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About Mark Klobas

NBN Episodes hosted by Mark:

General History May 17, 2022

Globalizing Automobilism

Exuberance and the Emergence of Layered Mobility, 1900–1980

Gijs Mom

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Why has "car society" proven so durable, even in the face of mounting environmental and economic crises? In Globalizing Automobilism: Exuberance and the Emergence of Layered Mobility, 1900–1980 (Berghahn Books …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast May 17, 2022

When Animals Dream

The Hidden World of Animal Consciousness

David M. Peña-Guzmán

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Are humans the only dreamers on Earth? What goes on in the minds of animals when they sleep? When Animals Dream: The Hidden World of Animal Consciousness (Princeton UP, 2022) …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast May 2, 2022

The Wordhord

Daily Life in Old English

Hana Videen

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Old English is the language you think you know until you actually hear or see it. Unlike Shakespearean English or even Chaucer’s Middle English, Old English—the language of Beowulf—defies comprehension …
In Conversation: An OUP Podcast May 2, 2022

Breached!

Why Data Security Law Fails and How to Improve It

Daniel J. Solove and Woodrow Hartzog

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Digital connections permeate our lives-and so do data breaches. Given that we must be online for basic communication, finance, healthcare, and more, it is alarming how difficult it is to …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast April 15, 2022

A Vertical Art

On Poetry

Simon Armitage

Hosted by Mark Klobas
In A Vertical Art: On Poetry (Princeton UP, 2022), acclaimed poet Simon Armitage takes a refreshingly common-sense approach to an art form that can easily lend itself to grand statements …
Biography April 7, 2022

Walk with Me

A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer

Kate Clifford Larson

Hosted by Mark Klobas
She was born the 20th child in a family that had lived in the Mississippi Delta for generations, first as enslaved people and then as sharecroppers. She left school at …
Ancient History April 4, 2022

Julius Caesar and the Roman People

Robert Morstein-Marx

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Julius Caesar was no aspiring autocrat seeking to realize the imperial future but an unusually successful republican leader who was measured against the Republic's traditions and its greatest heroes of …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast April 1, 2022

All About Birds

A Series of Regional Field Guides

Jill Leichter and Hugh Powell

Hosted by Mark Klobas
The All About Birds Regional Field-Guide Series brings birding enthusiasts the best information from the renowned Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s website, AllAboutBirds.org, used by more than 21 million people each …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast March 21, 2022

Does Skill Make Us Human?

Migrant Workers in 21st-Century Qatar and Beyond

Natasha Iskander

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Skill—specifically the distinction between the “skilled” and “unskilled”—is generally defined as a measure of ability and training, but Does Skill Make Us Human?: Migrant Workers in 21st-Century Qatar and Beyond …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast March 3, 2022

Work Pray Code

When Work Becomes Religion in Silicon Valley

Carolyn Chen

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Silicon Valley is known for its lavish perks, intense work culture, and spiritual gurus. Work Pray Code: When Work Becomes Religion in Silicon Valley (Princeton UP, 2022) explores how tech companies …
British Studies March 1, 2022

The Execution of Admiral John Byng As a Microhistory of Eighteenth-Century Britain

JOSEPH J. KRULDER

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Admiral John Byng’s execution for failing to “do his utmost” to relieve the British garrison on Minorca in 1756 is remembered today mainly for Voltaire’s quip about the Royal Navy’s …
Medieval History February 16, 2022

Going to Church in Medieval England

Nicholas Orme

Hosted by Mark Klobas
For people in medieval England, the parish church was an integral part of their community. In Going to Church in Medieval England (Yale University Press, 2021), Nicholas Orme describes how …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast February 15, 2022

So Simple a Beginning

How Four Physical Principles Shape Our Living World

Raghuveer Parthasarathy

Hosted by Mark Klobas
The form and function of a sprinting cheetah are quite unlike those of a rooted tree. A human being is very different from a bacterium or a zebra. The living …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast February 1, 2022

American Shtetl

The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York

Nomi M. Stolzenberg and David N. Myers

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Settled in the mid-1970s by a small contingent of Hasidic families, Kiryas Joel is an American town with few parallels in Jewish history—but many precedents among religious communities in the …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast January 14, 2022

Ravenna

Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe

Judith Herrin

Hosted by Mark Klobas
At the end of the fourth century, as the power of Rome faded and Constantinople became the seat of empire, a new capital city was rising in the West. Here …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast January 6, 2022

The January 6th Capitol Insurrection One Year On

A Discussion of the Far Right with Cynthia Miller-Idriss

Cynthia Miller-Idriss

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Hate crimes. Misinformation and conspiracy theories. Foiled white-supremacist plots. The signs of growing far-right extremism are all around us, and communities across America and around the globe are struggling to …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast January 3, 2022

Western Europe’s Democratic Age

1945-1968

Martin Conway

Hosted by Mark Klobas
What happened in the years following World War II to create a democratic revolution in the western half of Europe? In Western Europe’s Democratic Age: 1945-1968 (Princeton UP, 2021), Martin …
British Studies December 22, 2021

Britain at Bay

The Epic Story of the Second World War: 1938-1941

Alan Allport

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Here is the many-faceted, world-historically significant story of Britain at war. In looking closely at the military and political dimensions of the conflict's first crucial years, Alan Allport tackles questions …
General History December 16, 2021

Nikolai Chernyshevskii and Ayn Rand

Russian Nihilism Travels to America

Aaron Weinacht

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Nikolai Chernyshevskii and Ayn Rand: Russian Nihilism Travels to America (Lexington, 2021) argues that the core commitments of the nihilist movement of the 1860's made their way to 20th century America …
Middle Eastern Studies December 13, 2021

Trials of Resilience

How Covid-19 Is Driving Economic Change in the Arab Gulf

Jarmo T. Kotilaine

Hosted by Mark Klobas
The Gulf region can no longer rely on the traditional growth drivers – oil, government spending, and large infrastructure projects. The anticipated rise in living standards must come by other …
General History November 23, 2021

Confederates and Comancheros

Skullduggery and Double-Dealing in the Texas-New Mexico Borderlands

James Bailey Blackshear and Glen Sample Ely

Hosted by Mark Klobas
A vast and desolate region, the Texas-New Mexico borderlands have long been an ideal setting for intrigue and illegal dealings--never more so than in the lawless early days of cattle …
General History November 22, 2021

State Surveillance, Political Policing and Counter-Terrorism in Britain, 1880-1914

Vlad Solomon

Hosted by Mark Klobas
In 1850 Charles Dickens wrote that Great Britain had “no political police,” adding that “the most rabid demagogue” could speak out “without the terror of an organised spy system.” In …
Biography November 17, 2021

The Generals' Civil War

What Their Memoirs Can Teach Us Today

Stephen Cushman

Hosted by Mark Klobas
In the decades following the American Civil War, several of the generals who had laid down their swords picked up their pens and published accounts of their service in the …
Biography November 2, 2021

Galeazzo Ciano

The Fascist Pretender

Tobias Hof

Hosted by Mark Klobas
He was the son of a prominent politician, Benito Mussolini’s son-in-law, and viewed by many as the Duce’s likely successor, only to die before a fascist firing squad near the …