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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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Mobilities and Methods

Why We Can't Have Nice Things

Social Media's Influence on Fashion, Ethics, and Property

Minh-Ha T. Pham

Hosted by Lakshita Malik
In 2016, social media users in Thailand called out the Paris-based luxury fashion house Balenciaga for copying the popular Thai “rainbow bag,” using Balenciaga’s hashtags to circulate memes revealing the …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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. …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Indian Religions

Letters from the Yoga Masters

Teachings Revealed through Correspondence from Paramhansa Yogananda, Ramana Maharshi, Swami Sivananda, and Others

Marion (Mugs) McConnell

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
This intimate and insightful account of the life of Dr. Harry (Hari) Dickman, referred to by Swami Sivananda as “the yogi of the West,” features more than fifty years 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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Book of the Day/ Economics

Micro-Institutional Foundations of Capitalism

Roselyn Hsueh

Hosted by Peter Lorentzen
Roselyn Hsueh’s Micro-Institutional Foundations of Capitalism (Cambridge, 2022) presents a new framework for understanding how developing countries integrate into the global economy. Examining the labor-intensive textile sector and the capital-intensive telecommunications sector in China, India, and Russia, Hsueh shows how differences in the way elites perceive the strategic value of a sector can lead to dramatically different patterns of governance. Author Roselyn Hsueh is an Associate Professor of Political Science …
Music

Music and Mystique in Muscle Shoals

Christopher M. Reali

Hosted by Emily Ruth Allen
The forceful music that rolled out of Muscle Shoals in the 1960s and 1970s shaped hits by everyone from Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin to the Rolling Stones and Paul …
Early Modern History

Natural Disaster at the Closing of the Dutch Golden Age

Adam Sundberg

Hosted by Douglas Bell
By the early eighteenth century, the economic primacy, cultural efflorescence, and geopolitical power of the Dutch Republic appeared to be waning. The end of this Golden Age was also an …
African Studies

When Soldiers Rebel

Ethnic Armies and Political Instability in Africa

Kristen A. Harkness

Hosted by Andrew Miller
Military coups are a constant threat in Africa and many former military leaders are now in control of 'civilian states', yet the military remains understudied, especially over the last decade …
General History

Disgrace

Global Reflections on Sexual Violence

Joanna Bourke

Hosted by Jana Byars
Looking across time and the globe, a critical history of sexual violence--what causes it and how we overcome it. Disgrace: Global Reflections on Sexual Violence (Reaktion, 2022) is the first …
Middle Eastern Studies

Anti-Veiling Campaigns in Turkey

State, Society and Gender in the Early Republic

Sevgi Adak

Hosted by Reuben Silverman
The veiling and unveiling of women have been controversial issues in Turkey since the late-Ottoman period. It was with the advent of local campaigns against certain veils in the 1930s …
Public Policy

Single Payer Healthcare Reform

Grassroots Mobilization and the Turn Against Establishment Politics in the Medicare for All Movement

Lindy S. F. Hern

Hosted by Gregory Soden
In Single Payer Healthcare Reform: Grassroots Mobilization and the Turn Against Establishment Politics in the Medicare for All Movement (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), Lindy Hern provides a comprehensive history of the grassroots Movement …
General History

Political Enthusiasm

Partisan Feeling and Democracy's Enchantments

Andrew Poe

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Enthusiasm has long been perceived as a fundamental danger to democratic politics, with many regarding it as a source of instability and irrationalism. Such views can make enthusiasm appear as …
Film

History by HBO

Televising the American Past

Rebecca Weeks

Hosted by Joel Tscherne
The television industry is changing, and with it, the small screen's potential to engage in debate and present valuable representations of American history. Founded in 1972, HBO has been at …
Writ Large

On Sholem Aleichem’s "The Tevye Stories"

A Discussion with Saul Noam Zaritt

Saul Noam Zaritt

Hosted by Zachary Davis
The original production of Fiddler on the Roof won nine Tony awards, held the record for the longest-running Broadway musical, and was adapted into a hit movie. But the musical …
Psychoanalysis

The Hidden Spring

A Journey to the Source of Consciousness

Mark Solms

Hosted by Philip Lance
If you have ever been skeptical about whether neuroscience has anything to teach psychoanalysis, or vice-versa, you will be stimulated by this book which engages the two disciplines in a …
Christian Studies

