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Book of the Day/ Critical Theory

Producing Politics

Inside the Exclusive Campaign World Where the Privileged Few Shape Politics for All of Us

Daniel Laurison

Hosted by Dave O'Brien
Who runs American politics? In Producing Politics: Inside the Exclusive Campaign World Where the Privileged Few Shape Politics for All of Us (Beacon Press, 2022), Daniel Laurison, an associate professor of sociology at Swarthmore College, explores the hidden world of campaign professionals to offer a new sociological perspective on how contemporary politics works. The book explores how ‘politicos’ get their jobs, how they judge work and worth, and the importance …
Southeast Asian Studies

A History of Thailand

Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit

Hosted by Patrick Jory
This year sees the publication of the fourth edition of the book, A History of Thailand (Cambridge UP, 2022), by Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. Remarkably, the Thai language translation of …
Music

Blackstar Theory

The Last Works of David Bowie

Leah Kardos

Hosted by Bradley Morgan
Blackstar Theory: The Last Works of David Bowie (Bloomsbury, 2022) takes a close look at David Bowie's ambitious last works: his surprise 'comeback' project The Next Day (2013), the off-Broadway …
On Religion

On the Krampus Conundrum

A Discussion with Madison Tarleton

Madison Tarleton

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Madison Tarleton is a Ph.D. candidate and scholar of Medieval Judaism in Christian Europe, antijudaism and antisemitism. Madison is studying at the University of Denver and Iliff School of Theology’s joint PhD …
Music

Following the Drums

African American Fife and Drum Music in Tennessee

John M. Shaw

Hosted by Emily Ruth Allen
Following the Drums: African American Fife and Drum Music in Tennessee (University Press of Mississippi,  2022) is an epic history of a little-known African American instrumental music form. Carefully documenting the …
African American Studies

My Seven Black Fathers

A Young Activist's Memoir of Race, Family, and the Mentors Who Made Him Whole

Will Jawando

Hosted by Ari Barbalat
Will Jawando tells a deeply affirmative story of hope and respect for men of color at a time when Black men are routinely stigmatized. As a boy growing up outside …
Music

Sight Readings

Photographers and American Jazz, 1900-1960

Alan John Ainsworth

Hosted by Adam Bobeck
Alan John Ainsworth's book Sight Readings: Photographers and American Jazz, 1900-1960 (Intellect, 2022) explores the work of a wide range of American photographers attracted to jazz during the period 1900–60. It …
Middle Eastern Studies

The Italian Empire and the Great War

Vanda Wilcox

Hosted by Roberto Mazza
The Italian Empire and the Great War (Oxford UP, 2021) by Vanda Wilcox brings an imperial and colonial perspective to the Italian experience of the First World War. Italy's decision for …
Writ Large

On Martin Puchner's "The Written World"

A Discussion with Martin Puchner

Martin Puchner

Hosted by Zachary Davis
What is the world without literature? It’s hard to imagine. We’d lose novels, sure. But we’d also lose the philosophies, politics, and religions of today because these all grew out …
Intellectual History

Social Science for What? (Part 2 of 2)

Battles over Public Funding for the “Other Sciences” at the National Science Foundation

Mark Solovey

Hosted by Keith Krueger
This is part two of a two part interview. Mark Solovey’s Social Science for What? is essential reading for anyone in either the history of science policy or the history of …
Darts & Letters

Lost Utopias

A History of World’s Fairs and the Nature of Technology

Hosted by Gordon Katic
Techno-utopianism is everywhere. It’s driven by a new tech-bro/crypto culture, supported by online hordes of true believers, and couched in philosophies of meritocracy and technocracy. But this thinking is not …
Nordic Asia Podcast

The Implications of the Ukrainian War for Taiwan’s Relations with China

A Discussion with Sean King

Sean King

Hosted by Julie Yu-Wen Chen
Is a Chinese invasion on Taiwan a storm on the horizon when the West is busy with the Ukrainian war? Will Nancy Pelosi’s plan to visit Taiwan in August, the …
Japanese Studies

