Podcast Episodes

Ho-fung Hung, "The China Question: Eight Centuries of Fantasy and Fear" (Cambridge UP, 2026)

"The contempt and naive idealization of China are two sides of the same coin. The latter cannot be an antidote to the former."

So argues Ho-Fung Hung…

1 week, 6 days ago

Yiddish Children’s Literature and Jewish Modernity: A Conversation with Miriam Udel

Scholars are only beginning to consider the corpus of nearly one thousand extant books, as well as several periodicals, that constitute the Yiddish c…

1 week, 6 days ago

Stephen Grosz, "Love's Labour: How We Break and Make the Bonds of Love" (Vintage, 2026)

When it comes to love why do we find things so difficult? Drawing on over forty years of candid and surprising conversations with his patients, Steph…

1 week, 6 days ago

Dominik Berrens, "Naming New Things and Concepts in Early Modern Science: The Case of Natural History" (Cambridge UP, 2026)

Naming new discoveries is central to science, and for centuries, Latin dominated this process. The resulting terminology still shapes modern science,…

1 week, 6 days ago

Priyanka Kumar, "Light Between Apple Trees: Rediscovering the Wild Through a Beloved American Fruit" (Island Press, 2025)

As a child in the foothills of the Himalayas, Priyanka Kumar was entranced by forest-like orchards of diverse and luscious fruit--especially apples. …

1 week, 6 days ago

Emotions of LGBT Rights

In this episode of High Theory, Saronik talks to Senthorun Raj about the Emotions of LGBT Rights. Emotions from disgust and fear to love and joy shap…

1 week, 6 days ago

Douglas H. Erwin, "The Origins of the New: Novelty and Innovation in the History of Life, Culture, and Technology" (Princeton UP, 2026)

The Origins of the New (Princeton University Press, 2026) presents a revolutionary approach to evolutionary success in all realms of life. In this gr…

1 week, 6 days ago

Scott M. Kenworthy, "The People's Patriarch: Tikhon Bellavin and the Orthodox Church in North America and Revolutionary Russia" (Oxford UP, 2026)

On October 28, 1917, just days after the Bolsheviks seized power, the great Council of the Russian Orthodox Church voted to restore the patriarchate,…

1 week, 6 days ago

Stephen Onyango Ouma, "Africa Unbound: Decolonial Pathways to Sovereignty and Liberation" (Brill, 2026)

I had a substantive conversation with Dr. Stephen Onyango Ouma, author of Africa Unbound: Decolonial Pathways to Sovereignty and Liberation (Brill, …

2 weeks ago

Hilary Matfess, "After Liberation: Women and the Politics of Expectations in Rebel-to-Party Transitions" (Stanford UP, 2026)

War offers opportunities for women to liberate their communities and build a better life for themselves. When women join rebel groups, they often tak…

2 weeks ago