Welcome to The Second Cold War Observatory, where we explore the histories and grounded realities of geopolitical rivalry from the Cold War to the present. We host conversations with academics, policymakers, and activists about how competition affects places, people, and politics around the world to foster more nuanced and open debate on contemporary rivalry. We cover diverse themes from the environment to digital connectivity and finance. Our guests present in-depth research from the institutions and places that become flashpoints of great power rivalry.

This podcast is produced by Jessica DiCarlo and Seth Schindler through The Second Cold War Observatory, a collective of scholars committed to advancing historically and contextually situated understandings of contemporary great power rivalry.

Interviews with authors of Rutgers University Press books.

Interviews with authors of books published by The Ohio State University Press

How can Torah help you improve your self-control? With the help of Menahem Mendel Lefin's Cheshbon haNefesh, an important 19th-century work on character refinement, we delve into the weekly Torah portion to seek wisdom on refining our traits and mastering our moods and emotions. Listen in as Modya Silver, a psychotherapist and author, and David Gottlieb, a scholar of Jewish history and a teacher of Jewish contemplative practice, uncover the ethical wisdom contained in each weekly reading.

Interviews with scholar of Mexico about their new books

Interviews with scholars promoting big ideas.

Interviews with scholars of gender about their new books.

Making Sense of an Age of Upheaval—in America and Beyond. Hosted by veteran journalist and author Paul Starobin, a former contributing editor of The Atlantic and a former Moscow bureau chief of Business Week. His companion Substack newsletter, America and Beyond,” offers commentary and insights on the podcast. Paul's most recent book is Putin’s Exiles: Their Fight for a Better Russia (Columbia Global Reports, 2024). His three previous books are A Most Wicked Conspiracy: The Last Great Swindle of the Gilded Age (PublicAffairs, 2020); Madness Rules the Hour: Charleston, 1860 and the Mania for War (PublicAffairs, 2017); and After America: Narratives for the Next Global Age (Viking, 2009). Paul lives with his family in Orleans, Massachusetts on the elbow of Cape Cod.

Interviews with scholars of celebration about their new books.

Interviews with scholars of the Middle East about their new books.

Interviews with scholars of public health about their new books

Interviews with scholars of genocide about their new books.

Interviews with psychologists and scholars of psychology about their new books.

Interviews with authors of Leuven UP books.

The MIT Press Podcast features exclusive interviews and content that draw on the topics, themes, and trends explored in our books and journals. Subject areas that are covered include art and design, technology, science, information and data science, linguistics, neuroscience, business and management, architecture and urban design, ecology and sustainability, science fiction, and more. The podcast also regularly features high level discussions about open access publishing and knowledge.

Discussions with scholars of the Pacific region about their new books

What motivates creative people to do what they do, especially when they use their drive, determination and talents to change the world? The Proust Questionnaire is thought in action. It's a personality test that allows us a glimpse behind the proverbial curtain of creative people's minds. Each guest answers the same 35 questions that were first popularized as a parlor game by French novelist Marcel Proust about a hundred years ago. But these questions are timeless, and you’ll quickly find yourself thinking with our guests, rather than about their answers. Be moved, entertained, and inspired to do good yourself when you listen to our guests tell us what they love, fear, and hope for in these oral portraits of great minds.

The Sydney Southeast Asia Centre (SSEAC) builds on the expertise of and facilitates collaborations between over 400 University of Sydney academics who specialise in Southeast Asia.

One book selected daily from those published on the New Books Network.

A podcast about the life and work of Robert Eisler.

Interviews with social scientists who work in teams.

Interviews with scholars of Artificial Intelligence about their new books.

Interviews on the current state and future of higher education.

Interviews with scientists about their new books.

Anthropology on Air is a podcast brought to you by the Social Anthropology department at the University of Bergen in Norway. Each season, we bring you conversations with inspiring thinkers from the anthropology world and beyond. The music in the podcast is made by Victor Lange, and the episodes are hosted and produced by Sidsel Marie Henriksen and Sadie Hale. You can follow us on Facebook or visit Institutt for sosialantropologi where you can find more information on the ongoing work and upcoming events at the department.

The Seventies was a calamitous decade, a low point in the history of New York City. City Hall continually failed to balance budgets and turned to austerity, privatization, and sheer negligence when it came to running city services. Roads disintegrated, buildings and overpasses collapsed, garbage piled high, and crime ran rampant. The city literally crumbled under the weight of austerity.

At the same time, underground culture surged with energy, from subway graffiti to experimental theater and gay bars. Musical artists embedded in the urban fabric turned to their craft with gusto. They formed loose networks of like-minded artists who made and appreciated particular styles of music. Their world during this period, at times, reflected the disintegrating cityscape. At other times, their music celebrated the social constraints let loose in a time of crisis, when the city seemed to be falling apart.

Soundscapes is a podcast about how music created in New York has shaped the history of the city and how the city itself has been an incubator in which music has blossomed throughout its history. Soundscapes is a bi-weekly podcast series in which historian Ryan Donovan Purcell talks with artists, music industry professionals, and scholars about NYC music history.

About the hosts: Ryan Donovan Purcell is a professor of modern American History at Sarah Lawrence College while serving on the editorial board at the Gotham Center for New York City History at the CUNY Graduate Center. Soundscapes draws from his book Sounds of the City Collapsing, forthcoming with Columbia University Press.

Kristie Soares is an Associate Professor of Women & Gender Studies and Co-Director of LGBTQ Studies at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Author of Playful Protest: The Political Work of Joy in Latinx Media (2023), Soares is currently conducting an oral history project that explores the role of Latinx disc jockeys in the development of dance music in 1970s New York. This is part of a larger book project entitled Macho Man: Performances of Latinidad in the Disco Era.

IG: @soundscapesnyc
Tt: @soundsacpes.nyc

Gotham Center: https://www.gothamcenter.org/

Interviews with authors of Catholic University of America Press books.

Interviews with scholars of Poland about their new books

Interviews with journalists and editors about their work.

Interviews with scholars of human rights about their new books.

Interviews with scholars of science, technology and society about their new books.

Interviews with authors of the University Press of Kentucky books.

What is Taiwan for the world and the world for Taiwan? In this podcast series, a group of Taiwan specialists based at the University of Central Lancashire, chat with book writers, artists, directors, professionals from, or with, an interest in Taiwan and explore how the ‘little’ island of Taiwan can be a starting point to (re)think the way we look at the world. Whether you already know Taiwan, you want to know more about it, or you just want to be inspired by it, this is the podcast for you!

This podcast series is hosted by Dr Ti-han Chang, Dr Lara Momesso and Dr Adina Zemanek.

Interviews with scholars of historical materialism about their new books.

Interviews with authors of books reviewed in the Asian Review of Books.

Interviews with scholars of Korea about their new books.

Interviews with scholars of Russia and Eurasia about their new books.

Interviews with scholars of education about their new books.

Revolutionary America features conversations with authors of new scholarship on the transformative era spanning the 1750s through the 1820s across the Americas. Featuring interviews that explore political upheaval, social change, and the many meanings of “revolution” in this period, the channel highlights work on independence movements, constitutional formations, imperial crises, and the lived experiences of diverse peoples navigating a rapidly changing world. Co-directed by Edward Blum and Amy Weitzman, and produced in collaboration with the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic (SHEAR), Revolutionary America brings cutting-edge historical research to scholars, students, and the interested public.

Interviews with physicists and chemists about their new books.

Interviews with scholars of Sound Studies about their new books.

Interviews with scholars of popular culture about their new books.