Eavesdropping on the Emperor

Interrogators and Codebreakers in Britain's War With Japan

Peter Kornicki

Hosted by Jingyi Li
When Japanese signals were decoded at Bletchley Park, who translated them into English? When Japanese soldiers were taken as prisoners of war, who interrogated them? When Japanese maps and plans …
Exchanges: A Cambridge UP Podcast

Earthopolis

A Biography of Our Urban Planet

Carl H. Nightingale

Hosted by Mark Klobas
This is a biography of Earthopolis, the only Urban Planet we know of. It is a history of how cities gave humans immense power over Earth, for good and for …
Philosophy

Spying Through a Glass Darkly

The Ethics of Espionage and Counter-Intelligence

Cécile Fabre

Hosted by Robert Talisse
On its face, spying and counter-intelligence activities seem morally suspect. They tend to involve sneaking, deceiving, and manipulating, as well as various forms of betrayal, treachery, and disloyalty. Yet intelligence …
High Theory

Birthdays

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu
We return after our four-month relaunch with an episode on Birthdays, variously interpreted. The reason? It’s the second birthday of High Theory Podcast! (And it’s also the shared birthday of …
Grinnell College: Authors and Artists

Tasting Paradise on Earth

Jiangnan Foodways

Jin Feng

Hosted by Marshall Poe
Today I talked to Jin Feng of Grinnell College about her fascinating book Tasting Paradise on Earth: Jiangnan Foodways (U Washington Press, 2019). Preparing and consuming food is an integral part …
Book of the Day/ Literary Studies

Free Indirect

The Novel in a Postfictional Age

Timothy Bewes

Hosted by Iqra Shagufta Cheema
What is the purpose of a novel? What purpose or logic do literary critics assign to a novel? How has the novel changed? What does that mean for its readers and literary criticism in the contemporary era? What does novel share with cinema and what does that mean for contemporary thought? Timothy Bewes provides brilliant insights on these questions in his book, Free Indirect: The Novel in a Postfictional Age …
East-West Psychology Podcast

Classroom as a Sacred Space and Presence as Radical Respect

Pedagogy Beyond Neo-liberal Narratives and Dystopian Realities with Holly Adler

Holly Adler

Hosted by Stephen Julich and Jonathan Kay
In this episode we speak to EWP PhD graduate and EWP and ITP adjunct faculty Holly Adler from her classroom in Oakland, CA. As a teacher of underprivileged and marginalized …
Genocide Studies

British Responses to Genocide

The British Foreign Office and Humanitarianism in the Ottoman Empire, 1918-1923

Amy E. Grubb and Elisabeth Hope Murray

Hosted by Kelly McFall
When I was an undergrad, the chronology of World War One was simple. The war began in August of 1914 and ended in November of 1918. Now, of course, we know it's …
East Asian Studies

Guns, Guerillas, and the Great Leader

North Korea and the Third World

Benjamin R. Young

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Far from always having been an isolated nation and a pariah state in the international community, North Korea exercised significant influence among Third World nations during the Cold War era …
Japanese Studies

Sino-Japanese Reflections

Literary and Cultural Interactions between China and Japan in Early Modernity

Joshua A. Fogel and Matthew Fraleigh

Hosted by Jingyi Li
Joshua A. Fogel and Matthew Fraleigh's edited volume Sino-Japanese Reflections: Literary and Cultural Interactions between China and Japan in Early Modernity (de Gruyter, 2022) offers ten richly detailed case studies that …
On Religion

On Religious Literacy and Teacher Education

A Discussion with Chris Murray

Chris Murray

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Chris Murray is a social studies classroom teacher and religious literacy teacher education facilitator in Maryland. …
Middle Eastern Studies

The Horrors of Adana

Revolution and Violence in the Early Twentieth Century

Bedross Der Matossian

Hosted by Roberto Mazza
In April 1909, two waves of massacres shook the province of Adana, located in the southern Anatolia region of modern-day Turkey, killing more than 20,000 Armenians and 2,000 Muslims. The …
Scholarly Communication

