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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 …
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. …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Book of the Day/ Genocide Studies

Ideology and Mass Killing

The Radicalized Security Politics of Genocides and Deadly Atrocities

Jonathan Leader Maynard

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
In research on 'mass killings' such as genocides and campaigns of state terror, the role of ideology is hotly debated. For some scholars, ideologies are crucial in providing the extremist goals and hatreds that motivate ideologically committed people to kill. But many other scholars are skeptical: contending that perpetrators of mass killing rarely seem ideologically committed, and that rational self-interest or powerful forms of social pressure are more important drivers …
Interpretive Political and Social Science

Mobilizing in Uncertainty

Collective Identities and War in Abkhazia

Anastasia Shesterinina

Hosted by Nick Cheesman
Anastasia Shesterinina begins Mobilizing in Uncertainty: Collective Identities and War in Abkhazia (Cornell University Press, 2021) with an account of Georgian troops crossing into eastern Abkhazia, in the Southern Caucasus …
Environmental Studies

Encountering Water in Early Modern Europe and Beyond

Redefining the Universe Through Natural Philosophy, Religious Reformations, and Sea Voyaging

Lindsay Starkey

Hosted by Aspen Brown
What is holding the oceans back from entirely flooding the earth? While a twenty-first century thinker may approach the answer to this question within a framework of gravity and geologic deep-time, Lindsay Starkey …
Historical Fiction

Winter's Reckoning

A Novel

Adele Holmes

Hosted by C. P. Lesley
Madeline (Maddie) Fairbanks has created a satisfying life for herself in Jamesville since the death of her husband, Samuel, one of the town’s leading citizens. An herbalist from a long …
Medicine

Building Schools, Making Doctors

Architecture and the Modern American Physician

Katherine L. Carroll

Hosted by Rachel Pagones
In the late nineteenth century, medical educators intent on transforming American physicians into scientifically trained, elite professionals recognized the value of medical school design for their reform efforts. Between 189 …
East Asian Studies

Opportunity in Crisis

Cantonese Migrants and the State in Late Qing China

Steven B. Miles

Hosted by Huiying Chen
Opportunity in Crisis: Cantonese Migrants and the State in Late Qing China (Harvard UP, 2021) explores the history of late Qing Cantonese migration along the West River basin during war and …
On Religion

On Apocalypse Stories

A Discussion with Kelly J. Baker

Kelly J. Baker

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Dr. Kelly J. Baker is the author of the award-winning Gospel According to the Klan: The KKK’s Appeal to Protestant America, 1915-1930 (University Press of Kansas, 2011); The Zombies Are …
Education

Teaching Through the Archives

Text, Collaboration, and Activism

Tarez Samra Graban and Wendy Hayden

Hosted by Alice Garner
Archives are much more than silent repositories of historical material. They are rich sites for teaching and learning, for collaboration and for creative and critical exploration of our past, present …
Literature

The Extraordinary

Brad Schaeffer

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb
The Extraordinary by Brad Schaeffer (Post Hill Press 2021) tells the story of a family that is forced to confront both autism and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Fourteen-year-old Wes is …
Music

Sampling Politics

Music and the Geocultural

M. I. Franklin

Hosted by Gummo Clare
Music sampling has become a predominantly digitalized practice. It was popularized with the rise of Rap and Hip-Hop, as well as ambient music scenes, but it has a history stretching …
Writ Large

On Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God"

A Discussion with Joshua Bennett

Joshua Bennett

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Zora Neale Hurston was an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance, but her novels didn’t conform to the style of her contemporaries. As a result, her work was almost lost—until …
Burned by Books

Vladimir

A Novel

Julia May Jonas

Hosted by Chris Holmes
Julia May Jonas is a writer, director, and the founder of theater company Nellie Tinder.  She has taught at Skidmore College and NYU and lives in Brooklyn with her family …
High Theory

Environmental Catastrophe

A Conversation with John Yargo

John Yargo

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu
In this episode John Yargo speaks with Kim about Environmental Catastrophe. In the episode John quotes Hannah Arendt and N.K. Jemisin, discusses a Shakespeare play and a 17th century Peruvian …
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones

The Future of Political Anger

A Conversation with Mark Blyth

Mark Blyth

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones
Trump’s voters. The yellow jackets in France. Putin’s base in Russia. The Brexiteers. One thing all these groups have in common is anger – anger at being left behind, anger …
Scholarly Communication

