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Off the Page: A Columbia UP Podcast
East Asian Studies May 22, 2023

The Precious Summary

A History of the Mongols from Chinggis Khan to the Qing Dynasty

Sagang Sechen. Translated by Johan Elverskog.

Hosted by Sarah Bramao-Ramos
Buddhist cosmological history of the universe, history of Chinggis Khan, history of China, and history of the Mongols — The Precious Summary, written in 1662 by Sagang Sechen, is many …

Off the Page: A Columbia UP Podcast

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Interviews with Columbia University Press authors.

Global Media & Communication May 22, 2023

Made in Censorship

The Tiananmen Movement in Chinese Literature and Film

Thomas Chen

Hosted by Aswin Punathambekar and Jing Wang
Hello, world! This is the Global Media & Communication podcast series. In this episode, our host Ignatius Suglo discusses the book Made in Censorship: The Tiananmen Movement in Chinese Literature …
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones May 19, 2023

The Future of the Human Heart

A Discussion with Vincent M. Figueredo

Vincent M. Figueredo

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones
Long considered the most important of all organs, the human heart has fascinated artists and scientists alike. Listen to cardiologist Vincent Figueredo discuss knowledge of and attitudes towards the heart …
Environmental Studies May 19, 2023

The Octopus in the Parking Garage

A Call for Climate Resilience

Rob Verchick

Hosted by Karyne Messina
One morning in Miami Beach, an unexpected guest showed up in a luxury condominium complex’s parking garage: an octopus. The image quickly went viral. But the octopus―and the combination of …
Public Policy May 11, 2023

Organizing for Power and Empowerment

The Fight for Democracy

Jacqueline Mondros and Joan Minieri

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
Jacqueline Mondros and Joan Minieri's book Organizing for Power and Empowerment: The Fight for Democracy (Columbia UP, 2023) draws on extensive research to portray how social-action organizations have evolved over the …
Religion April 24, 2023

Sacred Kingship in World History

Between Immanence and Transcendence

A. Azfar Moin and Alan Strathern

Hosted by Justin Smolin
Sacred kingship has been the core political form, in small-scale societies and in vast empires, for much of world history. Sacred Kingship in World History: Between Immanence and Transcendence (Columbia …
Religion April 15, 2023

At Home and Abroad

The Politics of American Religion

Elizabeth Shakm Hurd and Winnifred Falle Sullivan

Hosted by Jacob Barrett
From right to left, notions of religion and religious freedom are fundamental to how many Americans have understood their country and themselves. Ideas of religion, politics, and the interplay between …
Music March 30, 2023

DVS Mindz

The Twenty-Year Saga of the Greatest Rap Group to Almost Make It Outta Kansas

Geoff Harkness

Hosted by Alex Kuchma
99.9% of aspiring rappers never make it in the music industry. So why do we only hear the stories of the ones who do? DVS Mindz might be the greatest …
Film March 29, 2023

The Cinema of Paul Thomas Anderson

American Apocrypha

Ethan Warren

Hosted by Daniel Moran
Paul Thomas Anderson’s evolution from a brash, self-anointed “Indiewood” auteur to one of his generation’s most distinctive voices has been one of the most remarkable career trajectories in recent …
Islamic Studies March 10, 2023

The Language of History

Sanskrit Narratives of Indo-Muslim Rule

Audrey Truschke

Hosted by SherAli Tareen
In her layered and theoretically astute new book The Language of History: Sanskrit Narratives of Indo-Muslim Rule (Columbia UP, 2021), Audrey Truschke documents and analyzes a range of Sanskrit texts …
American Studies March 10, 2023

Hollywood's Embassies

How Movie Theaters Projected American Power Around the World

Ross Melnick

Hosted by Morteza Hajizadeh
Beginning in the 1920s, audiences around the globe were seduced not only by Hollywood films but also by lavish movie theaters that were owned and operated by the major American …
South Asian Studies March 2, 2023

Radio for the Millions

Hindi-Urdu Broadcasting Across Borders

Isabel Huacuja Alonso

Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall
From news about World War II to the broadcasting of music from popular movies, radio played a crucial role in an increasingly divided South Asia for more than half a …
Public Policy March 1, 2023

Unequal Cities

Overcoming Anti-Urban Bias to Reduce Inequality in the United States

Richard McGahey

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
Cities are central to prosperity: they are hubs of innovation and growth. However, the economic vitality of wealthy cities is marred by persistent and pervasive inequality—and deeply entrenched anti-urban policies …
East Asian Studies February 21, 2023

The Culture of Language in Ming China

Sound, Script, and the Redefinition of Boundaries of Knowledge

Nathan Vedal

Hosted by Sarah Bramao-Ramos
What is the nature of language? This is the question that Nathan Vedal’s book, The Culture of Language in Ming China: Sound, Script, and the Redefinition of Boundaries of Knowledge …
African American Studies February 11, 2023

Claude McKay

The Making of a Black Bolshevik

Winston James

Hosted by Amanda Joyce Hall
One of the foremost Black writers and intellectuals of his era, Claude McKay (1889–1948) was a central figure in Caribbean literature, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Black radical tradition. McKay’s …
American Studies January 25, 2023

Generation Gap

Why the Baby Boomers Still Dominate American Politics and Culture

Kevin Munger

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
In Generation Gap: Why the Baby Boomers Still Dominate American Politics and Culture (Columbia UP, 2022), Kevin Munger marshals novel data and survey evidence to argue that generational conflict will define the politics …
Medicine January 10, 2023

The First Resort

The History of Social Psychiatry in the United States

Matthew Smith

Hosted by Claire Clark
Social psychiatry was a mid-twentieth-century approach to mental health that stressed the prevention of mental illness rather than its treatment. Its proponents developed environmental explanations of mental health, arguing that …
East Asian Studies December 27, 2022

Learning to Rule

Court Education and the Remaking of the Qing State, 1861-1912

Daniel Barish

Hosted by Sarah Bramao-Ramos
The late Qing was a time of great turmoil and upheaval but also a time of great possibility, as scholars, officials, the press, and revolutionaries all sought to find ways …
Performing Arts December 25, 2022

Crooked, But Never Common

The Films of Preston Sturges

Stuart Klawans

Hosted by Andy Boyd
In a burst of creativity unmatched in Hollywood history, Preston Sturges directed a string of all-time classic comedies from 1939 through 1948--The Great McGinty, The Lady Eve, Sullivan's Travels, The …
Finance December 18, 2022

States and the Masters of Capital

Sovereign Lending, Old and New

Quentin Bruneau

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Today, states' ability to borrow private capital depends on stringent evaluations of their creditworthiness. While many presume that this has long been the case, Quentin Bruneau argues that it is …