Writing STEAM

Composition, STEM, and a New Humanities

Vivian Kao and Julia Kiernan

Hosted by Daniel Shea
Listen to this interview of Vivian Kao, Associate Professor of Composition and Coordinator of the First-Year Writing Program, and Julia Kiernan, Assistant Professor of Communication and Coordinator of Technical and …
Literature

Iconoclast

A Sean McPherson Novel

Laurie Buchanan

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb
A trained killer without a drop of human compassion shows up early in Laurie Buchanan’s second Sean McPherson thriller (Iconoclast (Spark Press 2022)). She has no problem murdering a woman …
Writ Large

On Jules Verne's "Around the World in 80 Days"

A Discussion with Joyce Chaplin

Joyce Chaplin

Hosted by Zachary Davis
When French author Jules Verne wrote Around the World in 80 Days in the late 1800s, scheduled global travel was practically science fiction, and 80 days seemed impossibly fast. But …
Indian Religions

After the War

The Last Books of the Mahabharata

Wendy Doniger

Hosted by Ujaan Ghosh
Wendy Doniger's After the War: The Last Books of the Mahabharata (Oxford UP, 2022) is a new translation of the final part of the Mahabharata, the great Sanskrit Epic poem about …
General History

The King's Peace

Law and Order in the British Empire

Lisa Ford

Hosted by Vladislav Lilic
Dr. Lisa Ford, Professor of History at the University of New South Wales, is the author of prize-winning monographs and a luminary in the field of global legal history. Her new …
Spiritual Practice and Mindfulness

Yin Yoga Therapy and Mental Health

An Integrated Approach

Tracey Meyers

Hosted by Elizabeth Cronin
Tracey Meyers' book Yin Yoga Therapy and Mental Health: An Integrated Approach (Singing Dragon, 2022) teaches yoga therapists and mental health professionals how to integrate Yin Yoga into practice and treatment …
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones

The Future of Korea: A Discussion with Eugene Y. Park

A Discussion with Eugene Y. Park

Eugene Y. Park

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones
There have been times when Korea has lived in periods of prolonged stability and tranquillity. But there have also been times, such as now, when it seems to have an …
Women's History

Citizens of the World

U. S. Women and Global Government

Megan Threlkeld

Hosted by Rebecca Turkington
In Citizens of the World: U.S. Women and Global Government (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022), Megan Threlkeld profiles nine American women in the first half of the 20th century who …
Think About It

Anne Fernald on Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway"

Book Talk 54

Anne Fernald

Hosted by Uli Baer
Halfway through Mrs Dalloway, Septimus Smith mutters to himself: "Communication is health; communication is happiness, communication.” It’s easy to write off his message that communication is vital for human existence …
Darts & Letters

Socialise the Series of Tubes

Toward a Democratic Internet

Ben Tarnoff

Hosted by Gordon Katic
Recently a major outage took nearly a third of Canada offline. No phone, no internet… even access to 911 got shut down in some places. So why does one company …
Book of the Day/ Popular Culture

Teenage Dreams

Girlhood Sexualities in the U.S. Culture Wars

Charlie Jeffries

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan
Utilizing a breadth of archival sources from activists, artists, and policymakers, Charlie Jeffries' Teenage Dreams: Girlhood Sexualities in the U.S. Culture Wars (Rutgers UP, 2022) examines the race- and class-inflected battles over adolescent women’s sexual and reproductive lives in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century United States. Charlie Jeffries finds that most adults in this period hesitated to advocate for adolescent sexual and reproductive rights, revealing a new culture war altogether--one …
Anthropology

Routledge Handbook of Ecocultural Identity

Tema Milstein and José Castro-Sotomayor

Hosted by Adam Bobeck
The Routledge Handbook of Ecocultural Identity (Routledge, 2020) brings the ecological turn to sociocultural understandings of self. Tema Milstein and José Castro-Sotomayor introduce a broad, insightful assembly of original theory and research …
On Religion

