The State

Philip Pettit

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

In The State (Princeton University Press, 2023), the prominent political philosopher Philip Pettit embarks on a massive undertaking, offering a major new account of the foundations of the state and the nature of justice. In doing so, Pettit builds a new theory of what the state is and what it ought to be, addresses the normative question of how justice serves as a measure of the success of a state …

Madison's Notes

Where Did Conservatism Go?

A Conversation with Yoram Hazony

Yoram Hazony

Hosted by Annika Nordquist

Israeli political philosopher Yoram Hazony discusses the Enlightenment, the American Founding, his latest book, Conservatism: A Rediscovery (Regnery Publishing, 2022), and Conservatism's past and future. Dr. Hazony is the President of the …

South Asian Studies

Composing Violence

The Limits of Exposure and the Making of Minorities

Moyukh Chatterjee

Hosted by Yash Sharma

In 2002, armed Hindu mobs attacked Muslims in broad daylight in the west Indian state of Gujarat. The pogrom, which was widely seen over television, left more than one thousand …

Indian Ocean World

Cosmopolitan Cultures and Oceanic Thought

Dilip M Menon and Nishat Zaidi

Hosted by Ahmed Almaazmi

Cosmopolitan Cultures and Oceanic Thought (Routledge, 2023) imagines the ocean as central to understanding the world and its connections in history, literature, and the social sciences. Introducing the central conceptual category …

MIT Press Podcast

Infrastructural Brutalism

Art and the Necropolitics of Infrastructure

Michael Truscello

Hosted by MIT Press

Michael Truscello, author of Infrastructural Brutalism: Art and the Necropolitics of Infrastructure, discusses the ways in which infrastructure determines who may live and who must die under contemporary capitalism. In …

History of Science

Split and Splice

A Phenomenology of Experimentation

Hans-Jörg Rheinberger

Hosted by Victor Monnin

In Split & Splice: A Phenomenology of Experimentation (University of Chicago Press, 2023), Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, director emeritus at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, investigates …

African Studies

Touts

Recruiting Indentured Labor in the Gulf of Guinea

Enrique Martino

Hosted by Sara Katz

Touts: Recruiting Indentured Labor in the Gulf of Guinea (de Gruyter, 2022) is a historical account of the troubled formation of a colonial labor market in the Gulf of Guinea …

Sex, Sexuality, and Sex Work

Sexed Up

How Society Sexualizes Us, and How We Can Fight Back

Julia Serano

Hosted by Eric LeMay

Today I interview Julia Serano about her new book, Sexed Up: How Society Sexualizes Us and How We Can Fight Back (Seal, 2022). Serano is an activist, performer, and acclaimed author of Whipping …

Jewish Studies

Flights of Spirit

Elly Gotz

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Today I talked to Elly Gotz, author of the memoir Flights of Spirit (Azrieli Foundation, 2018). Sixteen-year-old Elly Gotz hides with his family in an underground bunker in the Kovno ghetto in …

Military History

Dagger Fencing

The Italian School

Carlo Parisi

Hosted by Boris Karpa

Today, fighting with dagger versus dagger, or with knife versus knife, is not a common scenario that people might expect to face. However, it was more common in the Middle …

History Ex Silo

Empires after World War II: The Cases of the USSR and France

A Discussion with Rachel Applebaum and Emily Marker

Rachel Applebaum and Emily Marker

Hosted by Stephen Bittner

Where lay the fissures of Soviet power in Eastern Europe during the Cold War? Why did France fail in its postwar efforts to make its African colonies part of France …

Think About It

Cleo McNelly Kearns on Mark Twain’s "Huckleberry Finn"

Book Talk 60

Cleo McNelly Kearns

Hosted by Uli Baer

Celebrated, censored, canceled: Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn cannot be avoided. William Faulkner called Twain “the father of American literature.” Toni Morrison explained that “the brilliance of Adventures of …

Book of the Day/ Science, Technology, and Society

We Have Always Been Cyborgs

Digital Data, Gene Technologies, and an Ethics of Transhumanism

Stefan Lorenz Sorgner

Hosted by Frances Sacks

The concept of transhumanism emerged in the middle of the 20th century, and has influenced discussions around AI, brain–computer interfaces, genetic technologies and life extension. Despite its enduring influence in the public imagination, a fully developed philosophy of transhumanism has not yet been presented. In We Have Always Been Cyborgs: Digital Data, Gene Technologies, and an Ethics of Transhumanism (Bristol UP, 2023), leading philosopher Stefan Lorenz Sorgner explores the critical …

