Best Abraham Shapiro Podcasts (2024)

1
627 Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" (with Mark Cirino) 1:05:16

1d ago1:05:16

1:05:16

It's one of the most famous and admired short stories that Ernest Hemingway ever wrote - and also one of the most controversial. In this episode, Hemingway expert Mark Cirino (host of the One True Podcast) joins Jacke for a discussion of "Hills Like White Elephants," in which a terse exchange between two lovers in a remote Spanish train station rev…

1
626 Mike Recommends... Roland Barthes! | Storytelling for Fun and Profit with Matt Abrahams 1:04:09

11d ago1:04:09

1:04:09

As fans of literature, we all know how powerful and effective storytelling can be. But can we harness that power to help us communicate in our daily lives? In this episode, Jacke talks to Matt Abrahams (Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You're Put on the Spot) about the lessons we can learn from literature - and how we can …

1
625 Louisa May Alcott - The Essays (with Liz Rosenberg) 1:06:38

8d ago1:06:38

1:06:38

Since the publication of Little Women in 1868, millions of readers have gotten to know (and love) Louisa May Alcott through her fiction. But in her own day, Alcott was well known as an essayist who wrote on a wide range of subjects, including her father's failed utopian commune and her experience as a Civil War army nurse. In this episode, Jacke ta…

1
624 Top 10 Great Performances (with Laurie Frankel) | My Last Book with James Shapiro 1:07:12

21d ago1:07:12

1:07:12

Theater is by nature ephemeral: even the greatest of performances are fleeting, thrilling a single audience before disappearing into history. But what if you could travel through time and space to be present at any production? Where would you go, and what would you see? In this episode, friend of the podcast Laurie Frankel (Family, Family) helps Ja…

1
623 Unpacking a Japanese Masterpiece - The Hakkenden, or Eight Dogs (with Glynne Walley) | Literature and the Olympics 1:03:04

25d ago1:03:04

1:03:04

The Hakkenden, or Eight Dogs is one of the classics of Japanese literature. In this episode, Jacke talks to translator Glynne Walley about this massive - and massively popular and influential - nineteenth-century novel about eight warriors who band together to defend a princess's clan. PLUS Jacke takes a look at the years when the Olympics awarded …

1
622 Lesbians in the Archives (with Amelia Possanza) 1:10:30

23d ago1:10:30

1:10:30

Lesbians have been around for thousands of years (at least!), but their voices have often fallen victim to censorship, oppression, and ostracization. In this episode, Jacke talks to author Amelia Possanza, whose new book Lesbian Love Story: A Memoir in Archives describes Possanza's research into seven love stories for the ages. What can these lesbi…

1
621 War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy 1:30:41

1M ago1:30:41

1:30:41

For Virginia Woolf, Leo Tolstoy was "the greatest of all novelists," and her argument was simple: "[W]hat else can we call the author of War and Peace?" In this episode, Jacke takes a look at Tolstoy's original plans for the novel; the unusual nature of the book, which Henry James called a "loose, baggy monster"; the contributions of Tolstoy's wife…

1
620 Necromantics (with Renee Fox) | Herman Hesse on What We Learn from Trees 1:04:34

1M ago1:04:34

1:04:34

What was the deal with the Victorians and their obsession with reanimating corpses? How did writers like Mary Shelley, Robert Browning, Charles Dickens, W.B. Yeats, Bram Stoker, and others breathe life into the undead - and why did they do it? We can attribute their efforts to the present's desire to remake the past in its own image - but what does…

1
619 Fred Waitzkin on Kerouac, Hemingway, and His New Novel | My Last Book with Michael Blanding 56:12

1M ago56:12

56:12

Novelist Fred Waitzkin (Searching for Bobby Fischer) stops by to discuss Jack Kerouac, Ernest Hemingway, and his new novel Anything Is Good, which tells the story of a childhood friend who was a genius - and who ended up living among the unhoused for years. PLUS Michael Blanding (In Shakespeare's Shadow: A Rogue Scholar's Quest to Reveal the True S…

1
618 A Year of Women's Diaries (with Sarah Gristwood) | Sharon Olds | My Last Book with Suzanne Scanlon 52:26

2M ago52:26

52:26

Women haven't always been given an equal chance to contribute to literature - but they were writing nevertheless, sometimes just for themselves. In this episode, Jacke talks to Sarah Gristwood (Secret Voices: A Year of Women's Diaries) about her new collection of extracts from four centuries of women's diaries. PLUS Jacke shares a poem by Sharon Ol…

1
617 Politics and Grace in Early Modern Literature (with Deni Kasa) | Mike Recommends... James Baldwin! | My Last Book with Carlos Allende 1:12:07

