Best Osten Podcasts (2024)

1
Sarah Osten, "The Mexican Revolution's Wake: The Making of a Political System, 1920–1929" (Cambridge UP, 2018) 1:08:33

31m ago1:08:33

1:08:33

Throughout the 1920s Mexico was rocked by attempted coups, assassinations, and popular revolts. Yet by the mid-1930s, the country boasted one of the most stable and durable political systems in Latin America. In the first book on party formation conducted at the regional level after the Mexican Revolution, Sarah Osten examines processes of politica…

1
Sheila Curran Bernard, "Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly's Truths from Jim Crow's Lies" (Cambridge UP, 2024) 30:29

2h ago30:29

30:29

Known worldwide as Lead Belly, Huddie Ledbetter (1889-1949) is an American icon whose influence on modern music was tremendous - as was, according to legend, the temper that landed him in two of the South's most brutal prisons, while his immense talent twice won him pardons. But, as Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly's Truths from Jim Crow's…

1
Matt & JD | Jawbreaker 1:03:53

36m ago1:03:53

1:03:53

🐾 Listen to this episode AD-FREE! Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/isthisgood Today in The Great Beyond, Matt, JD & Rachel discuss deepfakes of your friends, doggie AI, driving your kids around town, facial fitness gum, being addicted to chewing, men’s beauty standards over time, ways to dodge Covid, a heated geography quiz, how a cigarett…

1
Travis B. Williams, "History and Memory in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Remembering the Teacher of Righteousness" (Cambridge UP, 2019) 1:20:26

3h ago1:20:26

1:20:26

The nature and reliability of the ancient sources are among the most important issues in the scholarship on the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is noteworthy, therefore, that scholars have grown increasingly skeptical about the value of these materials for reconstructing the life of the Teacher of Righteousness. Travis B. Williams' book History and Memory in …

1
Sarah Osten, "The Mexican Revolution's Wake: The Making of a Political System, 1920–1929" (Cambridge UP, 2018) 1:08:33

5h ago1:08:33

1:08:33

Throughout the 1920s Mexico was rocked by attempted coups, assassinations, and popular revolts. Yet by the mid-1930s, the country boasted one of the most stable and durable political systems in Latin America. In the first book on party formation conducted at the regional level after the Mexican Revolution, Sarah Osten examines processes of politica…

1
Sarah Osten, "The Mexican Revolution's Wake: The Making of a Political System, 1920–1929" (Cambridge UP, 2018) 1:08:33

1h ago1:08:33

1:08:33

Throughout the 1920s Mexico was rocked by attempted coups, assassinations, and popular revolts. Yet by the mid-1930s, the country boasted one of the most stable and durable political systems in Latin America. In the first book on party formation conducted at the regional level after the Mexican Revolution, Sarah Osten examines processes of politica…

1
Muslim Literacies in China 31:41

5h ago31:41

31:41

Tazin Abdullah speaks with Dr Ibrar Bhatt about heritage literacies, particularly as they are practiced by Chinese Muslims. Bhatt is the author of A Semiotics of Muslimness in China (Cambridge UP, 2023). About the book: A Semiotics of Muslimness in China examines the semiotics of Sino-Muslim heritage literacy in a way that integrates its Perso-Arab…

1
A. Ricardo López-Pedreros and Lina Britto, "Histories of Solitude: Colombia, 1820s-1970s" (Routledge, 2024) 54:36

25m ago54:36

54:36

By combining chronological coverage, analytical breadth, and interdisciplinary approaches, these two volumes—Histories of Solitude: Colombia, 1820s-1970s (Routledge, 2024) and Histories of Perplexity: Colombia, 1970s-2010s (Routledge, 2024)—study the histories of Colombia over the last two centuries as illustrations of the histories of democracy ac…

1
Mark Letteney, "The Christianization of Knowledge in Late Antiquity: Intellectual and Material Transformations" (Cambridge UP, 2023) 1:15:09

3h ago1:15:09

1:15:09

The Christianization of Knowledge in Late Antiquity: Intellectual and Material Transformations (Cambridge UP, 2023) traces the beginning of Late Antiquity from a new angle. Shifting the focus away from the Christianization of people or the transformation of institutions, Mark Letteney interrogates the creation of novel and durable structures of kno…

1
Gavriel D. Rosenfeld and Janet Ward, "Fascism in America: Past and Present" (Cambridge UP, 2023) 38:36

3h ago38:36

38:36

Has fascism arrived in America? In Fascism in America: Past and Present (Cambridge UP, 2023), Gavriel D. Rosenfeld and Janet Ward have gathered experts to survey the history of fascism in the United States. Although the US established a staunch anti-fascist reputation by defeating the Axis powers in World War II, the unsettling truth is that fascis…

