Bob Dylan's New York

A Historic Guide

Dick Weissman

Hosted by Robert Snyder

New York has long been a city where people go to reinvent themselves. And since the dawn of the twentieth century, New York City’s Greenwich Village has been at the center of that alchemy of reinvention. Its side streets, squares and coffeehouses have nurtured generations of artists, writers, and musicians, among them Bob Dylan. Dylan first set foot in the Village in 1961, and even as he continues to …

Anthropology

The Industrial Ephemeral

Labor and Love in Indian Architecture and Construction

Namita Vijay Dharia

Hosted by Garima Jaju

What transformative effects does a multimillion-dollar industry have on those who work within it? The Industrial Ephemeral: Labor and Love in Indian Architecture and Construction (U California Press, 2022), presents …

Ministry of Ideas

Progressive Souls

Religion and the Pursuit of a Just Society (Part 2)

Elizabeth Bruenig, EJ Dionne, and Dan McKanan

Hosted by Zachary Davis

Religious people have played an important role in progressive politics in the US for its entire history. Contemporary leftists should look to build bridges and include religious voices in the …

Medieval History

Byzantine Religious Law in Medieval Italy

James Morton

Hosted by Diki Sherpa

Southern Italy was conquered by the Norman Hauteville dynasty in the late eleventh century after over five hundred years of continuous Byzantine rule. At a stroke, the region's Greek Christian …

Digital Humanities

Podcast Series: Hell on Earth

The 30 Years War and the Violent Birth of Capitalism

Chris Wade and Matt Christman

Hosted by Michael Vann

Hell on Earth: The 30 Years War and the Violent Birth of Capitalism is a new 10-part series from the creators of Hell of Presidents — one of Entertainment Weekly’s …

American West

Taking the Field

Soldiers, Nature, and Empire on American Frontiers

Amy Kohout

Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

The US military didn't just conquer its way across the US West and the Pacific - it also collected and categorized across these spaces too. In Taking the Field: Soldiers, Nature …

Peoples & Things

Deafness “Cures” in History

A Conversation with Jaipreet Virdi

Jaipreet Virdi

Hosted by Lee Vinsel

Jaipreet Virdi talks about her book Hearing Happiness: Deafness Cures in History with Peoples & Things host Lee Vinsel. The book details the long history of attempts to “fix” deaf people …

Almost Good Catholics

The Feminine Genius

Everyday Mysticism and How to Organize Your Life around It

Danielle Bean

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec

Danielle Bean talks about everyday mysticism and learning to listen for God in her book, Whisper: Finding God in the Everyday. God is there in our daily tasks and especially …

Children's Literature

A Grand Day

Jean Reidy

Hosted by Mel Rosenberg

Jean Reidy’s best-selling and award-winning picture books have earned their spots as favorites among readers and listeners of all ages and from all over the world. She is honored to …

Caribbean Studies

Tell My Mother I Gone to Cuba

Stories of Early Twentieth-century Migration from Barbados

Sharon Milagro Marshall

Hosted by Carmen Gomez-Galisteo

Barbadians were among the thousands of British West Indians who migrated to Cuba in the early twentieth century in search of work. They were drawn there by employment opportunities fueled …

Book of the Day/ Intellectual History

A New History of the Humanities

The Search for Principles and Patterns from Antiquity to the Present

Rens Bod

Hosted by Morteza Hajizadeh

Many histories of science have been written, but A New History of the Humanities (Oxford UP, 2014) offers the first overarching history of the humanities from Antiquity to the present. There are already historical studies of musicology, logic, art history, linguistics, and historiography, but this volume gathers these, and many other humanities disciplines, into a single coherent account. Its central theme is the way in which scholars throughout the ages …

Middle Eastern Studies

Losing Istanbul

Arab-Ottoman Imperialists and the End of Empire

Mostafa Minawi

Hosted by Reuben Silverman

Mostafa Minawi's Losing Istanbul: Arab-Ottoman Imperialists and the End of Empire (Stanford University Press, 2022) offers an intimate history of empire, following the rise and fall of a generation of Arab-Ottoman imperialists living …

Finance

The Intelligent Fund Investor

Practical Steps for Better Results in Active and Passive Funds

Joe Wiggins

Hosted by John Emrich

Investing in funds is not straightforward. We are faced with a countless range of options and constantly distracted by meaningless noise and turbulent markets. To make matters worse, our flawed …

Ministry of Ideas

Climate of Denial

Why Do Americans Doubt Climate Change?

