Smarty Pants From The American Scholar

Bobbie Ann Mason's short story “Live-Hang,” from our Spring Issue, is the story of two friends who come from different worlds. Dave and Miguel meet in the gutting room of a chicken processing plant. Both are working class, but Dave and his wife, Trish, are white U.S. citizens, while Miguel and his wife, Maria, are undocumented Mexican immigrants. Even though their jobs diverge—Dave uses a connection to get a job installing satellite dishes, while Miguel is promoted to the more dangerous live-hang room—their lives become increasingly intertwined. But then the threat of deportation arrives, and with it the potential of a family being ripped apart. Only a brave and dangerous act can keep these families together. Mason talks about how she came to write this story, and how topical it is—given the recent news about ICE arresting children in hospitals, detaining the single parents of disabled kids, separating families, and raiding workplaces like the chicken plant.Go beyond the episode:Bobbie Ann Mason’s short

When we talk about climate change and conservation, animals tend to steal the show. Yet the organisms whose extinction would affect us the most are actually plants. Horticulturalist Carlos Magdalena has become known as the Plant Messiah for his work using groundbreaking, left-field techniques to save endangered species. First captivated by the bogs and flowers of his native Spain, Carlos has spent much of his professional life in greenhouses and laboratories—and traveling the world, from the Amazon to Australia—to resurrect plants of all shades. And with his new book, he’s on a mission to change the way we see the flora around us by spreading the good word about green things.Go beyond the episode:Carlos Magdalena’s The Plant Messiah: Adventures in Search of the World’s Rarest SpeciesGet a daily dose of flower power through Kew Gardens’s Instagram accountCheck out images and background on the Café Marron plant at the Global Trees CampaignWatch a clip

Some of our best poets have the greatest range: think of Shakespeare, in all his wild permutations, or Edna St. Vincent Millay boomeranging from heartbreak to revelry. Or, quintessentially, T. S. Eliot, who captured our bruised souls in “The Wasteland,” itemized the neuroses of unrequited love in Prufrock, and then turned around and set to verse the antics of cats like Growltiger and Rumpleteazer. You could say that the same range exists in the best of actors—like Jeremy Irons, say, who’s played everyone from starry-eyed Charles Ryder to Humbert Humbert himself. Irons’s iconic voice has lent itself to animated lions and audiobooks before, but now, he joins us to talk about perhaps his most ambitious project yet: narrating the poems of T. S. Eliot.Go beyond the episode:Jeremy Irons reads The Poems of T. S. Eliot from Faber & Faber and BBC Radio 4Read more about T. S. Eliot’s life at the Poetry FoundationMay we suggest Juliet Stevenson’s portfolio of Jane Austen’s novels&n

Journalist Anna Badkhen has immersed herself in the lives of Afghan carpet weavers, Fulani cow herders in Mali, and other people often ignored or forgotten—especially in the Global North. Yet our lives are entwined with others’ across the continents, and in ways that we may not even realize. Consider, for example, the dire situation in Joal, Senegal—the subject of Badkhen’s latest book—where artisanal fishermen are facing the consequences of an ocean depleted by climate change and overfishing.Go beyond the episode:Anna Badkhen’s Fisherman’s Blues: A West African Community at Sea“Magical Thinking in the Sahel,” an essay about gris-gris and good luck in the The New York Times“The Secret Life of Boats,” a dispatch from Joal in GrantaA Voice of America video report on overfishing in Senegal“Tackling illegal fishing in western Africa could create 300,000 jobs,” the Guardian reportsIt’s not just West Africa: how territorial disputes&nbs

Since August 2017, in the country’s latest wave of Buddhist-on-Muslim violence, over 647,000 Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar due to systemic violence and ethnic cleansing that has killed more than 10,000 people. Why is a religion seen as so peaceful in the West lashing out with such vehemence, and why are the Rohingya their target? And how did a seemingly local conflict erupt across the entire country? Journalist Francis Wade, who has reported in Myanmar for a decade, gives us the deep history, which stretches farther back than contemporary reports might suggest, and reveals a tangled web of interests: ultranationalist Buddhist monks, a military fearful of losing its grip on power, implicit racial hierarchies, and a democratic political party, led by Aung Sang Suu Kyi, whose very principles are called into question.Go beyond the episode:Francis Wade’s Myanmar’s Enemy Within: The Making of a Muslim “Other”Read the UNHCR’s report on the Rohingya emergencyDuring the reporting of “Mas