2M ago1:12:07

1:12:07

Early modern poets - John Milton, Edmund Spenser, Aemilia Lanyer, Abraham Cowley - lived in a world where theological questions were as hotly contested as political struggles over issues like empire, gender, civil war, and poetic authority. In this episode, Jacke talks to Deni Kasa (The Politics of Grace in Early Modern Literature) about the ways p…

1
616 Madwomen and Literature (with Suzanne Scanlon) | Sylvia Plath | My Last Book with Adhar Noor Desai 1:11:59

2M ago1:11:59

1:11:59

The relationship between literature and "madwomen" has deep roots. In this episode, Jacke talks to author Suzanne Scanlon (Committed: On Meaning and Madwomen) about her efforts to reclaim the idea of the madwoman as a template for insight and transcendence. PLUS Jacke talks to Adhar Noor Desai (Blotted Lines: Early Modern English Literature and the…

1
615 Nicholson Baker | My Last Book with Vera Kutizinski and Anthony Reed 1:19:59

2M ago1:19:59

1:19:59

What a treat! First, Jacke talks to Nicholson Baker, an author he's been reading for the past three decades, about Finding a Likeness: How I Got Somewhat Better at Art, Baker's deeply personal account of his journey learning how to paint for the first time, and a meditation on the power of art in times of crisis. Then Vera Kutizinski and Anthony Re…

1
614 Family Matters (with Bill Eville) | Fatherhood in Three Poems | Storytime with Jacke 1:23:41

2M ago1:23:41

1:23:41

Families can provide wonderful material for a writer, but they can also be tricky to navigate. How do you make your stories of home interesting to other people? What's too personal? What's not personal enough? In this episode, Jacke talks to author Bill Eville (Washed Ashore: Family, Fatherhood, and Finding Home on Martha's Vineyard) about his pers…

1
613 Celebrating the Book-Makers (with Adam Smyth) | My Last Book with Christopher de Hamel 1:01:57

2M ago1:01:57

1:01:57

Books are beloved objects, earning lots of praise as amazing pieces of technology and essential contributors to a civilized society. And yet, we often take these cultural miracles for granted. Who's been making these things for the last several centuries? How have they influenced what we've been reading? In this episode, Jacke talks to author Adam …

1
612 Finding Margaret Fuller (with Allison Pataki) | My Last Book with James Marcus 57:16

3M ago57:16

57:16

Fearless and fiercely intelligent, the nineteenth-century American feminist Margaret Fuller was "the radiant genius and fiery heart" of the Transcendentalists, the group of New Englanders who helped launch a fledgling nation onto the world's cultural and literary stage. In this episode, bestselling historical novelist Allison Pataki, author of the …

1
611 John Buchan (with Ursula Buchan) | My Last Book with Marsha Gordon | A Hemingway Letter 1:06:47

3M ago1:06:47

1:06:47

Scottish writer John Buchan is perhaps best known for his pioneering thriller The Thirty-Nine Steps, the source material for one of Alfred Hitchcock's first great films. But as his biographer (and granddaughter) Ursula Buchan tells Jacke, Buchan was far from a one-hit wonder. John Buchan wrote more than a hundred books of fiction and non-fiction an…

1
610 How to Become Famous (with Cass Sunstein) | My Last Book with James MacManus 1:15:41

3M ago1:15:41

1:15:41

Why do we read John Keats and not one of his well-regarded peers? Why do some authors disappear into the sands of time - while others, virtually unknown in their day, become posthumous household names? In this episode, Jacke talks to Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein (How to Become Famous: Lost Einsteins, Forgotten Superstars, and How the Beatles…

1
609 Swimming in Paris (with Colombe Schneck) | My Last Book with Pardis Dabashi 1:16:37

3M ago1:16:37

1:16:37

Dear listeners: What kind of life are you living? What's your relationship between your body, mind, and soul? And what can you learn about your deepest self as you get older? In this episode, Jacke talks to award-winning French novelist Colombe Schneck about her new book, Swimming in Paris: A Life in Three Stories, in which she dives into her past …

1
608 The Encyclopedia of the Dog (with Jose Vergara) | My Last Book with Gareth Russell 56:46

3M ago56:46

56:46

First published in 1980, Between Dog and Wolf by Sasha Sokolov is one of the most acclaimed Russian novels of the twentieth century. But the book, with its dazzling wordplay, shifting-sand narration, and other literary pyrotechnics, has been tough for English-speaking audiences to appreciate. In this episode, Jacke talks to Jose Vergara about his n…

1
607 Upton Sinclair and the Muckraking Novelist (with Adelle Waldman) | My Last Book with Edward Chamberlin 1:02:25

3M ago1:02:25

1:02:25

Can novelists make a difference in the world? Of course we know they can - we've seen plenty of examples. But how does it happen? And what are the challenges a twenty-first century novelist might face when hoping to bring about social change? In this episode, Jacke looks at the example of Upton Sinclair, whose famous novel The Jungle shone a spotli…