1
Daniel Ralston | Rockin' The Cash Bar 1:10:03

2h ago1:10:03

1:10:03

🐾 Listen to this episode AD-FREE! Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/isthisgood 🐾 On today’s show, Daniel Ralston (The True Story Of The Fake Zombies) joins Matt & JD to discuss rock’n’roll frauds, good advice from Jason Reitman, buying your own karaoke songs to use at the bar, fighting hair loss, America’s greatest bald men, the ethics of a…

1
Michael J. Douma, "The Slow Death of Slavery in Dutch New York: A Cultural, Economic, and Demographic History, 1700-1827" (Cambridge UP, 2024) 51:29

2h ago51:29

51:29

Original and deeply researched, The Slow Death of Slavery in Dutch New York: A Cultural, Economic, and Demographic History, 1700-1827 (Cambridge University Press, 2024) provides a new interpretation of Dutch American slavery which challenges many of the traditional assumptions about slavery in New York. With an emphasis on demography and economics,…

1
Robert Weis, "For Christ and Country: Militant Catholic Youth in Post-Revolutionary Mexico" (Cambridge UP, 2019) 1:14:49

4h ago1:14:49

1:14:49

Why did José de León Toral kill Álvaro Obregón, leader of the Mexican Revolution? So far, historians have characterized the motivations of the young Catholic militant as the fruit of fanaticism. Robert Weis's book For Christ and Country: Militant Catholic Youth in Post-Revolutionary Mexico (Cambridge UP, 2019) offers new insights on how diverse sec…

1
Robert Weis, "For Christ and Country: Militant Catholic Youth in Post-Revolutionary Mexico" (Cambridge UP, 2019) 1:14:49

35m ago1:14:49

1:14:49

Why did José de León Toral kill Álvaro Obregón, leader of the Mexican Revolution? So far, historians have characterized the motivations of the young Catholic militant as the fruit of fanaticism. Robert Weis's book For Christ and Country: Militant Catholic Youth in Post-Revolutionary Mexico (Cambridge UP, 2019) offers new insights on how diverse sec…

1
Robert Weis, "For Christ and Country: Militant Catholic Youth in Post-Revolutionary Mexico" (Cambridge UP, 2019) 1:14:49

35m ago1:14:49

1:14:49

Why did José de León Toral kill Álvaro Obregón, leader of the Mexican Revolution? So far, historians have characterized the motivations of the young Catholic militant as the fruit of fanaticism. Robert Weis's book For Christ and Country: Militant Catholic Youth in Post-Revolutionary Mexico (Cambridge UP, 2019) offers new insights on how diverse sec…

1
Matt & JD | Is Vegas Good? [Patreon Exclusive] PREVIEW 1:35

13m ago1:35

1:35

🐾 Listen to the FULL episode AD-FREE! Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/isthisgood On today’s Patreon-exclusive episode of The Great Beyond, Matt, JD & Rachel breakdown their fiery Las Vegas weekend including: The difference between traveling alone and traveling with your wife, natural anesthetics, worst fonts on The Strip, yelling at meat,…

1
Mahjabeen Dhala, "Feminist Theology and Social Justice in Islam: A Study on the Sermon of Fatima" (Cambridge UP, 2024) 1:14:48

6d ago1:14:48

1:14:48

Fatima, the daughter of Prophet Muhammad, has an interesting legacy, one that is often shaped by sectarian differences and tensions. The sermon of Fatima, which is the focus of Mahjabeen Dhala's Feminist Theology and Sociology of Islam: A Study of the Sermon of Fatima (Cambridge University Press, 2024), though itself riddled with questions of authe…

1
Yosefa Raz, "The Poetics of Prophecy: Modern Afterlives of a Biblical Tradition" (Cambridge UP, 2023) 1:15:56

4h ago1:15:56

1:15:56

Since the mid-1700s, poets and scholars have been deeply entangled in the project of reinventing prophecy. Moving between literary and biblical studies, Yosefa Raz's book The Poetics of Prophecy: Modern Afterlives of a Biblical Tradition (Cambridge UP, 2023) reveals how Romantic poetry is linked to modern biblical scholarship's development. On the …