Tanya Luhrmann, Gary Aylesworth, and Lee McIntyre

Hosted by Zachary Davis

Human-caused climate change is real and growing in impact. Yet many Americans see climate change as a belief that they can opt out of. Two belief structures are to blame …

Shakespeare For All

Shakespeare’s Life, World and Works 4: Shakespeare’s Work

A Discussion with Emma Smith

Emma Smith

Hosted by Zachary Davis

William Shakespeare, who lived in England from 1564 to 1616, is one of the world’s most popular and most captivating authors. Even four hundred years after his death, his plays …

Peoples & Things

How Universities Are Plundering Our Cities

A Discussion with Davarian Baldwin

Davarian Baldwin

Hosted by Lee Vinsel

Davarian L. Baldwin is a professor of American studies and founding director of the Smart Cities Lab at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. His latest book, In the Shadow of …

Almost Good Catholics

Catholic in Karachi

Living as a Christian in an Islamic Country

Ayyaz Gulzar

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec

Ayyaz Gulzar, journalist and Catholic youth leader in Pakistan, describes the challenges and persecutions the Church faces in the Islamic Republic, which includes the county’s blasphemy laws. He also talks …

Biblical Studies

Divine Shepherd Christology in the Gospel of Matthew

Wayne Baxter

Hosted by Michael Morales

The Gospel of Matthew presents Jesus as ‘Shepherd. ’ Is this theme part of the Gospel’s divine Christology? Wayne Baxter, by exploring shepherd imagery in the Hebrew Bible and the …

How to Be Wrong

The Editor and Humility

A Conversation with the NYT's Peter Catapano

Peter Catapano

Hosted by John Kaag and John Traphagan

In this episode we talk with New York Times Opinion Section Editor Peter Catapano, who has edited and published more than 1,000 pieces in The Times and worked with thinkers …

International Horizons

Contextualizing the Iranian Protests

The Role of Women in Leading the Change

Mahnaz Afkhami and Kelly Shannon

Hosted by International Horizons

Western sanctions have slowed Iran's economy, causing protests against the absence of freedom and opportunities -- teachers their lack of pay; farmers their lack of water; retirees their fear of …

High Theory

Near Death Experience

A Discussion with Laura Wittman

Laura Wittman

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu

In this episode of High Theory, Laura Wittman tells us about near death experiences. The central feature of these experiences is a vision and a story, which it turns out …

Book of the Day/ Popular Culture

Finding Jackie

The Second Act of America's First Lady

Oline Eaton

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

In her new book, Finding Jackie: A Life Reinvented (Diversion Books, 2023), scholar and writer Oline Eaton examines the story of an era's biggest "star of life," Jaqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, as she coped with trauma and built a new existence in an unstable world during the time between JFK's murder in 1963 and the death of her second husband, Aristotle Onassis, in 1975. Jackie Kennedy was universally loved and to this …

Economics

Power and Prediction

The Disruptive Economics of Artificial Intelligence

Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb

Hosted by Peter Lorentzen

Disruption resulting from the proliferation of AI is coming. The authors of the bestselling Prediction Machines describe what you can do to prepare. Banking and finance, pharmaceuticals, automotive, medical technology …

Women's History

"Fame Is Not Just for the Fellas"

Female Renown and the Childhood of Famous Americans Series

Gregory M. Pfitzer

Hosted by Rebecca Turkington

In “Fame is Not Just for the Fellas”: Female Renown and the Childhood of Famous Americans Series (University of Massachusetts Press, 2022), Gregory Pfitzer examines the editorial and production choices …

Literature

The Kudzu Queen

Mimi Herman

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb

Kudzu salesman James T. Cullowee arrives in Cooper County, North Carolina in the spring of 1941 to spread the gospel of kudzu. It can apparently feed cattle, improve soil, grow …

Nomads, Past and Present

Pastures of Change

Contemporary Adaptations and Transformations among Nomadic Pastoralists of Eastern Tibet

Gillian G. Tan

Hosted by Maggie Freeman

Tibetan nomads have developed a way of life that is dependent in multiple ways on their animals and shaped by the phenomenological experience of mobility. These pastoralists have adapted to …

Burned by Books

The Sense of Wonder

A Novel

Matthew Salesses

Hosted by Chris Holmes

MATTHEW SALESSES is the author of eight books, including The Sense of Wonder, which comes out in January 2023 from Little, Brown. Most recent are the national bestseller Craft in …

Ministry of Ideas

Stealing the Canon

Who Should Be In and Who Should Be Out?