We revisit an interview with Eugenia Cheng, the author of How to Bake Pi, who translates higher math using metaphors that even the most mathematically disinclined can comprehend: infinite layers of puff pastry, endless jars of marmalade, and deep-dish pi(e). She talks about the false dichotomy between mathematics and art, and how understanding math helps you see the world in a new light. Also, how five-year-olds sometimes pose the most difficult questions for mathematicians to answer, like: what’s a number?Go beyond the episode:Eugenia Cheng’s Beyond InfinityAnd her attempt to teach Stephen Colbert how to make puff pastryNatalie Angier’s review of How to Bake Pi (verdict: delicious!)Watch an animated explanation of the Infinite Hotel Paradox from TED-EdTune in every week to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progres

There are a lot of very good, very long books out there: Middlemarch, War and Peace, Don Quixote, the Neopolitan Novels. And then there are the very long books you probably won't ever want to read, like Leonid Brezhnev's memoirs, Saddam Hussein's hackneyed romance novels, or the Kim family's film theory. This show is about that kind of very long book, and the man who decided to read all of them: Daniel Kalder, who joins us on the show to talk about his journey through The Infernal Library and what these books tell us about the dictatorial soul, assuming there is one. Go beyond the episode:Dive into Turkmenbashi’s Ruhnama, if you dare.Daniel Kalder reviews Saddam Hussein’s prose—he “tortured metaphors, too”—or you can read it yourselfOr check out Kalder’s dispatches from The Guardian’s “Dictator-lit” archivesWhile we couldn’t find a video of Fidel Castro’s four-hour-and-29-minute address to the United Nations in 1960, you can 

Americans love a child prodigy: Shirley Temple, Bobby Fischer, Henry Cowell … the list goes on. There’s just something about kid geniuses that enchants us—fascination at how differently they must see the world, and envy at how they've got it made. But in her new book, Off the Charts, Ann Hulbert looks at a range of children who've made a splash over the past century, and whose lives have informed our approach to child-rearing and education. Nature versus nurture is just the start of the debate—and it turns out there’s no model for raising any kind of child, genius or not, and no guarantee of success, whatever that means.Go beyond the episode:Ann Hulbert’s Off the Charts: The Hidden lives and Lessons of American Child Prodigies (and read an excerpt here)Ann Hulbert lists her top five books on precocious childrenOur top book for a glimpse into the life of a precocious child? Helen DeWitt’s cult novel, The Last Samurai“Promethea Unbound,” by Mike Mariana, about a

For decades, artists have been using horror to speak to our deepest societal fears, from the wilderness (werewolves) to the unknown (aliens). With zombies, that fear is infection: the outbreak of some terrible epidemic that sweeps the world, rendering us all into the drooling, flesh-eating monster next door. But as Dahlia Schweitzer shows in her new book, Going Viral, zombies are part of a much older lineage—dating back to Haitian slavery. Recently, these stories have arisen as commentary on the Ebola and AIDS epidemics, as well as terrorism, and in many cases, fact and fiction seem unfortunately to blur. Why have these outbreak narratives infected the public conversation? And how have they affected the way we see the world?Episode page: https://theamericanscholar.org/zombies-oh-my/Go beyond the episode:Dahlia Schweitzer’s Going Viral: Zombies, Viruses, and the End of the WorldCheck out this chart of the three film cycles of outbreak narrativesWant to be comforted after all that terror? Here’s

Giorgio Vasari has been variously called the father of art history, the inventor of artistic biography, and the author of “the Bible of the Italian Renaissance”—a little book called The Lives of the Artists. It’s a touchstone for scholars looking to get a peek at life in Michelangelo’s day, and quite fun, too, depending on whose wildly embellished life you’re reading. Ingrid Rowland joins us on the podcast to tell the story of the man behind the men of the Renaissance that we know so well—and, of course, to gossip a bit about Florentine egos, and even a few naughty monkeys.Visit the episode page for a slideshow of Vasari’s work.Go beyond the episode:Ingrid Rowland and Noah Charney’s The Collector of Lives: Girogio Vasari and the Invention of ArtExplore the National Gallery of Art’s collection of Vasari’s works on paper and panelTake a hilarious video tour of the Palazzo Vecchio—which Vasari altered and lined with his own paintings—with “Giorgio Vasari” (played by an actor far more attracti

