American Studies

American Studies

episodes

Interviews with scholars of America about their new books.

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…

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…

Richard Bennet and Alexander Noyes, "War at Arm's Length: How America Can Build Effective Partners Through Military Assistance" (Yale UP, 2026)

June 12, 2026

War at Arm's Length

Richard Bennet and Alexander Noyes

An in-depth examination of how the United States can build more effective partner militaries. Military assistance has a bad reputation. Large-scale a…

“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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Javier Arbona-Homar, "Explosivity: Following What Remains" (U Minnesota Press, 2025)

June 8, 2026

Explosivity

Javier Arbona-Homar
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Offering a novel approach to contemporary landscape studies,⁠ ⁠⁠Explosivity: Following What Remains⁠ (U Minnesota Press, 2025) unearths the hidden leg…

Robert W. Snyder, "When the City Stopped: Stories from New York's Essential Workers" (Cornell UP, 2026)

June 6, 2026

When the City Stopped

Robert W. Snyder
Hosted by James Melchiorre

The COVID-19 pandemic delivered its first and most devastating strike in the United States in New York City in the Spring of 2020. Closely connected t…

Paper Heroines: Women Writers in Conversation and Community Across the Sea Islands, 1838-1902

June 4, 2026

Paper Heroines

Mollie Barnes

In ⁠Paper Heroines: Women Writers in Conversation and Community Across the Sea Islands, 1838-1902⁠ (U South Carolina Press, 2026), Dr. Mollie Barnes s…

172 David Cunningham on Contesting Confederate Monuments (JP)

June 4, 2026

172 David Cunningham on Contesting Confederate Monuments (JP)

David Cunningham joins John to speak about his pathbreaking article about visiting each of the 113 communities that removed or relocated Confederate s…

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…

Kati Curts, "Assembling Religion: The Ford Motor Company and the Transformation of Religion in America" (NYU Press, 2025)

June 2, 2026

Assembling Religion

Kati Curts
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Henry Ford did not just mass produce cars. As a member of the Episcopal Church, reader of New Thought texts, believer in the "gospel of reincarnation,…

Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor, "Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious Word and Me" (37 Ink, 2026)

June 2, 2026

Something We Said

Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor
Hosted by Sullivan Summer

The N-word is one of the most perplexing, controversial and misunderstood words in the American lexicon. It’s a word that Elizabeth Pryor has not only…

Homes of the Past

June 1, 2026

Homes of the Past

Jeffrey Shandler
Hosted by YIVO Institute

In 1940s New York, immigrant Jewish scholars sought to build a museum to commemorate their lost worlds and people. Among the Jews who arrived in the U…

Julie J. Park, "Race, Class, and Affirmative Action: College Admissions in a New Era" (Harvard Education Press, 2026)

May 31, 2026

Race, Class, and Affirmative Action

Julie J. Park
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

In Race, Class, and Affirmative Action: College Admissions in a New Era (Harvard Education Press, 2026), Julie J. Park offers deft analysis of the cha…

Craig Fehrman, "This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark" (Simon & Schuster, 2026)

May 31, 2026

This Vast Enterprise

Craig Fehrman
Hosted by Raymond Williams

In 1806, when Meriwether Lewis and William Clark return from their journey—having led the Corps of Discovery across eight thousand miles of rapids, mo…

Joanna Dee Das, "Faith, Family, and Flag: Branson Entertainment and the Idea of America" (U Chicago Press, 2025)

May 31, 2026

Faith, Family, and Flag

Joanna Dee Das

Faith, Family, and Flag: Branson Entertainment and the Idea of America (University of Chicago Press, 2025) examines the history of Branson, Missouri…