Stephen Greenblatt, Oskar Eustis, John Ray Proctor, and Rory Loughnane

Hosted by Zachary Davis

Literary canons have come under fire for perpetuating privilege and exclusion. But some artists — including William Shakespeare and Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda — show us how canons can actually build …

Anthropology

Undocumented Motherhood

Conversations on Love, Trauma, and Border Crossing

Elizabeth Farfán-Santos

Hosted by Reighan Gillam

Claudia Garcia crossed the border because her toddler, Natalia, could not hear. Leaving behind everything she knew in Mexico, Claudia recounts the terror of migrating alone with her toddler and …

Peoples & Things

The History of Temp Work

A Discussion with Louis Hyman

Louis Hyman

Hosted by Lee Vinsel

Historian Louis Hyman, professor and director of the Institute of Workplace Studies at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, talks about his book, Temp: How American Work, American …

Scholarly Communication

Unsaid

Analyzing Harmful Silences

Lois Presser

Hosted by Jen Hoyer

Harm takes shape in and through what is suppressed, left out, or taken for granted. Unsaid: Analyzing Harmful Silences (U California Press, 2022) is a guide to understanding and uncovering what …

Almost Good Catholics

Faithful Frontiers

A Turkish Scholar Describes How She Became a Catholic Apologist

Derya Little

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec

Derya Little has been a Muslim, an atheist, and a Protestant; today she is a Catholic writer and apologist. She tells the story of her conversion, talks about faith, family …

Book of the Day/ Eastern European Studies

In the Shadow of the Holocaust

Poland, the United Nations War Crimes Commission, and the Search for Justice

Michael Fleming

Hosted by Piotr Kosicki

In the midst of the Second World War, Central and East European governments-in-exile struggled to make their voices heard as they reported back to the Allies and sought to reach mass Allied publics with eyewitness testimony of German atrocities committed in their respective homelands. The most striking case is that of Poland, whose wartime exile government served as the principal conduit for first-hand testimony (much of which was initially ignored …

Intellectual History

The Battle of the Classics

How a Nineteenth-Century Debate Can Save the Humanities Today

Eric Adler

Hosted by Morteza Hajizadeh

These are troubling days for the humanities. In response, a recent proliferation of works defending the humanities has emerged. But, taken together, what are these works really saying, and how …

Sports

Break Point

Two Minnesota Athletes and the Road to Title IX

Sheri Brenden

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

In Break Point: Two Minnesota Athletes and the Road to Title IX (University of Minnesota Press, 2022), Sheri Brenden examines how two teenage girls in Minnesota jump-started a revolution in high school …

Geography

Just One Rain Away

The Ethnography of River-City Flood Control

Stephanie C. Kane

Hosted by Stentor Danielson

Not long ago it seemed flood control experts were close to mastering the unruly flows funnelling toward Hudson Bay and the Prairie city of Winnipeg. But as more intense and …

Jewish Studies

Yiddish Revolutionaries in Migration

The Transnational History of the Jewish Labour Bund

Frank Wolff

Hosted by Miriam Schulz

Frank Wolff's ground-breaking Yiddish Revolutionaries in Migration: The Transnational History of the Jewish Labour Bund (Haymarket Books, 2021) investigates how this social movement transformed itself from one of the most important revolutionary protagonists in …

Ministry of Ideas

Welcome to Valhalla

On a Progressive Paganism

Robert Schreiwer, Michael Strmiska, Lauren Crow, Ben Waggoner, and Thomas Engelmann

Hosted by Zachary Davis

Heathenry, a modern movement drawing on pre-Christian pagan religions, has become associated with the violent, racialized politics of the alt-right. Less well known is the fight to make heathenry — …

American Studies

Generation Gap

Why the Baby Boomers Still Dominate American Politics and Culture

Kevin Munger

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

In Generation Gap: Why the Baby Boomers Still Dominate American Politics and Culture (Columbia UP, 2022), Kevin Munger marshals novel data and survey evidence to argue that generational conflict will define the politics …

