Best Kurt Milberger Podcasts (2024)

1
On Publishing with Catherine Cocks and Caitlin Tyler-Richards 57:05

2y ago57:05

57:05

You can find out more about MSU Press at msupress.org and other fine booksellers. Catherine is on Twitter @catherine_msup and Caitlin is @ctredits. You can connect with the press on Facebook and @msupress on Twitter, where you can also find me @kurtmilb. Resources mentioned in the episode include #ASKUP, the UP subject grid, Furnace and Fugue, loca…

1
Bkejwanong Dbaajmowinan / Stories of Where the Waters Divide 36:37

2y ago36:37

36:37

Bkejwanong means “where the waters part,” but the waters of St. Clair River are not a point of separation. The same waters that sustain life on and around Bkejwanong—formerly known as Walpole Island, Ontario—flow down into Chippewas of the Thames, the community to which author Monty McGahey II belongs. While there are no living fluent speakers of A…

1
Confessions of a Presidential Speech Writer 56:41

2y ago56:41

56:41

An avid high school debater and enthusiastic student body president, Craig Smith seemed destined for a life in public service from an early age. As a sought-after speechwriter, Smith had a front-row seat at some of the most important events of the twentieth century, meeting with Robert Kennedy and Richard Nixon, advising Governor Ronald Reagan, wri…

1
Salsa Consciente: Politics, Poetics, and Latinidad in the Meta-Barrio 44:16

2y ago44:16

44:16

Andrés Espinoza Agurrrrto’s new book, Salsa Consciente: Politics, Poetics, and Latinidad in the Meta-Barrio, explores the Salsa consciente movement, a Latino movement of music, poetry, and political discourse that exploded in the 1970s. Largely linked to the development of Nuyo latino popular music, Salsa consciente was brought about, in part, by t…

1
Nearly Nuclear: A Mismanaged Energy Transition 45:43

2y ago45:43

45:43

When Consumers Power’s plan to build a nuclear power plant in Midland, Michigan, was announced in 1967, it promised to free Michigan residents from expensive, dirty, coal-fired electricity and to keep Dow Chemical operating in the state. But before the plan could be completed, the facility was called an engineering nightmare, a financial disaster, …

1
Turntables and Tropes: A Rhetoric of Remix 40:06

2y ago40:06

40:06

Remixing is essential to contemporary culture. We see it in song mashups, political remix videos, memes, and even on streaming television shows like Stranger Things. But remixing isn’t an exclusively digital practice, nor is it even a new one. Evidence of remixing even appears in the speeches of classical Greek and Roman orators. Turntables and Tro…

1
Louise Erdrich's Justice Trilogy: Cultural and Critical Contexts 52:20

2y ago52:20

52:20

Louise Erdrich is one of the most important, prolific, and widely read contemporary Indigenous writers. In Louise Erdrich’s Justice Trilogy: Cultural and Critical Contexts, edited by my guests Connie A. Jacobs and Nancy J. Peterson, leading scholars analyze three critically acclaimed recent novels—The Plague of Doves (2008), The Round House (2012),…

1
Late Self-Portraits 38:15

2y ago38:15

38:15

A compelling collection of poems, Late Self-Portraits conveys an intimate description of lives through a collage of portraits and affliction. Weaving history and the sacred, both intimate and worldly, one encounters a blind Jorge Luis Borges with his mother, a glass confessional in the Notre Dame Cathedral, Frida Kahlo in Mexico, ghosts, a neurosur…

1
We Kept Our Towns Going: The Gossard Girls in Michigan's Upper Peninsula 45:28

2y ago45:28

45:28

Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is known for its natural beauty and severe winters, as well as the mines and forests where men labored to feed industrial factories elsewhere in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. But there were factories in the Upper Peninsula, too, and women who worked in them. In We Kept Our Towns Going, Phyllis Michael Wong tells…

