Western European Studies

Western European Studies

episodes

Interviews with scholars of Western Europe about their new books.

Rod Phillips, "Cats: A History" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2026)

July 13, 2026

Cats

Rod Phillips
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

For more than 10,000 years, cats have prowled at the edges of human life. But, starting only a few decades ago, hundreds of millions of them bec…

A. G. Hopkins, "The Land Where Nothing Works: How Britain Lost the Plot" (Princeton UP, 2026)

July 9, 2026

The Land Where Nothing Works

A. G. Hopkins
Hosted by Thomas Kingston

What has happened to Britain? As drivers on its roads can attest, it is the pothole capital of Europe. Once-beautiful towns now feature peeling paint,…

Roberta J. Magnusson, "Urban Infrastructure in Medieval England: Sustainability and Resilience" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2026)

July 8, 2026

Urban Infrastructure in Medieval England

Roberta J. Magnusson
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In the bustling market towns and growing cities of medieval England between 1200 and 1600, public works were the lifelines of urban society. In …

Bjørn Berge, "Smell: The Tale of a Fading Sense" (Reaktion Books, 2026)

July 3, 2026

Smell

Bjørn Berge
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

The sense of smell is often linked to the dark, the antisocial, the primitive—the very opposite of modernity and progress. Today we live in an a…

Jeremy D. Popkin, "The First Emancipation: The Forgotten History of Abolition in Revolutionary France" (Princeton UP, 2026)

July 2, 2026

The First Emancipation

Jeremy D. Popkin
Hosted by Brigid Wallace

The First Emancipation: The Forgotten History of Abolition in Revolutionary France (Princeton UP, 2026) is a dramatic account of how slavery and race …

Chinese EVs: From Nordic Streets to Central Asian Hubs

July 2, 2026

Chinese EVs

Matthew Gray

Can Europe afford to stand back as China rewrites the global electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem? In this episode, Julie Yu-Wen Chen at the University of …

Kevin Reilly, "Gregory Ghosts: Haunting Irishness" (Peter Lang, 2026)

June 30, 2026

Gregory Ghosts: Haunting Irishness

Kevin Reilly
Hosted by Aidan Beatty

Kevin P. Reilly is President Emeritus and Regent Professor with the University of Wisconsin System, having served as President from 2004-13. Kevin gr…

Cleo Nisse, "Venetian Canvas and the Transformation of Painting" (Princeton UP, 2026)

June 26, 2026

Venetian Canvas and the Transformation of Painting

Cleo Nisse
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Between the fifteenth and early seventeenth centuries, European painting underwent a profound transformation as artists increasingly painted on …

Charles J. Stivale, "Unfolding the Deleuze Seminars, 1970–1987: Summaries and Commentary" (Edinburgh UP, 2025)

June 25, 2026

Unfolding the Deleuze Seminars, 1970-1987

Charles J. Stivale
Hosted by Nathan Smith

From the inside flap: “A rich resource of Deleuze’s research that is unavailable in his published writing Includes summaries of 216 seminar sessio…

Catherine Fletcher, "The Firearm Revolution: From Renaissance Italy to the European Empires" (Princeton UP, 2026)

June 23, 2026

The Firearm Revolution

Catherine Fletcher

In Renaissance Italy, the gun was not only a tool of war but also a desirable object, a luxury item carried at court. Guns were in use on the battlefi…

Laura Borghetti and Thomas Arentzen, "Ecologizing Late Ancient and Byzantine Worlds" (Bloomsbury, 2025)

June 22, 2026

Ecologizing Late Ancient and Byzantine Worlds

Laura Borghetti and Thomas Arentzen
Hosted by Michael Motia

How can we study the late ancient and Byzantine history from ecological perspectives? How might one grapple with the more-than-human in sources and me…

European Jews in the 21st Century

June 18, 2026

European Jews in the 21st Century

Daniel Solomon, Stéphane Bou, Macha Fogel, and Danny Trom
Hosted by YIVO Institute

What is the status of Jews in Europe in the 21st century? How do they maintain vital communities? Do they desire to remain in Europe? To remain Jewish…

Marinus De Jong, "A Church for a Secular World: The Development of Klaas Schilder's Ecclesiology" (Brill, 2025)

June 14, 2026

A Church for a Secular World

Marinus De Jong
Hosted by Michael Shaw

The relationship between the Church and the world has been a subject of debate since the Church's earliest days. In ⁠A Church for a Secular World: The…

Curtis Dozier, "The White Pedestal: How White Nationalists Use Ancient Greece and Rome to Justify Hate" (Yale UP, 2026)

June 13, 2026

The White Pedestal

Curtis Dozier

Curtis Dozier's The White Pedestal: How White Nationalists Use Ancient Greece and Rome to Justify Hate (Yale University Press, 2026) explores how whit…

Don Thomas Deere, "The Invention of Order: On the Coloniality of Space" (Duke UP, 2026)

June 11, 2026

The Invention of Order

Don Thomas Deere

In The Invention of Order: On the Coloniality of Space (Duke University Press, 2026), Don Thomas Deere retraces the colonial origins of spatial orga…

Tania Sengupta and Stuart King eds., "Reclaiming Colonial Architecture" (Routledge, 2024)

June 9, 2026

Reclaiming Colonial Architecture

Tania Sengupta and Stuart King eds
Hosted by Matt Wells

Reclaiming Colonial Architecture (Routledge, 2024) explores the built inheritance of colonialism and considers how architects, heritage practitioners,…

Brexit Britain: 10 Years on from the Referendum

June 9, 2026

Brexit Britain

Maria Sobolewska, Charlotte Galpin and Monika Brusenbauch Meislova
Hosted by Tim Haughton

Anniversaries provide opportunities to take stock and reflect. It is now ten years since voters in the United Kingdom cast their ballots in a referend…

Matti Friedman, "Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe" (Spiegel & Grau, 2026)

June 9, 2026

Out of the Sky

Matti Friedman
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

Was it one of the war’s most memorable feats of valor or an act of desperation, even madness? In Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe…

Radio ReOrient S14:10: Muslims in the Neoliberal Era, with William Barylo, hosted by Salman Sayyid and Amina Easat-Daas

June 5, 2026

Radio ReOrient S14:10: Muslims in the Neoliberal Era, with William Barylo, hosted by Salman Sayyid and Amina Easat-Daas

Hosted by Radio Reorient

In this episode hosts Salman Sayyid and Amina Easat-Daas were joined by William Barylo to discuss his most recent book ‘Muslims in the Neoliberal Era:…

Alex Law, "The Roots of Sociology: Scottish Enlightenment and the Civilising Process" (Routledge, 2026)

June 2, 2026

The Roots of Sociology

Alex Law
Hosted by Matt Dawson

The thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment have often been claimed for sociology. But, what does it mean to say these thinkers were sociologists, or a…