Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchJennifer T. Roberts, "Out of One, Many: Ancient Greek Ways of Thought and Culture" (Princeton UP, 2024)
Episode 52
Covering the whole of the ancient Greek experience from its beginnings late in the third millennium BCE to the Roman conquest in 30 BCE, Out of One, …
1 year, 5 months ago
Claire Knight, "Stalin's Final Films: Cinema, Socialist Realism, and Soviet Postwar Reality, 1945-1953" (Cornell UP, 2024)
Episode 304
Stalin's Final Films: Cinema, Socialist Realism, and Soviet Postwar Reality, 1945-1953 (Cornell UP, 2024) explores a neglected period in the history …
1 year, 5 months ago
Matthew Shindell, "Lunar: A History of the Moon in Myths, Maps and Matter" (U Chicago Press, 2024)
Episode 36
The first book to combine exquisite cartographical charts of the Moon with a thorough exploration of the Moon’s role in popular culture, science, and…
1 year, 5 months ago
Derek J. Penslar, "Zionism: An Emotional State" (Rutgers UP, 2023)
Episode 1506
Emotion lies at the heart of all national movements, and Zionism is no exception. For those who identify as Zionist, the word connotes liberation and…
1 year, 5 months ago
Quentin Skinner, "Liberty as Independence: The Making and Unmaking of a Political Ideal" (Cambridge UP, 2025)
Episode 246
What does liberty entail? How have concepts of liberty changed over time? And what are the global consequences?
Liberty as Independence: The Making a…
1 year, 5 months ago
Alan Strathern, "Converting Rulers: Global Patterns, 1450-1850" (Cambridge UP, 2024)
Episode 1554
Why did so many rulers throughout history risk converting to a new religion brought by outsiders? In his award-winning Unearthly Powers (2019), Dr. A…
1 year, 5 months ago
Dennis Ross, "Statecraft 2.0: What America Needs to Survive in a Multipolar World" (Oxford UP, 2025)
Episode 132
In a multipolar world where America wields less relative power, the United States can no longer get away with poor statecraft. To understand how the …
1 year, 5 months ago
Nicholas Borst, "The Bird and the Cage: China’s Economic Contradictions" (Palgrave MacMillan, 2025)
Episode 178
The Chinese Communist Party’s complex and contradictory embrace of capitalism has played a pivotal role in shaping China’s economic reforms since the…
1 year, 5 months ago
Eric Heinze, "Coming Clean: The Rise of Critical Theory and the Future of the Left" (MIT Press, 2025)
Episode 1501
What has gone wrong with the left—and what leftists must do if they want to change politics, ethics, and minds. Leftists have long taught that people…
1 year, 5 months ago
Noel Rubinton, "Looking for a Story: A Complete Guide to the Writings of John McPhee" (Princeton UP, 2025)
Episode 120
John McPhee has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1965 and has written more than thirty acclaimed books that began on the magazine's pages…
1 year, 5 months ago