1
Under a Bad Sun: Police, Politics, and Corruption in Australia 47:25

2y ago47:25

47:25

In Under a Bad Sun: Police, Politics, and Corruption in Australia my guest Paul Bleakley asks, Why do police officers turn against the people they are hired to protect? A question that remains urgent in the wake of recent global protests against police brutality. As a historical criminologist, Bleakley addresses this question by examining an inters…

1
The Call: Eloquence in Service of Truth 48:52

2y ago48:52

48:52

In The Call: Eloquence in Service of Truth, my guests Craig R. Smith and Michael J. Hyde offer a rare examination of a rhetorical phenomenon referred to as “the call,” which is closely linked to eloquence. They explore this linkage by examining various components of eloquence, including examples of its misuse by George W. Bush and Donald J. Trump. …

1
Coffin Honey 46:19

2y ago46:19

46:19

As I said in the intro, this will be the fifth season of the MSU Press podcast, and I’m excited to share new interviews with MSU Press authors on subjects such as remix culture, nuclear energy, and life in a small town in Michigan’s upper peninsula. We’ll also have native American stories, Australian politics, eloquence in public speech, and plenty…

1
Innovations in Collaborative Modeling 38:27

2+ y ago38:27

38:27

Collaborative applications of a variety of modeling methodologies have multiplied in recent decades due to widespread recognition of the power of models to integrate information from multiple sources, test assumptions about policy and management choices, and forecast the future states of complex systems. However, information about these modeling ef…

1
Encountering the Sovereign Other: Indigenous Science Fiction 43:21

2+ y ago43:21

43:21

Science fiction often operates as either an extended metaphor for human relationships or as a genuine attempt to encounter the alien Other. Both types of stories tend to rehearse the processes of colonialism, in which a sympathetic protagonist encounters and tames the unknown. Despite this logic, Native American writers have claimed the genre as a …

1
Ships & Shipwrecks: Stories from the Great Lakes 43:46

2+ y ago43:46

43:46

From the day that French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle launched the Griffin in 1679 to the 1975 sinking of the celebrated Edmund Fitzgerald, thousands of commercial ships have sailed on the vast and perilous waters of the Great Lakes. In a harbinger of things to come, on the return leg of its first trip in late summer 1679, the Griffin disap…

1
Mid-Michigan Modern: From Frank Lloyd Wright to Googie 46:15

2+ y ago46:15

46:15

From 1940 to 1970, mid‐Michigan created an extensive and varied legacy of modernist architecture. Based on archival research and oral histories, Susan J. Bandes’s Mid-Michigan Modern explores that legacy in both the work of renowned architects, such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Alden B. Dow, and the Keck brothers, and in the buildings of regional archite…

1
Waterfront Porch: Reclaiming Detroit's Industrial Waterfront as a Gathering Place for All 43:23

2+ y ago43:23

43:23

The city of Detroit was the epicenter of the fur trade era, an unparalleled leader of shipbuilding for one hundred years, the Silicon Valley of the industrial age, and an unquestioned leader in the march of democracy. John Hartig’s book Waterfront Porch: Reclaiming Detroit’s Industrial Waterfront as a Gathering Place for All offers a unique history…

1
Spit 44:30

2+ y ago44:30

44:30

In a poem called “How to Be A Poet,” Wendell Berry insists, “There are no unsacred places; / there are only sacred places / and desecrated places.” In many ways an exploration of what makes a place sacred to ourselves and our memories and what might ultimately desecrate a place, Daniel Lassell’s debut collection, Spit, examines the roles we play in…

1
A World of Turmoil: The United State, China, and Taiwan in the Long Cold War 48:10

2+ y ago48:10

48:10

The United States, the People’s Republic of China, and Taiwan have danced on the knife’s edge of war for more than seventy years. A work of sweeping historical vision, A World of Turmoil offers five case studies of critical moments in these relationships: the end of World War II and the start of the Long Cold War; the almost-nuclear war over the Qu…