Law

Historical Criminology

David Churchill, Henry Yeomans, and Iain Channing

Hosted by Jane Richards

Historical Criminology (Routledge, 2022) breaks new ground by challenging researchers to question what we do, and why we do it. It draws out what criminologists can learn from historians, and examines the …

Critical Theory

Contemporary Art from Nigeria in the Global Markets

Trending in the Margins

Jonathan Adeyemi

Hosted by Dave O'Brien

How does the art market work? In Contemporary Art from Nigeria in the Global Markets: Trending in the Margins (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022), Jonathan Adeyemi, who holds a PhD from, and was formerly …

Women's History

Do Everything

The Biography of Frances Willard

Christopher H. Evans

Hosted by Jane Scimeca

Frances Willard (1839-1898) was one of the most prominent American social reformers of the late nineteenth century. As the long-time president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), Willard built …

Religion

Conspirituality

How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Public Health Threat

Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, and Julian Walker

Hosted by Blair Hodges

Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Public Health Threat (PublicAffairs, 2023) is a much-needed analysis of wellness, new age, and yoga influencers who’ve gone down the rabbit hole …

History of Science

Horizons

The Global Origins of Modern Science

James Poskett

Hosted by Victor Monnin

In Horizons: A Global History of Science (Mariner Books, 2022), James Poskett, Associate Professor in the History of Science and Technology at the University of Warwick, begins by asking, “Where …

Madison's Notes

The 10,000 Year Build-Up to Brexit

A Conversation with Ian Morris

Ian Morris

Hosted by Annika Nordquist

How did Britain become a global superpower? Historian and classicist Ian Morris thinks geography has a lot to do with it. Prof. Morris discusses his latest book, Geography is Destiny …

Indian Ocean World

India in the Indian Ocean World

From the Earliest Times to 1800 CE

Rila Mukherjee

Hosted by Ahmed Almaazmi

India in the Indian Ocean World: From the Earliest Times to 1800 CE (Springer, 2022) integrates the latest scholarly literature on the entire Indian Ocean region, from East Africa to China. Issues …

Anthropology

Life Beyond Waste

Work and Infrastructure in Urban Pakistan

Waqas Butt

Hosted by Alize Arıcan

Over the last several decades, life in Lahore has been undergoing profound transformations, from rapid and uneven urbanization to expanding state institutions and informal economies. What do these transformations look …

MIT Press Podcast

The Science and Politics of Landing on Earth

A Discussion with Eugene Richardson and Bruno Latour

Eugene Richardson and Bruno Latour

Hosted by MIT Press

The philosopher Bruno Latour (We Have Never Been Modern, Laboratory Life, Science in Action) and Eugene Richardson, physician, anthropologist, and author of Epidemic Illusions discuss COVID, colonialism and Critical Zones …

Women's History

From Back Alley to the Border

Criminal Abortion in California, 1920-1969

Alicia Gutierrez-Romine

Hosted by Jeannette Cockroft

In From Back Alley to the Border: Criminal Abortion in California, 1920-1969 (U Nebraska Press, 2020), Alicia Gutierrez-Romine examines the history of criminal abortion in California and the role abortion providers …

Children's Literature

Won Ton and Chopstick

A Cat and Dog Tale Told in Haiku

Lee Wardlaw

Hosted by Mel Rosenberg

In this interview we celebrate Lee Wardlaw's writing career, over thirty books ranging from board books to YA, with over a million copies sold! We focus on two of her …

Book of the Day/ Political Science

Massive Resistance and Southern Womanhood

White Women, Class, and Segregation

Rebecca Brückmann

Hosted by Susan Liebell

Massive Resistance and Southern Womanhood: White Women, Class, and Segregation (U Georgia Press, 2021) offers a comparative sociocultural and spatial history of white supremacist women involved in massive resistance. The book focuses on segregationist grassroots activism in Little Rock, Arkansas, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Charleston, South Carolina from the late 1940s to the late 1960s. Dr. Rebecca Brückmann combines theory and detailed case studies to interrogate the “roles, actions, self-understandings …

Global Media & Communication

Made in Censorship

The Tiananmen Movement in Chinese Literature and Film

Thomas Chen

Hosted by Aswin Punathambekar and Jing Wang

Hello, world! This is the Global Media & Communication podcast series. In this episode, our host Ignatius Suglo discusses the book Made in Censorship: The Tiananmen Movement in Chinese Literature …

Military History

A Stranger in Your Own City

Travels in the Middle East's Long War

Ghaith Abdul-Ahad

Hosted by AJ Woodhams

The history of reportage has often depended on outsiders--Ryszard Kapuściński witnessing the fall of the shah in Iran, Frances FitzGerald observing the aftermath of the American war in Vietnam. What …