If you're a creature of the 21st century, odds are you've stumbled upon the nascent DIY movement. From baking our bread to stitching our own clothes to raising back yard chickens and growing our own vegetables—even restoring our own furniture—the past few decades have seen a resurgence in our appreciation for crafts, right down to craft beer. But have you ever thatched your own roof with grasses that you grew in your own back yard? Or spent hours researching the secret behind making the best kind of haystack? Alexander Langlands has, and in his new book, Craeft, he takes DIY to a whole new level. Part how-to, part memoir, the book gets at what it means to make things with your own hands, and how this experience connects us both to the past and to our present sense of place.Episode page: https://theamericanscholar.org/reclaiming-craftiness/Go beyond the episode:Alexander Langlands’s Craeft: An Inquiry into the Origins and True Meaning of Traditional CraftsOld meets new in this Pinterest board&nb

Phil Klay joins us on the podcast to talk about his essay, “Tales of War and Redemption,” in our Winter issue. It’s an essay that starts on a humorous note, describing the horrible, ridiculously gory deaths of the Christian saints in The Big Book of Martyrs—a comic book for kids. And then he reminds you that he’s been in war, and he’s seen horrible deaths, and horrible suffering. What follows is a beautiful, moving look at suffering, not as sacrifice or cynical constant, but as a reminder of its inverse: joy, of a life lived, or one snuffed out.Visit the episode page for Phil Klay’s recommendations of writers to read after listening.Go beyond the episode:Phil Klay’s “Tales of War and Redemption”Photos from his own deployment, released while he was a public affairs officer serving in IraqWant more joy? Read Christian Wiman’s essay, “Still Wilderness,” a meditation on a feeling (and poetry, and faith, and …)Tune in every two weeks to catch in

School choice. A portfolio of options. Charters. Vouchers. Virtual classrooms. This is the vocabulary of the 21st-century American education system—and having more of these private options is exactly what policymakers, like Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, would like to see. But where did the idea of "public charter schools" come from? And what kind of impact does siphoning money away from the public education system have on the students who remain in that system—or the ones who are taking virtual geometry classes in their kitchens? Noliwe Rooks tackles these questions in her new book, Cutting School: Privatization, Segregation, and the End of Public Education—and unearths a dark history that stretches all the way back to Reconstruction and the very first charter schools: the “segregation academies” set up by white supremacists in the American South.Go beyond the episode:Noliwe Rooks’s Cutting School: Privatization, Segregation, and the End of Public EducationRead the “A Nation at

So much of the story we hear about China today is an economic one—how over the past few decades, it has risen from poverty and ruin to become a global economic powerhouse. But there’s a story beneath the surface, of the artistic avant-garde that resisted rule from above and inspired generations of ordinary Chinese citizens to seek freedom of expression. From their countryside re-education posts to the abandoned warehouses of Beijing and the short-lived Democracy Wall, Chinese artists flourished at the edge of acceptability—until the entire edifice came crashing down with the Tiananmen Square massacre. Madeleine O’Dea’s new book, The Phoenix Years, follows the lives of nine contemporary Chinese artists to tell the story of how art shaped a nation.Visit the episode page for portraits and archival images of the artists and their work.Go beyond the episode:Madeleine O’Dea’s The Phoenix Years: Art, Resistance, and the Making of Modern ChinaPeruse the exhibition catalogue for the seminal 19

The Roman Empire's reputation precedes it: a wingspan that stretched from Syria to Spain, and from the Nile to Scotland's doorstep. Centuries of unbroken rule, a unified commonwealth, and at one point nearly a quarter of the world's population. And then, it all came tumbling down. Why Rome fell has been a favored subject of armchair theorizing pretty much since the empire started teetering—and now, one historian has a bold new idea. Kyle Harper joins us on the podcast to explore how climate change and disease might have played a key role in the fall of an entire civilization.Go beyond the episode:Kyle Harper’s The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an EmpireRead an excerpt from the book on how the Huns laid waste to the Eternal CityHow we can learn from Rome’s experience with epidemics to contend with emerging diseases todayPandemics should scare you: here’s how tropical diseases are on the rise in our own back yardTune in every two weeks to catch interviews with the