1
The Accidental Reef and Other Ecological Odysseys in the Great Lakes 41:06

2+ y ago41:06

41:06

In The Accidental Reef and Other Ecological Odysseys in the Great Lakes, Lynne Heasley illuminates an underwater world with a ferocious industrial history. Despite these pressures, the great lakes remain wondrous and worthy of care. From its first scene in a benighted river, where lake sturgeon thrash and spawn, this powerful book takes readers on …

1
Architectural Missionary: D. Fred Charlton in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, 1887-1918 46:24

2+ y ago46:24

46:24

The first and most prolific professional architect to live in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, D. Fred Charlton used Lake Superior sandstone to craft distinctive buildings throughout the UP. Born in England and trained as a civil engineer, Charlton arrived in Detroit in the late 1870s. There he sought work as a draftsman. Like many of his peers, Charlto…

1
Strains of Dissent: Popular Music and Everyday Resistance in WWII France 43:23

3y ago43:23

43:23

During the German Occupation from 1940 to 1944, Resistance fighters, Parisian youth, and French prisoners of war mined a vast repertoire from a long national musical tradition and a burgeoning international entertainment industry, embracing music as a rhetorical resource with which to destabilize Nazi ideology and contest collaborationist Vichy pro…

1
Smuggling Elephants through Airport Security 44:10

3y ago44:10

44:10

Nothing is off-limits in Smuggling Elephants through Airport Security. This ultimately American text positions big ideas in public spaces, often discovering the absurdity and humor in such connections. Johnson makes poetry of the dizzying influences affecting the post-postmodern American, skipping whimsically from the Pixies to Plato’s “Allegory of…

1
The Beautiful Skin: Football, Fantasy, and Cinematic Bodies in Africa 44:50

3y ago44:50

44:50

The Beautiful Skin: Football, Fantasy, and Cinematic Bodies in Africa is an original and provocative study of contemporary African film and literature. In the book, Vlad Dima investigates how football and cinema express individual and collective fantasies. Shedding new light on both well-known and less familiar films, The Beautiful Skin asks just w…

1
Engaging Social Media in China: Platforms, Publics, and Production 51:46

3y ago51:46

51:46

In China today, the party-state increasingly penetrates commercial social media while aspiring to turn its own media agencies into platforms. Introducing the concept of state-sponsored platformization, Engaging Social Media in China, edited by my guest Guobin Yang and Wei WAng, shows the complexity behind the central role the party-state plays in s…

1
Resowing the Seeds of War: Presidential Peace Rhetoric Since 1945 51:19

3y ago51:19

51:19

Ending a war, as Fred Charles Iklé wrote, poses a much greater challenge than beginning one. In addition to issues related to battle tactics, prisoners of war, diplomatic relations, and cease-fire negotiations, ending war involves domestic political calculations as well. Balancing tides of public opinion against policy needs poses a deep and enduri…

1
The Resistance Network: The Armenian Genocide and Humanitarianism in Ottoman Syria 52:44

3y ago52:44

52:44

The Resistance Network is the history of an underground network of humanitarians, missionaries, and diplomats in Ottoman Syria who helped save the lives of thousands during the Armenian Genocide. The book challenges depictions of Armenians as passive victims of violence and subjects of humanitarianism, demonstrating the key role they played in orga…

1
Community Engagement Abroad 39:19

3y ago39:19

39:19

A landmark in our understanding of international community-engaged learning programs, Community Engagement Abroad invites educators to rethink everything from disciplinary assumptions to the role of higher education in a globalizing world. Tapping the many such programs developed at Michigan State University during the last half-century, the volume…

1
Writing That Breaks Stones 43:04

3y ago43:04

43:04

Writing That Breaks Stones: African Child Soldier Narratives is a critical examination of six memoirs and six novels written by and about young adults from Africa who were once child soldiers. It analyzes both how such narratives document human rights violations and how they connect and disconnect from their readers in the global public sphere. It …

