Best Norton Library Podcasts (2024)

1
The Last Eighteenth-Century Novel (Sense and Sensibility, Part 1) 33:10

1h ago33:10

33:10

In Part 1 of our discussion on Austen's Sense and Sensibility, we welcome editor Stephanie Insley Hershinow to discuss Austen's biography, including some misconceptions about her; the place of Sense and Sensibility in Austen's bibliography; the meaning of the novel's title in its context; and some of the work's major characters. Stephanie Insley He…

1
David Zeitlyn, "Mambila Divination: Framing Questions, Constructing Answers" (Routledge, 2021) 1:05:12

40m ago1:05:12

1:05:12

Professor David Zeitlyn’s book offers a major contribution to the study and analysis of divination, based on continuing fieldwork with the Mambila in Cameroon. It seeks to return attention to the details of divinatory practice, using the questions asked and life histories to help understand the perspective of the clients rather than that of the div…

1
David Chaffetz, "Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of Empires" (Norton, 2024) 47:25

1h ago47:25

47:25

After reading David Chaffetz’s newest book, you’d think that the horse–not oil–has been humanity’s most important strategic commodity. As David writes in his book Raiders, Rulers and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of Empires (Norton, 2024), societies in Central Asia grew powerful on the backs of strong herds of horses, giving them a military and a…

1
Julia Kindt, "The Trojan Horse and Other Stories: Ten Ancient Creatures That Make Us Human" (Cambridge UP, 2024) 46:37

1h ago46:37

46:37

What makes us human? What, if anything, sets us apart from all other creatures? Ever since Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, the answer to these questions has pointed to our own intrinsic animal nature. Yet the idea that, in one way or another, our humanity is entangled with the non-human has a much longer and more venerable history. In the Wes…

1
Faizah Zakaria, "The Camphor Tree and the Elephant: Religion and Ecological Change in Maritime Southeast Asia" (U Washington Press, 2023) 40:16

1h ago40:16

40:16

Recurring tropes about fragmented communities living on frontier forestlands living in Southeast Asia are that they are either guardians of flora and fauna their destroyers. In much analysis gravitating to one or other position in this dichotomy the role of organised religion is absent. But as Faizah Zakaria shows in The Camphor Tree and the Elepha…

1
Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: : The Horse and the Rise of Empires 1:02:42

1h ago1:02:42

1:02:42

No animal is so entangled in human history as the horse. The thread starts in prehistory, with a slight, shy animal, hunted for food. Domesticating the horse allowed early humans to settle the vast Eurasian steppe; later, their horses enabled new forms of warfare, encouraged long-distance trade routes, and ended up acquiring deep cultural and relig…

1
Hope Bohanec, "The Humane Hoax: Essays Exposing the Myth of Happy Meat, Humane Dairy, and Ethical Eggs" (Lantern Publishing, 2023) 1:14:09

16d ago1:14:09

1:14:09

As consumers become increasingly aware of the animal agriculture industry’s cruelty and environmental devastation, clever industry marketers are adapting with alternative “humane” and “sustainable” labeling and marketing campaigns. In the absence of accurate information, it has never been more important to educate consumers on the realities behind …

1
Nick Haddad, "The Last Butterflies: A Scientist's Quest to Save a Rare and Vanishing Creature" (Princeton UP, 2019) 59:01

19d ago59:01

59:01

Butterflies have long captivated the imagination of humans, from naturalists to children to poets. Indeed it would be hard to imagine a world without butterflies. And yet their populations are declining at an alarming rate, to the extent that even the seemingly ubiquitous Monarch could conceivably go the way of the Passenger Pigeon. Many other, mor…

1
They All Cried Out, "He Made Us" (Confessions, Part 2) 30:09

18d ago30:09

30:09

In Part 2 of our discussion on Augustine's Confessions, translator Peter Constantine discusses his own history with the text and how he came to translate it, the stylistic accomplishment of the Confessions, his translation process, and more. Peter Constantine is the director of the Program in Literary Translation at the University of Connecticut, t…

1
Gavin Steingo, "Interspecies Communication: Sound and Music Beyond Humanity" (U Chicago Press, 2024) 58:15

3d ago58:15

58:15

In Interspecies Communication: Sound and Music Beyond Humanity (U Chicago Press, 2024), music scholar Gavin Steingo examines significant cases of attempted communication beyond the human--cases in which the dualistic relationship of human to non-human is dramatically challenged. From singing whales to Sun Ra to searching for alien life, Steingo cha…

