Ada Lovelace was born during the Regency Era, the daughter of Annabella Milbanke and (trigger warning) Lord Byron. Her story brings us from the Georgian era into the Victorian era as she wielded her father's charisma and her mother's love of math to (very accurately) predict the dangers of AI. And also start a horse race gambling ring, pawn the family jewels ... Show More
May 6
Lady Caroline Lamb: Regency Era Manic Pixie Dream Girl
Lady Caroline Lamb was an author, party hostess, and occasional hot mess. Best known for her short affair with (trigger warning!) Lord Byron, she powered through Regency London with main character energy. Romance author Alexandra Vasti joins us to celebrate the audacious and Brav ... Show More
1h 36m
Apr 29
Regency Era Trans Icon Chevalière d'Éon (revisited)
Chevalière d'Éon was a French spy, championship fencer, soldier, and absolute icon. No wonder the Ton of Regency England became obsessed when she moved there. In this episode, originally from 2022, author Maya Deane joins us to explain d'Éon's audacious story and the importance o ... Show More
1h 14m
Oct 2025
743 Fairy Tales (with Jack Zipes) [RECLAIMED] | Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (#11 GBOAT) | Chaucer News
An early encounter with one of the most famous people in the world initiated Jack Zipes into the world of fairy tales - and he never looked back. In this episode, Jacke talks to the fairy tale expert about his book Buried Treasures: The Power of Political Fairy Tales, which profi ... Show More
1h 2m
Nov 2025
746 Wild Jane Austen (with Devoney Looser) | #9 Greatest Book of All Time
Author Devoney Looser may be a mild-mannered English professor to most people, but roller derby fans know her as Stone Cold Jane Austen, her smashmouth alter ego. In this episode, Devoney tells Jacke about her new book Wild for Austen: A Rebellious, Subversive, and Untamed Jane, ... Show More
1h 4m
Aug 2025
724 The Stranger by Albert Camus (#22 Greatest Book of All Time) | Christopher Isherwood (with Jake Poller) | Postcard from a Listener in Yunnan
Put on your black turtleneck! Jacke starts the episode with a look at #22 on the list of The Greatest Books of All Time, The Stranger by Albert Camus. Then he talks to Jake Poller about British and American novelist and playwright Christopher Isherwood, whose Goodbye to Berlin wa ... Show More
1h 1m
Oct 2025
744 Love, Sex, and Frankenstein (with Caroline Lea) | #10 Greatest Book of All Time | My Last Book with Geoffrey Turnovsky | A Letter from a Middle School Teacher and Mom
The year is 1816, and 18-year-old Mary Shelley has fled London with her lover, Percy Shelley, and her sister, Claire. They're on their way to visit Lord Byron's villa in Lake Geneva, Switzerland - and to change the course of literary history. In this episode, Jacke talks to Carol ... Show More
1h 26m
Sep 2025
The Definitely Real, Totally Accurate Story of Cyrus (Herodotus The Histories Bk 1, Part 3)
And we are back again with another week of Herodotus and his Histories. This time, we go backwards to explore how the Persian Empire got power within Asia. Isn't that fun? There certainly will not be any tangents here! No, not at all. Why would you think that?Submit your question ... Show More
34m 45s
Oct 2025
740 Mel Brooks and Other Eminent Jews (with David Denby) | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (#13 GBOAT)
In this episode, Jacke talks to author David Denby about his new book, Eminent Jews: Bernstein, Brooks, Friedan, Mailer, a group biography (loosely inspired by Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians) that describes how four larger-than-life figures upended the restrained culture of ... Show More
1h 3m