Anthropology

Afro-Brazilians in Telenovelas

Social, Political, and Economic Realities

Samantha Nogueira Joyce

Hosted by Reighan Gillam

In Afro-Brazilians in Telenovelas: Social, Political, and Economic Realities (Lexington Books, 2022), Samantha Nogueira Joyce examines representations of Blackness on Brazilian TV, interrogating the role of mass media in developing …

American West

Arid Empire

The Entangled Fates of Arizona and Arabia

Natalie Koch

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

The iconic deserts of the American southwest could not have been colonized and settled without the help of desert experts from the Middle East. For example: In 1856, a caravan …

Indian Ocean World

Droughts, Floods, and Global Climatic Anomalies in the Indian Ocean World

Philip Gooding

Hosted by Ahmed Almaazmi

Droughts, Floods, and Global Climatic Anomalies in the Indian Ocean World (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022) explores histories of droughts and floods in the Indian Ocean World, and their connections to broader …

Gender Studies

Changing the Subject

Feminist and Queer Politics in Neoliberal India

Srila Roy

Hosted by Shraddha Chatterjee

In Changing the Subject: Feminist and Queer Politics in Neoliberal India (Duke UP, 2022), Srila Roy maps the rapidly transforming terrain of gender and sexual politics in India under the …

Shakespeare For All

Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" Part 1: The Story

A Discussion with Michael Dobson

Michael Dobson

Hosted by Zachary Davis

Julius Caesar is one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, telling the story of one of history’s most famous events. In this tense political thriller, the Roman senator Brutus must decide …

East Asian Studies

The Precious Summary

A History of the Mongols from Chinggis Khan to the Qing Dynasty

Sagang Sechen. Translated by Johan Elverskog.

Hosted by Sarah Bramao-Ramos

Buddhist cosmological history of the universe, history of Chinggis Khan, history of China, and history of the Mongols — The Precious Summary, written in 1662 by Sagang Sechen, is many …

Madison's Notes

Truth, Fiction, and Student Loan Forgiveness

A Conversation with Beth Akers

Beth Akers

Hosted by Annika Nordquist

With the Biden Administration's student loan relief coming down the pike, Annika sits down with Dr. Beth Akers, a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who specializes in higher …

MIT Press Podcast

Muse, Odalisque, Handmaiden

A Girl's Life in the Incredible String Band

Rose Simpson

Hosted by MIT Press

Damon Kruskowski, author of Ways of Hearing and The New Analog, previously member of Galaxie 500 and currently a member of Damon & Naomi interviews Rose Simpson about her book …

Nomads, Past and Present

Embracing Landscape

Living with Reindeer and Hunting among Spirits in South Siberia

Selcen Küçüküstel

Hosted by Maggie Freeman

Examining human-animal relations among the reindeer hunting and herding Dukha community in northern Mongolia, Embracing Landscape: Living with Reindeer and Hunting among Spirits in South Siberia (Berghahn Books, 2021), focuses …

Book of the Day/ Medieval History

Rome and the Invention of the Papacy

The Liber Pontificalis

Rosamond McKitterick

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

The remarkable, and permanently influential, papal history known as the Liber pontificalis shaped perceptions and the memory of Rome, the popes, and the many-layered past of both city and papacy within western Europe. In Rome and the Invention of the Papacy: The Liber Pontificalis (Cambridge University Press, 2020), Dr. Rosamond McKitterick offers a new analysis of this extraordinary combination of historical reconstruction, deliberate selection and political use of fiction, to …

International Horizons

The Whys and Wherefores of Migration

A Discussion with James F. Hollifield

James F. Hollifield

Hosted by International Horizons

This week on International Horizons, James Hollifield, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Tower Center for Political Studies, Southern Methodist University (SMU), discusses the epistemology of migration studies …

Military History

Dünkirchen 1940

The German View of Dunkirk

Robert Kershaw

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz

The surprise success of the German offensive in the West that commenced on May 10, 1940 caught the Allies completely off-guard, and France would soon capitulate to the Germans in …

Literature

As Long As I Know You

The Mom Book

Anne-Marie Oomen

Hosted by Megan Wildhood

In As Long As I Know You: The Mom Book (U Georgia Press, 2022), Ann-Marie Oomen offers a real-time narrative of walking her mother through dementia to the end of …

General History

Southern Europe in the Age of Revolutions

Maurizio Isabella

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

After the turbulent years of the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna’s attempt to guarantee peace and stability across Europe, a new revolutionary movement emerged in the southern peripheries …

Indian Ocean World

Seasonal Knowledge and the Almanac Tradition in the Arab Gulf

Daniel Martin Varisco

Hosted by Ahmed Almaazmi

Seasonal Knowledge and the Almanac Tradition in the Arab Gulf (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022) is the first in English to survey indigenous knowledge of seasonal, astronomical, and agricultural information in Arab Gulf almanacs …