Peoples & Things

Engineering and Social Justice

A Discussion with Donna Riley

Donna Riley

Hosted by Lee Vinsel

Donna Riley, professor and head of the school of engineering education at Purdue University, talks about her path, her work, and her 2008 book, Engineering and Social Justice, with Peoples …

Almost Good Catholics

Stabat Mater

A Sandy Hook Mom Stands with Mary at the Foot of the Cross

Laura Phelps

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec

One morning in December of 2012, Laura Phelps’s little children went to school and lived through an attack by a madman who shot 20 of their classmates. Laura’s community was …

Jewish Studies

Jewish Flavours of Italy

A Family Cookbook

Silvia Nacamulli

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Jewish Flavours of Italy: A Family Cookbook (Green Bean Books, 2022) is a culinary journey through Italy and a deep dive into family culinary heritage. With more than 100 kosher …

Book of the Day/ Animal Studies

If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal

What Animal Intelligence Reveals About Human Stupidity

Justin Gregg

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

What if human intelligence is actually more of a liability than a gift? After all, the animal kingdom, in all its diversity, gets by just fine without it. At first glance, human history is full of remarkable feats of intelligence, yet human exceptionalism can be a double-edged sword. With our unique cognitive prowess comes severe consequences, including existential angst, violence, discrimination, and the creation of a world teetering towards climate …

Asian Review of Books

Anglo-India and the End of Empire

Uther Charlton-Stevens

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

It can be easy to think of colonies as having two populations: colonial subjects, and colonial overlords from Europe. It’s an easy narrative: one has power, status and privilege, the …

Postscript

Postscript: Narrative and Influence Activities in the Russo-Ukraine War

Jordan Miller

Hosted by Lilly Goren

For almost a year now, we have been absorbing news and information about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. There are a variety of different, or competing, narratives to explain and …

Academic Life

The Connected PhD, Part One

A Discussion with Alyssa Stalsberg Canelli and Jonathan Shapiro Anjaria

Alyssa Stalsberg Canelli and Jonathan Shapiro Anjaria

Hosted by Christina Gessler

Why do PhD programs assume students will become professors, when most people find careers outside academia? How can we better prepare graduate students for the post-grad career path? This episode …

Indian Religions

Opening Kailasanatha

The Temple in Kanchipuram Revealed in Time and Space

Padma Kaimal

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

In Opening Kailasanatha: The Temple in Kanchipuram Revealed in Time and Space (U Washington Press, 2020), Padma Kaimal deciphers the intentions of the monument’s makers, reaching back across centuries to …

Ministry of Ideas

Virtually Violent

Are Online Attacks "Violence?"

Erica Chenoweth, Joan Donovan, Oren Segal

Hosted by Zachary Davis

During the COVID-19 pandemic, vulnerable communities have been hit especially hard by disruptive online attacks. But calling these attacks "violent" could jeopardize the future of disruptive protests designed to protest …

Peoples & Things

The Archaeology of Innovation

A Discussion with Catherine Frieman

Catherine Frieman

Hosted by Lee Vinsel

Catherine Frieman, an associate professor of European Archaeology at the School of Archaeology, talks about her recent book, An Archaeology of Innovation: Approaching Social and Technological Change in Human Society …

Dan Hill's EQ Spotlight

Between Us

How Cultures Create Emotions

Batja Mesquita

Hosted by Dan Hill

Today I talked to Batja Mesquita about her book Between Us: How Cultures Create Emotions (Norton, 2022). To a degree sometimes not realized, we discuss emotions through the lens of what have been …

Almost Good Catholics

In the Swiss Guards

Reflections on Two Years Guarding the Pope

David Geisser

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec

David Geisser was a Swiss Guard protecting Pope Francis and the Apostolic Palace between 2013 and 2015. He was following the footsteps of his father who had been in the …

SSEAC Stories

Shaping Civilisations

The Sea in Asian History

Eric Tagliocozzo

Hosted by Natali Pearson

The ocean is more connective device than barrier, bringing together diverse topics, time-periods and geographies. It has linked and connected the various littorals of Asia into a segmented, yet at …