Beyond Missio Dei

Contesting Mission, Rethinking Witness

Sarosh Koshy

Hosted by Tiatemsu Longkumer
In Beyond Missio Dei: Contesting Mission, Rethinking Witness (Palgrave MacMillan, 2021), Sarosh Koshy strives to go beyond the mission model of Christianity that emerged alongside and within the colonial enterprise and …
Military History

The Lion of Round Top

The Life and Military Service of Brigadier General Strong Vincent in the American Civil War

Hans G. Myers

Hosted by Boris Karpa
Hans G. Myers' book The Lion of Round Top: The Life and Military Service of Brigadier General Strong Vincent in the American Civil War (Casemate, 2022) presents the story of the true …
General History

A Brief History of the Atlantic

Jeremy Black

Hosted by Charles Coutinho
The Atlantic has borne witness to major historic events that have drastically shaped humanity with each crossing of its path. In A Brief History of the Atlantic (Robinson, 2022), Jeremy …
Darts & Letters

Made of Corn

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

Hosted by Gordon Katic
This is part 2 of a 2-part series from Cited - the predecessor of Darts and Letters. For the final episode of our “Activism & Academia”-themed week of programming, we’re …
Nordic Asia Podcast

Podcasting Academic Research

A Chat about the Nordic Asia Podcast

Hosted by Kenneth Bo Nielsen
What is the potential of podcasts to disseminate research based insights? How can a podcast function as a networking and pedagogical tool? And what is so intriguing about a Nordic …
Book of the Day/ Psychoanalysis

Circumcision on the Couch

The Cultural, Psychological, and Gendered Dimensions of the World's Oldest Surgery

Jordan Osserman

Hosted by Tracy Morgan
It is not terribly controversial to say that castration fear is one of the key conceptual engines driving the psychoanalytic project overall. Whether one thinks of it manifesting as a looming, retributive threat for incestuous longings or as a struggle to face one’s shortcomings, contending with what we are at risk of losing or what has already gone missing animates both the field and the consulting room. Imagine the profession …
LGBTQ+ Studies

Viral Cultures

Activist Archiving in the Age of AIDS

Marika Cifor

Hosted by Sohini Chatterjee
Serving as a vital supplement to the existing scholarship on AIDS activism of the 1980s and 1990s, Viral Cultures: Activist Archiving in the Age of AIDS (U Minnesota Press, 2022) …
Southeast Asian Studies

Deliberative Democracy in Asia

Baogang He, Michael Breen, and James Fishkin

Hosted by Nicole Curato
Southeast Asia is a region often associated with authoritarian resilience and democratic decline. In this podcast, Professor Baogang He examines the various ways in which Southeast Asian countries have institutionalised …
Indian Religions

Amma’s Daughters

A Memoir

Meenal Shrivastava

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Today I talked to about Amma’s Daughters: A Memoir (Athabasca UP, 2018). This book is available open access here.  As a precocious young girl, Surekha knew very little about the details of …
Political Science

The Revenge of Power

How Autocrats Are Reinventing Politics for the 21st Century

Moisés Naím

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Moisés Naím's The Revenge of Power: How Autocrats Are Reinventing Politics for the 21st Century (St. Martin's Press, 2022) is an urgent, thrilling, and original look at the future of democracy. It …
Political Science

Hijacking the Agenda

Economic Power and Political Influence

Christopher Witko, Jana Morgan, Nathan J. Kelly, and Peter K. Enns

Hosted by Susan Liebell
How do competing interests shape public policy? Why are the economic interests and priorities of lower-, working-, and middle-class Americans often neglected while the interests and priorities of wealthier Americans …
East-West Psychology Podcast

“Living One’s Own Experiment”

Heretical Individuation, Alchemical Hermeneutics, and Cross-Cultural Mytho-Poetics

David Odorisio

Hosted by Stephen Julich and Jonathan Kay
Today we speak with David Odorisio, East-West Psychology PhD, about Eastern and Western wisdom traditions, searching for wholeness, and the integration of monasticism and contemplative spirituality with relationship and partnership …
East Asian Studies

Cosmic Coherence

A Cognitive Anthropology Through Chinese Divination

William Matthews

Hosted by Suvi Rautio
Today I spoke to anthropologist William Matthews about his new book, Cosmic Coherence: A Cognitive Anthropology Through Chinese Divination (Berghahn Books, 2021). This book explores how humans are unique in their …
On Religion