Talk about Writing

The Tutoring Strategies of Experienced Writing Center Tutors

Jo Mackiewicz and Isabelle Thompson

Hosted by Daniel Shea
Listen to this interview with Jo Mackiewicz, professor of rhetoric and professional communication at Iowa State University, and with Isabelle Thompson, emerita professor of technical and professional communication and former …
Mathematics

Probability and Forensic Evidence

Theory, Philosophy, and Applications

Ronald Meester and Klaas Slooten

Hosted by Marc Goulet
In Probability and Forensic Evidence: Theory, Philosophy, and Applications (Cambridge UP, 2021), Ronald Meester and Klaas Slooten address the role of statistics and probability in the evaluation of forensic evidence, including …
General History

The Literacy Myth

Cultural Integration and Social Structure in the Nineteenth Century

Harvey J. Graff

Hosted by Nathan Moore
Harvey Graff's pioneering study presents a new and original interpretation of the place of literacy in nineteenth-century society and culture. Based upon an intensive comparative historical analysis, employing both qualitative …
Children's Literature

A History of Underwear with Professor Chicken

Hannah Holt

Hosted by Mel Rosenberg
Hannah Holt is a children's author with a civil engineering degree. Her picture books weave together her love of literature and lifelong learning. They include The Diamond and the Boy …
Darts & Letters

Letters from Herzl

Settler Colonialism at work in Palestine

Hosted by Gordon Katic
Today’s episode originally aired in May of 2021, while violence was erupting all along the Gaza Strip. Israeli airstrikes had left over 200 Palestinians and a dozen Israelis dead. It …
Book of the Day/ Performing Arts

The Lost Conversation

Interviews with an Enduring Avant-Garde

Sara Farrington

Hosted by Andy Boyd
Sara Farrington's The Lost Conversation: Interviews with an Enduring Avant-Garde (53rd State Press, 2021) is a collection of interviews with a host of influential artists in experimental theatre, including Richard Foreman, Lee Breuer, Adrienne Kennedy, Maude Mitchell, and Jessica Hagedorn. They discuss process, making a living as an artist, the changes that have rocked the New York theatre scene since the 1970s, AIDS, COVID, and so much more in wide-ranging and …
British Studies

Built on the Ruins of Empire

British Military Assistance and African Independence

Blake Whitaker

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
During the Cold War, the British government oversaw the transition to independence of dozens of colonies. Often the most challenging aspect of this transition was the creation of a national …
Drugs, Addiction and Recovery

Heroin

An Illustrated History

Susan C. Boyd

Hosted by Jay Shifman
Dr. Susan Boyd is a scholar/activist and Distinguished Professor emerita at the University of Victoria. Her research examines a variety of topics related to the history of drug prohibition and …
Film

Competing with Idiots

Herman and Joe Mankiewicz, a Dual Portrait

Nick Davis

Hosted by Daniel Moran
A fascinating, complex dual biography of Hollywood's most dazzling—and famous—brothers, and a dark, riveting portrait of competition, love, and enmity that ultimately undid them both. One most famous for having …
General History

Feminism's Empire

Carolyn J. Eichner

Hosted by Michael Vann
Feminism's Empire (Cornell UP, 2022) investigates the complex relationships between imperialisms and feminisms in the late nineteenth century and demonstrates the challenge of conceptualizing "pro-imperialist" and "anti-imperialist" as binary positions …
Politics & Polemics

Paths of Dissent

Soldiers Speak Out Against America's Forever Wars

Andrew Bacevich and Daniel A. Sjursen

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Compiled by New York Times bestselling author Andrew Bacevich and retired army officer Danny A. Sjursen, Paths of Dissent: Soldiers Speak Out Against America’s Misguided Wars (Metropolitan Books, 2022) collects provocative …
Law

Who Decides?