Why We Argue

Seeing Truth in Museums

A Conversation about the Legacy and Future of Museums with Chris Newell

Chris Newell

Hosted by Alexis Boylan

Feeling down about museums? We have so many reasons to, but Chris Newell, Tribal Community Member-in-Residence at UConn and Director of Education at the Akomawt Educational Initiative, gives a dose …

Literature

Charles Street Trio

A Novel in Three Voices

Anthony Valerio, Kate Farrell, and Pamela Manché Pearce

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Charles Street Trio: A Novel in Three Voices (2022) is a series of books that collectively form a tapestry of life in the form of a sprawling epic of a …

Book of the Day/ Medicine

Habit Forming

Drug Addiction in America, 1776-1914

Elizabeth Kelly Gray

Hosted by Rachel Pagones

Habitual drug use in the United States is at least as old as the nation itself. Elizabeth Kelly Gray's book Habit Forming: Drug Addiction in America, 1776-1914 (Oxford UP, 2023) traces the history of unregulated drug use and dependency before 1914, when the Harrison Narcotic Tax Act limited sales of opiates and cocaine under US law. Many Americans used opiates and other drugs medically and became addicted. Some tried ‘Hasheesh Candy’, injected …

Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel

The Aryan Jesus

Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany

Susannah Heschel

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany (Princeton UP, 2010) documents the process, and relative ease, with which institutions of higher learning and the religious establishment …

European Politics

Central Banks and Supervisory Architecture in Europe

Lessons from Crises in the 21st Century

Robert Holzmann and Fernando Restoy

Hosted by Tim Jones

Since 2020, Europe's financial sector has been severely stress-tested by a global pandemic and a major land war yet, compared to the period between 2007 and 2012, the impact has …

Islamic Studies

In and Out of This World

Material and Extraterrestrial Bodies in the Nation of Islam

Stephen C. Finley

Hosted by Kristian Petersen

With In and Out of This World: Material and Extraterrestrial Bodies in the Nation of Islam (Duke University Press, 2022), Stephen C. Finley, Inaugural Chair, Department of African and African …

Ministry of Ideas

Dissecting Morality

What do Scientists Have To Say About Ethics? (Part 1)

Diane Paul, Ben Allen, and Steven Pinker

Hosted by Zachary Davis

Linking morality and science can conjure up disturbing histories around social Darwinism, eugenics, and genetically engineered humans. But scientists today are making discoveries that moral agents shouldn’t ignore: how to …

British Studies

Black Oot Here

Black Lives in Scotland

Francesca Sobande and layla-roxanne hill

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

What does it mean to be Black in Scotland today? How are notions of nationhood, Scottishness, and Britishness implicated in this? Why is it important to archive and understand Black …

Peoples & Things

The History of Electricity in Mexico

A Discussion with Diana Montaño

Diana Montaño

Hosted by Lee Vinsel

In her detailed cultural history of technological change, Electrifying Mexico, Diana Montaño argues that ordinary Mexicans became electrifying agents who actively negotiated the extent and manner electricity entered their lives …

Almost Good Catholics

What if You're Gay?

Starting Conversations with and about LGBT Catholics

Father James Martin, SJ

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec

Since 2016, and with the blessing of Pope Francis, Father Jim Martin has been talking with LGBT Catholics about their relationship with their church. That’s the subject of his book …

Nomads, Past and Present

Words Like Daggers: The Political Poetry of the Negev Bedouin

Kobi Peled

Hosted by Maggie Freeman

For generations, the composition and recitation of poetry has been a key mode of expression among Bedouin populations in the Middle East, reflecting social norms, religious practices, relationships with the …

Jewish Studies

Rewriting Maimonides

Early Commentaries on the Guide of the Perplexed

Igor H. De Souza

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Maimonideanism, the intellectual culture inspired by Maimonides’ writings, has received much recent attention. Yet a central aspect of Maimonideanism has been overlooked: the formal reception of the Guide of the …

African American Studies

The Black Athlete Revolt

The Sport Justice Movement in the Age Of #BlackLivesMatter

Shaun M. Anderson

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

In the age of social media, athletes have a powerful influence like never before. Many Black athletes have used that power in positive ways, galvanizing their platforms to create impactful …