Environmental Studies

Sea Change

An Atlas of Islands in a Rising Ocean

Christina Gerhardt

Hosted by Brian Hamilton

Atlases are being redrawn as islands are disappearing. What does an island see when the sea rises? Sea Change: An Atlas of Islands in a Rising Ocean (U California Press …

Military History

The Rise of the Military Entrepreneur

War, Diplomacy, and Knowledge in Habsburg Europe

Suzanne Sutherland

Hosted by Douglas Bell

In The Rise of the Military Entrepreneur: War, Diplomacy, and Knowledge in Habsburg Europe (Cornell UP, 2022), Suzanne Sutherland explores the role of the military entrepreneur and explains how these international …

Madison's Notes

Money or Meaning?

A Discussion on Choice, Restlessness, and Higher Education with Ben and Jenna Storey

Ben Storey and Jenna Storey

Hosted by Annika Nordquist

What kinds of tools do we need to make big decisions, and why aren't our universities training us to make them? Are universities doing students a disservice by occupying them …

Jewish Studies

Great Biblical Commentators

Biographies, Methodologies, and Contributions

Avigail Rock

Hosted by Michael Morales

The vast and vibrant world of biblical commentary has, over the generations, shaped not only our understanding of the Tanakh, but Judaism's worldview and values as well. The biblical commentator …

MIT Press Podcast

Girls Against God

Jenny Hval

Hosted by MIT Press

Cathi Unsworth, journalist and author of Bad Penny Blues, as well as numerous other novels, speaks with artists and author Jenny Hval about her recent book Girls Against God. At …

Literature

After the Barricades

Jessica Stilling

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb

Today I talked to Jessica Stilling about her new novel After the Barricades (DX Varos, 2023). After her mother dies in a tragic accident, Anna cleans out her closet and finds …

Madison's Notes

After the Pill

A Conversation with Mary Eberstadt

Mary Eberstadt

Hosted by Annika Nordquist

The pill has rocked our society to its core: but have we fully examined all its repercussions? Influential author and essayist Mary Eberstadt thinks we've only scratched the surface; in …

American West

Resisting Change in Suburbia

Asian Immigrants and Frontier Nostalgia in L.A.

James Zarsadiaz

Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

The myth of the frontier West found its home in America's late twentieth century suburbs, argues University of San Francisco associate professor James Zarsadiaz in Resisting Change in Suburbia: Asian Immigrants and …

General History

Postcolonial People

The Return from Africa and the Remaking of Portugal

Christoph Kalter

Hosted by Michael Vann

In the space of a few months in 1975, more than 500,000 Portuguese settlers fled their homes in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tomé and Principe, and East Timor and “returned” …

High Theory

Party

A Discussion with Sheila Liming

Sheila Liming

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu

Sheila Liming talks about the party, social gatherings that occasion joy and dread and various emotions in between. The party is both a pause and an acceleration in the life-work …

Book of the Day/ Chinese Studies

Reproductive Realities in Modern China

Birth Control and Abortion, 1911-2021

Sarah Mellors Rodriguez

Hosted by Laurie Dickmeyer

In Reproductive Realities in Modern China: Birth Control and Abortion, 1911-2021 (Cambridge UP, 2022), assistant professor of history at Missouri State University, Sarah Mellors Rodriguez explores the longue durée history of birth control and abortion in China from the Republican period to the present day. Drawing from a rich array of archival materials, oral histories, posters, films, novels, and other media, she delves into the diverse attitudes, policies, and practices …

Sociology

Decolonize Self-Care

Alyson K. Spurgas and Zoe Meleo Erwin

Hosted by Michael Johnston

For twentieth-century feminists, it was a rallying cry for bodily autonomy and political power. For influencers and lifestyle brands, it’s buying fancy nutrition and body products at a premium. And …

Library Science

For the Encouragement of Learning

The Origins of Canadian Copyright Law

Myra Tawfik

Hosted by Jen Hoyer

Myra Tawfik's book For the Encouragement of Learning: The Origins of Canadian Copyright Law (U Toronto Press, 2023) addresses the contested history of copyright law in Canada, where the economic and …

Early Modern History

Intelligence and Espionage in the English Republic C. 1600-60

Alan Marshall

Hosted by Crawford Gribben

Alan Marshall's book Intelligence and Espionage in the English Republic C. 1600-60 (Manchester UP, 2023) is a richly detailed account of the ideas and activities in the early-modern 'secret state' and its …