On Naked in the Zendo

A Discussion with Roshi Grace Schireson

Roshi Grace Schireson

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Roshi Grace Schireson is a teacher in the Suzuki Roshi Lineage of Soto Zen, empowered by Sojun Mel Weitsman. She has also practiced in the Rinzai tradition and was encouraged …
General History

Left in the Center

The Liberal Party of New York and the Rise and Fall of American Social Democracy

Daniel Soyer

Hosted by Robert Snyder
The history of small political parties and the history of the American left are closely intertwined, especially in the book Left in the Center: The Liberal Party of New York …
Education

Other People's Colleges

The Origins of American Higher Education Reform

Ethan W. Ris

Hosted by Joao Souto-Maior
For well over one hundred years, people have been attempting to make American colleges and universities more efficient and more accountable. Indeed, Ethan Ris argues in Other People's Colleges: The …
Politics & Polemics

Goliath

The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy

Matt Stoller

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
In Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy (Simon & Schuster, 2019), Matt Stoller explains how authoritarianism and populism have returned to American politics for the first time …
Education

Why They Hate Us

How Racist Rhetoric Impacts Education

Lindsay Pérez Huber and Susana M. Muñoz

Hosted by Autumn Wilke
Why They Hate Us: How Racist Rhetoric Impacts Education (Teachers College Press, 2021) examines how racist political rhetoric has created damaging and dangerous conditions for Students of Color in schools …
Jewish Studies

The Bible with and Without Jesus

How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently

Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler

Hosted by Zalman Newfield
In The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently (HarperOne, 2020), Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler take readers on a guided tour …
Middle Eastern Studies

Second-Generation Liberation Wars

Yaniv Voller

Hosted by Dilan Okcuoglu
The formation of post-colonial states in Africa, and the Middle East gave birth to prolonged separatist wars. Exploring the evolution of these separatist wars, In Second-Generation Liberation Wars Cambridge UP, 2022),Yaniv …
Latin American Studies

The New Pan-Americanism and the Structuring of Inter-American Relations

Juan Pablo Scarfi and David M. K. Sheinin

Hosted by Steven Rodriguez
In The New Pan-Americanism and the Structuring of Inter-American Relations (Routledge, 2022), David Sheinin and Juan Pablo Scarfi bring together articles that reconsider many aspects of U.S.-Latin American history. Pan-Americanism …
Music

DIY Music and the Politics of Social Media

Ellis Jones

Hosted by Gummo Clare
Since the 1970s, there has been a rich, global lineage of broadly guitar-based music scenes which have enacted a political critique of the commercial music industries under the banner of …
Writ Large

On Thomas of Monmouth's "The Life and Passion of William of Norwich"

A Discussion with Rowan Dorin

Rowan Dorin

Hosted by Zachary Davis
There is only one surviving copy of The Life and Passion of William of Norwich, but its story continues to haunt us. When 12th-century monk Thomas of Monmouth learned of …
Jewish Studies

Thinking about Good and Evil

Jewish Views from Antiquity to Modernity

Wayne Allen

Hosted by Matthew Miller
Today I talked to Rabbi Wayne Allen about his book Thinking about Good and Evil: Jewish Views from Antiquity to Modernity (U Nebraska Press, 2021). Starting with the Bible and Apocrypha …
Literary Studies

The Obsolete Empire

Untimely Belonging in Twentieth-Century British Literature

Philip Tsang

Hosted by Gargi Binju
Modernist literature at the end of the British empire challenges conventional notions of homeland, heritage, and community. The waning British empire left behind an abundance of material relics and an …
Literary Studies

Interwar Itineraries

Authenticity in Anglophone and French Travel Writing

Emily O. Wittman

Hosted by Nathan Moore
How people traveled, and how people wrote about travel, changed in the interwar years. Novel technologies eased travel conditions, breeding new iterations of the colonizing gaze. The sense that another …
Darts & Letters

The Revolution Will Not Be Streamed

The Intellectual Culture of Twitch Streamers

Hosted by Gordon Katic
It was billed as “the biggest event in the history of the terminally online.” A debate: socialism vs. capitalism. On your left side, the esteemed Marxist economist Richard Wolff. On …
Book of the Day/ Biography