Nordic Asia Podcast

Myanmar Jewellers in China

A Discussion with Juliet Zhu

Juliet Zhu

Hosted by Julie Yu-Wen Chen

China re-opened border in a final farewell to its strict zero-COVID policy on the 8th of January, 2023. But in the first few weeks of January, the Myanmar side of …

Book of the Day/ Law

The China Nexus

Thirty Years in and Around the Chinese Communist Party's Tyranny

Benedict Rogers

Hosted by Jane Richards

The China Nexus: Thirty Years In and Around the Chinese Communist Party's Tyranny (Optimum Publishing, 2022) brings together Benedict Rogers' 30 years of advocacy, research and work in and around China. Opening with his rollicking adventures as an 18 year old teaching English in Qingdao in 1992, the human element of this monograph, the real people and their lives are foregrounded. Rogers takes the reader through a nexus of the CCP's tyranny; from China's …

Diplomatic History

The Struggle for Iran

Oil, Autocracy, and the Cold War, 1951-1954

David S. Painter and Gregory Brew

Hosted by Grant Golub

Beginning with the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry in spring 1951 and ending with its reversal following the overthrow of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq in August 1953, the Iranian …

Animal Studies

Animals in Irish Society

Interspecies Oppression and Vegan Liberation in Britain's First Colony

Corey Lee Wrenn

Hosted by Kyle Johannsen

Irish vegan studies are poised for increasing relevance as climate change threatens the legitimacy and longevity of animal agriculture and widespread health problems related to animal product consumption disrupt long …

Catholic Studies

Jesuit Colleges and Universities in the United States

A History

Michael T. Rizzi

Hosted by Allison Isidore

Jesuit Colleges and Universities in the United States: A History (Catholic University of America Press, 2022) provides a comprehensive history of Jesuit higher education in the United States, weaving together the stories …

Ministry of Ideas

Dissecting Morality

What do Scientists Have To Say About Ethics? (Part 2)

Diane Paul, Ben Allen, and Steven Pinker

Hosted by Zachary Davis

South Asian Studies

The Vulgarity of Caste

Dalits, Sexuality, and Humanity in Modern India

Shailaja Paik

Hosted by Niharika Yadav

The Vulgarity of Caste: Dalits, Sexuality, and Humanity in Modern India (Stanford UP, 2022) offers the first social and intellectual history of Dalit performance of Tamasha—a popular form of public, secular …

Peoples & Things

Business in Socialist Hungary

A Discussion with Phil Scranton

Phil Scranton

Hosted by Lee Vinsel

Philip Scranton, University Board of Governors Professor Emeritus of the history of industry and technology at Rutgers University-Camden, talks about his book, Business Practice In Socialist Hungary, Volume 1: Creating …

Ukrainian Studies

Wild Music

Sound and Sovereignty in Ukraine

Maria Sonevytsky

Hosted by John Vsetecka

In Wild Music: Sound and Sovereignty in Ukraine (Wesleyan UP, 2019), Maria Sonevytsky tracks vernacular Ukrainian discourses of “wildness” as they manifested in popular music during a volatile decade of …

Almost Good Catholics

Chatting with the Homeless

Looking for Jesus among the Least of Our Brothers

Brother John Vianney Russel, OP

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec

Dominican Friar John Vianney Russel has made a habit of talking with homeless people and shares what he has learned. He doesn’t have all the answers and, in fact, we …

Jewish Studies

The Holocaust in Romania

The Destruction of Jews and Roma Under the Antonescu Regime, 1940-1944

Radu Ioanid

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

The Holocaust in Romania: The Destruction of Jews and Roma Under the Antonescu Regime, 1940-1944 (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022), Radu Ioanid explores in great detail the physical destruction of Romania's …

African American Studies

Soundworks

Race, Sound, and Poetry in Production

Anthony Reed

Hosted by Henry Ivry

In Soundworks: Race, Sound, and Poetry in Production (Duke UP, 2020), Anthony Reed argues that studying sound requires conceiving it as process and as work. Since the long Black Arts …

The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones

The Future of Computer Chips

A Discussion with Julian Kamasa

Julian Kamasa

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones

Microchips are both important and in short supply. So how important? And what can be done to make them more plentiful? Also, what are the geopolitical implications of having the …

