Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchKatherine Ngo, "Unlocking the Treasury: Elementary Learning for Boys in Qing China" (Lever Press, 2025)
How did young boys in premodern China learn? What educational texts did they use? What values informed their education? Katherine Ngo’s new book Unlo…
1 year, 3 months ago
Bin Yang, "Discovered But Forgotten: The Maldives in Chinese History, C. 1100-1620" (Columbia UP, 2024)
Episode 230
Chinese travelers first made their way to the Maldives in the Indian Ocean in the 14th century, looking for goods like coconuts, cowries, and ambergr…
1 year, 3 months ago
Roland Mayer, "The Ruins of Rome: A Cultural History" (Cambridge UP, 2025)
Episode 34
The beguiling ruins of Rome have a long history of allure. They first engaged the attention of later mediaeval tourists, just as they do today. The i…
1 year, 3 months ago
Richard Alfred Muller, "Predestination in Early Modern Reformed Theology" (Reformation Heritage Books, 2024)
Episode 297
In Predestination in Early Modern Reformed Theology (Reformation Heritage Books, 2024), Dr. Richard A. Muller delves into one of the most controversi…
1 year, 3 months ago
Loretta Vandi, "Eufrasia Burlamacchi" (Getty Publications, 2025)
Episode 169
Eufrasia Burlamacchi (Getty Publications, 2025) by Dr. Loretta Vandi is a timely exploration of the skilful illuminated manuscripts of Sister Eufrasi…
1 year, 3 months ago
Eli Rubin, "Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity: An Existential History of Chabad Hasidism" (Stanford UP, 2025)
Episode 629
In Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity: An Existential History of Chabad Hasidism (Stanford University Press, 2025), Eli Rubin provides a comprehen…
1 year, 4 months ago
Patrick Wallis, "The Market for Skill: Apprenticeship and Economic Growth in Early Modern England" (Princeton UP, 2025)
Episode 102
Apprenticeship dominated training and skill formation in early modern Europe. Years spent learning from a skilled master were a nearly universal expe…
1 year, 4 months ago
Sinem Arcak Casale, "Gifts in the Age of Empire: Ottoman-Safavid Cultural Exchange, 1500–1639" (U Chicago Press, 2023)
Episode 101
When the Safavid dynasty, founded in 1501, built a state that championed Iranian identity and Twelver Shi’ism, it prompted the more established Ottom…
1 year, 4 months ago
Yaron Ayalon, "Ottoman Jewry: Leadership, Charity, and Literacy" (Brill, 2024)
Those of us who have some background in Jewish history are taught that the Ottoman Empire encouraged Jews, particularly those of the Spanish and Port…
1 year, 4 months ago
Rune Nyord, "Yearning for Immortality: The European Invention of the Ancient Egyptian Afterlife" (U Chicago Press, 2025)
Episode 243
Many of us are familiar with the ancient Egyptians’ obsession with immortality and the great efforts they made to secure the quality of their afterli…
1 year, 4 months ago