Women's History

Women's History

episodes

Interviews with scholars of women's history about their new books.

William W. Parsons and Regina M. Matheson, "The Pink Wave: Women Running for Office After Trump" (NYU Press, 2023)

March 26, 2024

The Pink Wave

William W. Parsons and Regina M. Matheson
Hosted by Deidre Tyler

How and why the election of Donald Trump inspired more women to enter politics. Donald Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidentia…

Maggie Hennefeld, "Death by Laughter: Female Hysteria and Early Cinema" (Columbia UP, 2024)

March 25, 2024

Death by Laughter

Maggie Hennefeld
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Can you really die from laughing too hard? Between 1870 and 1920, hundreds of women suffered such a fate—or so a slew of sensationalist obituaries wou…

Heather Akou, "On the Job: A History of American Work Uniforms" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

March 21, 2024

On the Job

Heather Akou
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Through a variety of archival documents, artefacts, illustrations, and references to primary and secondary literature, On the Job: A History of Americ…

Amy Absher, "Fritzie: The Invented Life and Violent Murder of a Flapper" (U Oklahoma Press, 2023)

March 21, 2024

Fritzie

Amy Absher

One January day in 1923, a young boy came across the dead body of a twenty-year-old woman on a San Diego beach. When the police arrived on the scene, …

Nancy Folbre, "The Rise and Decline of Patriarchal Systems: An Intersectional Political Economy" (Verso, 2021)

March 18, 2024

The Rise and Decline of Patriarchal Systems

Nancy Folbre
Hosted by Dhouha Djerbi

Nancy Folbre’s The Rise and Decline of Patriarchal Systems: An Intersectional Political Economy (Verso, 2021) asks the questions of why and under what…

The Pioneering Life of Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit

March 18, 2024

The Pioneering Life of Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit

Manu Bhagavan

Manu Bhagavan and Ellen Chesler discuss Bhagavan’s latest book on Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit (Penguin, 2023), admired sister of India’s founding Prime Mini…

Caitlin Davies, "Private Inquiries: The Secret History of Female Sleuths" (The History Press, 2023)

March 17, 2024

Private Inquiries

Caitlin Davies
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Dismissed as ‘Mrs Sherlock Holmes’ or amateurish Miss Marples, mocked as private dicks or honey trappers, they have been investigating crime since the…

Tayo Agunbiade, "Untold Histories of Nigerian Women: Emerging from the Margins" (Cambridge Scholars, 2023)

March 14, 2024

Untold Histories of Nigerian Women

Tayo Agunbiade
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Untold Histories of Nigerian Women: Emerging from the Margins (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2023) is a curation of insightful and engaging narration…

Judith Tick, "Becoming Ella Fitzgerald: The Jazz Singer Who Transformed American Song" (Norton, 2023)

March 12, 2024

Becoming Ella Fitzgerald

Judith Tick
Hosted by Kristen Turner

Ella Fitzgerald (1917–1996) was one of America’s greatest musicians. In this major biography, Becoming Ella Fitzgerald: The Jazz Singer who Transforme…

Rebecca Rego Barry, "The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells" (Post Hill Press, 2024)

March 12, 2024

The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells

Rebecca Rego Barry
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells: Investigations into a Forgotten Mystery Author (PostHill Press, 2024) by Rebecca Rego Barry is the first biography of …

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…

Sharon D. Wright Austin, "Political Black Girl Magic: The Elections and Governance of Black Female Mayors" (Temple UP, 2023)

March 11, 2024

Political Black Girl Magic

Sharon D. Wright Austin
Hosted by Deidre Tyler

Political Black Girl Magic: The Elections and Governance of Black Female Mayors (Temple UP, 2023) explores black women's experiences as mayors in Amer…

Jad Adams, "Decadent Women: Yellow Book Lives" (Reaktion Books, 2023)

March 10, 2024

Decadent Women

Jad Adams
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Decadent Women: Yellow Book Lives (Reaktion, 2023) by Jad Adams chronicles the vibrant and passionate women who wrote for the 1890s journal The Yellow…

Raanan Rein and Susanne Zepp-Zwirner, "Untold Stories of the Spanish Civil War" (Routledge, 2024)

March 10, 2024

Untold Stories of the Spanish Civil War

Raanan Rein and Susanne Zepp-Zwirner
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Untold Stories of the Spanish Civil War (Routledge, 2024) is the first scholarly volume to offer an insight into the less-known stories of women, chil…

Ben Rothenberg, "Naomi Osaka: Her Journey to Finding Her Power and Her Voice" (Dutton, 2024)

March 7, 2024

Naomi Osaka

Ben Rothenberg
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

In July 2021, Naomi Osaka—world number 1 women’s tennis player—lit the Olympic Cauldron at the Tokyo Olympic Games. The half-Japanese, half-American, …

Horace J. Maxile, Jr. and Kristen M. Turner, "Race and Gender in the Western Music History Survey: A Teacher's Guide" (Routledge, 2022)

February 27, 2024

Race and Gender in the Western Music History Survey

Horace J. Maxile, Jr. and Kristen M. Turner
Hosted by Emily Ruth Allen

Race and Gender in the Western Music History Survey: A Teacher’s Guide provides concrete information and approaches that will help instructors include…

Judith Pearson, "Crusade to Heal America: The Remarkable Life of Mary Lasker" (Mayo Clinic Press, 2023)

February 27, 2024

Crusade to Heal America

Judith Pearson
Hosted by Deidre Tyler

Mary Woodard Lasker had a singular goal: saving lives by increasing medical research. Together with her husband, advertising genius Albert, they creat…

Angela Wanhalla, "Of Love and War: Pacific Brides of World War II" (U Nebraska Press, 2023)

February 25, 2024

Of Love and War

Angela Wanhalla
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Between 1942 and 1945 more than two million servicemen occupied the southern Pacific theater, the majority of whom were Americans in service with the …

Simon Partner, "Koume's World: The Life and Work of a Samurai Woman Before and After the Meiji Restoration" (Columbia UP, 2023)

February 22, 2024

Koume's World

Simon Partner
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

In 1864, on a midsummer’s day, Kawai Koume, a 60-year old matriarch of a samurai family in Wakayama, makes a note in her diary, which she had dutifull…

Tom Hamilton, "A Widow's Vengeance After the Wars of Religion: Gender and Justice in Renaissance France" (Oxford UP, 2024)

February 19, 2024

A Widow's Vengeance After the Wars of Religion

Tom Hamilton
Hosted by Jana Byars

Paris, 1599. At the end of the French Wars of Religion, the widow Renée Chevalier instigated the prosecution of the military captain Mathurin Delacanc…