About Mark Klobas

I'm a history instructor at Scottsdale Community College in Scottsdale, Arizona. I earned my BA in History from the University of Arizona, and my MA and Ph.D. from Texas A&M University.

NBN Episodes hosted by Mark:

Beth Linker, "Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America" (Princeton UP, 2024)

March 21, 2024

Slouch

Beth Linker
Hosted by Mark Klobas

In 1995, a scandal erupted when the New York Times revealed that the Smithsonian possessed a century's worth of nude "posture" photos of college stude…

Verity Harding, "AI Needs You: How We Can Change AI's Future and Save Our Own" (Princeton UP, 2024)

March 1, 2024

AI Needs You

Verity Harding
Hosted by Mark Klobas

Artificial intelligence may be the most transformative technology of our time. As AI's power grows, so does the need to figure out what--and who--this…

Richard L. Hasen, "A Real Right to Vote: How a Constitutional Amendment Can Safeguard American Democracy" (Princeton UP, 2024)

February 15, 2024

A Real Right to Vote

Richard L. Hasen
Hosted by Mark Klobas

Throughout history, too many Americans have been disenfranchised or faced needless barriers to voting. Part of the blame falls on the Constitution, wh…

Anthony Kaldellis, "Romanland: Ethnicity and Empire in Byzantium" (Harvard UP, 2019)

February 13, 2024

Romanland

Anthony Kaldellis
Hosted by Mark Klobas

Though commonly used today to identify a polity that lasted for over a millennium, the label “Byzantine empire” is an anachronism imposed by more rece…

Ismar Volić, "Making Democracy Count: How Mathematics Improves Voting, Electoral Maps, and Representation" (Princeton UP, 2024)

February 1, 2024

Making Democracy Count

Ismar Volić
Hosted by Mark Klobas

What's the best way to determine what most voters want when multiple candidates are running? What's the fairest way to allocate legislative seats to d…

Robert C. Post, "The Taft Court (10): Making Law for a Divided Nation, 1921–1930" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

January 19, 2024

Making Law for a Divided Nation, 1921–1930

Robert C. Post
Hosted by Mark Klobas

Robert C. Post's book The Taft Court (10): Making Law for a Divided Nation, 1921–1930 (Cambridge UP, 2023) offers the definitive history of the Suprem…

Scott Gac, "Born in Blood: Violence and the Making of America" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

January 18, 2024

Born in Blood

Scott Gac
Hosted by Mark Klobas

Scott Gac's Born in Blood: Violence and the Making of America (Cambridge UP, 2023) investigates one of history's most violent undertakings: The United…

Hajar Yazdiha, "The Struggle for the People’s King: How Politics Transforms the Memory of the Civil Rights Movement" (Princeton UP, 2023)

January 12, 2024

The Struggle for the People’s King

Hajar Yazdiha
Hosted by Mark Klobas

In the post-civil rights era, wide-ranging groups have made civil rights claims that echo those made by Black civil rights activists of the 1960s, fro…

Gabriel Abend, "Words and Distinctions for the Common Good: Practical Reason in the Logic of Social Science" (Princeton UP, 2023)

January 2, 2024

Words and Distinctions for the Common Good

Gabriel Abend
Hosted by Mark Klobas

How social scientists' disagreements about their key words and distinctions have been misconceived, and what to do about it Social scientists do rese…

Thomas A. Schwartz, "Henry Kissinger and American Power: A Political Biography" (Hill and Wang, 2020)

December 26, 2023

Henry Kissinger and American Power

Thomas A. Schwartz
Hosted by Mark Klobas

Over the past six decades, Henry Kissinger has been America's most consistently praised--and reviled--public figure. He was hailed as a "miracle worke…

Carl Rollyson, "The Life of William Faulkner: This Alarming Paradox, 1935-1962" (U Virginia Press, 2020)

December 25, 2023

The Life of William Faulkner

Carl Rollyson
Hosted by Mark Klobas

By 1935 William Faulkner was well established as an author of critically praised novels, yet the low volume of his sales forced him to seek work in Ho…

Katherine D. Van Schaik, "How to Be Healthy: An Ancient Guide to Wellness" (Galen) (Princeton UP, 2024)

December 17, 2023

How to Be Healthy

Katherine D. Van Schaik
Hosted by Mark Klobas

The second-century Greek physician Galen—the most famous doctor in antiquity after Hippocrates—is a central figure in Western medicine. A talented doc…