1
Rebecca Scharbach Wollenberg, "The Abrahamic Vernacular" (Cambridge UP, 2024) 49:23

4h ago49:23

49:23

Contemporary thought typically places a strong emphasis on the exclusive and competitive nature of Abrahamic monotheisms. This instinct is certainly borne out by the histories of religious wars, theological polemic, and social exclusion involving Jews, Christians, and Muslims. But there is also another side to the Abrahamic coin. Even in the midst …

1
Nina Oyama | Making A Sex Tape 1:11:56

41m ago1:11:56

1:11:56

🐾 Listen to this episode AD-FREE! Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/isthisgood 🐾 On today’s show, Nina Oyama (Deadloch) joins Matt & JD to discuss having a sex tape stolen, doing detective work in a foreign country, the weirdest way to trend on Twitter, elaborate revenge fantasies, going to Nicole Kidman’s school, same sex education, hangin…

1
Mónica A. Jiménez, "Making Never-Never Land: Race and Law in the Creation of Puerto Rico" (UNC Press, 2024) 1:27:14

20m ago1:27:14

1:27:14

Myths about the powers held by the United States are often supported by the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, which derives its logic from the interpretation of a document that the US itself developed. Therefore, when pressure is placed on a specific legal precedent, the shallowness of its validity is revealed. Dr. Mónica A. Jiménez accomplishes t…

1
Locusts of Power: Borders, Empire, and Environment in the Modern Middle East (Cambridge UP, 2023) 46:56

1d ago46:56

46:56

Locusts of Power: Borders, Empire, and Environment in the Modern Middle East (Cambridge UP, 2023) focuses on the intersections of three entities otherwise deemed marginal in historical scholarship: the Jazira region, the borderlands of today’s Iraq, Syria, and Turkey; the mobile peoples within this region, from nomadic pastoralists to deportees and…

1
James D. Fisher, "The Enclosure of Knowledge: Books, Power and Agrarian Capitalism in Britain, 1660–1800" (Cambridge UP, 2022) 56:20

1d ago56:20

56:20

The rise of agrarian capitalism in Britain is usually told as a story about markets, land and wages. The Enclosure of Knowledge: Books, Power and Agrarian Capitalism in Britain, 1660–1800 (Cambridge University Press, 2022) by Dr. James Fisher reveals that it was also about books, knowledge and expertise. It argues that during the early modern perio…

1
Maya Pagni Barak, "The Slow Violence of Immigration Court: Procedural Justice on Trial" (NYU Press, 2023) 49:29

2d ago49:29

49:29

Each year, hundreds of thousands of migrants are moved through immigration court. With a national backlog surpassing one million cases, court hearings take years and most migrants will eventually be ordered deported. The Slow Violence of Immigration Court: Procedural Justice on Trial (NYU Press, 2023) by Dr. Maya Pagni Barak sheds light on the expe…

1
The (ir)Rational Priests: On Ignacio Martín-Baró and Liberation Psychology 52:20

15d ago52:20

52:20

A group of landholding elites waged psychological warfare on the El Salvadoran people, and oppressed them for generations. When a psychologist and Jesuit priest defended the rationality of the people against their oppressors, he paid the ultimate price. This is episode three of Cited’s returning season, The Rationality Wars. This season tells stori…

1
Matt & JD | Show Us Your Pits 1:18:39

2d ago1:18:39

1:18:39

🐾 Listen to this episode AD-FREE! Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/isthisgood 🐾 Today in The Great Beyond, Matt, JD & Rachel discuss recording in a bathroom, building a pool, when you’re too old for sports, using the computer mouse as a fidget spinner, urban archaeology, America has the worst animals, swearing in a professional setting, th…

1
Angela Garcia, "The Way That Leads Among the Lost: Life, Death, and Hope in Mexico City's Anexos" (FSG, 2024) 50:55

4d ago50:55

50:55

Based on over a decade of research, a powerful, moving work of narrative nonfiction that illuminates the little-known world of the anexos of Mexico City, the informal addiction treatment centers where mothers send their children to escape the violence of the drug war. The Way That Leads Among the Lost: Life, Death, and Hope in Mexico City's Anexos …

1
Angela Garcia, "The Way That Leads Among the Lost: Life, Death, and Hope in Mexico City's Anexos" (FSG, 2024) 50:55

4d ago50:55

50:55

Based on over a decade of research, a powerful, moving work of narrative nonfiction that illuminates the little-known world of the anexos of Mexico City, the informal addiction treatment centers where mothers send their children to escape the violence of the drug war. The Way That Leads Among the Lost: Life, Death, and Hope in Mexico City's Anexos …

