Laurie Marhoefer, "Racism and the Making of Gay Rights: A Sexologist, His Student, and the Empire of Queer Love" (U Toronto Press, 2022)
In 1931, a sexologist arrived in colonial Shanghai to give a public lecture about homosexuality. In the audience was a medical student. The sexologist, Magnus Hirschfeld, fell in love with the medical...
14 Jul 202254min
Antonio Rigopoulos, "The Hagiographer and the Avatar: The Life and Works of Narayan Kasturi" (SUNY Press, 2021)
In The Hagiographer and the Avatar: The Life and Works of Narayan Kasturi (SUNY Press, 2021), Antonio Rigopoulos explores the fundamental role of a hagiographer within a charismatic religious movement...
14 Jul 202250min
Yehudah Mirsky, "Towards the Mystical Experience of Modernity: The Making of Rav Kook, 1865-1904" (Academic Studies Press, 2021)
Avraham Yitzhaq Ha-Cohen Kook (1865-1935) stands as a colossal figure of modern Jewish history and thought. Jurist, mystic, poet, theologian, communal leader, founder of the modern Chief Rabbinate and...
13 Jul 20221h 26min
Dean Krouk, "The Making of an Antifascist: Nordahl Grieg Between the World Wars" (U Wisconsin Press, 2022)
A young imperialist adventurer turned hero of the anti-Nazi resistance, Norwegian journalist, poet, and playwright Nordahl Grieg has become more of a national legend than a real person since his death...
13 Jul 202257min
H. H. Leonards, "Rosa Parks Beyond the Bus: Life, Lessons, and Leadership" (R. H. Boyd, 2022)
Rosa Parks Beyond the Bus: Life, Lessons, and Leadership (R. H. Boyd, 2022) is a collection of inspiring and instructive memories compiled from the decade that Mrs. Parks was a guest in author H.H. Le...
8 Jul 202234min
Christopher S. Celenza, "Petrarch: Everywhere a Wanderer" (Reaktion Books, 2017)
Born in Tuscany in 1304, Italian poet Francesco Petrarca is widely considered one of the fathers of the modern Italian language. Though his writings inspired the humanist movement and subsequently the...
8 Jul 202240min
Frank Close, "Elusive: How Peter Higgs Solved the Mystery of Mass" (Basic Book, 2022)
On July 4, 2012, the announcement came that one of the longest-running mysteries in physics had been solved: the Higgs boson, the missing piece in understanding why particles have mass, had finally be...
6 Jul 20221h 29min
The Future of Erdogan: A Discussion with Dimitar Bechev
Reccep Tayyib Erdogan is towering politician. He has dominated Turkey for 20 years and is now being compared to Ataturk as a man who has changed the direction of Turkish society. And he matters not on...
5 Jul 202241min