1
Paul Koudounaris, "Faithful Unto Death: Pet Cemeteries, Animal Graves, and Eternal Devotion" (Thames & Hudson, 2024) 46:07

1M ago46:07

46:07

Losing a pet has always been a unique kind of pain. No set rituals exist to help provide closure when pets die, there are no readily shared passages from spiritual texts, no community of compassion to surround the mourner and help alleviate grief. And there is a sense of taboo, that it is somehow socially incorrect to mourn an animal as one would a…

1
Augustine Gives in to Pear Pressure (Confessions, Part 1) 32:37

8d ago32:37

32:37

In Part 1 of our discussion on Augustine's Confessions, we welcome translator Peter Constantine to discuss the historical context in which Augustine of Hippo wrote the Confessions, the genre of the text, the lasting effect it has had on religious and secular intellectual traditions, and some of the touchstone episodes found in the work. Peter Const…

1
Ellie Laks, "Cow Hug Therapy: How the Animals at the Gentle Barn Taught Me about Life, Death, and Everything in Between" (New World Library, 2024) 47:25

1M ago47:25

47:25

In Cow Hug Therapy: How the Animals at the Gentle Barn Taught Me about Life, Death, and Everything in Between (New World Library, 2024), Ellie Laks recounts the extraordinary journey that started with her first teacher, Buddha -- not the religious figure, but a rescued miniature Hereford cow. One evening Buddha wrapped her neck around an exhausted …

1
Funny as Hell (Inferno, Part 2) 35:39

1M ago35:39

35:39

In Part 2 of our discussion on Dante's Inferno, translator Michael Palma discusses his own history with the poem and how he came to translate it, the terza rima rhyme scheme Dante employs, and in what ways the Divine Comedy is really a comedy. Michael Palma is the award-winning translator of Diego Valeri and Guido Gozzano, among others. He has publ…

1
Fantastic Fauna from China to Crimea: Image-Making in Eurasian Nomadic Societies, 700 BCE-500 CE 1:12:58

2M ago1:12:58

1:12:58

Numerous Iron-Age nomadic alliances flourished along the 5000-mile Eurasian steppe route. From Crimea to the Mongolian grassland, nomadic image-making was rooted in metonymically conveyed zoomorphic designs, creating an alternative ecological reality. The nomadic elite nucleus embraced this elaborate image system to construct collective memory in r…

1
Dante's Inferno: A 13th-Century Scared Straight! (Inferno, Part 1) 35:12

2M ago35:12

35:12

In Part 1 of our discussion on Dante's Inferno, we welcome translator Michael Palma to discuss Dante's life and the context in which he wrote the Inferno, the narrative structure of The Divine Comedy, and what makes the Inferno so durably compelling. Michael Palma is the award-winning translator of Diego Valeri and Guido Gozzano, among others, and …

1
Kathryn Hughes, "Catland: Louis Wain and the Great Cat Mania" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2024) 59:44

2M ago59:44

59:44

In 1900, Britain and America were in the grip of a cat craze. An animal that had for centuries been seen as a household servant or urban nuisance had now become an object of pride and deep affection. From presidential and royal families who imported exotic breeds to working-class men competing for cash prizes for the fattest tabby, people became en…

1
Timothy Barnard, "Singaporean Creatures: Histories of Humans and Other Animals in the Garden City" (NUS Press, 2024) 31:44

2M ago31:44

31:44

In Singaporean Creatures: Histories of Humans and Other Animals in the Garden City (NUS Press, 2024), historian Tim Barnard and his colleagues offer an edited volume of historical and ecological analysis, in which various institutions, perspectives and events involving animals provide insight into the development of Singapore as a modern, urban nat…

1
John Soluri, "Creatures of Fashion: Animals, Global Markets, and the Transformation of Patagonia" (UNC Press, 2024) 1:19:25

2M ago1:19:25

1:19:25

Today, the mention of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego conjures images of idyllic landscapes untouched by globalisation. Creatures of Fashion: Animals, Global Markets, and the Transformation of Patagonia (University of North Carolina Press, 2024) by Dr. John Soluri upends this, revealing how the exploitation of animals—terrestrial and marine, domesti…

1
Samuel Dolbee, "Locusts of Power: Borders, Empire, and Environment in the Modern Middle East" (Cambridge UP, 2022) 55:53

2M ago55:53

55:53

In this episode, I talk to Samuel Dolbee, Assistant Professor of History at Vanderbilt University. His book, Locusts of Power: Borders, Empire, and Environment in the Modern Middle East (Cambridge University Press, 2023). In this highly original environmental history, Samuel Dolbee sheds new light on borders and state formation by following locusts…

