Podcast Episodes

Action Bodies: VFX, Identity, and Embodiment in Blockbuster Cinema with Drew Ayers (U Texas Press, 2026)

Episode 1788

Exploring how digital visual effects have changed the representations of the body and identity in action films. When Harrison Ford appeared digitally…

2 weeks ago

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Monstrous Bitch: A History of Terrifying Women with Eleanor Johnson (Princeton UP, 2026)

Episode 1785

For as long as human societies have been telling stories, the patriarchy has felt threatened by women. In this book, Eleanor Johnson provides an enga…

2 weeks, 1 day ago

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Reading for Pleasure: Working Women and the Popular Romance in Early Twentieth-Century Britain with Lise Shapiro Sanders (Bloomsbury, 2026)

Episode 1786

Lise Shapiro Sanders is the author of Reading for Pleasure: Working Women and the Popular Romance in Early 20c Britain, published in October 2026 by …

2 weeks, 1 day ago

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Night Hawk: A Nineteenth-Century Superhero and the Dawn of American Mass Culture with Matthew Warner Osborn (U Chicago Press, 2026)

Episode 1787

On July 5, 1828, more than a century before Superman arrived on Earth, a superhero took flight in Philadelphia’s night sky. Buried on page three of a…

2 weeks, 1 day ago

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How Dungeons and Dragons Changed the Way We Play with Aaron Trammell (Duke UP, 2026)

Episode 1784

First released in 1974, Dungeons & Dragons revolutionized game design and interactive media by allowing players to create and perform their own ficti…

2 weeks, 2 days ago

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Satirical Tibet: The Politics of Humor in Contemporary Amdo with Timothy Thurston (U Washington Press, 2025)

Episode 1783

The podcast covers the book Satirical Tibet: The Politics of Humor in Contemporary Amdo (U Washington Press, 2025), which is about satirical speech…

2 weeks, 3 days ago

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American Bread: A History with Andrew Coe (U California Press, 2026)

Episode 1782

There is no humbler food than bread, none easier to take for granted. So ancient that it shows up in prehistoric sites, bread is still full of surpri…

2 weeks, 5 days ago

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Samantha: The Next Chapter with Fiona Davis (American Girl Publishing, 2026)

Episode 1780

Samantha: The Next Chapter (American Girl Publishing, 2026). From American Girl and New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis comes the next chap…

2 weeks, 6 days ago

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Troubled Times: The Boston Courthouse Bombing Of 1976 with Kevin Galvin (Brandeis UP, 2026)

Episode 1781

Kevin Galvin's Troubled Times: The Boston Courthouse Bombing Of 1976 (Brandeis UP, 2026), interweaves the stories of a revolutionary and a bombing vi…

3 weeks ago

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Women in Comics: Iconic Characters and Influential Creators 1923-Today with Susan E. Kirtley and Nhora Lucía Serrano (Black Dog & Leventhal, 2026)

Episode 1778

Susan E. Kirtley and Nhora Lucía Serrano's Women in Comics (Black Dog & Leventhal, 2026) is a richly illustrated, essential guide to the importance o…

3 weeks, 5 days ago

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