1
On Poetry and Nature with Noah Davis and Derek Sheffield 55:02

3y ago55:02

55:02

Selected by Mark Doty for the 2019 Wheelbarrow Books prize, Derek Sheffield’s Not for Luck ushers us into the beauty and grace that comes from giving attention to the interconnections that make up our lives. Through encounters with a herd of deer, a circle of salmon in a mountain creek, and a shiny-eyed wood rat, these poems offer moments of wonder…

1
Desire 31:03

3y ago31:03

31:03

Part of MSU Press’s “Breakthroughs in Mimetic Theory” series, Per Bjørnar Grande’s Desire draws on both modern masterpieces and iconic works of contemporary pop culture to shed new light on the frustrating and repetitive nature of human relations in a world of vanishing taboos. In novels and plays by Gustave Flaubert, Marcel Proust, F. Scott Fitzge…

1
Divided Loyalties: Young Somali Americans and the Lure of Extremism 39:20

3y ago39:20

39:20

In Divided Loyalties: Young Somali Americans and the Lure of Extremism, Joseph Weber examines the cases of the more than fifty Somali Americans, mostly young men from Minnesota, who made their way to Somalia or Syria, attempted to get to those countries, aided people who did, or financially backed terrorist groups there. Throughout the book, Weber …

1
Sovereign Traces 45:12

3+ y ago45:12

45:12

Now into two volumes, the Sovereign Traces series merges works of contemporary North American Indian literature with imaginative illustrations by US and Canadian artists. As comics, the Sovereign Traces volumes provide an extended means for audiences to engage with works of Native Literature, including fiction, poetry, and memoir in a variety of ex…

1
Talking Acquisitions & University Press Publishing 49:59

3+ y ago49:59

49:59

Catherine Cocks is the assistant director and editor in chief of MSU Press you can find her on Twitter @catherine_msup. Caitlin Tyler Richards acquires in African studies, African diaspora, African American studies, Anthropology, and digital humanities. You can find her @ctredits on Twitter. Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communication…

1
Detroit's Hidden Channels: French Indigenous Families in the Eighteenth Century 39:37

3+ y ago39:37

39:37

The hidden channels of Detroit’s French-Indigenous history run backward and forward through time, cutting through and becoming visible in the expanse of the imperial record only to disappear into local story and song. These are seams in Detroit’s history that reveal the contingent and “messy” nature of national borders and local identities. As Soph…

1
Cleveland Architecture, 1890-1930 41:53

3+ y ago41:53

41:53

At the turn of the twentieth century, Cleveland became a model of what could be accomplished by a partnership between the city’s wealthy and the local government to create an architecturally beautiful, livable, industrial city. Inspired by the success of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, with its classically inspired Beaux-Arts buil…

1
African Diasporic Cinema: Aesthetics of Reconstruction 38:42

3+ y ago38:42

38:42

The African diasporic condition in the Western world is characterized by the intersection of various factors. As a result, quests for the self and self-reconstruction are frequent themes in the films of the African diaspora, and yet the filmmakers refuse to remain trapped in the confines of an assigned, rigid identity. Translated from the French by…

1
Hats 44:14

3+ y ago44:14

44:14

As Martin Harper, the Global Conservation Director of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds puts it, Hats: A Very UNnatural History is a remarkable book that documents the impact that our obsession with hats has had on the natural world. It outlines how the global trade in fur and feathers evolved and the damage it caused, and highlights ho…

1
The Medicine Wheel: Environmental Decision-Making Process of Indigenous Peoples 1:08:06

3+ y ago1:08:06

1:08:06

The medicine wheel built by Indigenous people acknowledges that ecosystems experience unpredictable recurring cycles and that people and the environment are interconnected. The Western science knowledge framework is incomplete when localized intergenerational knowledge is not respected and becomes part of the problem-definition and solution process…

