Podcast Episodes

Myung-jin Han with Nicolas Levi, "I Was a North Korean Diplomat: Inside the Secret World of Pyongyang's Foreign Service" (Independently Published, 2026)

Nicolas Levi is a researcher at the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He has authored numerous book…

1 day, 2 hours ago

Manuel Barcia, "Pirate Imperialism: Trade, Abolition, and Global Suppression of Maritime Raiding, 1825–1870" (Yale UP, 2026)

In the middle decades of the nineteenth century, imperial powers around the world came into direct confrontation with local resistance in the form of…

1 day, 2 hours ago

Samuel Clowes Huneke, "I Will Not Abandon You: Queer Women in Nazi Germany" (Aevo UTP, 2026)

I Will Not Abandon You: Queer Women in Nazi Germany (Aevo UTP, 2026) brings to life the unrelenting defiance of queer women in fascist Germany.

In h…

1 day, 2 hours ago

Emely Rumble, "Bibliotherapy in The Bronx" (Row House, 2025)

Bibliotherapy in The Bronx (Row House, 2025) by Emely Rumble, LCSW, is a groundbreaking exploration of the healing power of literature in the lives o…

1 day, 2 hours ago

Laughter and Leadership: A Conversation with Tikva Blaukopf Schein, Ph.D.

We laugh without thinking — but what if laughter is one of the most revealing human acts?

In this episode of The Van Leer Institute Series On Ideas, …

1 day, 2 hours ago

Dybbuks, Golems, S. An-ski, and Jewish Legends in Times of Fear

S. An-ski’s play The Dybbuk, a story of possession set in a shtetl (think The Exorcist meets Fiddler on the Roof), is the foundation of modern Jewish…

1 day, 2 hours ago

Jane Vaynman, "Enemies in Agreement: Political Volatility and the Design of Arms Control" (Cambridge UP, 2026)

Why do adversaries sometimes cooperate to restrain their military competition? Why do they design arms control agreements with intrusive verification…

1 day, 2 hours ago

Gautamiputra Kamble, "The Seekers" (Blaft Publication, 2025)

The seekers in these stories travel through worlds both ancient and modern, worlds of symbol and fantastical allegory, on their paths to greater trut…

1 day, 2 hours ago

Sayantani DasGupta, "Theft of the Ruby Lotus" (Scholastic Press, 2026)

Sayantani DasGupta's latest middle grades novel, Theft of the Ruby Lotus (Scholastic, 2026) is an adventure heist. Ria Bailey finds herself in quite …

1 day, 2 hours ago

Penny Roberts, "Huguenot Networks: Truth and Secrecy in Sixteenth-Century Europe" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

Huguenot Networks: Truth and Secrecy in Sixteenth-Century Europe (Cambridge UP, 2025), Penny Robert's latest book, takes us into the world of secr…

2 days, 2 hours ago