Book of the Day/ Exchanges: A Cambridge UP Podcast

This Is Not Who We Are

America’s Struggle Between Vengeance and Virtue

Zachary Shore

Hosted by Mark Klobas

What kind of country is America? Zachary Shore tackles this polarizing question by spotlighting some of the most morally muddled matters of WWII. Should Japanese Americans be moved from the west coast to prevent sabotage? Should the German people be made to starve as punishment for launching the war? Should America drop atomic bombs to break Japan's will to fight? Surprisingly, despite wartime anger, most Americans and key officials favored …

Systems and Cybernetics

Design Journeys Through Complex Systems

Practice Tools for Systemic Design

Peter Jones and Kristel van Ael

Hosted by Kevin Lindsay

As I slowly settle into 2023 — reflecting on the blur that was 2022 — I can’t help but think about the complex problems (aka big messes!) we face at …

World Christianity

The Politics of Persecution

Middle Eastern Christians in an Age of Empire

Mitri Raheb

Hosted by Byung Ho Choi

Persecution of Christians in the Middle East has been a recurring theme since the middle of the nineteenth century. The topic has experienced a resurgence in the last few years …

Middle Eastern Studies

Water the Willow Tree

Memoirs of a Bethlehem Boyhood

George Anton Kiraz

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

In Water the Willow Tree: Memoirs of a Bethlehem Boyhood (Gorgias Press, 2022), George A. Kiraz tells the story of a young Palestinian boy growing up in Bethlehem, fascinated with …

Ministry of Ideas

Above the Veil

Beyond Segregationism and Assimilationism

Ibram X. Kendi, Max Mueller, and Anika Prather

Hosted by Zachary Davis

The work of Ibram X. Kendi distinguishes between two forms of racism: segregationism and assimilationism. Segregationists argue that some groups are inferior by nature; assimilationists, on the other hand, argue …

South Asian Studies

Whole Numbers and Half Truths

What Data Can and Cannot Tell Us About Modern India

Rukmini S.

Hosted by Alok Prasanna and Sarayu Natarajan

How do you see India? Fuelled by a surge of migration to cities, the country's growth appears to be defined by urbanisation and by its growing, prosperous middle class. It …

Peoples & Things

Collaborations between Cold War Scientists and Artists

A Discussion with Patrick McCray

Patrick McCray

Hosted by Lee Vinsel

Patrick McCray, Professor of History at University of California, Santa Barbara, talks about his book, Making Art Work: How Cold War Engineers and Artists Forged a New Creative Culture, with …

Almost Good Catholics

Apocalypse Past, Present, and Future

Thinking about the End in History and Culture

John Jeffries Martin

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec

Historian John Jeffries Martin traces narratives of the Apocalypse over the last 500 years in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim traditions in his new book, A Beautiful Ending. This discussion …

Poetry

Hereafter

The Telling Life of Ellen O'Hara

Vona Groarke

Hosted by Hal Coase

Ellen O'Hara was a young immigrant from Ireland at the end of the nineteenth century who, with courage and resilience, made a life for herself in New York while financially …

Jewish Studies

In Search of Truth

Three Yeshiva Students on a Spiritual Journey

Menachem Brod

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Menachem Brod's In Search of Truth: Three Yeshiva Students on a Spiritual Journey (BSD Publishers, 2022) describes the struggle of yeshiva students searching for a path in serving Hashem. Examining …

Sociology

Stacked Decks

Building Inspectors and the Reproduction of Urban Inequality

Robin Bartram

Hosted by Michael Johnston

Though we rarely see them at work, building inspectors have the power to significantly shape our lives through their discretionary decisions. The building inspectors of Chicago are at the heart …

Scholarly Communication

Think Bigger--How Researchers Can Use their Books to Make Real Breakthroughs

A Discussion with Gita Manaktala, Editorial Director at MIT Press

Gita Manaktala

Hosted by Avi Staiman

Avi and Gita Manaktala discuss how researchers should approach the book publishing process, including determining whether research should be published as an article or book, how to make an impact …

Book of the Day/ East Asian Studies

The Emergence of Global Maoism

China's Red Evangelism and the Cambodian Communist Movement, 1949-1979

Matthew Galway

Hosted by Sarah Bramao-Ramos

How do ideas manifest outside of their place of origin, and how do they change once they do? The Emergence of Global Maoism: China’s Red Evangelism and the Cambodian Communist Movement, 1949–1979 (Cornell University Press, 2022) by Matthew Galway examines how ideological systems become localized, both in the indigenization of Marxism-Leninism by Mao Zedong and, more significantly, the indigenization of Maoism by the Communist Party of Kampuchea. Galway carefully investigates …

