Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchAlison Melnick Dyer, "The Tibetan Nun Mingyur Peldrön: A Woman of Power and Privilege" (U Washington Press, 2022)
Episode 89
Born to a powerful family and educated at the prominent Mindröling Monastery, the Tibetan Buddhist nun and teacher Mingyur Peldrön (1699–1769) levera…
3 years, 10 months ago
On Thomas Paine's "Common Sense"
Episode 46
In the 1770s, the American colonies were working up to a revolution. But while the colonists were increasingly dissatisfied with British rule, there …
3 years, 10 months ago
Jenny C. Mann, "The Trials of Orpheus: Poetry, Science, and the Early Modern Sublime" (Princeton UP, 2021)
Episode 179
Today’s guest is Jenny Mann, who has a new book titled The Trials of Orpheus: Poetry, Science, and the Early Modern Sublime (Princeton University Pre…
3 years, 10 months ago
Maria Berbara, "Sacrifice and Conversion in the Early Modern Atlantic World" (Harvard UP, 2022)
Episode 12
When Europeans came to the American continent in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, they were confronted with what they perceived as sacrificial …
3 years, 10 months ago
On David Hume's "A Treatise of Human Nature"
Episode 45
In 1739, Scottish philosopher David Hume set out to chart the nature and limits of human knowledge. He published his theories and findings in what wo…
3 years, 10 months ago
Aviva Ben-Ur, "Jewish Autonomy in a Slave Society: Suriname in the Atlantic World, 1651-1825" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2020)
Episode 319
Jewish Autonomy in a Slave Society: Suriname in the Atlantic World, 1651-1825 (U Pennsylvania Press, 2020) explores the political and social history …
3 years, 10 months ago
Noah Shusterman, "Armed Citizens: The Road from Ancient Rome to the Second Amendment" (U Virginia Press, 2020)
Episode 1270
Although much has changed in the United States since the eighteenth century, our framework for gun laws still largely relies on the Second Amendment …
3 years, 10 months ago
Robert P. Watson, "George Washington's Final Battle: The Epic Struggle to Build a Capital City and a Nation" (Georgetown UP, 2021)
Episode 197
George Washington is remembered for leading the Continental Army to victory, presiding over the Constitution, and forging a new nation, but few know …
3 years, 10 months ago
Kathryn Harkup, "Death By Shakespeare: Snakebites, Stabbings and Broken Hearts" (Bloomsbury, 2020)
Episode 176
William Shakespeare found dozens of different ways to kill off his characters, and audiences today still enjoy the same reactions – shock, sadness, f…
3 years, 10 months ago
Anthony Sattin, "Nomads: The Wanderers Who Shaped Our World" (Norton, 2022)
Episode 1269
Nomads: The Wanderers Who Shaped Our World (W. W. Norton & Company, 2022) by Anthony Sattin tells the remarkable story of how nomads have fostered an…
3 years, 10 months ago