About Carl Nellis

NBN Episodes hosted by Carl:

Geraldine Heng, "The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages" (Cambridge UP, 2018)

February 26, 2019

The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages

Geraldine Heng
Hosted by Carl Nellis

In The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages (Cambridge University Press 2018), Geraldine Heng collects a remarkable array of medieval approac…

Lilian Calles Barger, "The World Come of Age: An Intellectual History of Liberation Theology" (Oxford UP, 2018)

November 7, 2018

The World Come of Age

Lilian Calles Barger
Hosted by Carl Nellis

A searching and richly textured history of the affinities and common origins of Latin American and North American liberation theologies, The World Com…

Irina Dumitrescu, "The Experience of Education in Anglo-Saxon Literature" (Cambridge UP, 2018)

August 3, 2018

The Experience of Education in Anglo-Saxon Literature

Irina Dumitrescu
Hosted by Carl Nellis

A sharply observed study of the representations of education found in Anglo-Saxon texts, Irina Dumitrescu’s The Experience of Education in Anglo-Saxon…

Arlie Russell Hochschild, "Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right" (New Press, 2016)

March 15, 2018

Strangers in Their Own Land

Arlie Russell Hochschild
Hosted by Carl Nellis

Since it was published in 2016, Arlie Russell Hochschild's Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right (The New Press, 2016)…

Liam Cole Young, "List Cultures: Knowledge and Poetics from Mesopotamia to Buzzfeed" (Amsterdam UP, 2017)

January 9, 2018

List Cultures

Liam Cole Young
Hosted by Carl Nellis

The list is the origin of culture. At least, that's according to Umberto Eco, whose words open Liam Cole Young's new book, List Cultures: Knowledge…

John Rieder, "Science Fiction and the Mass Cultural Genre System" (Wesleyan UP, 2017)

October 19, 2017

Science Fiction and the Mass Cultural Genre System

John Rieder
Hosted by Carl Nellis

A deft and searching exploration of genre theory through science fiction, and science fiction through genre theory, John Rieder's Science Fiction and …

David Matthews, "Medievalism: A Critical History" (Boydell and Brewer, 2017)

July 6, 2017

Medievalism

David Matthews
Hosted by Carl Nellis

A revealing exploration of representative modes of medievalism, Medievalism: A Critical History (Boydell & Brewer; hardcover 2015, paperback 2017)…

Carlo Rotella and Michael Ezra, eds. "The Bittersweet Science: Fifteen Writers in the Gym, in the Corner, and at Ringside" (U Chicago Press, 2017)

May 26, 2017

The Bittersweet Science

Carlo Rotella and Michael Ezra, eds.
Hosted by Carl Nellis

"Boxing has always attracted writers because it issues a standing challenge to their powers of description and imagination, and also a warning--really…

Jeremy C. Young, "The Age of Charisma: Leaders, Follwoers, and Emotions in American Society, 1870-1940" (Cambridge UP, 2017)

May 4, 2017

The Age of Charisma

Jeremy C. Young
Hosted by Carl Nellis

In the age of the railroad, social movements, revivals, and campaigns for political office spread like wildfire across the United States. Leaders and …

Molly Worthen, "Apostles of Reason: The Crisis of Authority in American Evangelicalism" (Oxford UP, 2014)

March 14, 2017

Apostles of Reason

Molly Worthen
Hosted by Carl Nellis

Beginning with a network of reformed figures that orbited around Billy Graham, from J. Howard Pew's money to Carl Henry's passion for cultural esteem,…

David Rosen and Aaron Santesso, "The Watchman in Pieces: Surveillance, Literature, and Liberal Personhood" (Yale UP, 2013)

February 9, 2017

The Watchman in Pieces

David Rosen and Aaron Santesso
Hosted by Carl Nellis

"Surveillance and literature, as kindred practices, have light to shed on each other." When David Rosen and Aaron Santesso considered the disciplin…

Scott Selisker, "Human Programming: Brainwashing, Automatons, and American Unfreedom" (U Minnesota Press, 2016)

December 18, 2016

Human Programming

Scott Selisker
Hosted by Carl Nellis

In Human Programming: Brainwashing, Automatons, and American Unfreedom (University of Minnesota Press, 2016), Scott Selisker offers readers a fascinat…

Gail Ashton, ed. "Medieval Afterlives in Contemporary Culture" (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015/2017)

December 14, 2016

Medieval Afterlives in Contemporary Culture

Gail Ashton
Hosted by Carl Nellis

Dilapidated thirteenth-century walls as a playscape for today's children, medieval relics made as fetish objects for twenty-first century enthusiasts,…

Larrie Ferreiro, "Brothers at Arms: Independence and the Men of France and Spain Who Saved It" (Knopf, 2016)

December 2, 2016

Brothers at Arms

Larrie Ferreiro
Hosted by Carl Nellis

Was the War for American Independence really about American independence? It depends on who you ask. In his new book, Brothers at Arms: American In…

Andrew Cole, "The Birth of Theory" (U Chicago Press, 2014)

October 27, 2016

The Birth of Theory

Andrew Cole
Hosted by Carl Nellis

Was Hegel a medieval thinker? In The Birth of Theory (University of Chicago Press, 2014), Andrew Cole puts forward a reexamination of Hegelian dial…

Richard Bourke, "Empire and Revolution: The Political Life of Edmund Burke" (Princeton UP, 2015)

September 30, 2016

Empire and Revolution

Richard Bourke
Hosted by Carl Nellis

Richard Bourke, Professor in the History of Political Thought in the School of History at Queen Mary University of London, began developing his histor…

E.R. Truitt, "Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2015)

September 21, 2016

Medieval Robots

E.R. Truitt
Hosted by Carl Nellis

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Clarke's third law, coined in 1973, expresses the difficulty that people of a…