MIT Press Podcast

The Place Is Here

The Work of Black Artists in 1980s Britain

Nick Aikens and Elizabeth Robles

Hosted by MIT Press

Nick Aikens and Elizabeth Robles discuss The Place Is Here (Sternberg Press, 2019) and the range of perspectives on black art in Thatcherite Britain offered by the collection of artworks …

Madison's Notes

Economic Freedom from Kennedy to Reagan to Trump

A Conversation with Larry Kudlow

Larry Kudlow

Hosted by Annika Nordquist

With contentious midterm elections coming up fast, Annika sits down with one of the best-known commentators and participants in the American political economy over the past four decades: Larry Kudlow …

Science, Technology, and Society

Stroller

Amanda Parrish Morgan

Hosted by Frances Sacks

Among the many things expectant parents are told to buy, none is a more visible symbol of status and parenting philosophy than a stroller. Although its association with wealth …

Ukrainian Studies

In the Hour of War

Poetry from Ukraine

Carolyn Forché and Ilya Kaminsky

Hosted by Nataliya Shpylova-Saeed

Ukraine may be the only country on earth that owes its existence, at least in part, to a poet. Ever since the appearance of Taras Shevchenko's Kobzar in 1840, poetry …

Performing Arts

Why Do Actors Train?

Embodiment for Theatre Makers and Thinkers

Brad Krumholz

Hosted by Andy Boyd

Why Do Actors Train?: Embodiment for Theatre Makers and Thinkers (Bloomsbury, 2023) powerfully demystifies the actor-training process by focusing on acting as embodied cognition. In this framework, thought is action …

Education

Teachers as Policy Advocates

Strategies for Collaboration and Change

May Hara and Annalee G. Good

Hosted by Alex Tabor

May Hara and Annalee G. Good's Teachers as Policy Advocates: Strategies for Collaboration and Change (Teachers College Press, 2023) argues that teachers’ active participation in policy advocacy is crucial to …

Economics

The Global Architecture of Multilateral Development Banks

A System of Debt or Development?

Adrian R. Bazbauers and Susan Engel

Hosted by Sidney Michelini

Adrian Bazbauers and Susan Engel’s 2021 book The Global Architecture of Multilateral Development Banks: A System of Debt or Development? (Routledge, 2023) explores the evolution of the 30 functioning multilateral development …

Geography

Over Researched Places

Towards a Critical and Reflexive Approach

Cat Button and Gerald Taylor Aiken

Hosted by Stentor Danielson

Cat Button and Gerald Taylor Aiken's Over Researched Places: Towards a Critical and Reflexive Approach (Routledge, 2022) explores the implications that research-density has on the people and places researched, on …

Book of the Day/ Women's History

The Suffragist Peace

How Women's Votes Lead to Fewer Wars

Robert F. Trager and Joslyn N. Barnhart

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In the modern age, some parts of the world are experiencing a long peace. Nuclear weapons, capitalism and the widespread adoption of democratic institutions have been credited with fostering this relatively peaceful period. Yet, these accounts overlook one of the most dramatic transformations of the 20th century: the massive redistribution of political power as millions of women around the world won the right to vote. The Suffragist Peace: How Women …

Academic Life

Navigating the Community College Job Market

A Discussion with Rob Jenkins

Rob Jenkins

Hosted by Christina Gessler

What makes a community college job interview different than one at a four-year college or a university? Do you need a PhD to get hired? What are they looking for …

Jewish Studies

A Brilliant Commodity

Diamonds and Jews in a Modern Setting

Saskia Coenen Snyder

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

During the late nineteenth century, tens of thousands of diggers, prospectors, merchants, and dealers extracted and shipped over 50 million carats of diamonds from South Africa to London. The primary …

Asian Review of Books

Yamuna's Journey

Translated by Deepra Dandekar

Baba Padmanji

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

In 1856, the East India Company imposed the Hindu Widow Remarriage Act, allowing widows to remarry after their husband’s death. The Act was controversial at the time: Hindu traditionalists, particularly …

Indian Religions

The Making of Contemporary Indian Philosophy

Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya

Elise Coquereau-Saouma and Daniel Raveh

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

This book engages in a dialogue with Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya (K.C. Bhattacharyya, KCB, 1875-1949) and opens a vista to contemporary Indian philosophy. KCB is one of the founding fathers of …

Almost Good Catholics

Down to Earth: In Pursuit of Humility

A Discussion with Richard Foster and Brenda Quinn

Richard J. Foster and Brenda Quinn

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec

Quaker theologian Richard J. Foster and charismatic pastor Brenda Quinn talk with me about Foster’s new book (which Quinn worked on with him), Learning Humility: A Year of Searching for …