The Enigma of Clarence Thomas

Corey Robin

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Most people can tell you two things about Clarence Thomas: Anita Hill accused him of sexual harassment, and he almost never speaks from the bench. Here are some things they don't know: Until Thomas went to law school, he was a black nationalist. In college he memorized the speeches of Malcolm X. He believes white people are incurably racist.  In The Enigma of Clarence Thomas (Metropolitan Books, 2019), Corey Robin--one …
Architecture

A Backyard Prairie

The Hidden Beauty of Tallgrass and Wildflowers

Fred Delcomyn and James L. Ellis

Hosted by Bryan Toepfer
In 2003 Fred Delcomyn imagined his backyard of two and a half acres, farmed for corn and soybeans for generations, restored to tallgrass prairie. Over the next seventeen years, Delcomyn …
In Conversation: An OUP Podcast

Nimitz at War

Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay

Craig L. Symonds

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Only days after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt tapped Chester W. Nimitz to assume command of the Pacific Fleet. Nimitz was not the most senior candidate …
Psychology

The Mind and the Moon

My Brother's Story, the Science of Our Brains, and the Search for Our Psyches

Daniel Bergner

Hosted by Steve Beitler
Why is our understanding of the mind so limited? How do cells become consciousness? What are the limitations of a biological model of the mind and its disorders? In The …
Academic Life

Do You Need a Developmental Editor?

A Discussion with Laura Portwood-Stacer

Laura Portwood-Stacer

Hosted by Christina Gessler
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Dr. Laura Portwood-Stacer’s own experience getting her first two academic books published.An overview of different kinds of editors who …
Indian Religions

Gods in the Time of Democracy

Kajri Jain

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
In 2018 India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, inaugurated the world's tallest statue: a 597-foot figure of nationalist leader Sardar Patel. Twice the height of the Statue of Liberty, it is …
On Religion

On Jukai and Zen Training

A Discussion with Robert Schaefer

Robert Schaefer

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Robert Schaefer is a professional chef and lifelong Buddhist practitioner. He received the Jukai ceremony at the Korinji Rinzai Monastery in Wisconsin under the direction of Roshi Meido Moore. …
Economics

The Effect

An Introduction to Research Design and Causality

Nick Huntington-Klein

Hosted by Peter Lorentzen
The Effect: An Introduction to Research Design and Causality (Routledge, 2021) is about methods for using observational data to make causal inferences. It provides an extensive discussion of causality and …
Political Science

The Knowledge Polity

Teaching and Research in the Social Sciences

Paul A. Djupe, Anand Edward Sokhey, and Amy Erica Smith

Hosted by Lilly Goren
Paul A. Djupe, Anand Edward Sokhey, and Amy Erica Smith, The Knowledge Polity: Teaching and Research in the Social Sciences (Oxford UP, 2022) explores a more holistic understanding of knowledge production in …
Asian Review of Books

Shrimp to Whale

South Korea from the Forgotten War to K-Pop

Ramon Pacheco Pardo

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
If there’s a country that “punches above its weight”, it’s South Korea. It’s home to some of the world’s largest and most important companies, and the source of pop culture …
Writ Large

On "The Story of the Stone"

A Discussion with Ronald Egan

Ronald Egan

Hosted by Zachary Davis
The 1750s are remembered as a high point of China's Qing Dynasty: a time of power, prestige, and social harmony. But The Story of the Stone paints a different picture …
Recall This Book

Dana Stevens on Buster Keaton (JP EF)

Dana Stevens

Hosted by Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz
Dana Stevens joins Elizabeth and John to discuss Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema and the Invention of the Twentieth Century. Her fantastic new book serves as occasion …
History of Science

Minerva's French Sisters

Women of Science in Enlightenment France

Nina Rattner Gelbart

Hosted by Victor Monnin
In Minerva’s French Sisters: Women of Science in Enlightenment France (Yale University Press, 2021), Nina Gelbart, Professor of History and Anita Johnson Wand Professor of Women’s Studies at Occidental College …
Anthropology