States As Laboratories of Constitutional Experimentation

Jeffrey S. Sutton

Hosted by William Domnarski
Everything in law and politics, including individual rights, comes back to divisions of power and the evergreen question: Who decides? Who wins the disputes of the day often turns on …
Environmental Studies

The Great Acceleration

An Environmental History of the Anthropocene since 1945

J. R. McNeill and Peter Engelke

Hosted by Brady McCartney
The Earth has entered a new age—the Anthropocene—in which humans are the most powerful influence on global ecology. Since the mid-twentieth century, the accelerating pace of energy use, greenhouse gas …
Music

Have a Little Faith

The John Hiatt Story

Michael Elliott

Hosted by Daniel Moran
A journey through an artist's quest for success, deep dive into substance abuse, family tragedy, and ultimate triumph. By the mid-1980s, singer-songwriter John Hiatt had been dropped from three record …
Finance

How to Pay for College

A Complete Financial Plan for Funding Your Child's Education

Ann Garcia

Hosted by John Emrich
Providing your children with a good education is one of the best gifts you can give. But it’s not straightforward. Education costs and student loan debt are skyrocketing. In some cases …
Philosophy

The Art of Abduction

Igor Douven

Hosted by Carrie Figdor
How should we form new beliefs? In particular, what inferential strategies are epistemically justified for forming new beliefs? Nowadays the dominant theory is Bayesianism, whereby we ought to reason in …
Jewish Studies

The Crowns on the Letters

Essays on the Aggada and the Lives of the Sages

Ari D. Kahn

Hosted by Matthew Miller
Rabbi Ari Kahn’s The Crowns on the Letters: Essays on the Aggada and the Lives of the Sages (OU Press, 2020) represents a major achievement in the study of the lives …
On Religion

On the Hungry Ghost

An Discussion with Dalena Storm

Dalena Storm

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Dalena Storm is a writer and educator. Her undergraduate training at Williams College was in Asian Studies with a Religious Studies Concentration, and her experiences in the study and practice …
American West

Visions of Nature

How Landscape Photography Shaped Settler Colonialism

Jarrod Hore

Hosted by Stephen Hausmann
During the early years of photography, settlers around the Pacific World were fascinated with the landscapes of the places they conquered. According to Dr. Jarrod Hore, a postdoctoral researcher and …
Writ Large

On Walter Lippmann's "Public Opinion"

A Discussion with Heidi Tworek

Heidi Tworek

Hosted by Zachary Davis
What is the role of the press in a democracy? For nearly a century, scholars, media critics, and politicians have debated this question—in a large part thanks to Walter Lippmann …
How to Be Wrong

Twitter, Intellectual Discourse, and Humility

A Conversation with Biochemist and Social Media Influencer George Styles

George Styles

Hosted by John Traphagan
For this episode of How To Be Wrong, I speak with George Styles, a biochemist and author of the book Contemplation. George is also what we describe these days as …
Darts & Letters

The Colonial Lens

Analyzing Decolonization, Reconciliation, and Colonialism in Academia

Hosted by Gordon Katic
Scholars want to decolonize everything, and universities say they are doing the hard work of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. But is anything really being done, or is it all for …
Book of the Day/ Psychology

Hatred of Sex

Oliver Davis and Tim Dean

Hosted by Eugenio Duarte
How well do we understand our relationship to sex? According to Oliver Davis and Tim Dean, authors of the new book Hatred of Sex (University of Nebraska Press, 2022), we tend to overlook the “unpleasurable pleasures” that are integral to sex. Sex undoes us, destabilizes us, takes us out of ourselves. Many of our 21st century cultural products—Queer Theory, traumatology, intersectional studies—secretly “hate” sex for these very reasons and build …
Academic Life

Writing Beyond a Limited Narrative

A Conversation with Hari Ziyad

Hari Ziyad

Hosted by Christina Gessler
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: Hari Ziyad’s journey through higher education.Why they became editor of RaceBaitr after finishing film school at NYU.The necessary disruption …
Science Fiction

The Women Could Fly

Megan Giddings

Hosted by Rob Wolf and Brenda Noiseux
The Women Could Fly (Amistad, 2022) is set in our contemporary world with one big difference. A belief in witches gives rise to laws and a culture that encourages women …
Dan Hill's EQ Spotlight

Women Painting Women

Andrea Karnes

Hosted by Dan Hill
Andrea Karnes' book Women Painting Women (Delmonico Books, 2022) documents a wide-ranging exhibit inclusive of women as both the makers and subjects of paintings. The artists hail from around the …
Political Science

