wife's "feminine hygiene malfunction" catapults her to …
Psychoanalysis
"Don't Be Sad When I'm Gone"
A Memoir of Loss and Healing in Buenos Aires
Beatriz Dujovne
Hosted by
Lexa Rosean
The monumental sense of dislocation we experience after losing a loved one can be life-altering. There is no script for grieving–each individual passes through their own phases of mourning. In …
Madison's Notes
Missing: Men at Work
A Conversation with Nick Eberstadt
Nick Eberstadt
Hosted by
Annika Nordquist
Over six million prime-age men are neither working nor looking for work; America's low unemployment rate hides the fact that many men have dropped out of the workforce altogether. Our …
MIT Press Podcast
Publishing in Art, Architecture and Visual Culture
A Discussion with Thomas Weaver and Victoria Hindley
Thomas Weaver and Victoria Hindley
Hosted by
MIT Press
This episode features discussions with Thomas Weaver (Senior Acquisitions Editor for Art and Architecture) and Victoria Hindley (Acquisitions Editor in Visual Culture and Design) about publishing in the fields of …
The Common Magazine
Reading the Ashes
The Common Magazine (Fall, 2022)
Robin Lee Carlson
Hosted by
Emily Everett
Robin Lee Carlson speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her essay “Reading the Ashes,” which appears in The Common’s fall 2022 issue. Robin talks about the many-year process of …
Japanese Studies
This Overflowing Light
Selected Poems. Translated by Janine Beichman.
Rin Ishigaki
Hosted by
Takeshi Morisato
Born in central Tokyo in 1920, Rin Ishigaki was one of the most daring and gifted poets of Japan’s postwar cultural renaissance. She knew Japan before the war, during it …
Early Modern History
In Fortune's Theater
Financial Risk and the Future in Renaissance Italy
Nicholas Scott Baker
Hosted by
Michael Martoccio
In this episode, I was joined by Nicholas Scott Baker to discuss his book, In Fortune’s Theater: Financial Risk and the Future in Renaissance Italy (Cambridge University Press, 2021). Professor …
Jewish Studies
Undesirables
A Holocaust Journey to North Africa
Aomar Boum
Hosted by
Ari Barbalat
In the lead-up to World War II, the rising tide of fascism and antisemitism in Europe foreshadowed Hitler's genocidal campaign against Jews. But the horrors of the Holocaust were not …
Nordic Asia Podcast
Sweden-North Korea Relations
Neither Friend nor Enemy
Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein
Hosted by
Myunghee Lee
Welcome to the fourth NIAS-Korea episode. We invite Dr. Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein to discuss Sweden-North Korea relations. It may seem odd that among the Western countries, Sweden is the one …
Book of the Day
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General History
The West
A New History of an Old Idea
Naoíse Mac Sweeney
Hosted by
Miranda Melcher
Dr. Naoíse Mac Sweeney presents a radical new account of how the idea of the West has shaped our history, told through the stories of fourteen fascinating lives in her book The West: A New History of an Old Idea (Dutton, 2023). We tend to imagine Western Civilisation as a golden thread, leading through the centuries from classical antiquity to the countries of the modern West - a cultural genealogy …
Jewish Studies
The Shamama Case
Contesting Citizenship Across the Modern Mediterranean
Jessica M. Marglin
Hosted by
Geraldine Gudefin
In the winter of 1873, Nissim Shamama, a wealthy Jew from Tunisia, died suddenly in his palazzo in Livorno, Italy. His passing initiated a fierce lawsuit over his large estate …
Christian Studies
A Revolutionary Faith
Liberation Theology Between Public Religion and Public Reason
Raúl E. Zegarra Medina
Hosted by
Adrian Guiu
Religious commitments can be a powerful engine for progressive social change. In A Revolutionary Faith: Liberation Theology Between Public Religion and Public Reason (Stanford UP, 2023), Raúl E. Zegarra examines the …
Indian Ocean World
Cargoes in Motion
Materiality and Connectivity across the Indian Ocean
Burkhard Schnepel and Julia Verne
Hosted by
Ahmed Almaazmi
Cargoes in Motion: Materiality and Connectivity across the Indian Ocean (Ohio University Press, 2022) is an innovative collection of essays that foregrounds specific cargoes as a means to understand connectivity and …
Ukrainian Studies
A Crash Course in Molotov Cocktails
Translated by Amelia Glaser and Yulia Ilchuk
Halyna Kruk
Hosted by
Nataliya Shpylova-Saeed
"We act like children with our dead," Halyna Kruk writes as she struggles to come to terms with the horror unfolding around her: "confused, / as if none of us …
Psychoanalysis
Misogyny in Psychoanalysis
Michaela Chamberlain
Hosted by
Christopher Russell
Today I talked to Michaela Chamberlain, author of Misogyny in Psychoanalysis (Phoenix Publishing House, 2022) Chamberlain’s book is a product of “cumulative trauma” whose original starting point was an interest …
Medieval History
Stories Between Christianity and Islam
Saints, Memory, and Cultural Exchange in Late Antiquity and Beyond
Reyhan Durmaz
Hosted by
Zalman Newfield
In Stories between Christianity and Islam: Saints, Memory, and Cultural Exchange in Late Antiquity and Beyond (University of California Press, 2022), Reyhan Durmaz offers an original and nuanced understanding of …
MIT Press Podcast
The Gentrification of Queer Desire
Huw Lemmey and Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
Hosted by
MIT Press
Writer Huw Lemmey (Chubz, Red Tory, Unknown Language) speaks with Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore about her most recent book The Freezer Door and searching for connection in a world that enforces …
Madison's Notes
Strategy and Saratoga
A Conversation with Kevin Weddle
Kevin Weddle
Hosted by
Annika Nordquist
At the Battle of Saratoga, the tide of the Revolutionary War turned in favor of unlikely victors: the American patriots. What were the major strategy elements at play in the …
Southeast Asian Studies
Tragic Nation
Burma--Why and How Democracy Failed
Amitav Acharya
Hosted by
Duncan McCargo
What went wrong with Burma’s democratic experiment? How are we to understand the country’s turbulent politics in the wake of the 2021 coup? In this conversation with Duncan McCargo, Amitav …
Children's Literature
A History of Toilet Paper (and Other Potty Tools)
Sophia Gholz
Hosted by
Mel Rosenberg
Since Sophia Gholz’s highly successful debut book, The Boy Who Grew a Forest: The True Story of Jadav Payeng, appeared four years ago, she has published with several exceptional picture …