On Modern Witchcraft

A Discussion with Danielle Dulsky

Danielle Dulsky

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Danielle Dulsky is a heathen visionary, painter, and word-witch. The author of Woman Most Wild and The Holy Wild. She teaches internationally and has facilitated circles, embodiment trainings, communal spell-work …
Writ Large

On Frederick Douglass

A Discussion with John Stauffer

John Stauffer

Hosted by Zachary Davis
When Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in 1818, it was illegal for him to learn the alphabet. Slave masters feared the power of a literate slave, so Douglass vowed …
Sports

Celebrate Winter

An Olympian's Stories of a Life in Nordic Skiing

John Morton

Hosted by Robert Sherwood
Celebrate Winter: An Olympian's Stories of a Life in Nordic Skiing (Morton Trails, 2020) by John Morton is a wonderful look back at experiences and lessons learned from over 5 …
British Studies

The Game Is Afoot

The Enduring World of Sherlock Holmes

Jeremy Black

Hosted by Charles Coutinho
Fans of Sherlock Holmes will delight to investigate Victorian England, a world where crimes large and small abound and where dark corners and well-lit drawing rooms alike hide villainy.  In The …
Japanese Studies

Public Health in Asia During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Global Health Governance, Migrant Labour, and International Health Crises

Anoma Van Der Veere, Florian Schneider, and Catherine Lo

Hosted by Jingyi Li
Every nation in Asia has dealt with COVID-19 differently and with varying levels of success in the absence of clear and effective leadership from the WHO. As a result, the …
Intellectual History

Warspeak

Nietzsche's Victory Over Nihilism

Hosted by David Kunsman
On this episode we have Michael Grenke (St. John's College) who wrote the introduction to Lise Van Boxel's Warspeak: Nietzsche's Victory Over Nihilism (Political Animal Press, 2020). A comprehensive interpretation of Nietzsche's …
Grinnell College: Authors and Artists

Modern Mathematical Logic

Joseph Mileti

Hosted by Marshall Poe
Today I had the pleasure of talking to Joe Mileti, associate professor of mathematics at Grinnell College. Even if you are not "into" math, you will enjoy this conversation. We …
Burned by Books

Disorientation

A Novel

Elaine Hsieh Chou

Hosted by Chris Holmes
Elaine Hsieh Chou is a Taiwanese American writer from California. A 2017 Rona Jaffe Graduate Fellow at NYU and a 2021 NYSCA/NYFA Fellow, her short fiction appears in The Normal …
Darts & Letters

Don’t Look Left

A Discussion with David Sirota, writer of "Don't Look Up"

David Sirota

Hosted by Gordon Katic
Why does the democratic establishment always avoid turning left, even when it might mean a political win? Gordon asks David Sirota. Sirota is behind the smash-hit Netflix movie Don’t Look …
Book of the Day/ Animal Studies

Animal Revolution

Ron Broglio

Hosted by Callie Smith
Animals are staging a revolution—they’re just not telling us. From radioactive boar invading towns to jellyfish disarming battleships, Animal Revolution (U Minnesota Press, 2022) threads together news accounts and more in a powerful and timely work of creative, speculative nonfiction that imagines a revolution stirring and asks how humans can be a part of it. If the coronavirus pandemic has taught us anything, it is that we should pay attention …
General History

Building States

The United Nations, Development, and Decolonization, 1945–1965

Eva-Maria Muschik

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Postwar multilateral cooperation is often viewed as an attempt to overcome the limitations of the nation-state system. However, in 1945, when the United Nations was founded, large parts of the …
East Asian Studies

Moral Foods

The Construction of Nutrition and Health in Modern Asia

Angela Ki Che Leung, Melissa L. Caldwell, and Robert Ji-Song Ku

Hosted by Nathan Hopson
The twelve chapters of Moral Foods: The Construction of Nutrition and Health in Modern Asia (U Hawai’i Press, 2020) are divided into three sections: Good Foods, Bad Foods, and Moral …
Literature

Meeting Mozart

A Novel Drawn From the Secret Diaries of Lorenzo Da Ponte

Howard Jay Smith

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb
Today I talked to Howard Jay Smith about his new novel Meeting Mozart (Sager Group, 2020). It’s 1946, and a young army intelligence officer is awakened early by a gruff priest …
Animal Studies

