Podcast Episodes

Soraya Murray, "Technothriller: Film and the American Imagination" (MIT Press, 2026)

Technothriller: Film and the American Imagination (MIT Press, 2026) is the first dedicated examination of popular movies classified as “thrillers” …

1 month, 3 weeks ago

Thomas Smith, "The Fifth Crusade: A History of the Epic Campaign to Conquer Egypt" (Yale UP, 2026)

In 1217, the crusader states were in a highly fragile condition. The Fourth Crusade had failed, and Jerusalem had not been recovered. The crusader…

1 month, 3 weeks ago

John Burt, "A Moment's Surrender" (Press Americana, 2026)

It’s 1980, a decade after he dropped out of grad school, and Paul Bishop is a lowly writing instructor at a college in Nevada. His former best fri…

1 month, 3 weeks ago

Sarah Rosenson, "Fan Fiction on the Book of Genesis: A Guide to Close Reading of and Creative Writing on the Bible" (Cherry Orchard Books, 2026)

Can creative writing become a form of biblical interpretation?

That is the provocative question at the heart of my conversation with Sarah Rosenson …

1 month, 3 weeks ago

Nelson Lichtenstein on Clinton and Neoliberalism

We are joined by Nelson Lichtenstein, one of the deans of American labor history. The conversation ranges widely, from the tragedy of the Clinton adm…

1 month, 3 weeks ago

Philippa Gander, "Life in Sync: The Science of Internal Clocks and How We’re Disrupting Them" (Princeton UP, 2025)

All of life is profoundly shaped by the daily, monthly, and yearly cycles of our planet, and all creatures have internal timekeeping systems that r…

1 month, 3 weeks ago

Rod Phillips, "Cats: A History" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2026)

For more than 10,000 years, cats have prowled at the edges of human life. But, starting only a few decades ago, hundreds of millions of them becam…

1 month, 3 weeks ago

Wednesdae Reim Ifrach, "Queer Expressions: Expressive Art and Somatic Therapy Practices for Healing Body Trauma" (North Atlantic Books, 2026)

A creative, body-based guide to healing for queer, trans, and gender-expansive readers—somatic tools and expressive arts to feel safer in your body…

1 month, 3 weeks ago

Jeffrey A. Marx, "Jewish Firebugs: Arson and Antisemitism from the Civil War to World War I" (NYU Press, 2026)

Why were Jews once stereotyped as America's arsonists? In this episode, Rabbi Marc Katz sits down with historian Jeffrey Marx to discuss his fascin…

1 month, 3 weeks ago

Robert G Parkinson, "Heart of American Darkness: Bewilderment and Horror on the Early Frontier" (Norton, 2024)

We are divided over the history of the United States, and one of the central dividing lines is the frontier. Was it a site of heroism? Or was it wher…

1 month, 3 weeks ago