1
Animal Control 38:42

2M ago38:42

38:42

This week, we examine the sounds humans make in order to monitor, repel, and control beasts. Author Mandy-Suzanne Wong’s Listen, We All Bleed is a creative nonfiction monograph that explores the human-animal relationship through animal-centered sound art. We’ll hear works by Robbie Judkins, Claude Matthews, and Colleen Plumb, interwoven with Wong’s…

1
Joshua Schuster, "What Is Extinction?: A Natural and Cultural History of Last Animals" (Fordham UP, 2023) 57:11

3M ago57:11

57:11

Life on Earth is facing a mass extinction event of our own making. Human activity is changing the biology and the meaning of extinction. What Is Extinction?: A Natural and Cultural History of Last Animals (Fordham UP, 2023) examines several key moments that have come to define the terms of extinction over the past two centuries, exploring instances…

1
Christina M. García, "Corporeal Readings of Cuban Literature and Art: The Body, the Inhuman, and Ecological Thinking" (U Florida Press, 2024) 1:06:34

3M ago1:06:34

1:06:34

Christina M. García’s book, Corporeal Readings of Cuban Literature and Art: The Body, the Inhuman, and Ecological Thinking (University Press of Florida, 2024), looks at Cuban literature and art that challenge traditional assumptions about the body. García examines how writers and artists have depicted racial, gender, and species differences through…

1
How to Read, How to Feel (Narrative of Frederick Douglass, Part 2) 34:43

2M ago34:43

34:43

In Part 2 of our discussion on Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, editor Joshua Bennett discusses the cover of the Norton Library edition, approaching the text as history and as literature, how Douglass teaches us to read, the musicality of the book, a Narrative-inspired playlist, and more! Joshua Bennett is a professor of literature at M…

1
The Hero's Journey (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Part 1) 30:23

3M ago30:23

30:23

In Part 1 of our discussion on the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, we welcome editor Joshua Bennett to discuss Douglass's Narrative as a type of hero's journey, Douglass's political project in writing the book, and how Douglass closes the Narrative with a statement on true Christianity. Joshua Bennett is a professor of literature at MI…

1
But I Wouldn't Give Myself (The Awakening, Part 2) 30:35

4M ago30:35

30:35

In Part 2 of our discussion on The Awakening, editor Laura Fisher tells us about her first encounter with the novel, discusses her approach to teaching it, explores her favorite line of the text, provides a killer Awakening playlist, and more! Laura R. Fisher is an associate professor of English at Toronto Metropolitan University. She is the author…

1
Jane Hamlett and Julie-Marie Strange, "Pet Revolution: Animals and the Making of Modern British Life" (Reaktion Books, 2023) 43:23

4M ago43:23

43:23

Pet Revolution: Animals and the Making of Modern British Life (Reaktion, 2023) by Dr. Jane Hamlett & Dr. Julie-Marie Strange tracks the British love affair with pets over the last two centuries, showing how the kinds of pets we keep, as well as how we relate to and care for them, has changed radically. The book describes the growth of pet foods and…

1
Don't Nap for Self-Care. Wake up! (The Awakening, Part 1) 32:36

4M ago32:36

32:36

In Part 1 of our discussion on The Awakening, we welcome editor Laura Fisher to discuss Kate Chopin's writing career, the novel's reception and themes, as well as some of its major characters. Laura R. Fisher is an associate professor of English at Toronto Metropolitan University. She is the author of Reading for Reform: The Social Work of Literatu…

1
Carl Zimmer, "Life's Edge: The Search For What it Means to be Alive" (Dutton, 2022) 36:28

4M ago36:28

36:28

Carl Zimmer investigates one of the biggest questions of all: What is life? The answer seems obvious until you try to seriously answer it. Is the apple sitting on your kitchen counter alive, or is only the apple tree it came from deserving of the word? If we can’t answer that question here on Earth, how will we know when and if we discover alien li…

1
Kenneth R. Valpey, "Cow Care in Hindu Animal Ethics" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019) 58:00

4M ago58:00

58:00

What does cow care in India have to offer modern Western discourse animal ethics? Why are cows treated with such reverence in the Indian context? Join us as we speak to Kenneth R. Valpey about his new book Cow Care in Hindu Animal Ethics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019). Valpey discusses his methodological odyssey looking at ancient Hindu scriptural acco…