Linda Eckert, "Enough: Because We Can Stop Cervical Cancer" (Cambridge UP, 2024)

December 5, 2023

Enough

Linda Eckert
Hosted by Mark Klobas

Cervical cancer kills almost 350,000 women each year. What's more horrifying, is that millions have died of this disease that's nearly 100% preventabl…

Coleen T. Murphy, "How We Age: The Science of Longevity" (Princeton UP, 2023)

December 1, 2023

How We Age

Coleen T. Murphy
Hosted by Mark Klobas
Listen:

All of us would like to live longer, or to slow the debilitating effects of age. In How We Age: The Science of Longevity (Princeton UP, 2023), Coleen …

Beatriz Nascimento, "The Dialectic Is in the Sea: The Black Radical Thought of Beatriz Nascimento" (Princeton UP, 2023)

November 15, 2023

The Dialectic Is in the Sea

Beatriz Nascimento
Hosted by Mark Klobas

Beatriz Nascimento (1942-1995) was a poet, historian, artist, and political leader in Brazil's Black movement, an innovative and creative thinker whos…

Ben Wildavsky, "The Career Arts: Making the Most of College, Credentials, and Connections" (Princeton UP, 2023)

November 1, 2023

The Career Arts

Ben Wildavsky
Hosted by Mark Klobas
Listen:

Young people coming out of high school today can expect to hold many jobs over the course of their lives, which is why they need a range of essential …

Victoria Houseman, "American Classicist: The Life and Loves of Edith Hamilton" (Princeton UP, 2023)

October 15, 2023

American Classicist

Victoria Houseman
Hosted by Mark Klobas

Edith Hamilton (1867-1963) didn't publish her first book until she was sixty-two. But over the next three decades, this former headmistress would beco…

Aurelian Craiutu, "Why Not Moderation?: Letters to Young Radicals" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

October 9, 2023

Why Not Moderation?

Aurelian Craiutu
Hosted by Mark Klobas
Listen:

Moderation is often presented as a simple virtue for lukewarm and indecisive minds, searching for a fuzzy center between the extremes. Not surprisingl…

Kevin J. Mitchell, "Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will" (Princeton UP, 2023)

October 1, 2023

Free Agents

Kevin J. Mitchell
Hosted by Mark Klobas

Scientists are learning more and more about how brain activity controls behavior and how neural circuits weigh alternatives and initiate actions. As w…

Christopher Paul Harris, "To Build a Black Future: The Radical Politics of Joy, Pain, and Care" (Princeton UP, 2023)

September 15, 2023

To Build a Black Future

Christopher Paul Harris
Hosted by Mark Klobas
Listen:

When #BlackLivesMatter emerged in 2013, it animated the most consequential Black-led mobilization since the civil rights and Black power era. Today, t…

Peter K. Andersson, "Fool: In Search of Henry VIII's Closest Man" (Princeton UP, 2023)

September 2, 2023

Fool

Peter K. Andersson
Hosted by Mark Klobas
Listen:

The first biography of Henry VIII’s court fool William Somer, a legendary entertainer and one of the most intriguing figures of the Tudor ageIn some p…

Steve Nicholls, "Alien Worlds: How Insects Conquered the Earth, and Why Their Fate Will Determine Our Future" (Princeton UP, 2023)

August 15, 2023

Alien Worlds

Steve Nicholls
Hosted by Mark Klobas
Listen:

Life on Earth depends on the busy activities of insects, but global populations of these teeming creatures are currently under threat, with grave cons…

Michael Broers, "Napoleon: The Decline and Fall of an Empire, 1811-1821" (Pegasus Books, 2023)

August 12, 2023

Napoleon

Michael Broers
Hosted by Mark Klobas

In 1811, Napoleon stood at his zenith. He had defeated all his continental rivals, come to an entente with Russia, and his blockade of Britain seemed,…

Phillip Reid, "A Boston Schooner in the Royal Navy, 1768-1772: Commerce and Conflict in Maritime British America" (Boydell Press, 2023)

August 10, 2023

A Boston Schooner in the Royal Navy, 1768-1772

Phillip Reid
Hosted by Mark Klobas
Listen:

The small Boston-built schooner Sultana served as a customs-enforcement interceptor on the North American eastern seaboard in the period leading up to…