Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchFang Yu Hu, "Good Wife, Wise Mother: Educating Han Taiwanese Girls Under Japanese Rule" (U Washington Press, 2024)
In Good Wife, Wise Mother: Educating Han Taiwanese Girls Under Japanese Rule (U Washington Press, 2024), female education and citizenship serve as a lens through which to examine Taiwan’s uniqueness…
Published on 1 month, 1 week ago
David Giuliano, "The Upending of Wendall Forbes" (Latitude 46, 2025)
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery interviews David Giuliano about his novel, The Upending of Wendall Forbes (Latitude 46, 2025).
Wendall and Ruby Forbes are confronting the vagaries of aging b…
Published on 1 month, 1 week ago
Anastasija Ropa, "The Medieval Horse" (Reaktion Books, 2025)
Episode 102
Anastasija Ropa joins Jana Byars to talk about The Medieval Horse (Reaktion, 2025), a book that explores the role of horses across the medieval world, from the Kievan Rus' and Scandinavia to Central …
Published on 1 month, 1 week ago
Christopher Nelson, "When the Bones Speak: The Living, the Dead, and the Sacrifice of Contemporary Okinawa" (Duke UP, 2025)
Episode 178
Haunted by the past, ordinary Okinawans struggle to live with the unbearable legacies of war, Japanese nationalism, and American imperialism. They are caught up in a web of people and practices--livi…
Published on 1 month, 1 week ago
Erin Somers, "The Ten Year Affair: A Novel" (Simon and Schuster, 2025)
Episode 188
When Cora meets Sam at a baby group in their small town, the chemistry between them is undeniable. Both are happily married young parents with two kids, and neither sees themselves as the type to eng…
Published on 1 month, 1 week ago
Springsteen’s "Nebraska" as a Political, Sonic, and Personal Document
Episode 231
It’s The Pop Culture Professors, and we consider Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 album Nebraska as personal and political document. With the release of the Nebraska 82 box set, and Deliver Me From Nowhere –…
Published on 1 month, 1 week ago
Carol Mason, "From the Clinics to the Capitol: How Opposing Abortion Became Insurrectionary" (U California Press, 2025)
Antiabortion stories, images, and policies have primed Americans to embrace attitudes and politics once deemed extreme. Abroad, US antiabortion tactics, personnel, and funds have contributed to a glo…
Published on 1 month, 1 week ago
Strings of Identity: The Horse-Head Fiddle and Mongolian Identity in China (with Ying Song)
In this episode, we trace how the horse-head fiddle has evolved in the People’s Republic of China — from a traditional steppe instrument to a cultural symbol reshaped through state representation and…
Published on 1 month, 1 week ago
Charles Watkins, "Trees Ancient and Modern: Woodland Cultures and Conservation" (Reaktion, 2025)
Episode 234
Charles Watkins joins Jana Byars to talk about his new book, Trees Ancient and Modern (Reaktion, 2025). This delightful new book explores the relationship between trees and people and reveals how peo…
Published on 1 month, 1 week ago
William J. Glover, "Reformatting Agrararian Life: Urban History from the Countryside in Colonial India" (Stanford UP, 2025)
Episode 298
Reformatting Agrarian Life presents a stealth urban history from the countryside that foregrounds the mutual entanglements of agrarian and urban expertise. William J. Glover traces an essential genea…
Published on 1 month, 1 week ago