Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchRosa Campbell, "The Book That Taught the World to Orgasm and Then Disappeared: Shere Hite and the Hite Report" (Melville House, 2026)
Episode 2011
Despite being one of the leading thinkers of the second wave feminist movement, today Shere Hite is little known, little written about, and, unsurpri…
3 months, 3 weeks ago
Thomas Paine at the Semiquincentennial: A Conversation with Gregory Claeys
Episode 2009
Thomas Paine: Collected Writings (Princeton University Press, 2026) is the first major new edition of Paine’s works, bringing together all his writin…
3 months, 4 weeks ago
Christopher de Bellaigue, "The Golden Throne: The Curse of a King" (Bodley Head, 2025)
Episode 2007
What does a 16th century ruler reveal about the nature of power, past and present?
Istanbul, 1538. The greatest of the Ottoman Sultans is at the pinn…
4 months ago
Andrew Wilson, "I Wanna Be Loved By You: Marilyn Monroe: A Life in 100 Takes" (Grand Central Publishing, 2026)
Episode 2008
Publishing one hundred years after her birth, Andrew Wilson’s biography of Marilyn Monroe, I Wanna Be Loved By You: Marilyn Monroe: A Life in 100 Tak…
4 months ago
Thomas S. Mullaney, "How We Disappear: A Personal History of Information" (W. W. Norton, 2026)
Episode 2006
This is the third time I have the great fortune of interviewing Tom Mullaney. I can hardly think of a more worthy ambassador for the history discipli…
4 months ago
Fred S. Naiden, "Railroaded: A Motorman’s Story of the New York City Subway" (Rutgers UP, 2026)
Episode 2005
Fred S. Naiden, professor emeritus of history of at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is an authority on the ancient world. In the 198…
4 months ago
Philip Norman, "Mr. Moonlight: Brian Epstein and the Making of the Beatles" (Da Capo Press, 2026)
Episode 2004
Philip Norman's latest biography, Mr. Moonlight (DaCapo Press, 2026) is the definitive, comprehensive biography of Brian Epstein--the man who built t…
4 months ago
Xiaobing Li, "China’s Mahan: Admiral Liu Huaqing and the Rise of the Modern Chinese Navy (Naval Institute Press, 2026)
Episode 2003
In 2012, China debuted its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, a refurbished Soviet-era ship from Ukraine. The debut of the Liaoning was largely th…
4 months ago
Where Harlem Rests at the Woodlawn Cemetery
Episode 2002
A cemetery as open-air museum? Historian and award-winning author of Boss of the Grips: The Life of James H. Williams and the Red Caps of Grand Centr…
4 months ago
Samantha Ellis, "Always Carry Salt: A Memoir of Preserving Language and Culture" (Pegasus Books, 2026)
Episode 2001
I had the privilege of speaking with writer Samantha Ellis about her deeply moving new book, Always Carry Salt: A Memoir of Preserving Language and C…
4 months, 1 week ago