1
Jurgen Buchenau and Timothy Henderson, "The Mexican Revolution: A Documentary History" (Hackett, 2022) 1:08:14

5d ago1:08:14

1:08:14

In The Mexican Revolution: A Documentary History (Hackett, 2022), "Henderson and Buchenau have done an excellent and thoughtful job of collecting a wide range of voices for students to learn about the Mexican Revolution and its causes, both from ‘above’ and from ‘below’. I’m particularly appreciative of the authors’ inclusion of women’s voices and …

1
Jurgen Buchenau and Timothy Henderson, "The Mexican Revolution: A Documentary History" (Hackett, 2022) 1:08:14

5d ago1:08:14

1:08:14

In The Mexican Revolution: A Documentary History (Hackett, 2022), "Henderson and Buchenau have done an excellent and thoughtful job of collecting a wide range of voices for students to learn about the Mexican Revolution and its causes, both from ‘above’ and from ‘below’. I’m particularly appreciative of the authors’ inclusion of women’s voices and …

1
Andrew S. Jacobs, "Gospel Thrillers: Conspiracy, Fiction, and the Vulnerable Bible" (Cambridge UP, 2023) 1:06:49

5d ago1:06:49

1:06:49

What if the original teachings of Jesus were different from the Bible's sanitized 'orthodox' version? What covert motivations might inspire those who decide what the text of the Bible 'says' or what it 'means'? For some who ask conspiratorial questions like these, the Bible is the vulnerable victim of secular forces seeking to divest the USA of its…

1
Wes Larson | Bear Necessities 1:11:24

5d ago1:11:24

1:11:24

🐾 Listen to this episode AD-FREE! Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/isthisgood 🐾 On today’s wild show, Wes Larson (Tooth & Claw) joins Matt & JD to discuss going viral for tackling a bear, forcing your friends to wrestle dangerous animals, helping critters get away from predators, how to save yourself during a grizzly attack, a surprising t…

1
Elizabeth Aislinn O'Brien, "Surgery and Salvation: The Roots of Reproductive Injustice in Mexico, 1770-1940" (UNC Press, 2023) 53:53

9d ago53:53

53:53

In Surgery & Salvation: The Roots of Reproductive Injustice in Mexico, 1770-1940 (University of North Carolina Press, 2023), Elizabeth O’Brien foregrounds the racial and religious meanings of surgery to draw important connections between historical and contemporary politics regarding fetal and maternal healthcare. She traces practices of caesarean …

1
Elizabeth Aislinn O'Brien, "Surgery and Salvation: The Roots of Reproductive Injustice in Mexico, 1770-1940" (UNC Press, 2023) 53:53

8d ago53:53

53:53

In Surgery & Salvation: The Roots of Reproductive Injustice in Mexico, 1770-1940 (University of North Carolina Press, 2023), Elizabeth O’Brien foregrounds the racial and religious meanings of surgery to draw important connections between historical and contemporary politics regarding fetal and maternal healthcare. She traces practices of caesarean …

1
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle, "In Defense of Solidarity and Pleasure: Feminist Technopolitics from the Global South" (Stanford UP, 2023) 1:03:14

10d ago1:03:14

1:03:14

Including women in the global South as users, producers, consumers, designers, and developers of technology has become a mantra against inequality, prompting movements to train individuals in information and communication technologies and foster the participation and retention of women in science and technology fields. In In Defense of Solidarity a…

1
Matt & JD | The Rotary Club 1:14:33

14d ago1:14:33

1:14:33

🐾 Listen to this episode AD-FREE! Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/isthisgood 🐾 Today in The Great Beyond, Matt, JD & Rachel discuss poorly named colors, why it’s easier to be patriotic outside your own country, being attacked by your own dog, excuses for not having a threesome, roundabouts are more complicated than people think, cold tea,…

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

10d 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
Oneka LaBennett, "Global Guyana: Shaping Race, Gender, and Environment in the Caribbean and Beyond" (NYU Press, 2024) 53:52

11d ago53:52

53:52

Previously ranked among the hemisphere’s poorest countries, Guyana is becoming a global leader in per capita oil production, a shift which promises to profoundly transform the nation. This sea change presents a unique opportunity to dissect both the environmental impacts of modern-world resource extraction and the obscured yet damaging ways in whic…

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

11d 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
Faith Smith, "Strolling in the Ruins: The Caribbean's Non-Sovereign Modern in the Early Twentieth Century" (Duke UP, 2023) 1:04:31