Academic Outsider

Stories of Exclusion and Hope

Victoria Reyes

Hosted by Reighan Gillam
In Academic Outsider: Stories of Exclusion and Hope (Stanford University Press, 2022), sociologist Victoria Reyes combines her personal experiences with research findings to examine how academia creates conditional citizenship for its …
Darts & Letters

America's Chernobyl, Part 1

Living in a Poison Town

Hosted by Gordon Katic
In this episode of Cited: What it means to live in a place where your home can give you cancer. Richland, Washington is a company town that sprang up almost …
Book of the Day/ General History

The Last Witches of England

A Tragedy of Sorcery and Superstition

John Callow

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
On the morning of Thursday 29 June 1682, a magpie came rasping, rapping and tapping at the window of a prosperous Devon merchant. Frightened by its appearance, his servants and members of his family had, within a matter of hours, convinced themselves that the bird was an emissary of the devil sent by witches to destroy the fabric of their lives. As the result of these allegations, three women of …
Anthropology

Sextarianism

Sovereignty, Secularism, and the State in Lebanon

Maya Mikdashi

Hosted by Alize Arıcan
The Lebanese state is structured through religious freedom and secular power sharing across sectarian groups. Every sect has specific laws that govern kinship matters like marriage or inheritance. Together with …
Japanese Studies

Middlemen of Modernity

Local Elites and Agricultural Development in Meiji Japan

Christopher Craig

Hosted by Ran Zwigenberg
Christopher Craig’s Middlemen of Modernity: Local Elites and Agricultural Development in Meiji Japan (U Hawaii Press, 2021) is a thoroughly research and engaging study of the role of local elites …
General History

Australia in the Age of International Development, 1945–1975

Colonial and Foreign Aid Policy in Papua New Guinea and Southeast Asia

Nicholas Ferns

Hosted by Bernard Keo
In the voluminous literature on the history of modernisation theory and its associated concept of development since the end of World War II, much of the focus lies on the …
Middle Eastern Studies

Oil, the State, and War

The Foreign Policies of Petrostates

Emma Ashford

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Oil, the State, and War: The Foreign Policies of Petrostates (Georgetown University Press, 2022) by Dr. Emma Ashford presents a comprehensive challenge to prevailing understanding of international implications of oil …
On Religion

On Staying Grounded in Uncertain Times

A Discussion with Deborah Eden Tull

Deborah Eden Tull

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Deborah Eden Tull is the founder of Mindful Living Revolution. She is a Zen meditation and mindfulness teacher, public speaker, author, activist, and sustainability educator. She trained for seven years as …
American Studies

Living the Dream

The Contested History of Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Daniel T. Fleming

Hosted by James West
Living the Dream: The Contested History of Martin Luther King Jr. Day (UNC Press, 2022) tells the history behind the establishment of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the battle …
Art

Shelf Documents

Art Library as Practice

Heide Hinrichs and Jo-Ey Tang

Hosted by Pierre d'Alancaisez
How can a library change the world? How can an art library change the art school or the gallery? Or even an art practice? In Shelf Documents: Art Library as …
Disability Studies

Elusive Kinship

Disability and Human Rights in Postcolonial Literature

Christopher Krentz

Hosted by Autumn Wilke
Dr. Christopher Krentz is an Associate Professor at the University of Virginia, where he has a joint appointment with the departments of English and American Sign Language. He is also …
Military History

The Castle

A History

John Goodall

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
In The Castle: A History (Yale University Press, 2022) Dr. John Goodall presents a vibrant history of the castle in Britain, from the early Middle Ages to the present day …
Writ Large

On Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass"

A Discussion with Elisa New

Elisa New

Hosted by Zachary Davis
“These United States are themselves the greatest poem.” When Walt Whitman wrote this line, he was an unknown Brooklyn newspaper man. But his work would transform American poetry and offer …
Literary Studies