The Subjugation of Canadian Wildlife

Failures of Principle and Policy

Max Foran

Hosted by Kyle Johannsen
Hardly a day goes by without news of the extinction or endangerment of yet another animal species, followed by urgent but largely unheeded calls for action. An eloquent denunciation of …
Economics

The Future of Money

How the Digital Revolution Is Transforming Currencies and Finance

Eswar S. Prasad

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
The Future of Money: How the Digital Revolution is Transforming Currencies and Finance (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2021) provides a cutting-edge look at how accelerating financial change, from the …
General History

Road to Nowhere

What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation

Paris Marx

Hosted by Michael Vann
In Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation (Verso, 2022), Paris Marx identifies two convergent forces in the 20th century: the growth of the climate …
On Religion

On Vodun, Voodoo, and the Movies

A Discussion with Emily Crews

Emily Crews

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Emily Crews is a Ph.D. candidate in History of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Her dissertation project traces the relationship between movement and identity formation in the …
Sports

Gridiron Capital

How American Football Became a Samoan Game

Lisa Uperesa

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Since the 1970s, a “Polynesian Pipeline” has brought football players from American Sāmoa to Hawaii and the mainland United States to play at the collegiate and professional levels. In Gridiron …
Caribbean Studies

Island on Fire

The Revolt That Ended Slavery in the British Empire

Tom Zoellner

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
For five horrific weeks after Christmas in 1831, Jamaica was convulsed by an uprising of its enslaved people. What started as a peaceful labor strike quickly turned into a full-blown …
Australian and New Zealand Studies

Of Marsupials and Men

Alastair Paton

Hosted by Bede Haines
Alistair Paton joins today, writer of Of Marsupials and Men (Black Inc, 2022), a book recounting the fascinating and often hilarious history of the men and women who dedicated their lives …
Writ Large

On W. E. B. DuBois' "The Souls of Black Folk"

A Discussion with James Campbell

James Campbell

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Nearly 40 years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, American writer, sociologist and civil rights activist W. E. B. DuBois shed light on Black life in America and what it …
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones

The Future of Net Zero

A Discussion with Eric Lonergan

Eric Lonergan and Corrine Sawyers

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones
There is no shortage of words written about climate change and the goal of reaching net zero - but there is a shortage of practical suggestions about to get to …
German Studies

Berlin Contemporary

Architecture and Politics After 1990

Julia Walker

Hosted by Lea Greenberg
For years following reunification, Berlin was the largest construction site in Europe, with striking new architecture proliferating throughout the city in the 1990s and early 2000s. Among the most visible …
Darts & Letters

Nothing Spreads Like Greed

The Pandemic Profiteers Who Made the Crisis Worse

Hosted by Gordon Katic
Has the pandemic taught us anything? As we look forward and imagine what the future might look like, we like to think ‘next time will be different.’ But, if we …
High Theory

Normalization

A Discussion with Gëzim Visoka and Nicolas Lemay

Gëzim Visoka and Nicolas Lemay

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu
In this episode of High Theory, Gëzim Visoka and Nicolas Lemay-Hebert tell us about normalization in international relations. Their research applies Foucault’s social theories of the normal and abnormal to …
Book of the Day/ In Conversation: An OUP Podcast

Rome

Strategy of Empire

James Lacey

Hosted by Mark Klobas
From Octavian's victory at Actium (31 B.C.) to its traditional endpoint in the West (476), the Roman Empire lasted a solid 500 years -- an impressive number by any standard, and fully one-fifth of all recorded history. In fact, the decline and final collapse of the Roman Empire took longer than most other empires even existed. Any historian trying to unearth the grand strategy of the Roman Empire must, therefore, always …
General History

Inventing the Alphabet

The Origins of Letters from Antiquity to the Present

Johanna Drucker

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Inventing the Alphabet: The Origins of Letters from Antiquity to the Present (University of Chicago Press, 2022) by Dr. Johanna Drucker provides the first account of two-and-a-half millennia of scholarship …
Irish Studies

Beyond Exclusion

Intersections of Ethnicity, Sex, and Society Under English Law in Medieval Ireland

Stephen Hewer

Hosted by Margaret Smith
Beyond Exclusion: Intersections of Ethnicity, Sex, and Society Under English Law in Medieval Ireland (Brepols, 2022) offers a fresh look at the legal status of minorities in English Ireland. Through …
Biology and Evolution

