Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchD. J. Taylor, "Who Is Big Brother?: A Reader's Guide to George Orwell" (Yale UP, 2024)
Episode 207
An intellectual who hated intellectuals, a socialist who didn't trust the state--our foremost political essayist and author of Animal Farm and Ninete…
2 years, 2 months ago
Eve Golden, "Strictly Dynamite: The Sensational Life of Lupe Velez" (UP of Kentucky, 2023)
Episode 87
Before Salma Hayek, Eva Longoria, and Penelope Cruz, there was Lupe Velez―one of the first Latin-American stars to sweep past the xenophobia of old H…
2 years, 2 months ago
Philip Freeman, "Two Lives of Saint Brigid" (Four Courts Press, 2024)
Episode 261
St. Brigid is the earliest and best-known of the female saints of Ireland. In the generation after St. Patrick, she established a monastery for men a…
2 years, 2 months ago
Thor Rydin, "The Works and Times of Johan Huizinga (1872-1945): Writing History in the Age of Collapse" (Amsterdam UP, 2023)
Episode 250
Thor Rydin joins to talk about his new book, The Works and Times of Johan Huizinga (1872- 1945): Writing History in the Age of Collapse (Amsterdam UP…
2 years, 2 months ago
Kerry Wallach, "Traces of a Jewish Artist: The Lost Life and Work of Rahel Szalit" (Penn State UP, 2024)
Episode 500
Graphic artist, illustrator, painter, and cartoonist Rahel Szalit (1888-1942) was among the best-known Jewish women artists in Weimar Berlin. But aft…
2 years, 2 months ago
Traian Sandu, "Ceausescu: The Ambiguous Dictator" (Perrin, 2023)
Episode 206
Today I talked to Traian Sandu about his book Ceausescu: Le dictateur ambigu (Perrin, 2023).
Born in January 1918, Nicolae Ceauşescu began his appren…
2 years, 2 months ago
Hume, the Epicureans, and the Origins of Liberalism
Episode 103
Enlightenment philosopher David Hume enjoyed a tremendous influence on intellectual history. What did Hume believe, why was it so controversial at th…
2 years, 2 months ago
Sarah Horowitz, "The Red Widow: The Scandal That Shook Paris and the Woman Behind It All" (Sourcebooks, 2022)
Episode 128
Sex. Lies. Murder. Sarah Horowitz's The Red Widow: The Scandal that Shook Paris and the Woman Behind It All (Sourcebooks, 2022) is a book I literally…
2 years, 2 months ago
Patrick Olivelle, "Ashoka: Portrait of a Philosopher King" (Yale UP, 2024)
Episode 323
Ashoka: Portrait of a Philosopher King (Yale UP, 2024) is the first biography of the great Emperor Ashoka relying solely on his own words. Ashoka sou…
2 years, 2 months ago
Marie de Vignerot, Richelieu's Forgotten Advisor and Heiress
Episode 102
Despite being one of the most influential women of 17th century France, Marie de Vignerot has been largely forgotten. The niece, heiress, and advisor…
2 years, 2 months ago