UP Partners

UP Partners

episodes
Poet-Prophet of American Democracy: Walt Whitman’s Vital Political Prose

June 13, 2026

Poet-Prophet of American Democracy: Walt Whitman’s Vital Political Prose

Hosted by Max Rudin

Walt Whitman’s outrage at American politics and politicians was surpassed only by his passionate faith in democracy’s future. Both his anger and his h…

AI, Algocracy, and Democracy's Challenging Road Ahead with Andrew Sorota

June 12, 2026

AI, Algocracy, and Democracy's Challenging Road Ahead

Andrew Sorota
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Like many people, I've been following the developments of AI, testing out new models and following the deluge of news stories about the fight for supr…

Kristen Abbott Bennett, "Teaching Shakespeare's Theatre of the World" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

June 12, 2026

Teaching Shakespeare's Theatre of the World

Kristen Abbott Bennett
Hosted by John Yargo

Teaching Shakespeare's Theatre of the World (Cambridge University Press, 2025) engages with one of Shakespeare's greatest thought-experiments: How doe…

Sarah McNamara, "Ybor City: Crucible of the Latina South" (UNC Press, 2023)

June 11, 2026

Ybor City

Sarah McNamara

Decades before Miami became Havana USA, a wave of leftist, radical, working-class women and men from prerevolutionary Cuba crossed the Florida Straits…

Manasicha Akepiyapornchai, "Surrender to God Across Languages: Multilingual Intellectual History of Premodern India" (Oxford UP, 2026)

June 11, 2026

Surrender to God Across Languages

Manasicha Akepiyapornchai
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Surrender to God Across Languages: Multilingual Intellectual History of Premodern India (Oxford UP, 2026) explores the role of languages in the intell…

Karine Premont and Christopher J. Devine eds., "Second in Command: Reevaluating the Role of Vice Presidents and Running Mates in Modern American Politics" (U Michigan Press, 2026)

June 11, 2026

Second in Command

Karine Prémont and Christopher J. Devine
Hosted by Lilly Goren

Karine Premont and Christopher Devine have a new edited volume focusing on the American Vice Presidency and analyzing not just the office and the offi…

Helping Companies Foster Agility

June 11, 2026

Helping Companies Foster Agility

Charles Snow

Born and raised in San Diego, Charles Snow held a variety of jobs early in life, including: paperboy, grocery store cashier, accounting clerk, chauffe…

“America’s Founding Son”: Author & Musician Bob Crawford on the Life of John Quincy Adams

June 11, 2026

“America’s Founding Son”

Moderated by Brian McCarthy
Hosted by Max Rudin

John Quincy Adams was the great visionary of America’s post-founding era, a writer and orator of consummate skill who reframed the origins and princip…

Robert Templer, "The Shah's Party: And the Iranian Revolution That Followed (Hurst, 2026)

June 11, 2026

The Shah's Party

Robert Templer
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

In 1971, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi threw a party to celebrate the 2,500-year anniversary of the Persian Empire. It was planned to be a massive party,…

Michael Staudenmaier, "White, Black, Brown: Becoming Puerto Rican in Chicago" (UNC Press, 2026)

June 10, 2026

White, Black, Brown

Michael Staudenmaier
Hosted by Michael Stauch

Independent historian Michael Staudenmaier joins Michael Stauch to discuss his new book about “becoming Puerto Rican” in Chicago. Staudenmaier’s b…

Justin F Jackson, "The Work of Empire: War, Occupation, and the Making of American Colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines" (UNC Press, 2025)

June 10, 2026

The Work of Empire

Justin F Jackson
Hosted by Jack R. Werner

In 1898, on the eve of the Spanish-American War, the US Army seemed minuscule and ill-equipped for global conflict. Yet over the next fifteen years, i…

Natalia Rogach Alexander, "Growing People: The Enduring Legacy of John Dewey" (Columbia UP, 2025)

June 10, 2026

Growing People

Natalia Rogach Alexander

John Dewey is among history’s most celebrated thinkers on democracy and education, yet he has often been underappreciated and misunderstood as a …

Bruce Dearstyne, "Revolutionary New York: 250 Years of Social Change" (SUNY Press, 2026)

June 8, 2026

Revolutionary New York

Bruce W. Dearstyne
Hosted by Robert Snyder

Revolutionary New York: 250 Years of Social Change⁠ (SUNY Press, 2026), edited by Bruce Dearstyne and published by SUNY Press, examines what the volum…

Susanna Drake, "Veiling in the Late Antique World" (Cambridge UP, 2026)

June 8, 2026

Veiling in the Late Antique World

Susanna Drake
Hosted by Michael Motia

Veiling meant many things to the ancients. On women, veils could signify virtue, beauty, piety, self-control, and status. On men, covering the head co…

Robert B. Marks, "Deep Time in the Mono Lake Basin: Nature and History Over the Last 10,000 Years" (U California Press, 2026)

June 7, 2026

Deep Time in the Mono Lake Basin

Robert B. Marks
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

"Deep Time," a way of understanding the distant past popularized in the late 20th century by the writer John McPhee, changes our perspective on histor…

Michael Brownstein et al., "Somebody Should Do Something: How Anyone Can Help Create Social Change" (MIT Press, 2025)

June 6, 2026

Somebody Should Do Something

Michael Brownstein and Alex Madva
Hosted by Thomas Discenna

A novel and scientific approach to creating transformative social change—and the surprising ways that each of us can help make a real difference. Chan…

Allyson Nadia Field, "Acts of Love: Black Performance and the Kiss That Changed Film History" (U California Press, 2026)

June 6, 2026

Acts of Love

Allyson Nadia Field
Hosted by Pete Kunze

In 1898, vaudeville actors Saint Suttle and Gertie Brown joyously embraced in a short silent film titled Something Good—Negro Kiss. The first known …

Ann Carlson, "Smog and Sunshine: The Surprising Story of How Los Angeles Cleaned Up Its Air" (U California Press, 2026)

June 6, 2026

Smog and Sunshine

Ann Carlson
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Los Angeles and smog have been synonymous for decades. From the 1940s through the 1980s, children breathed air so heavy with lead that their blood…

Lawrence Douglas, "The Criminal State: War, Atrocity, and the Dream of International Justice" (Princeton UP, 2026)

June 3, 2026

The Criminal State

Lawrence Douglas

The Criminal State: War, Atrocity, and the Dream of International Justice (Princeton University Press, 2026) offers a gripping account of how law has …

Lauren Duval, "The Home Front: Revolutionary Households, Military Occupation, and the Making of American Independence" (UNC Press, 2025)

June 3, 2026

The Home Front

Lauren Duval
Hosted by Leah Cargin

Prior to the American Revolution, the urban centers of colonial North America had little direct experience of war. With the outbreak of violence, Brit…