Molecular Capture

The Animation of Biology

Adam Nocek

Hosted by Victor Monnin
In Molecular Capture: The Animation of Biology (University of Minnesota Press, 2021), Adam Nocek, Assistant Professor in the Philosophy of Technology and Science and Technology Studies at Arizona State University, investigates …
Systems and Cybernetics

Impact Networks

Creating Connection, Sparking Collaboration, and Catalyzing Systemic Change

David Ehrlichman

Hosted by Kevin Lindsay
I recently caught up with the very busy David Erlichman, co-founder and coordinator of the Converge network (www.converge.net), about his fantastic book Impact Networks: Creating Connection, Sparking Collaboration, and Catalyzing Systemic Change (Berrett-Koehler …
Religion

Hungarian Catholic Intellectuals in Contemporary Romania

Reforming Apostles

Marc Roscoe Loustau

Hosted by Diana Dukhanova
Set against the backdrop of the rise of right-wing Christian nationalism in Eastern Europe, this book declares that Catholic theologians ought to be understood and studied as intellectuals: socially and …
Art

Three Women Artists

Expanding Abstract Expressionism in the American West

Amy Von Lintel and Bonnie Roos

Hosted by Kirstin Ellsworth
Offering a fresh perspective on the influence of the American southwest—and particularly West Texas—on the New York art world of the 1950s, Three Women Artists: Expanding Abstract Expressionism in the …
On Religion

On African-American Catholic Identity, Sex Abuse, and Systemic Racism

A Discussion with Tia Noelle Pratt

Tia Noelle Pratt

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Dr. Tia Noelle Pratt is a higher education professional, researcher, and inclusion and diversity specialist based in Philadelphia, PA. She received her PhD in sociology from Fordham University. A sociologist …
African American Studies

Black Patience

Performance, Civil Rights, and the Unfinished Project of Emancipation

Julius B. Fleming Jr.

Hosted by Mickell Carter
“Freedom, Now!” This rallying cry became the most iconic phrase of the Civil Rights Movement, challenging the persistent command that Black people wait—in the holds of slave ships and on …
Medieval History

Weeds and the Carolingians

Empire, Culture, and Nature in Frankish Europe, AD 750-900

Paolo Squatriti

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
In Weeds and the Carolingians: Empire, Culture, and Nature in Frankish Europe, AD 750–900 (Cambridge University Press, 2021), Dr. Paolo Squatriti asks: Why did weeds matter in the Carolingian empire …
East Asian Studies

Global Taiwanese

Asian Skilled Labour Migrants in a Changing World

Fiona Moore

Hosted by Li-Ping Chen
In Global Taiwanese: Asian Skilled Labour Migrants in a Changing World (U Toronto Press, 2021), Fiona Moore explores the different ways in which Taiwanese expatriates in London and Toronto, along …
Writ Large

On T. E. Lawrence's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom"

A Discussion with Charles Stang

Charles Stang

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Lawrence of Arabia has become one of the most well known films in the world. It inspired Steven Spielberg to become a filmmaker and President Barack Obama considers it one …
Economic and Business History

Robbing Peter to Pay Paul

Power, Profits, and Productivity in Modern America

Samuel Evan Milner

Hosted by John Emrich
Concentrated market power and the weakened sway of corporate stakeholders over management have emerged as leading concerns of American political economy.  In his book Robbing Peter to Pay Paul: Power, Profits …
African Studies

From Rebels to Rulers

Writing Legitimacy in the Early Sokoto State

Paul Naylor

Hosted by Sara Katz
Sokoto was the largest and longest lasting of West Africa's nineteenth-century Muslim empires. Its intellectual and political elite left behind a vast written record, including over 300 Arabic texts authored …
Darts & Letters

Canada’s Dumbest Public Intellectual

Darts and Letters’ Most Coveted Award

Hosted by Gordon Katic
Canada’s intellectual culture is now like a barren soil that struggles to give life to even the simplest flora. They’re just not that smart. We make too many right wing …
The Vault

His Sister, Her Monologue

A Discussion with Hilton Als

Hilton Als

Hosted by New York Institute for the Humanities
In this 2011 episode from The Vault, Hilton Als reads from, and discusses, His Sister, Her Monologue, a novella he published in Mcsweeney's #35. Als is a staff writer at …