Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchMichael Visontay, "Noble Fragments: The Gripping Story of the Antiquarian Bookseller Who Broke Up a Gutenberg Bible" (Scribe, 2024)
Episode 1547
One hundred years ago, Gabriel Wells, a New York bookseller, committed a crime against history. He broke up the world’s greatest book, the Gutenberg …
1 year, 7 months ago
Webb Keane, "Animals, Robots, Gods: Adventures in the Moral Imagination" (Princeton UP, 2025)
Episode 349
Revolutions in technology are fundamentally transforming what it means to be human. Or are they? As Webb Keane points out, before humans consulted Ch…
1 year, 7 months ago
David N. Livingstone, "The Empire of Climate: A History of an Idea" (Princeton UP, 2024)
Episode 203
Scientists, journalists, and politicians increasingly tell us that human impacts on climate constitute the single greatest threat facing our planet a…
1 year, 7 months ago
Dawn Day Biehler, "Animating Central Park: A Multispecies History" (U Washington Press, 2024)
Episode 75
From deer and beavers to “free range” pigs and goats in and around Seneca Village, what we now know as Central Park has long been home to an abundanc…
1 year, 7 months ago
Daniel Silverman, "Seeing Is Disbelieving: Why People Believe Misinformation in War, and When They Know Better" (Cambridge UP, 2024)
Episode 146
Factual misinformation is spread in conflict zones around the world, often with dire consequences. But when is this misinformation actually believed,…
1 year, 8 months ago
Laureen D. Hom, "The Power of Chinatown: Searching for Spatial Justice in Los Angeles" (U California Press, 2024)
Episode 180
Chinatown neighborhoods in the United States are about more than restaurants, shops, and architecture, argues San Jose State urban studies associate …
1 year, 8 months ago
Mike Sielski, "Magic in the Air: The Myth, the Mystery, and the Soul of the Slam Dunk" (St. Martin's Press, 2025)
Episode 284
The evolution of basketball, and much of the social and cultural change in America, can be traced through one powerful act on the court: the slam dun…
1 year, 8 months ago
Giampaolo Conte, "A History of Capitalist Transformation: A Critique of Liberal-Capitalist Reforms" (Routledge, 2024)
Episode 513
A History of Capitalist Transformation: A Critique of Liberal-Capitalist Reforms highlights how, since the recent financial crises, the expression ‘l…
1 year, 8 months ago
Kelly Alexander, "Truffles and Trash: Recirculating Food in a Social Welfare State" (UNC Press, 2024)
Episode 168
On a fragile planet with spreading food insecurity, food waste is a political and ethical problem. Examining the collaborative, sometimes scrappy ins…
1 year, 8 months ago
Benjamin Heber Johnson, "Texas: An American History" (Yale UP, 2025)
Episode 179
There's more to Texas than hats, oil, and BBQ, writes Benjamin Johnson in his sweeping new synthesis, Texas: An American History (Yale UP: 2025) - th…
1 year, 8 months ago