This week, Anthony Brandt and David Eagleman talk about the science (and practice) of creating new things. We share a lot with the other sentient beings on this planet—love, hunger, death, joy, family, jealousy, rage. There's one thing, though, we do that other species, for whatever reason, do not: we innovate. We create. And we do so in a symbiotic way with other humans, building and improving on one another's ideas until suddenly we've all got a supercomputer in our back pockets. So what's at the heart of human creativity? Where does it come from, how does it work, and how can we get better at harnessing our own ingenuity?Visit the episode page for a slideshow of images from the book demonstrating bending, breaking, and blending.Go beyond the episode:The Runaway Species by Anthony Brandt and David EaglemanWant to learn more about your gray matter? Watch David Eagleman’s PBS series The BrainListen to Maternity, an oratorio for soprano and orchestra, the authors’ first collaborationTu

This week, we talk to Cullen Murphy, the son of cartoonist John Cullen Murphy, about growing up during the funnies’ midcentury heyday. Cartoon County is part memoir, part history of the giants of the comics world, who drew Superman, Beetle Bailey, Hägar the Horrible, The Wizard of Id … and a bevy of strips and gags read by millions of Americans. Visit the episode page for a slideshow of images from the book, including sketches, comic strips, and Polaroids from Cullen Murphy’s collection.Go beyond the episode:Cartoon County by Cullen MurphyRead the strips online: Prince Valiant, Hägar the Horrible, Beetle Bailey …Learn more about Fairfield County in Cullen’s essay in Vanity FairTune in every two weeks to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek. • Subscri

This week on the podcast, we’re talking about sublimated desires—and the repressed kind, too. William Deresiewicz expands on an essay he wrote for us about being a man in Jane Austen’s world—and how her novels are about so much more than Colin Firth-as-Mr. Darcy. And Hallie Lieberman explains how the history of sex toys—and the laws banning them—can illuminate America’s complicated relationship with sexuality. • Go beyond the episode: William Deresiewicz’s essay, “A Jane Austen Kind of Guy” • Read an essay on the dark underbelly of Mansfield Park’s grand estates and country balls from Mikita Brottman • Further proof of how everyone wants to be Mrs. Darcy from our Daily Scholar alum, Paula Marantz Cohen • Hallie Lieberman’s Buzz: A Stimulating History of the Sex Toy • Anthony Comstock and his obscenity laws play a big role on another podcast episode, “Out of the Closet and Into the Courts” • Tune in every two weeks to catch interviews with the livelie

A measly three percent of books published in the United States are works in translation—so this week, we’re shining a spotlight on two books from dramatically different places. Naivo’s Beyond the Rice Fields is the first Malagasy novel ever translated into English; he and his translator, Allison Charette, talk with us about love stories and origin stories. And Tenzin Dickie, editor of Old Demons, New Deities—the first English anthology of Tibetan fiction—joins us on the show to talk about life in exile, the rain in Dharamsala, and the best momos in Queens (Little Tibet, in Jackson Heights, in case you're wondering). • Episode Page: https://theamericanscholar.org/the-three-percent/ • Go beyond the episode: Read an excerpt from Beyond the Rice Fields by Naivo, translated by Allison Charette • Watch the book trailer for Old Demons, New Deities, narrated by editor Tenzin Dickie • Check out the University of Rochester’s Three Perc

Our Halloween special covers two subjects perfect for your next macabre dinner party: how the witch gained her powers, and the myriad alternatives to a casket. Caitlin Doughty, the Internet’s favorite mortician, tells us about her world travels in search of the holy grail of corpse interaction—along with a few other stories that illuminate our changing relationship with the afterlife. And Ronald Hutton, medieval historian and witch expert, goes into the history of fear surrounding one of the oldest scapegoats in the world. • Episode page: https://theamericanscholar.org/witches-never-die/ • Go beyond the episode: Caitlin Doughty’s From Here to Eternity • Ronald Hutton’s The Witch • Ask a Mortician all about coffin birth, ghost marriage, and the iconic corpses of the world on Caitlin’s YouTube channel • Read more about the Order of the Good Death, an organization of funeral professionals working to change attitudes about death • Virtually visit the high-tech Ruriden Columbarium in Tokyo