Spoon River America

Edgar Lee Masters and the Myth of the American Small Town

Jason Stacy

Hosted by Daniel Moran
A literary and cultural milestone, Spoon River Anthology captured an idea of the rural Midwest that became a bedrock myth of life in small-town America. Jason Stacy places the book …
Burned by Books

The Last White Man

A Novel

Mohsin Hamid

Hosted by Chris Holmes
Mohsin Hamid is the author of five novels -- The Last White Man, Exit West, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and Moth Smoke -- …
General History

The Memory of Colonialism in Britain and France

The Sins of Silence

Itay Lotem

Hosted by Michael Vann
In The Memory of Colonialism in Britain and France: The Sins of Silence (Palgrave MacMillan, 2021), Itay Lotem explores the remembering of empire in Britain and France. By comparing these two former …
Scholarly Communication

Covering Higher Ed

A Chat with Sara Custer of Times Higher Education

Sara Custer

Hosted by Avi Staiman
A special opportunity to hear from Sara Custer, editor of The Campus (Times Higher Education), about the role of journalism and reporting in higher education. Avi and Sara cover topics …
Darts & Letters

American Chernobyl, Part 2

The Most Poisonous Place in the USA

Hosted by Gordon Katic
Hanford is the most-polluted place in America. In our last episode, you heard about the nuclear plant's largely-forgotten history--how it poisoned the people living downwind. On our season finale: a …
Nordic Asia Podcast

China’s Role in the Future of Green Energy

A Discussion with Einari Kisel

Einari Kisel

Hosted by Nordic Asia Podcast
How green is green energy really? And what role does Asia, more specifically China play in the transition to green energy? On the 7th of July, International Energy Agency came …
SSEAC Stories

East Timorese Politics

A New Dawn or Return to Business as Usual?

Michael Leach

Hosted by Natali Pearson
As the newest nation in Southeast Asia, Timor-Leste has been independent for just over 20 years. Timor-Leste is regularly ranked the most democratic nation in the region, and since reclaiming …
The Common Magazine

Three Omens of Federico da Montefeltro

The Common magazine (Spring, 2022)

Ben Stroud

Hosted by Emily Everett
Ben Stroud speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about his story “Three Omens of Federico da Montefeltro,” which appears in The Common’s spring issue. The story fictionalizes a moment in …
Book of the Day/ Princeton UP Ideas Podcast

Sonorous Desert

What Deep Listening Taught Early Christian Monks—and What It Can Teach Us

Kim Haines-Eitzen

Hosted by Mark Klobas
For the hermits and communal monks of antiquity, the desert was a place to flee the cacophony of ordinary life in order to hear and contemplate the voice of God. But these monks discovered something surprising in their harsh desert surroundings: far from empty and silent, the desert is richly reverberant. Sonorous Desert: What Deep Listening Taught Early Christian Monks—and What It Can Teach Us (Princeton UP, 2022) shares the …
Fantasy

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance

Foz Meadows

Hosted by Gabrielle Martin
A Strange and Stubborn Endurance (Tor, 2022) is marketed as a historical fantasy novel, but its subtle and humane sweetness set it aside from most examples of the genre. Though it offers …
Food

What a Mushroom Lives For

Matsutake and the Worlds They Make

Michael J. Hathaway

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
What a Mushroom Lives For: Matsutake and the Worlds They Make (Princeton University Press, 2022) by Dr. Michael Hathaway pushes today’s mushroom renaissance in compelling new directions. For centuries, Western …
Film

Hollywood Sports Movies and the American Dream

Grant Wiedenfeld

Hosted by Annie Berke
Through the heart of Hollywood cinema runs a surprising current of progressive politics. Sports movies, a genre that has flourished since the mid-seventies, evoke the American dream and represent the …
Popular Culture

A Woman's Place Is in the Brewhouse

A Forgotten History of Alewives, Brewsters, Witches, and Ceos

Tara Nurin

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan
Tara Nurin explores women in all aspects of the brewing industry in A Women's Place is in the Brewhouse (Chicago Review Press, 2021). Women have brewed beer throughout most of human history. Their …
Literary Studies