Stars and Shadows

The Politics of Interracial Friendship from Jefferson to Obama

Saladin Ambar

Hosted by Lilly Goren
Slavery and its lingering remnants remain a plague on the United States, continuing to foster animosity between races that hinders the understanding and connection conducive to dismantling the remains of …
Gender Studies

Millennial Feminism at Work

Bridging Theory and Practice

Jane Juffer

Hosted by Iqra Shagufta Cheema
In Millennial Feminism at Work: Bridging Theory and Practice (Cornell UP, 2021), volume editor Jane Juffer brings together recently graduated students from across the US to reflect on the relevance of …
Sociology

Generally Speaking

An Invitation to Concept-Driven Sociology

Eviatar Zerubavel

Hosted by Rituparna Patgiri
Defying the conventional split between “theory” and “methodology,” Eviatar Zerubavel's Generally Speaking: An Invitation to Concept-Driven Sociology (Oxford UP, 2020) introduces a yet unarticulated and thus far never systematised method of …
Jewish Studies

Power and Progress

Joseph Ibn Kaspi and the Meaning of History

Alexander Green

Hosted by Ari Barbalat
The philosopher and biblical commentator Joseph Ibn Kaspi (1280–1345) was a provocative Jewish thinker of the medieval era whose works have generally been overlooked by modern scholars.  Power and Progress …
Children's Literature

The Light of the Midnight Stars

Rena Rossner

Hosted by Mel Rosenberg
Rena Rossner is a literary agent at The Deborah Harris Agency, based in Jerusalem, Israel, which represents Israeli, Palestinian and other Internationally-based authors. She is a graduate of Johns Hopkins …
Asian Review of Books

Empire of Salons

Conquest and Community in Early Modern Ottoman Lands

Helen Pfeifer

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
It’s the sixteenth century, and the Ottoman Empire has just defeated the Mamluk Sultanate, conquering Damascus and Cairo, important centers of Arab learning and culture. But how did these two …
On Religion

On Mormon Fundamentalism

A Discussion with Cristina Rosetti

Cristina Rosetti

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Cristina Rosetti completed her Ph.D. in religious studies at the University of California Riverside. She writes about Mormon fundamentalism. …
Genocide Studies

Sites of Genocide

Adam Jones

Hosted by Kelly McFall
Adam Jones will be familiar to anyone interested in the field of genocide studies.  He's published one of the leading textbooks in the field. He's been influential in drawing attention …
African American Studies

Or, on Being the Other Woman

Simone White

Hosted by Brittney Edmonds
In or, on being the other woman (Duke UP, 2022), Simone White considers the dynamics of contemporary black feminist life. Throughout this book-length poem, White writes through a hybrid of …
Indian Religions

Sadhus in Indian Politics

Dynamics of Hindutva

Koushiki Dasgupta

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Koushiki Dasgupta's Sadhus in Indian Politics: Dynamics of Hindutva (Sage, 2021) maps the changing face of contemporary Hindu politics, evaluating the influence of sadhus (ascetics) on the course of politics …
Writ Large

On "The Great Learning"

A Discussion with Peter Bol

Peter Bol

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Sometimes the oldest texts are the most influential. The Great Learning likely first appeared in the Confucian Book of Rites around 2,000 years ago, and its impact can still be …
Public Health

Big Vape

The Incendiary Rise of Juul

Jamie Ducharme

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
It began with a smoke break. James Monsees and Adam Bowen were two ambitious graduate students at Stanford, and in between puffs after class they dreamed of a way to …
British Studies

British Rail

A New History

Christian Wolmar

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
You think you know British Rail. But you don't know the whole story. Now, award-winning writer Christian Wolmar provides a new perspective on national loss in a time of privatisation …
On Religion

Islamophobia

What Christians Should Know (and Do) about Anti-Muslim Discrimination

Jordan Denari Duffner

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Jordan Denari Duffner is an author and scholar of Muslim-Christian relations, interreligious dialogue, and Islamophobia. Jordan is currently pursuing a PhD in Theological and Religious Studies at Georgetown University. A …
Darts & Letters

Modifying Maize

How Genetically Modified Corn Changed Science, Academia and Indigenous Rights in Mexico (Part 1 of 2)

Hosted by Gordon Katic
This is part 1 of a 2-part series from Cited - the predecessor of Darts and Letters. When genetically modified corn was found in the highlands of Mexico, Indigenous campesino …