Almost Good Catholics

The Mesopotamian Connection

Comparing the Bible to Other Literature of the Ancient Near East

Cathleen Chopra-McGowan

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec

Professor Cathleen Chopra-McGowan examines some the incongruities of our Bible in the context of the Ancient Near East, showing how the stories and traditions of Israel resembled and borrowed from …

Jewish Studies

Anthology of Religious Poetry from the Mexican Inquisition Trials of 16th-Century CryptoJews

Mark A. Schneegurt

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

A century after being expelled from Portugal, cryptoJews in Mexico, false converts to Christianity, could not speak of their beliefs for fear of becoming embroiled in the imprisonment, torture, and …

General History

Epidemic Orientalism

Race, Capital, and the Governance of Infectious Disease

Alexandre I. R. White

Hosted by Nathan Moore

For many residents of Western nations, COVID-19 was the first time they experienced the effects of an uncontrolled epidemic. This is in part due to a series of little-known regulations …

Ministry of Ideas

Public Thinking

Social Media and the New 'Public Intellectual'

Cornel West and George Scialabba

Hosted by Zachary Davis

We have usually relied on public intellectuals to provide facts, ideas, and cultural leadership--though not all have lived up to the ideal of “speaking truth to power.” Today, however, online …

Shakespeare For All

Shakespeare's Life, World and Works 5: How to Read Shakespeare

A Discussion with Emma Smith

Emma Smith

Hosted by Zachary Davis

William Shakespeare, who lived in England from 1564 to 1616, is one of the world’s most popular and most captivating authors. Even four hundred years after his death, his plays …

Peoples & Things

The History of Teletherapy

A Conversation with Hannah Zeavin

Hannah Zeavin

Hosted by Lee Vinsel

Hannah Zeavin, lecturer in the department of History and member of the executive committees of both the Center for New Media and the Center for Science, Technology, Medicine, and Society …

South Asian Studies

Last Among Equals

Power, Caste and Politics in Bihar's Villages

M. R. Sharan

Hosted by Alok Prasanna and Sarayu Natarajan

M. R. Sharan is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, studying questions centred around development economics and political economy. He obtained his PhD from Harvard University in 202 …

Early Modern History

The Moving Statues of Seventeenth-Century Amsterdam

Automata, Waxworks, Fountains, Labyrinths

Angela Vanhaelen

Hosted by Jana Byars

Angela Vanhaelen's The Moving Statues of Seventeenth-Century Amsterdam: Automata, Waxworks, Fountains, Labyrinths (Penn State University Press, 2022) opens a window onto a fascinating and understudied aspect of the visual, material, intellectual, and cultural …

Psychology

Small Habits for a Big Life

Rebecca Ray

Hosted by Elizabeth Cronin

Change is not about grand statements and sweeping gestures. It is about chipping away, a bit at a time, at the habits that hold us back.Dr Rebecca Ray knows about …

Critical Theory

Adorno and the Ban on Images

Sebastian Truskolaski

Hosted by Lukas Hoffman

Adorno and the Ban on Images (Bloomsbury, 2022) upends some of the myths that have come to surround the work of the philosopher Theodor W. Adorno – not least amongst …

Think About It

Anne Fernald and Rajgopal Saikumar on Virginia Woolf's "Three Guineas" (1938)

Book Talk 57

Anne Fernald and Rajgopal Saikumar

Hosted by Uli Baer

Virginia Woolf’s 1938 provocative and polemical essay Three Guineas presents the iconic writer’s views on war, women, and the way the patriarchy at home oppresses women in ways that resemble …

Burned by Books

The Margot Affair

A Novel

Sanaë Lemoine

Hosted by Chris Holmes

Sanaë Lemoine is the author of The Margot Affair and a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellow. She was born in Paris to a Japanese mother and …

High Theory

Queer Space

A Discussion with Jack Jen Gieseking

Jack Jen Gieseking

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu

In this episode of High Theory, Jack Jen Gieseking tells us about queer space. Queer geographies matter alongside queer temporalities. And it turns out that lesbian life in the 1950s …

Higher Education

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 …