1
Andil Gosine, "Nature's Wild: Love, Sex, and Law in the Caribbean" (Duke UP, 2021) 1:06:22

5M ago1:06:22

1:06:22

In Nature's Wild: Love, Sex, and Law in the Caribbean (Duke UP, 2021), Andil Gosine engages with questions of humanism, queer theory, and animality to examine and revise understandings of queer desire in the Caribbean. Surveying colonial law, visual art practices, and contemporary activism, Gosine shows how the very concept of homosexuality in the …

1
It's Okay to be Frustrated with Joyce (Dubliners, Part 2) 34:31

4M ago34:31

34:31

In Part 2 of our discussion on Dubliners, editor Ian Whittington discusses the inspiration for the cover of his Norton Library edition, his favorite lines in the collection, his Dubliners hot take, and some suggestions for a Dubliners playlist. Ian Whittington is an independent scholar whose research and teaching focus on twentieth-century anglopho…

1
Jane Hamlett and Julie-Marie Strange, "Pet Revolution: Animals and the Making of Modern British Life" (Reaktion Books, 2023) 50:14

5M ago50:14

50:14

Pet Revolution: Animals and the Making of Modern British Life (Reaktion Books, 2023) tracks the British love affair with pets over the last two centuries, showing how the kinds of pets we keep, as well as how we relate to and care for them, has changed radically. The book describes the growth of pet foods and medicines, the rise of pet shops, and t…

1
Charis Enns and Brock Bersaglio, "Settler Ecologies: The Enduring Nature of Settler Colonialism in Kenya" (U Toronto Press, 2024) 34:53

5M ago34:53

34:53

Settler Ecologies: The Enduring Nature of Settler Colonialism in Kenya (University of Toronto Press, 2024) tells the story of how settler colonialism becomes memorialized and lives on through ecological relations. Drawing on eight years of research in Laikipia, Kenya, Charis Enns and Brock Bersaglio use immersive methods to reveal how animals and p…

1
You Can File this All Under "A City in Decline" (Dubliners, Part 1) 32:19

5M ago32:19

32:19

In Part 1 of our discussion on Dubliners, we welcome editor Ian Whittington to discuss how this collection of short stories was received by its publisher, by its literary audience, and by the people who made up its subject matter; the Dublin in which Joyce grew up; and, of course, Ian's favorite story. Ian Whittington is an independent scholar whos…

1
Christopher Michael Blakley, "Empire of Brutality: Enslaved People and Animals in the British Atlantic World" (Louisiana State UP, 2023) 58:46

5M ago58:46

58:46

Historians of early America, slavery, early African American history, the history of science, and environmental history have interrogated the complex ways in which enslaved people were thought about and treated as human but also dehumanized to be understood as private property or chattel. The comparison of enslaved people to animals, particularly d…

1
Animals 18:02

5M ago18:02

18:02

In this episode of High Theory, Mackenzie Cooley talks about animals. The animal lies at the center of science and the human, from imperial conquest and Enlightenment thought to the creatures on our dinner plates and beside us at the table. The practices of animal breeding and the politics of making life are, in Mackenzie’s account, key to understa…

1
Paul Hansen, "Hokkaido Dairy Farm: Cosmopolitics of Otherness and Security on the Frontiers of Japan" (SUNY Press, 2024) 49:08

5M ago49:08

49:08

As an ethnography of a Japanese dairy farm while having theoretical values going beyond the specific context, Hokkaido Dairy Farm: Cosmopolitics of Otherness and Security on the Frontiers of Japan (SUNY Press, 2024) offers a historical and ethnographic examination of the rapid industrialization of the dairy industry in Tokachi, Hokkaido. The book b…

1
Dinesh Wadiwel, "Animals and Capital" (Edinburgh UP, 2023) 1:33:37

6M ago1:33:37

1:33:37

In the 20th century, capitalist animal agriculture emerged with a twofold mission: to ruthlessly exploit animals for their labour time and enlarge human food supplies. The results of this process are clear. Animal-sourced foods have expanded exponentially. And simultaneously, hundreds of billions of animals confront humans and machines in brutal, a…

1
Medea has Pierced Our Hearts (Medea, Part 2) 28:47

5M ago28:47

28:47

In Part 2 of our discussion on Medea, editor Sheila Murnaghan discusses her teaching of the drama, what Medea shows us about the nature of revenge, and her approach to the challenges of translating this tragedy. Sheila Murnaghan is the Alfred Reginald Allen Memorial Professor of Greek at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of Disguise…

