New Books Network
A Podcast Series about Polymath Robert Eisler
Digital Humanities August 31, 2020

A Very Square Peg

A Discussion with Brian Collins

Dr. Brian Collins

Hosted by Marshall Poe
Today I talked with Dr. Brian Collins, the creator of "A Very Square Peg." We talked about: --How he discovered Eilser in a used bookstore in Ann Arbor --How he …

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British Studies August 4, 2020

A Very Square Peg

Vanity of Vanities

Dr. Brian Collins

Hosted by Brian Collins
In this episode, I look at Eisler’s last days in England, where he found that the Oxford readership he had been promised before being sent to Dachau was taken by …
German Studies July 28, 2020

A Very Square Peg

A Very Difficult Man to Kill

Dr. Brian Collins

Hosted by Brian Collins
Following the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in March of 1938, Robert Eisler wrote to Oxford asking about being appointed to the Wilde Readership in Comparative and Natural Religion …
German Studies July 21, 2020

A Very Square Peg

The Christ Vision

Dr. Brian Collins

Hosted by Brian Collins
Robert Whitehead of London, a self-described “Business Man” who was “no Churchman and not a Jesus worshipper, much as I admire him,” wrote to Robert Eisler on New Year’s Eve …
German Studies July 14, 2020

A Very Square Peg

Negative Interest

Dr. Brian Collins

Hosted by Brian Collins
Warning: Economics. In this episode, we begin with Eisler’s testimony before the skeptical Senators of the Committee on Banking and Currency in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 1934, in which …
German Studies July 7, 2020

A Very Square Peg

The Slavonic Josephus

Dr. Brian Collins

Hosted by Brian Collins
In this episode, we focus on one of Eisler’s most controversial works, a reconstruction of the 1st-century Roman Jewish historian Josephus’ account of the events surrounding the death of Jesus …
German Studies June 30, 2020

A Very Square Peg

Women’s Coats and Beach Cabanas

Dr. Brian Collins

Hosted by Brian Collins
In this episode, we examine the rivalry/friendship between Eisler and the great scholar of Jewish mysticism Gershom Scholem and reassess Eisler’s infamous meeting with Scholem and Walter Benjamin in Paris …
Art June 23, 2020

A Very Square Peg

Eisler vs. the Flat Earth

Dr. Brian Collins

Hosted by Brian Collins
In this episode, we talk with Michael Gubser about the pioneering art historian Alois Riegl, one of Eisler’s teachers in Vienna and a major influence on his thought. Then we …
German Studies June 16, 2020

A Very Square Peg

Value Theory

Dr. Brian Collins

Hosted by Brian Collins
In this episode (# 2), we discuss Eisler’s early years as a member of the Jewish bourgeoisie in turn-of-the-century Vienna with historian Steven Beller. We also hear from the closest …
German Studies June 9, 2020

A Very Square Peg

Man Into Wolf

Dr. Brian Collins

Hosted by Brian Collins
In this episode, we discuss how I discovered Robert Eisler’s Man into Wolf: An Anthropological Interpretation of Sadism, Masochism, and Lycanthropy and unpack the book’s argument that modern humans are …