Decolonising the Conrad Canon

Alice M. Kelly

Hosted by Gargi Binju
With the pressing work of decolonising our reading lists gaining traction in UK higher educational contexts, Decolonising the Conrad Canon (Liverpool UP, 2022) shows how those author-Gods most associated with …
East-West Psychology Podcast

Spiritual Evolution, the Problem of Suffering, and the Birth of the Future Human

A Discussion with Judson Davis

Judson Davis

Hosted by Stephen Julich and Jonathan Kay
Today Judson Davis, East-West Psychology PhD, takes us on a guided meditation and the conversation emerges from themes that arose in this liminal space. Through integral frameworks we discuss the …
French Studies

Toxique

Enquête sur les essais nucléaires français en Polynésie

Sébastien Philippe and Tomas Statius

Hosted by Roxanne Panchasi
What happens when you bring together an important collection of previously secret archival documents dealing with France's nuclear detonations in the Pacific from 1966 to 1996, a nuclear scientist, and …
Jewish Studies

The Idea of 'Israel' in Second Temple Judaism

A New Theory of People, Exile, and Israelite Identity

Jason A. Staples

Hosted by Michael Morales
How did the concept of Israel impact early Jewish apocalyptic hopes of restoration? How diverse was Israelite identity in antiquity? Tune in as we talk with Jason A. Staples about …
On Religion

On Online Churches

A Discussion with Tim Hutchings

Tim Hutchings

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Dr. Tim Hutchings is a sociologist of digital religion. His Ph.D. (Durham University, 2010) was an ethnographic study of five online Christian churches. Dr. Hutchings is interested in the relationship …
Entrepreneurship and Leadership

Creating Your Own Luck

A Conversation with Robin Bennett

Robin Bennett

Hosted by Richard Lucas and Kimon Fountoukidis
Some people just seem to have all the luck, and Robin Bennett is one of them. Robin is a British entrepreneur, writer, and documentary producer. He is also the founder …
Writ Large

On "Black Elk Speaks"

A Discussion with Philip Deloria

Philip Deloria

Hosted by Zachary Davis
In many ways, Black Elk and John Neihardt lived very different lives. Black Elk was an Oglala Lakota holy man. Neihartd was a European-American literary critic. Black Elk performed for …
Diplomatic History

China's European Headquarters

Switzerland and China During the Cold War

Ariane Knüsel

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
During the Cold War, the People's Republic of China used Switzerland as headquarters for its economic, political, intelligence, and cultural networks in Europe. Based on extensive research in Western and …
Scholarly Communication

The Realities of Completing a PhD

How to Plan for Success

Nicholas Rowe

Hosted by Daniel Shea
Listen to this interview of Nicholas Rowe, researcher and educator based in Finland. We talk his book The Realities of Completing a PhD: How to Plan for Success (Routledge, 2021) and about …
African American Studies

Riding Jane Crow

African American Women on the American Railroad

Miriam Thaggert

Hosted by Deidre Tyler
Miriam Thaggert illuminates the stories of African American women as passengers and as workers on the nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century railroad. As Jim Crow laws became more prevalent and forced Black …
Critical Theory

The Cruel Optimism of Racial Justice

Nasar Meer

Hosted by Dave O'Brien
Why are societies still not offering racial equality? In The Cruel Optimism of Racial Justice (Policy Press, 2022), Nasar Meer, a professor of Race, Identity and Citizenship in the School of …
Children's Literature

Hana Hsu and the Ghost Crab Nation

Sylvia Liu

Hosted by Mel Rosenberg
Sylvia Liu grew up with books and daydreams in Caracas, Venezuela. Once an environmental attorney protecting the oceans, she now spins stories for children, inspired by high tech, ghost crabs …
Darts & Letters

January 6th and the Myth of the Mob

The Pervasive Power of Crowd Theory

Hosted by Gordon Katic
This week, we’re showcasing some of our favourite past episodes of Darts and Letters themed around “Activism & Academia”. Today’s episode originally aired a little earlier this summer. In the …