Music was an integral part of statecraft and identity formation in the Third Reich. Structured thematically and semiotically around the Wagnerian tetralogy of the Ring cycle, Hitler’s Twilight of the Gods: Music and the Orchestration of War and Genocide in Europe (U Toronto Press, 2025) provides a sonic read of the Second World War and the Holocaust.
Alexand ... Show More
Yesterday
163* The Drama of Celebrity with Sharon Marcus (JP)
As Oscar Season rolls around, Recall This Book looks back to John's 2019 discussion with Columbia University professor Sharon Marcus about The Drama of Celebrity, her tour-de-force account of how stars are born, publicized, and in time devoutly scrapbooked by adoring fans. They t ... Show More
32m 10s
Yesterday
Justin L. Mann, "Breaking the World: Black Insecurity and the Horizons of Speculation" (Duke UP, 2026)
Breaking the World: Black Insecurity and the Horizons of Speculation (Duke UP, 2026) takes Black speculative fiction as a central archive for understanding global security culture from the Reagan administration to the present. Drawing on black feminist, critical race, and queer o ... Show More
1h 45m
Jan 26
Kay Dickinson, "Fernando: A Song by ABBA" (Duke UP, 2025)
Since its release in 1976, ABBA's song "Fernando" has been loved by fans around the globe both for its sing-along chorus and its revolutionary spirit. In Fernando: A Song by ABBA (Duke UP, 2025), Kay Dickinson takes readers from Sweden and Chile to Australia and Poland, tracing t ... Show More
56m 59s
May 2025
Palestinian Resistance Music & Cultural Heritage | With Legendary Composer Issa Boulos
<p>In this episode of Quartertones, we're joined by Palestinian composer and musician, Issa Boulos who tells us about his deep connection to Jerusalem and Palestine, and how his upbringing influenced his approach to music and life. Boulos recounts his unique experiences growing u ... Show More
1 h
Dec 2024
Richard J. Evans, "Hitler's People: The Faces of the Third Reich" (Penguin, 2024)
Richard Evans, author of the acclaimed The Third Reich Trilogy and over two dozen other volumes on modern Europe, is our preeminent scholar of Nazi Germany. Having spent half a century searching for the truths behind one of the most horrifying episodes in human history, in Hitler ... Show More
1h 2m
Mar 2025
Grzegorz Rossolinski-Liebe, "Stepan Bandera: The Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist: Fascism, Genocide, and Cult" (Ibidem Press, 2014)
Stepan Bandera: The Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist (Ibidem Verlag, 2014) is the first comprehensive and scholarly biography of the Ukrainian far-right leader Stepan Bandera and the first in-depth study of his political cult. In this fascinating book, Grzegorz Rosso ... Show More
56m 45s
Aug 2025
Harald Bodenschatz et al., "Urban Planning in Nazi Germany: Attack, Triumph, Terror in the European Context, 1933–1945" (DOM, 2025)
Urban Planning in Nazi Germany: Attack, Triumph, Terror in the European Context, 1933–1945 (DOM, 2025) is edited by Uwe Altrock, Harald Bodenschatz, Victoria Grau, Jannik Noeske, Christiane Post, and Max Welch Guerra. The book includes contributions from Christian von Oppen, Pier ... Show More
56 m
Jun 2023
La musique dans les camps nazis
C’est un chapitre peu exploré dans l’histoire du XXe siècle : la musique dans les camps nazis. À travers près de 300 objets et témoignages du monde entier – instruments, partitions, dessins et photographies -, le Mémorial de la Shoah à Paris dévoile les multiples fonctions et ton ... Show More
3m 36s
Aug 2024
Metallica: Thrash Metal, Murder, and the Death of Cliff Burton
In the early days of Metallica, their bass player carried a hammer on tour and had a gun that shot knives – or so the story goes. Their former lead guitarist was a drug dealer who kept two pitbulls for protection. They were blamed when a teenager, high on LSD, murdered a man in c ... Show More
39m 27s