12d ago1:04:31

1:04:31

In Strolling in the Ruins: The Caribbean's Non-Sovereign Modern in the Early Twentieth Century (Duke UP, 2023), Faith Smith engages with a period in the history of the Anglophone Caribbean often overlooked as nondescript, quiet, and embarrassingly pro-imperial within the larger narrative of Jamaican and Trinidadian nationalism. Between the 1865 Mor…

1
Tyler Jackson | The Egg And The Eggshell 1:08:37

12d ago1:08:37

1:08:37

🐾 Listen to this episode AD-FREE! Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/isthisgood 🐾 On today’s show, Tyler Jackson (All The Jokes) joins Matt & JD to discuss being yelled at by music nerds, the weirdest towns in Alaska, the problem with solo road trips, being ashamed of hitting the snooze button, how Japan curbed upskirt photography, why influ…

1
Swapnil Rai, "Networked Bollywood: How Star Power Globalized Hindi Cinema" (Cambridge UP, 2024) 52:38

15d ago52:38

52:38

Swapnil Rai’s book Networked Bollywood: How Star Power Globalized Hindi Cinema (Cambridge UP, 2024) brilliantly navigates the intricate landscapes of stardom, shedding light on its diverse meanings amidst the ever-evolving new media industries and the demands of a globally interconnected audiences. With a keen focus on the global south, she masterf…

1
Matthew Goldmark, "Forms of Relation: Composing Kinship in Colonial Spanish America" (U Virginia Press, 2023) 39:32

16d ago39:32

39:32

Drawing on literary texts, conversion manuals, and colonial correspondence from sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain and Peru, Forms of Relation: Composing Kinship in Colonial Spanish America (University of Virginia, 2023) shows the importance of textual, religious, and bureaucratic ties to struggles over colonial governance and identities. Dr.…

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

16d 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
Matt & JD | Flying Raw 1:14:01

16d ago1:14:01

1:14:01

🐾 Listen to this episode AD-FREE! Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/isthisgood 🐾 Today in The Great Beyond, Matt, JD and Rachel discuss wearing a sleep shirt in public, the NBA season never ends, how to get a head start in Mario Kart, the hardest part of swimming is getting off the block, a megaphone is not a microphone, how to make sure yo…

1
Donald Stoker, "Purpose and Power: US Grand Strategy from the Revolutionary Era to the Present" (Cambridge UP, 2024) 46:54

19d ago46:54

46:54

In our interview, I spoke with Donald Stoker about the changes in American grand strategy over the past 250 years and the major themes from his new book: Purpose and Power: US Grand Strategy from the Revolutionary Era to the Present (Cambridge UP, 2024). Across the full span of the nation’s history, Stoker challenges our understanding of the purpos…

1
Michael McMillian | High Strangeness 1:10:19

19d ago1:10:19

1:10:19

🐾 Listen to this episode AD-FREE! Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/isthisgood 🐾 On today’s show, Michael McMillian (True Blood) introduces Matt & JD to the wild world of high strangeness and breaks down what it’s like to see a ghost, Mulder vs. Scully, dogs that can detect aliens, ouija board trickery, being hunted by rural townsfolk, movi…

1
Paula S. De Vos, "Compound Remedies: Galenic Pharmacy from the Ancient Mediterranean to New Spain" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2020) 1:10:55

21d ago1:10:55

1:10:55

Compound Remedies: Galenic Pharmacy from the Ancient Mediterranean to New Spain (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020) by Dr. Paula S. De Vos examines the equipment, books, and remedies of colonial Mexico City’s Herrera pharmacy—natural substances with known healing powers that formed part of the basis for modern-day healing traditions and home rem…

1
Paula S. De Vos, "Compound Remedies: Galenic Pharmacy from the Ancient Mediterranean to New Spain" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2020) 1:10:55

21d ago1:10:55

1:10:55

Compound Remedies: Galenic Pharmacy from the Ancient Mediterranean to New Spain (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020) by Dr. Paula S. De Vos examines the equipment, books, and remedies of colonial Mexico City’s Herrera pharmacy—natural substances with known healing powers that formed part of the basis for modern-day healing traditions and home rem…

1
Oscar Sanchez-Sibony, "The Soviet Union and the Construction of the Global Market: Energy and the Ascent of Finance in Cold War Europe, 1964–1971" (Cambridge UP, 2023) 53:44

1M ago53:44

53:44

In The Soviet Union and the Construction of the Global Market. Energy and the Ascent of Finance in Cold War Europe, 1964–1971 (Cambridge University Press, 2023), Oscar Sanchez-Sibony reveals the origins of our current era in the dissolution of the institutions that governed the architecture of energy and finance during the Bretton Woods era. He sho…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Osten Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Quick Reference Guide