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Popular Culture
Sports March 20, 2023

Unsung

Not All Heroes Wear Kits

Alexis James

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Unsung: Not all Heroes Wear Kits (Pitch Publishing, 2022) by Alexis James introduces the sports stars you don't know, telling the stories you can't miss. It shines a rare spotlight …

Popular Culture

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Interviews with scholars of popular culture about their new books.

Popular Culture March 20, 2023

Play Like a Man

My Life in Poster Children

Rose Marshack

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan
In Play Like a Man: My Life in Poster Children (University of Illinois Press, 2023), Poster Children bassist Rose Marshack details her life in the 80s and 90s as part of a …
Jewish Studies March 18, 2023

Is Superman Circumcised?

The Complete Jewish History of the World’s Greatest Hero

Roy Schwartz

Hosted by Ari Barbalat
Superman is the original superhero, an American icon, and arguably the most famous character in the world--and he's Jewish! Introduced in June 1938, the Man of Steel was created by …
Anthropology March 17, 2023

The Philosophy of Tattoos

John Miller

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
‘History, it seems, is seldom written by the tattooed.’ The Philosophy of Tattoos (British Library, 2021) by Dr. John Miller presents an impressively broad yet personal account, exploring tattooing as …
Music March 16, 2023

The Fascist Groove Thing

A History of Thatcher's Britain in 21 Mixtapes

Hugh Hodges

Hosted by Bradley Morgan
This is the late 1970s and '80s as explained through the urgent and still-relevant songs of the Clash, the Specials, the Au Pairs, the Style Council, the Pet Shop Boys …
Critical Theory March 16, 2023

Playing Oppression

The Legacy of Conquest and Empire in Colonialist Board Games

Mary Flanagan and Mikael Jakobsson

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Playing Oppression: The Legacy of Conquest and Empire in Colonialist Board Games (MIT Press, 2023) by Dr. Mary Flanagan & Dr. Mikael Jakobsson is a striking analysis of popular board …
Shakespeare For All March 13, 2023

The Wooden O and the Iron Throne

Game of Thrones and Shakespeare Part 3

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Dive into the question of why audiences love Shakespeare’s plays and Game of Thrones so much, despite their depictions of prejudice and violence, and discuss the unique power of tragic …
Political Science March 13, 2023

The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Nicholas Carnes and Lilly J. Goren

Hosted by Susan Liebell
In The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (UP of Kansas, 2022), Drs. Nicholas Carnes and Lilly J. Goren ask what lessons does Marvel – a “hulking, hegemonic media franchise” …
Game Studies March 12, 2023

Fictional Games

A Philosophy of Worldbuilding and Imaginary Play

Stefano Gualeni and Riccardo Fassone

Hosted by Rudolf Thomas Inderst
What role do imaginary games have in story-telling? Why do fiction authors outline the rules of a game that the reader will never watch or play?  Combining perspectives from philosophy …
Sports March 11, 2023

Black Ball

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Spencer Haywood, and the Generation That Saved the Soul of the NBA

Theresa Runstedtler

Hosted by Paul Knepper
Against a backdrop of ongoing resistance to racial desegregation and strident calls for Black Power, the NBA in the 1970s embodied the nation’s imagined descent into disorder. A new generation …
General History March 11, 2023

Dress Codes

How the Laws of Fashion Made History

Richard Thompson Ford

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Dress codes are as old as clothing itself. For centuries, clothing has been a wearable status symbol; fashion, a weapon in struggles for social change; and dress codes, a way …
Popular Culture March 10, 2023

The Wife of Bath

A Biography

Marion Turner

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan
Ever since her triumphant debut in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath, arguably the first ordinary and recognisably real woman in English literature, has obsessed readers--from Shakespeare to James …
Popular Culture March 7, 2023

Fearless Women

Feminist Patriots from Abigail Adams to Beyoncé

Elizabeth Cobbs

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan
In her latest book, Fearless Women: Feminist Patriots from Abigail Adams to Beyoncé (Harvard University Press, 2023), New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Cobbs shows us that the quest for women’s rights is deeply entwined with …
Shakespeare For All March 6, 2023

The Wooden O and the Iron Throne

Game of Thrones and Shakespeare Part 2

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Explore the moral tensions and dilemmas that Shakespeare and George R. R. Martin force their audiences to confront, especially in the storylines of their most notable political leaders. …
Journalism March 6, 2023

The Los Angeles Review of Books

A Conversation with Michelle Chihara and Annie Berke

Michelle Chihara and Annie Berke

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Today I talked to Michelle Chihara, Editor-in-Chief of the Los Angeles Review of Books and Annie Berke, the Film Editor at the Los Angeles Review of Books. We talked about book reviewing in …
Medieval History March 6, 2023

Myths and Memories of the Black Death

Ben Dodds

Hosted by Jana Byars
Ben Dodds, of the Florida State University, talks with Jana Byars about his new book, Myths and Memories of the Black Death (Palgrave, 2022). This book explores modern representations of the Black …
Ministry of Ideas March 5, 2023

Movies or, How do We Rate Films?

Measure for Measure Episode 4

Hosted by Zachary Davis
We’d rate today’s episode a ten out of ten, five star, certified fresh, two thumbs up. But we can’t speak for its IMdB score. This episode was produced by Andrew …
Sports March 3, 2023

Dixieball

Race and Professional Basketball in the Deep South, 1947-1979

Thomas Aiello

Hosted by Bennett Koerber
In Dixieball: Race and Professional Basketball in the Deep South, 1947-1979 (U Tennessee Press, 2019), Thomas Aiello considers the cultural function of professional basketball in the Deep South between 1947 and …
Shakespeare For All February 27, 2023

The Wooden O and the Iron Throne

Game of Thrones and Shakespeare Part 1

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Discover the real-life history that inspired Game of Thrones and Shakespeare’s history plays, and learn the distinctive ways in which Shakespeare and George R.R. Martin each transform history into art …
High Theory February 27, 2023

Affective Masculinities

A Discussion with Amrita De

Amrita De

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu
Amrita De talks about affective masculinities, aspirational linkages with dominant scripts of masculinities, socially organized. As she expands her work beyond her study of South Asian masculinities, she talks about …