American Studies

American Studies

episodes

Interviews with scholars of America about their new books.

Caryl Flinn and Dana B. Polan, "The Patty Duke Show and the American Sixties: Hot Dogs and Crêpes Suzette" (Oxford UP, 2026)

August 9, 2026

The Patty Duke Show and the American Sixties

Caryl Flinn and Dana B. Polan
Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

In The Patty Duke Show and the American Sixties: Hot Dogs and Crêpes Suzette (Oxford UP, 2026), the first ever published on The Patty Duke Show (1963-…

Margaret E. Farrar and Adam Kaul, "Becoming Utopia: History, Heritage, and Sustainability in the American Midwest" (U Nebraska Press, 2026)

August 9, 2026

Becoming Utopia

Margaret E. Farrar and Adam Kaul
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Becoming Utopia: History, Heritage, and Sustainability in the American Midwest (U Nebraska Press, 2026) centers on the tiny community of Bishop Hill,…

Edlie Wong, "Empire, Race, and Print Culture in the Black Pacific" (Cambridge UP, 2026)

August 7, 2026

Empire, Race, and Print Culture in the Black Pacific

Edlie Wong
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Empire, Race, and Print Culture in the Black Pacific (Cambridge University Press, 2026) is an Element which centers the 'Black Pacific' as a generat…

Max Perry Mueller, "Wakara's America: The Life and Legacy of a Native Founder of the American West" (Basic Books, 2025)

August 7, 2026

Wakara's America

Max Perry Mueller
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

In the mid-19th century, anyone who was anyone in the American West had heard of the Ute leader Wakara. Yet, by the early twenty first century, his st…

Matthew Pinsker, "Boss Lincoln: The Partisan Life of Abraham Lincoln" (Norton, 2026)

August 5, 2026

Boss Lincoln

Matthew Pinsker
Hosted by Ryan Tripp

We know Abraham Lincoln as the eloquent, compassionate leader of a nation torn by civil war. But he had another, less visible side, equally central to…

Samuel Marquis, "Empire and Frontier: Colonel Peter Schuyler and the Valiant Iroquois in King William's War: 1689-1701" (Pegasus Books, 2026)

August 4, 2026

Empire and Frontier

Samuel Marquis
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Empire and Frontier: Colonel Peter Schuyler and the Valiant Iroquois in King William's War: 1689-1701 (Pegasus Books, 2026) by Samuel Marquis presen…

Blair L.M. Kelley, "Black Freedom: A Visual History of Juneteenth and Emancipation Days" (Black Dog & Leventhal, 2026)

August 4, 2026

Black Freedom

Blair L.M. Kelley
Hosted by Sullivan Summer

For more than 150 years, Black communities have gathered to honor freedom, resilience, and the ongoing struggle for true liberation. While Juneteenth …

Emily Sneff, "When the Declaration of Independence Was News" (Oxford UP, 2026)

August 3, 2026

When the Declaration of Independence Was News

Emily Sneff
Hosted by Amy Weitzman

Amy Weitzman interviews Emily Sneff on her new book When the Declaration of Independence Was News and the graduate school experience. In 1776 peopl…

Kristen Tegtmeier Oertel, "Seeking Freedom in Indian Country: Slavery, Sovereignty, and Resistance Within the Five Tribes, 1790–1861" (LSU Press, 2026)

August 3, 2026

Seeking Freedom in Indian Country

Kristen Tegtmeier Oertel
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Dr. Kristen Tegtmeier Oertel’s Seeking Freedom in Indian Country: Slavery, Sovereignty, and Resistance within the Five Tribes, 1790–1861 (LSU Press, 2…

Eric O Silva, "Contested Realities and Identity Destigmatization: Identity Construction in the Culture Wars" (De Gruyter, 2026)

August 2, 2026

Contested Realities and Identity Destigmatization

Eric O Silva (Author)
Hosted by Michael Johnston

Much scholarship has sought to decode the polarization of American culture. Eric O Silva's analysis of the public discourse on contested realities (im…

Vaneesa Cook, "Empire and Liberty: The Tied Histories of Two American Landmarks" (Beacon Press, 2026)

August 1, 2026

Empire and Liberty

Vaneesa Cook

In Empire and Liberty: The Tied Histories of Two American Landmarks (Beacon Press, 2026), historian Dr. Vaneesa Cook examines the history of the Empir…

Virginia McGee Richards, "The Inner Passage: An Untold Story of Black Resistance Along a Southern Waterway" (MIT Press, 2026)

August 1, 2026

The Inner Passage

Virginia McGee Richards
Hosted by Deidre Tyler

Some of the earliest canals in colonial America, referred to as the Inner Passage, were constructed by enslaved people living in the Lowcountry of Sou…

Devin Kennedy, "Coding Capitalism: Computers and the Remaking of the Postwar US Economy" (Columbia UP, 2026)

July 31, 2026

Coding Capitalism

Devin Kennedy
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Long before Google, Amazon, or Microsoft, computer technology shaped how people worked, how markets operated, and how businesses became big. After W…

Kathleen W. Taylor Kollman, "The Fictional Female Presidency in Film, Television, and Literature: Representations from 1932 to 2024" (Bloomsbury Academic, 2026)

July 30, 2026

The Fictional Female Presidency in Film, Television, and Literature

Kathleen W. Taylor Kollman
Hosted by Lilly Goren

Kathleen W. Taylor Kollman has a new book out that focuses on the reality of women running for president in the United States, and the fictional repre…

Jinwon Kim, "Koreatown, NYC: The Consumption of a Transnational Brand" (NYU Press, 2026)

July 30, 2026

Koreatown, NYC

Jinwon Kim
Hosted by Michael Johnston

How Manhattan's Koreatown functions as a new ethnic enclave In the past decade, Korean entertainment has gained global recognition, with Korean movie…

Robert Lee Maril, "Hungry Oklahoma: Confronting Poverty and Food Insecurity" (U Oklahoma Press, 2026)

July 30, 2026

Hungry Oklahoma

Robert Lee Maril
Hosted by Deidre Tyler

In Oklahoma, one out of every six residents is poor. One in five children lives in poverty and faces food insecurity. In Hungry Oklahoma: Confronting …

Elijah Wald, "Rock ‘N’ Roll: A Very Short Introduction" (Oxford UP, 2026)

July 30, 2026

Rock ‘N’ Roll

Elijah Wald
Hosted by Bradley Morgan

Rock 'n' roll appeared in the 1950s as the high-energy, electrically amplified music of young dancers and listeners, first in the United States and th…

Steven K. Green, "American Infidelity: The Gilded Age Battle Over Freethought, Free Love, and Feminism" (Oxford UP, 2026)

July 29, 2026

American Infidelity

Steven K. Green
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Today I'm speaking with Steven K. Green, Fred H. Paulus Professor of Law and Affiliated Professor of History and Religious Studies at Willamette Unive…

Andrew N. Buchanan and Ruth Lawlor eds., "The Greater Second World War: Global Perspectives" (Cornell UP, 2025)

July 28, 2026

The Greater Second World War

Andrew N. Buchanan and Ruth Lawlor
Hosted by Mark Baker

Andrew Buchanan and Ruth Lawlor, The Greater Second World War: Global Perspectives (Cornell University Press, 2025) This ambitious edited collection …

Linford Fisher, "Stealing America: The Hidden Story of Indigenous Slavery in U.S. History" (Liveright, 2026)

July 27, 2026

Stealing America

Linford Fisher
Hosted by Russell Arbic

Although the first enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown in 1619, European slavery in America began more than a century before. In a work distinguish…