MIT Press Podcast

Black Film, British Cinema II

Clive Nwonka and Anamik Saha

Hosted by MIT Press

Clive Nwonka and Anamik Saha discuss their forthcoming book Black Film, British Cinema II (publishing in March with Goldsmiths Press), a book which brings together scholars, thinkers and practitioners to …

Madison's Notes

The Hundred Year War for the American Right

A Conversation with Matthew Continetti

Matthew Continetti

Hosted by Annika Nordquist

What is the American Right, where does it come from, and how has it changed over time? Journalist and author Matthew Continetti discusses his recent book: The Right: The Hundred …

Sociology

The Political Economy of Fortune and Misfortune

Prospects for Prosperity in Our Times

Scott Timcke

Hosted by Michael Johnston

Luck greatly influences a person's quality of life. Yet little of our politics looks at how institutions can amplify good or bad luck that widens social inequality. But societies can …

Popular Culture

Rude Girls

Women in 2 Tone and One Step Beyond

Heather Augustyn

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

In her latest book, Rude Girls: Women in 2 Tone and One Step Beyond (Sally Brown Publishing, 2023), Heather Augustyn explores the ska revival in the UK during the lates 1970s and 1980s …

Literary Studies

Fighting Over There

U.S. War Making and Contemporary Refugee Literature

Alaina Kaus

Hosted by Deidre Tyler

U.S. foreign policy has long been built on a dichotomy of an irreplaceable "here" and an expendable "there." In his 2003 announcement of the military campaign in Iraq, George W …

Book of the Day/ Islamic Studies

Broken

The Failed Promise of Muslim Inclusion

Evelyn Alsultany

Hosted by Kristian Petersen

In Broken: The Failed Promise of Muslim Inclusion (NYU Press, 2022), Evelyn Alsultany, Professor at the University of Southern California, argues that, even amid challenges to institutionalized Islamophobia, diversity initiatives fail on their promise by only focusing on crisis moments. Muslims get included through “crisis diversity,” where high-profile Islamophobic incidents are urgently responded to and then ignored until the next crisis. In the popular cultural arena of television, this means …

Biblical Studies

Before There Was a Bible

Authorities in Early Christianity

Lee Martin McDonald

Hosted by Rob Heaton

Before There Was a Bible: Authorities in Early Christianity (T&T Clark, 2023) is a natural outgrowth from McDonald’s significant and ongoing work in the field of canon studies, which traces the …

Secularism

Empire and Progress in the Victorian Secularist Movement

Imagining a Secular World

Patrick J. Corbeil

Hosted by Carrie Lynn Evans

Empire and Progress in the Victorian Secularist Movement: Imagining a Secular World (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022) by Dr. Patrick Corbeil is the first extensive historical analysis of the relationship between empire …

General History

On Time

A History of Western Timekeeping

Kenneth Mondschein

Hosted by Boris Karpa

Western culture has been obsessed with regulating society by the precise, accurate measurement of time since the Middle Ages. In On Time: A History of Western Timekeeping (Johns Hopkins UP …

Food

Ed Mitchell's Barbeque

Ed Mitchell, Ryan Mitchell, and Zella Palmer

Hosted by Laura Goldberg

Ed Mitchell’s journey in the barbeque business began in 1991 with a lunch for his mama, who was grieving the loss of Ed’s father. Ed drove to the nearby Piggly …

Psychoanalysis

"Don't Be Sad When I'm Gone"

A Memoir of Loss and Healing in Buenos Aires

Beatriz Dujovne

Hosted by Lexa Rosean

The monumental sense of dislocation we experience after losing a loved one can be life-altering. There is no script for grieving–each individual passes through their own phases of mourning. In …

Burned by Books

The Society of Shame

Jane Roper

Hosted by Chris Holmes

In this timely and witty combination of So You've Been Publicly Shamed and Where'd You Go, Bernadette? a viral photo of a politician's wife's "feminine hygiene malfunction" catapults her to …

Madison's Notes

Missing: Men at Work

A Conversation with Nick Eberstadt

Nick Eberstadt

Hosted by Annika Nordquist

Over six million prime-age men are neither working nor looking for work; America's low unemployment rate hides the fact that many men have dropped out of the workforce altogether. Our …

MIT Press Podcast

Publishing in Art, Architecture and Visual Culture

A Discussion with Thomas Weaver and Victoria Hindley

Thomas Weaver and Victoria Hindley

Hosted by MIT Press

This episode features discussions with Thomas Weaver (Senior Acquisitions Editor for Art and Architecture) and Victoria Hindley (Acquisitions Editor in Visual Culture and Design) about publishing in the fields of …

The Common Magazine

Reading the Ashes

The Common Magazine (Fall, 2022)

Robin Lee Carlson

Hosted by Emily Everett

Robin Lee Carlson speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her essay “Reading the Ashes,” which appears in The Common’s fall 2022 issue. Robin talks about the many-year process of …

Japanese Studies

This Overflowing Light

Selected Poems. Translated by Janine Beichman.

