Intellectual History

Intellectual History

episodes

Interviews with intellectual historians about their new books.

Robin Waterfield, "Plato of Athens: A Life in Philosophy" (Oxford UP, 2023)

March 28, 2024

Plato of Athens

Robin Waterfield

The first ever biography of the founder of Western philosophy Considered by many to be the most important philosopher ever, Plato was born into a well…

Jeffrey R. Di Leo, "Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory: An Overview" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

March 27, 2024

Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory

Jeffrey R. Di Leo
Hosted by Arnab Dutta Roy

The most exhaustive mapping of contemporary literary theory to date, Jeffrey R. Di Leo's book Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory: An Overview (…

Chia-ling Yang, "Appropriating Antiquity for Modern Chinese Painting" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

March 27, 2024

Appropriating Antiquity for Modern Chinese Painting

Chia-ling Yang
Hosted by Yi Shan

The pursuit of antiquity was important for scholarly artists in constructing their knowledge of history and cultural identity in late imperial China. …

Michael Ortiz, "Anti-Colonialism and the Crises of Interwar Fascism" (Bloombury, 2023)

March 27, 2024

Anti-Colonialism and the Crises of Interwar Fascism

Michael Ortiz
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

What is fascism? Is it an anomaly in the history of modern Europe? Or its culmination? In Anti-Colonialism and the Crises of Interwar Fascism (Blooms…

William Bain, "Political Theology of International Order" (Oxford UP, 2020)

March 26, 2024

Political Theology of International Order

William Bain

Is contemporary international order truly a secular arrangement? Theorists of international relations typically adhere to a narrative that portrays th…

Maarten Couttenier, "Anthropology and Race in Belgium and the Congo (1839-1922)" (Routledge, 2023)

March 24, 2024

Anthropology and Race in Belgium and the Congo (1839-1922)

Maarten Couttenier
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Maarten Couttenier's Anthropology and Race in Belgium and the Congo (1839-1922) (Routledge, 2023) examines the history of Belgian physical anthropolog…

Marc-William Palen, "Pax Economica: Left-Wing Visions of a Free Trade World" (Princeton UP, 2024)

March 23, 2024

Pax Economica

Marc-William Palen
Hosted by Thomas Kingston

A new economic history which uncovers the forgotten left-wing, anti-imperial, pacifist origins of economic cosmopolitanism and free trade from the mid…

Stephen Phillips, "The Metaphysics of Meditation: Sri Aurobindo and Adi-Sakara on the Isa Upanisad" (Bloombury, 2024)

March 20, 2024

The Metaphysics of Meditation

Stephen Phillips
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

In The Metaphysics of Meditation: Sri Aurobindo and Ādi Śaṅkara on the Īśā Upaniṣad (Bloomsbury 2024), Stephen Phillips argues that the two titular Ve…

Isaac Deutscher, "Lenin's Childhood" (Verso, 2024)

March 20, 2024

Lenin's Childhood

Isaac Deutscher
Hosted by Stephen Dozeman

On January 21, 1924 and at the age of 53, Vladimir Lenin passed away. We’ve now had a century of a world without him, but also a century of a worl…

Stephanie Li, "Ugly White People: Writing Whiteness in Contemporary America" (U Minnesota Press, 2023)

March 20, 2024

Ugly White People

Stephanie Li
Hosted by Kendall Dinniene

White Americans are confronting their whiteness more than ever before, with political and social shifts ushering in a newfound racial awareness. And w…

How to Be a Good Statesman: Johnny Burtka on Political Leadership from Xenophon to Churchill

March 19, 2024

How to Be a Good Statesman

John A. Burtka IV
Hosted by Annika Nordquist

We have a preponderance of books on leadership in business; yet, despite broad dissatisfaction with our political leaders, almost none on how to be a …

Rachel Gordan, "Postwar Stories: How Books Made Judaism American" (Oxford UP, 2024)

March 18, 2024

Postwar Stories

Rachel Gordan
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

The period immediately following World War II was an era of dramatic transformation for Jews in America. At the start of the 1940s, President Roosevel…

Ashok Gopal, "A Part Apart: The Life and Thought of B.R. Ambedkar" (Navayana Press, 2023)

March 18, 2024

A Part Apart

Ashok Gopal
Hosted by Jessica Zu

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956) is perhaps the most iconised historical figure in India. Born into a caste deemed ‘unfit for human association’, he…

SherAli Tareen, "Perilous Intimacies: Debating Hindu-Muslim Friendship After Empire" (Columbia UP, 2023)

March 15, 2024

Perilous Intimacies

SherAli Tareen

Friendship—particularly interreligious friendship—offers both promise and peril. After the end of Muslim political sovereignty in South Asia, how did …

Pankaj Jain and Jeffery D. Long, "Indian and Western Philosophical Concepts in Religion" (Rowman and Littlefield, 2023)

March 14, 2024

Indian and Western Philosophical Concepts in Religion

Pankaj Jain and Jeffery D. Long
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Philosophical concepts are influential in the theories and methods to study the world religions. Even though the disciplines of anthropology and relig…

Travis Rieder, "Catastrophe Ethics: How to Choose Well in a World of Tough Choices" (Dutton, 2024)

March 13, 2024

Catastrophe Ethics

Travis Rieder
Hosted by Claire Clark

In a world of often confusing and terrifying global problems, how should we make choices in our everyday lives? Does anything on the individual level …

Janine Giordano Drake, "The Gospel of Church: How Mainline Protestants Vilified Christian Socialism and Fractured the Labor Movement" (Oxford UP, 2023)

March 13, 2024

The Gospel of Church

Janine Giordano Drake
Hosted by Matt Simmons

In 1908, Unitarian pastor Bertrand Thompson observed the momentous growth of the labor movement with alarm. "Socialism," he wrote, "has become a disti…

Korey Garibaldi, "Impermanent Blackness: The Making and Unmaking of Interracial Literary Culture in Modern America" (Princeton UP, 2023)

March 13, 2024

Impermanent Blackness

Korey Garibaldi

In Impermanent Blackness: The Making and Unmaking of Interracial Literary Culture in Modern America (Princeton UP, 2023), Korey Garibaldi explores int…

Daniel Tutt, "How to Read Like a Parasite: Why the Left Got High on Nietzsche" (Repeater, 2024)

March 12, 2024

How to Read Like a Parasite

Daniel Tutt
Hosted by David Kunsman

A how-to guide for the left on how to overcome Nietzsche's divisive and damaging influence. How to Read Like a Parasite: Why the Left Got High on Ni…

Sofia Rehman, "Gendering the Hadith Tradition: Recentering the Authority of Aisha, Mother of the Believers" (Oxford UP, 2024)

March 12, 2024

Gendering the Hadith Tradition

Sofia Rehman
Hosted by Tugrul Mende

Gendering the Hadith Tradition: Recentering the Authority of Aisha, Mother of the Believers (Oxford UP, 2024) presents for the first time a partial tr…