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Princeton UP Ideas Podcast
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast March 1, 2021

The Life of Geoffrey Chaucer

A Discussion with Marion Turner

Marion Turner

Hosted by Marshall Poe
More than any other canonical English writer, Geoffrey Chaucer lived and worked at the centre of political life—yet his poems are anything but conventional. Edgy, complicated, and often dark, they …

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Spiritual Practice and Mindfulness February 18, 2021

How God Becomes Real

Kindling the Presence of Invisible Others

T. M. Luhrmann

Hosted by Jack Petranker
Tanya Luhrmann has spent much of her career as an anthropologist investigating the complex ways that people engage religion and the supernatural. In How God Becomes Real: Kindling the Presence …
Neuroscience February 17, 2021

On Task

How Our Brain Gets Things Done

David Badre

Hosted by Joseph Fridman
On Task: How Our Brain Gets Things Done (Princeton UP, 2020) is a look at the extraordinary ways the brain turns thoughts into actions—and how this shapes our everyday lives.  …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast February 15, 2021

How Discrimination Haunts Western Democracy

A Discussion with Michael Hanchard

Michael G. Hanchard

Hosted by Marshall Poe
As right-wing nationalism and authoritarian populism gain momentum across the world, liberals, and even some conservatives, worry that democratic principles are under threat. In The Spectre of Race: How Discrimination …
Architecture February 11, 2021

Architecture in Global Socialism

Eastern Europe, West Africa, and the Middle East in the Cold War

Łukasz Stanek

Hosted by Sharika Crawford
In the course of the Cold War, architects, planners, and construction companies from socialist Eastern Europe engaged in a vibrant collaboration with those in West Africa and the Middle East …
Russian and Eurasian Studies February 10, 2021

Moscow Monumental

Soviet Skyscrapers and Urban Life in Stalin's Capital

Katherine Zubovich

Hosted by Jennifer Eremeeva
In Moscow Monumental: Soviet Skyscrapers and Urban Life in Stalin’s Capital (Princeton University Press, 2021), Professor Katherine Zubovich of the University of Buffalo of the State University of New York …
Medicine February 5, 2021

Abusive Policies

How the American Child Welfare System Lost Its Way

Mical Raz

Hosted by Claire Clark
In the early 1970s, a new wave of public service announcements urged parents to help end an American tradition of child abuse. The message, relayed repeatedly over television and radio …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast February 1, 2021

The Idea of Freedom and Race

A Discussion with Tyler Stovall

Tyler Stovall

Hosted by Marshall Poe
The era of the Enlightenment, which gave rise to our modern conceptions of freedom and democracy, was also the height of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. America, a nation founded on …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast February 1, 2021

White Freedom

The Racial History of an Idea

Tyler Stovall

Hosted by Marshall Poe
The era of the Enlightenment, which gave rise to our modern conceptions of freedom and democracy, was also the height of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. America, a nation founded on …
Jewish Studies January 26, 2021

Time and Difference in Rabbinic Judaism

Sarit Kattan Gribetz

Hosted by Rachel Adelman
The rabbinic corpus begins with a question–“when?”—and is brimming with discussions about time and the relationship between people, God, and the hour. Time and Difference in Rabbinic Judaism (Princeton UP, 2020) explores …
Biography January 22, 2021

Poet of Revolution

The Making of John Milton

Nicholas McDowell

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Decades before he wrote his epic work Paradise Lost, John Milton was an active republican and polemicist. How Milton came to espouse such radical views is just one of the …
American Studies January 19, 2021

As a City on a Hill

The Story of America's Most Famous Lay Sermon

Daniel T. Rodgers

Hosted by Ryan Shelton
Since the presidency of Ronald Reagan, John Winthrop's famous phrase, "We shall be as a city upon a hill," has become political creed and rallying cry for American exceptionalism. But for …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast January 15, 2021

Who was Francisco Goya?

A Discussion with Janis Tomlinson

Janis Tomlinson

Hosted by Marshall Poe
The life of Francisco Goya (1746–1828) coincided with an age of transformation in Spanish history that brought upheavals in the country’s politics and at the court which Goya served, changes …
Middle Eastern Studies January 5, 2021

The Lost Archive

Traces of a Caliphate in a Cairo Synagogue

Marina Rustow

Hosted by Nancy Ko
What does it mean that our single greatest source of medieval Islamic government documents comes from the attic of a Jewish synagogue in Cairo? This is the seeming paradox that …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast January 4, 2021

Can we Bring Extinct Species Back?

A Conversation with Beth Shapiro

Beth Shapiro

Hosted by Marshall Poe
Could extinct species, like mammoths and passenger pigeons, be brought back to life? The science says yes. In How to Clone a Mammoth: The Science of De-Extinction (Princeton UP, 2020), Beth Shapiro …
Philosophy December 21, 2020

The Art of Chinese Philosophy

Eight Classical Texts and How to Read Them

Paul Goldin

Hosted by Alexus McLeod
Paul Goldin's book The Art of Chinese Philosophy: Eight Classical Texts and How to Read Them (Princeton UP, 2020) provides an unmatched introduction to eight of the most important works of …
Political Science December 17, 2020

The Drama of Celebrity

Sharon Marcus

Hosted by Lilly Goren
Sharon Marcus’s new book, The Drama of Celebrity (Princeton UP, 2020), sets out to help us understand celebrity culture and how it has shifted and evolved since its contemporary inception …
Environmental Studies December 16, 2020

The Last Butterflies

A Scientist's Quest to Save a Rare and Vanishing Creature

Nick Haddad

Hosted by Rachel Pagones
Butterflies have long captivated the imagination of humans, from naturalists to children to poets. Indeed it would be hard to imagine a world without butterflies. And yet their populations are …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast December 15, 2020

Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages

A Discussion with Roland Betancourt

Roland Betancourt

Hosted by Allison Leigh
In Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages (Princeton University Press, 2020), Roland Betancourt reveals the fascinating, little-examined conversations in medieval thought and visual culture around matters …
History December 7, 2020

Rome Is Burning

Nero and the Fire That Ended a Dynasty

Anthony A. Barrett

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Ancient Rome had experienced many fires before 64 CE, yet none of the previous blazes proved as significant as the conflagration that swept through the city that year. In Rome Is …