Rin Ishigaki

Hosted by Takeshi Morisato

Born in central Tokyo in 1920, Rin Ishigaki was one of the most daring and gifted poets of Japan’s postwar cultural renaissance. She knew Japan before the war, during it …

Early Modern History

In Fortune's Theater

Financial Risk and the Future in Renaissance Italy

Nicholas Scott Baker

Hosted by Michael Martoccio

In this episode, I was joined by Nicholas Scott Baker to discuss his book, In Fortune’s Theater: Financial Risk and the Future in Renaissance Italy (Cambridge University Press, 2021). Professor …

Jewish Studies

Undesirables

A Holocaust Journey to North Africa

Aomar Boum

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

In the lead-up to World War II, the rising tide of fascism and antisemitism in Europe foreshadowed Hitler's genocidal campaign against Jews. But the horrors of the Holocaust were not …

Nordic Asia Podcast

Sweden-North Korea Relations

Neither Friend nor Enemy

Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein

Hosted by Myunghee Lee

Welcome to the fourth NIAS-Korea episode. We invite Dr. Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein to discuss Sweden-North Korea relations. It may seem odd that among the Western countries, Sweden is the one …

Book of the Day/ General History

The West

A New History of an Old Idea

Naoíse Mac Sweeney

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Dr. Naoíse Mac Sweeney presents a radical new account of how the idea of the West has shaped our history, told through the stories of fourteen fascinating lives in her book The West: A New History of an Old Idea (Dutton, 2023). We tend to imagine Western Civilisation as a golden thread, leading through the centuries from classical antiquity to the countries of the modern West - a cultural genealogy …

Jewish Studies

The Shamama Case

Contesting Citizenship Across the Modern Mediterranean

Jessica M. Marglin

Hosted by Geraldine Gudefin

In the winter of 1873, Nissim Shamama, a wealthy Jew from Tunisia, died suddenly in his palazzo in Livorno, Italy. His passing initiated a fierce lawsuit over his large estate …

Christian Studies

A Revolutionary Faith

Liberation Theology Between Public Religion and Public Reason

Raúl E. Zegarra Medina

Hosted by Adrian Guiu

Religious commitments can be a powerful engine for progressive social change. In A Revolutionary Faith: Liberation Theology Between Public Religion and Public Reason (Stanford UP, 2023), Raúl E. Zegarra examines the …

Indian Ocean World

Cargoes in Motion

Materiality and Connectivity Across the Indian Ocean

Burkhard Schnepel and Julia Verne

Hosted by Ahmed Almaazmi

Cargoes in Motion: Materiality and Connectivity Across the Indian Ocean (Ohio University Press, 2022) is an innovative collection of essays that foregrounds specific cargoes as a means to understand connectivity and …

Ukrainian Studies

A Crash Course in Molotov Cocktails

Translated by Amelia Glaser and Yulia Ilchuk

Halyna Kruk

Hosted by Nataliya Shpylova-Saeed

"We act like children with our dead," Halyna Kruk writes as she struggles to come to terms with the horror unfolding around her: "confused, / as if none of us …

Medieval History

Stories Between Christianity and Islam

Saints, Memory, and Cultural Exchange in Late Antiquity and Beyond

Reyhan Durmaz

Hosted by Zalman Newfield

In Stories between Christianity and Islam: Saints, Memory, and Cultural Exchange in Late Antiquity and Beyond (University of California Press, 2022), Reyhan Durmaz offers an original and nuanced understanding of …

MIT Press Podcast

The Gentrification of Queer Desire

Huw Lemmey and Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore

Hosted by MIT Press

Writer Huw Lemmey (Chubz, Red Tory, Unknown Language) speaks with Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore about her most recent book The Freezer Door and searching for connection in a world that enforces …

Psychoanalysis

Misogyny in Psychoanalysis

Michaela Chamberlain

Hosted by Christopher Russell

Today I talked to Michaela Chamberlain, author of Misogyny in Psychoanalysis (Phoenix Publishing House, 2022) Chamberlain’s book is a product of “cumulative trauma” whose original starting point was an interest …

Madison's Notes

Strategy and Saratoga

A Conversation with Kevin Weddle

Kevin Weddle

Hosted by Annika Nordquist

At the Battle of Saratoga, the tide of the Revolutionary War turned in favor of unlikely victors: the American patriots. What were the major strategy elements at play in the …

