Raj Balkaran speaks with Wendy Doniger about her new book Winged Stallions and Wicked Mares: Horses in Indian Myth and History (University of Virginia Press, 2021), along with her translation of the final four books of the Mahābhārata's Critical Edition translation project, the power of the purāṇas, cultural appropriation, and more!
Raj Balkaran is a scholar ... Show More
Nov 20
Ludovic Orlando, "Horses: A 4,000-Year Genetic Journey Across the World" (Princeton UP, 2025)
In 2016, Ludovic Orlando, a genetics researcher, embarked on the Pegasus Project, an ambitious endeavor to use genetics to discover the origin of the modern horse. There were plenty of theories as to who domesticated horses first–but Ludovic’s team came up with their answer: They ... Show More
53m 11s
Nov 11
Eduardo Mercado III, "Why Whales Sing" (JHU Press, 2025)
With breathtaking complexity and haunting beauty, the songs of whales have long fascinated scientists. Whales are the only mammals that can sing continuously for ten hours or more, changing the unique songs they sing every year. In Why Whales Sing (JHU Press, 2025), bioacoustic ... Show More
1h 5m
Nov 9
Thomas Fleischman, "Communist Pigs: An Animal History of East Germany's Rise and Fall" (U Washington Press, 2020)
The pig played a fundamental role in the German Democratic Republic's attempts to create and sustain a modern, industrial food system built on communist principles. By the mid-1980s, East Germany produced more pork per capita than West Germany and the UK, while also suffering myr ... Show More
1 h
Mar 2022
Ira Mukhoty, "Song of Draupadi" (Aleph Book Company, 2021)
The Mahabharata is one of the central works of Indian literature—its characters, lessons, and tropes are widely known and referenced in Indian popular culture, literary discussions and political debate.
And like all classic works, it’s ripe for reinterpretations, deconstructions ... Show More
43m 21s
Apr 2022
Manu Pillai, "False Allies: India’s Maharajahs in the Age of Ravi Varma" (Juggernaut, 2021)
It can be easy to think of the recent history of India—especially for those who aren’t from there—as a straight line, from the Mughal Empire, through the British Empire, to independent India.
That, of course, is hugely simplistic, missing the mess of competing polities, interests ... Show More
48m 25s
Aug 2018
Master Herder: Horse-inspired insights for Healing, Caring and Leading with Linda Kohanov #248
<p>Linda Kohanov is an internationally recognized author, speaker, and pioneer in the field of equine-facilitated learning, where horses help teach people leadership, nonverbal communication, relationship, creativity and other advanced human development skills. Her organization E ... Show More
1h 11m
Jun 2015
Tenzin Chogyel (trans. Kurtis R. Schaeffer), “The Life of the Buddha” (Penguin Books, 2015)
Kurtis R. Schaeffer‘s new translation of Tenzin Chogyel’s The Life of the Buddha(Penguin Books, 2015) is a boon for teachers, researchers, and eager readers alike. Composed in the middle of the eighteenth century, The Life of the Buddha (or more fully rendered, The Life of the Lo ... Show More
1h 3m
May 2023
MALAKA GHARIB | Belonging, Divorce, & Summer in Egypt | Book Club
<p>In this episode of Book Club, Malika Gharib joins us to share her musings on what it means to be an artist, the symbiotic relationship between journalism and comics, as well as what the 'American Dream' truly means. She reflects on growing up as a first-generation Filipino Egy ... Show More
1h 1m
Jul 2021
Supriya Gandhi, "The Emperor Who Never Was: Dara Shukoh in Mughal India" (Harvard UP, 2020)
In her magnificent and lyrical new book, The Emperor Who Never Was: Dara Shukoh in Mughal India (Harvard UP, 2020), Supriya Gandhi reorients and adds unprecedented depth to our understanding of the much memorialized but less understood Mughal prince and thinker Dara Shukoh (d. 16 ... Show More
1 h
May 2022
LAILA LALAMI | The Other American & The Moor's Account | Conversations
<p>Laila Lalami talked about her award-winning books, The Other American, The Moor’s Account, Secret Son, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits & Conditional Citizens.</p><p><strong>Laila Lalami</strong> was born in Rabat and educated in Morocco, Great Britain, and the United States. ... Show More
56m 16s
Nov 2021
Ananda Devi : « La fiction est le moyen de parler de moi sans vraiment le faire »
C’est au milieu des cannes à sucre, en plein cœur de l’océan Indien, qu’est née Ananda Devi. Une enfance à Maurice durant laquelle elle a découvert l’imbrication des identités et des langages. Français, créole, hindi. Autant de langues qu’on retrouve aujourd’hui dans ses livres. ... Show More
27m 4s