1
606 Love, Loss, and Literature (with Sophie Ratcliffe) 59:16

3M ago59:16

59:16

Why do we fall in love? Why do we fall out of love? And how can literature shape the way we travel these emotional and romantic landscapes? In this episode, Jacke talks to University of Oxford professor Sophie Ratcliffe about her work of creative criticism, Loss, A Love Story: Imagined Histories and Brief Encounters. Help support the show at patreo…

1
605 Tove Jansson, Creator of the Moomins (with Boel Westin) 47:51

4M ago47:51

47:51

She's been called Scandinavia's best loved author - but "author" only begins to describe Tove Jansson's genius. Famous worldwide as the creator of the Moomin stories, she balanced her talents as a painter, cartoonist, illustrator, and writer with an unusual lifestyle and an insistence on personal freedom. In this episode, Jacke talks to biographer …

1
604 How Russian Literature Became Great (with Rolf Hellebust) | My Last Book with Valeria Sobol 1:04:18

4M ago1:04:18

1:04:18

Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov... the familiar Russian names are at the pinnacle of world literature. How did this happen? Was it merely a happy accident? Did events conspire to bring it about? In this episode, Jacke talks to Rolf Hellebust, author of How Russian Literature Became Great, about a golden age of historiography and nation-building - and …

1
603 Rethinking Ralph Waldo Emerson (with James Marcus) 1:12:33

4M ago1:12:33

1:12:33

Born more than two centuries ago, Ralph Waldo Emerson has long been recognized as a giant of nineteenth-century American letters. But what can he offer readers today? In this episode, Jacke talks to author James Marcus, author of the new book Glad to the Brink of Fear: A Portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson, which reconsiders Emerson's reputation as a "…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Abraham Shapiro Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

1
The History of Literature

Jacke Wilson / The Podglomerate

1
627 Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" (with Mark Cirino) 1:05:16

1
626 Mike Recommends... Roland Barthes! | Storytelling for Fun and Profit with Matt Abrahams 1:04:09

1
625 Louisa May Alcott - The Essays (with Liz Rosenberg) 1:06:38

1
624 Top 10 Great Performances (with Laurie Frankel) | My Last Book with James Shapiro 1:07:12

1
623 Unpacking a Japanese Masterpiece - The Hakkenden, or Eight Dogs (with Glynne Walley) | Literature and the Olympics 1:03:04

1
622 Lesbians in the Archives (with Amelia Possanza) 1:10:30

1
621 War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy 1:30:41

1
620 Necromantics (with Renee Fox) | Herman Hesse on What We Learn from Trees 1:04:34

1
619 Fred Waitzkin on Kerouac, Hemingway, and His New Novel | My Last Book with Michael Blanding 56:12

1
618 A Year of Women's Diaries (with Sarah Gristwood) | Sharon Olds | My Last Book with Suzanne Scanlon 52:26

1
617 Politics and Grace in Early Modern Literature (with Deni Kasa) | Mike Recommends... James Baldwin! | My Last Book with Carlos Allende 1:12:07

1
616 Madwomen and Literature (with Suzanne Scanlon) | Sylvia Plath | My Last Book with Adhar Noor Desai 1:11:59

1
615 Nicholson Baker | My Last Book with Vera Kutizinski and Anthony Reed 1:19:59

1
614 Family Matters (with Bill Eville) | Fatherhood in Three Poems | Storytime with Jacke 1:23:41

1
613 Celebrating the Book-Makers (with Adam Smyth) | My Last Book with Christopher de Hamel 1:01:57

1
612 Finding Margaret Fuller (with Allison Pataki) | My Last Book with James Marcus 57:16

1
611 John Buchan (with Ursula Buchan) | My Last Book with Marsha Gordon | A Hemingway Letter 1:06:47

1
610 How to Become Famous (with Cass Sunstein) | My Last Book with James MacManus 1:15:41

1
609 Swimming in Paris (with Colombe Schneck) | My Last Book with Pardis Dabashi 1:16:37

1
608 The Encyclopedia of the Dog (with Jose Vergara) | My Last Book with Gareth Russell 56:46

1
607 Upton Sinclair and the Muckraking Novelist (with Adelle Waldman) | My Last Book with Edward Chamberlin 1:02:25

1
606 Love, Loss, and Literature (with Sophie Ratcliffe) 59:16

1
605 Tove Jansson, Creator of the Moomins (with Boel Westin) 47:51

1
604 How Russian Literature Became Great (with Rolf Hellebust) | My Last Book with Valeria Sobol 1:04:18

1
603 Rethinking Ralph Waldo Emerson (with James Marcus) 1:12:33

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