1
John O’Connor, "The Secret History of Bigfoot: Field Notes on a North American Monster" (Sourcebooks, 2024) 52:28

6M ago52:28

52:28

Bigfoot is an instantly recognizable figure. Through the decades, this elusive primate has been featured in movies and books, on coffee mugs, beer koozies, car polish, and CBD oil. Which begs the question: what is it about Bigfoot that's caught hold of our imaginations? Journalist and self-diagnosed skeptic John O'Connor is fascinated by Sasquatch.…

1
Cristina Brito, "Humans and Aquatic Animals in Early Modern America and Africa" (Amsterdam UP, 2023) 36:55

6M ago36:55

36:55

Cristina Brito's book Humans and Aquatic Animals in Early Modern America and Africa (Amsterdam University Press, 2024) deals with peoples' practices, perceptions, emotions and feelings towards aquatic animals, their ecosystems and nature on the early modern Atlantic coasts by addressing exploitation, use, fear, empathy, otherness, and indifference …

1
Euripides's Exploration of the Unthinkable and Unnatural (Medea, Part 1) 36:44

6M ago36:44

36:44

In Part 1 of our discussion on Medea, we welcome translator Sheila Murnaghan to discuss the historical and dramatic context in which Euripides wrote the play, its basis in the Medea myth, and the plays most prominent characters. Sheila Murnaghan is the Alfred Reginald Allen Memorial Professor of Greek at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the a…

1
Fynn Holm, "The Gods of the Sea: Whales and Coastal Communities in Northeast Japan, c.1600-2019" (Cambridge UP, 2023) 51:52

7M ago51:52

51:52

Japan is often imagined as a nation with a long history of whaling. In The Gods of the Sea: Whales and Coastal Communities in Northeast Japan, c.1600-2019 (Cambridge UP, 2023), Fynn Holm argues that for centuries some regions in early modern Japan did not engage in whaling. In fact, they were actively opposed to it, even resorting to violence when …

1
An African American Novel about White People (The Marrow of Tradition, Part 2) 27:01

7M ago27:01

27:01

In Part 2 of our discussion on The Marrow of Tradition, editor Autumn Womack discusses her background with the novel, teaching the novel, her favorite line, and her hot take on The Marrow of Tradition. Autumn Womack is an Assistant Professor in the departments of African American Studies and English at Princeton University, where she specializes in…

1
Rob Percival, "The Meat Paradox: Eating, Empathy, and the Future of Meat" (Pegasus, 2022) 49:23

7M ago49:23

49:23

Our future diet will be shaped by diverse forces. It will be shaped by novel technologies, by geopolitical tensions, and the evolution of cultural preferences, by shocks to the status quo-- pandemics and economic strife, the escalation of the climate and ecological crises--and by how we choose to respond. It will also be shaped by our emotions. It …

1
Yamini Narayanan, "Mother Cow, Mother India: A Multispecies Politics of Dairy in India" (Stanford UP, 2023) 1:17:36

7M ago1:17:36

1:17:36

India imposes stringent criminal penalties, including life imprisonment in some states, for cow slaughter, based on a Hindu ethic of revering the cow as sacred. And yet India is among the world's leading producers of beef, leather, and milk, industries sustained by the mass slaughter of bovines. What is behind this seeming contradiction? What do bo…

1
Joshua Paul Dale, "Irresistible: How Cuteness Wired our Brains and Conquered the World" (Profile Books, 2023) 33:09

7M ago33:09

33:09

Why are some things cute, and others not? What happens to our brains when we see something cute? And how did cuteness go global, from Hello Kitty to Disney characters? Cuteness is an area where culture and biology get tangled up. Seeing a cute animal triggers some of the most powerful psychological instincts we have - the ones that elicit our care …

1
Carterets, Millers, and Massacres (The Marrow of Tradition, Part 1) 29:36

7M ago29:36

29:36

In Part 1 of our discussion on The Marrow of Tradition, we welcome editor Autumn Womack to discuss Charles W. Chestnut's biography, his ambitions in writing the novel, the historical realities depicted in it, and some of its major characters. Autumn Womack is an Assistant Professor in the departments of African American Studies and English at Princ…

1
Marcia Stephenson, "Llamas beyond the Andes: Untold Histories of Camelids in the Modern World" (U Texas Press, 2023) 56:36

8M ago56:36

56:36

Camelids are vital to the cultures and economies of the Andes. The animals have also been at the heart of ecological and social catastrophe: Europeans overhunted wild vicuña and guanaco and imposed husbandry and breeding practices that decimated llama and alpaca flocks that had been successfully tended by Indigenous peoples for generations. Yet the…

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