Southeast Asian Studies

Tragic Nation

Burma--Why and How Democracy Failed

Amitav Acharya

Hosted by Duncan McCargo

What went wrong with Burma’s democratic experiment? How are we to understand the country’s turbulent politics in the wake of the 2021 coup? In this conversation with Duncan McCargo, Amitav …

Children's Literature

A History of Toilet Paper (and Other Potty Tools)

Sophia Gholz

Hosted by Mel Rosenberg

Since Sophia Gholz’s highly successful debut book, The Boy Who Grew a Forest: The True Story of Jadav Payeng, appeared four years ago, she has published with several exceptional picture …

Book of the Day/ Biblical Studies

Armageddon

What the Bible Really Says about the End

Bart D. Ehrman

Hosted by Frances Sacks

A New York Times bestselling Biblical scholar, reveals why our popular understanding of the Apocalypse is all wrong—and why that matters.You’ll find nearly everything the Bible has to say about the end in the Book of Revelation: a mystifying prophecy filled with bizarre symbolism, violent imagery, mangled syntax, confounding contradictions, and very firm ideas about the horrors that await us all. But whether you understand the book as a literal description …

Media

Say the Right Thing

How to Talk About Identity, Diversity, and Justice

Kenji Yoshino and David Glasgow

Hosted by Deidre Tyler

In the current period of social and political unrest, conversations about identity are becoming more frequent and more difficult. On subjects like critical race theory, gender equity in the workplace …

Economic and Business History

Better Money

Gold, Fiat, or Bitcoin?

Lawrence H. White

Hosted by Bernardo Batiz-Lazo

The recent rise of dollar, pound, and euro inflation rates has rekindled the debate over potential alternative monies, particularly gold and Bitcoin. Though Bitcoin has been much discussed in recent …

Military History

Brotherhood of the Flying Coffin

The Glider Pilots of World War II

Scott McGaugh

Hosted by AJ Woodhams

This book distills war down to individual young men climbing into defenseless gliders made of plywood, ready to trust the towing aircraft that would pull them into enemy territory by …

Religion

The Women’s Mosque of America

Authority and Community in US Islam

Tazeen M. Ali

Hosted by Joseph Stuart

The Women’s Mosque of America (WMA), a multiracial, women-only mosque in Los Angeles, is the first of its kind in the United States. Since 2015, the WMA has provided a …

Critical Theory

The Cultural Sociology of Art and Music

New Directions and New Discoveries

Lisa McCormick

Hosted by Dave O'Brien

How can sociology help us understand art and music? In The Cultural Sociology of Art and Music: New Directions and New Discoveries (Palgrave MacMillan, 2022), the editor Lisa McCormick, a …

Middle Eastern Studies

Revolutions Aesthetic

A Cultural History of Ba'thist Syria

Max Weiss

Hosted by Reuben Silverman

The November 1970 coup that brought Hafiz al-Asad to power fundamentally transformed cultural production in Syria. A comprehensive intellectual, ideological, and political project—a Ba'thist cultural revolution—sought to align artistic endeavors …

MIT Press Podcast

Appendix N

The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons and Dragons

Peter Bebergal

Hosted by MIT Press

Dungeons and Dragons expert Jon Peterson (The Elusive Shift, Game Wizards) speaks with Peter Bebergal (Season of the Witch, Too Much to Dream) about his new book Appendix N, an anthology …

LGBTQ+ Studies

With Hawks and Angels

Episodes from a Southern Life

Joel Lafayette Fletcher, III

Hosted by Morris Ardoin

In this episode of Queer Voices I talk to Joel Lafayette Fletcher III about his book With Hawks and Angels: Episodes from a Southern Life (UP of Mississippi, 2023) About the …

Madison's Notes

Martyrs in Mosul

A Conversation on Christian Persecution with Father Benedict Kiely

Father Benedict Kiely

Hosted by Annika Nordquist

With Christmas approaching, in this episode we reflect on Christian persecution in the Middle East, the historic cradle of Christianity and the birthplace of Jesus, and the very different challenges …

Literature

Martha Moody

A Novel

Susan Stinson

Hosted by Kendall Dinniene

Winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award in Fiction, Susan Stinson's Martha Moody (Small Beer Press, 2020) is a speculative western that follows Amanda, a woman with a vibrant, sensuous imagination, as …

American Studies

The War is Here

Newark 1967

Chris Campion and Bud Lee

Hosted by Deidre Tyler

July 1967. After the arrest, beating, and imprisonment of cab driver John Smith by local police, the city of Newark--already a tinderbox, became a hotbed of protest and retaliation. Over …