Yesterday

Clarissa E. Francis, "Black Women's Bodily Autonomy, Sexual Freedom, and Pleasure: Explorations of the Hot Girl Movement" (Routledge, 2025)

Black Women's Bodily Autonomy, Sexual Freedom, and Pleasure: Explorations of the Hot Girl Movement (Routledge, 2025) explores scholarship, practice, and advocacy for Black women’s pursuit of bodily autonomy, sexual freedom, and pleasure. Inspired by Megan Thee Stallion’s song "Ho ... Show More

1h 6m

Yesterday

Michael Glover Smith, "Bob Dylan as Filmmaker: No Time to Think" (McNidder and Grace, 2026)

A deep dive into one of the most overlooked -- and fascinating -- sides of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature winner: Bob Dylan, the filmmaker. While his music and lyrics have been studied endlessly, his work behind (and in front of) the camera remains largely unexplored. No othe ... Show More

1h 18m

Feb 24

Michèle Schaal, "Grrrl Writing: Virginie Despentes's Authorial Politics" (Peter Lang, 2026)

When Virginie Despentes (1969) published her provocative debut novel Baise-moi in 1994, no one could have anticipated how she would gradually become a literary, feminist, and punk icon. This book is the first holistic, interdisciplinary approach to Despentes's novels and evolutio ... Show More

35m 49s

Feb 2025

Philip Howell, "Pub" (Bloomsbury, 2025)

The pub is an English institution. Yet its history has been obscured by myth and nostalgia. In Pub (Bloomsbury, 2025) a new addition to the Object Lessons series, Dr. Philip Howell takes the public house as an object, or rather as a series of objects: he takes the pub apart and e ... Show More

38m 59s

Aug 2024

Ren Pepitone, "Brotherhood of Barristers: A Cultural History of the British Legal Profession, 1840–1940" (Cambridge UP, 2024)

How did ideas of masculinity shape the British legal profession and the wider expectations of the white-collar professional? Brotherhood of Barristers: A Cultural History of the British Legal Profession, 1840–1940 (Cambridge University Press, 2024) by Dr. Ren Pepitone examines th ... Show More

56m 18s

Apr 2024

Adele Oliver, "Deeping It: Colonialism, Culture & Criminalisation of UK Drill" (404 Ink, 2023)

Deeping It: Colonialism, Culture & Criminalisation of UK Drill (404 Ink, 2023) by Adèle Oliver shines a critical light on UK drill and its fraught relationship with the British legal system. Intervening on current discourse steeped in anti-Blackness and moral panic, this Inkling ... Show More

48m 10s

Apr 2025

Living Heritage: Dr. Tristram Hunt on Museums in a Changing World

In this episode, Violet Manners is joined by Dr Tristram Hunt, Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum and former MP, for a wide-ranging conversation about the role of museums in public life. They discuss how institutions like the V&A are evolving in the 21st century - from ad ... Show More

58m 26s

Jun 2021

Suzanne L. Marchand, "Porcelain: A History from the Heart of Europe" (Princeton UP, 2020)

Suzanne L. Marchand's new book Porcelain: A History from the Heart of Europe (Princeton University Press, 2020) balances several histories at once through the story of a single commodity. Rather than a history of art or aesthetics per se—though it certainly touches style and arti ... Show More

1 h

Feb 2025

Gary D. Jaworski, "Erving Goffman and the Cold War" (Lexington Books, 2023)

Erving Goffman has always seen as somewhat of an enigma by sociologists and historians of the discipline. In his provocative new book Erving Goffman and the Cold War (2023, Lexington) Gary Jaworski suggests a ‘marginal man’ trope has grown up around him, whereby Goffman is seen a ... Show More

1h 2m

Dec 2024

Being a Soldier During the Thirty Years War: Interview with Dr. Lucian Staiano-Daniels

What was it like to be a soldier during the Thirty Years War? I spoke with Dr. Lucian Staiano-Daniels, author of the upcoming book The War People: A Social History of Common Soldiers during the Era of the Thirty Years War, about what we can know of the thousands of me ... Show More

1h 5m

Sep 2024

Our 10,000-year quest for equality

Were hunter-gatherer societies among the most equal in history? What impact did the French and American Revolutions have on the concept of equality? And has equality been on the retreat over the past three decades? Darrin M McMahon, author of Equality: The History of an Elusive I ... Show More

34m 40s

Feb 2025

Angela Wanhalla et al., "Te Hau Kainga: The Maori Home Front during the Second World War" (Auckland UP, 2024)

Taking readers to the farms and factories, the marae and churches where Māori lived, worked and raised their families, Te Hau Kāinga: The Māori Home Front during the Second World War (Auckland University Press, 2024) by Dr. Angela Wanhalla, Dr. Sarah Christie, Dr. Lachy Paterson, ... Show More

1h 15m

Oct 2024

Alexander the Great: Soldier, Priest, and God. Interview with Professor Fred Naiden

Professor Fred Naiden wrote one of my favorite books on Alexander the Great - Soldier, Priest, and God - and it provides a much different view of Alexander than the warrior king we so often see in modern treatments. Alexander was a deeply religious person, and his ide ... Show More

56m 9s