1
Re-Membering and Surviving: African American Fiction of the Vietnam War 1:10:20

3+ y ago1:10:20

1:10:20

In the words of Yusef Komunyakaa, Shirley A. James Hanshaw’s Re-Membering and Surviving is a powerful call seeking a response. This superb analytical voice examines literature by four black writers—John A. Williams, Wesley Brown, A. R. Flowers, and George Davis—who are masterful storytellers shaped by the caldron of war. Through her attention to th…

1
The Crisis of School Violence: A New Perspective 36:36

3+ y ago36:36

36:36

The Crisis of School Violence is the only interdisciplinary book about school violence. It presents a broad and in-depth approach to the key questions about why bullying continues at an unprecedentedly high rate and why rampage shootings continue to shock the nation. Based on extensive research, the book investigates human nature and its relation t…

1
The Manufacture of Consent: J. Edgar Hoover and the Rhetorical Rise of the FBI 43:51

3+ y ago43:51

43:51

In his new book, The Manufacture of Consent, Dr. Underhill treats J. Edgar Hoover’s tenure as FBI director as a case study in political power, focusing on the rhetorical nature of that power. He analyzes Hoover’s relationship with the presidency, the press, and the film industry to reveal the ways in which Hoover was able to use prevailing discours…

1
Academic Journal Publishing and the Journal of Gender and Sexuality Studies 57:45

3+ y ago57:45

57:45

Revista de Estudios de Género y Sexualidades is the journal of the Association of Gender and Sexuality Studies. First published in the spring of 1975 at the University of Colorado, Denver, REGS is one of the earliest academic journals devoted to gender-related issues, women authors, and feminist theory in the contexts of Hispanic literatures and cu…

1
The 16th Michigan Infantry in the Civil War 39:02

4y ago39:02

39:02

On the hot summer evening of July 2, 1863, at the climax of the struggle for a Pennsylvania hill called Little Round Top, four Confederate regiments charge up the western slope, attacking the smallest and most exposed of their Union foe: the 16th Michigan Infantry. Terrible fighting has raged, but what happens next will ultimately—and unfairly—stai…

1
Anthropology and Radical Humanism 39:26

4y ago39:26

39:26

Anthropology and Radical Humanism is based on the work of the famed ethnographer of the Winnebago, Paul Radin. During his three-year appointment at Fisk University in the late 1920s, Radin and a graduate student, Andrew Polk Watson, collected autobiographies and religious conversion narratives from elderly African Americans. Their texts represent t…

1
The Eagle Has Eyes 47:52

4y ago47:52

47:52

The Eagle Has Eyes is the first book of its kind to bring transparency to the FBI’s attempts to destroy the incipient Chicano Movement of the 1960s. The role of the US government in suppressing marginalized racial and ethnic minorities began to be documented with the advent of the Freedom of Information Act, and the book utilizes declassified files…

1
Intellectual Populism 49:36

4y ago49:36

49:36

On today’s episode, we’re joined by Paul Stob to discuss his book, Intellectual Populism: Democracy, Inquiry, and the People. In response to denunciations of populism as undemocratic and anti-intellectual, Intellectual Populism argues that populism has contributed to a distinct and democratic intellectual tradition in which ordinary people assume l…

1
Blackhood against the Police Power 55:12

4y ago55:12

55:12

Dr. Tryon Woods is Associate Professor of crime and justice studies at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth where he teaches Black Studies and critical approaches to de-disciplining knowledge. In Blackhood against the Police Power, Dr. Woods “addresses the punishment of ‘race’ and the disavowal of sexual violence central to the contemporary ‘p…

1
(New) Fascism: Contagion, Community, Myth 43:37

4y ago43:37

43:37

In (New) Fascism, Dr. Lawtoo discusses the new forms of fascism haunting our contemporary political scene. He reads this new style of fascism and crowd psychology through the lens of mimetic theory and traces the genealogy of (new) fascism back to the three related mimetic concepts of contagion, community, and myth. These concepts were once central…

1
Toward the Wild Abundance 37:38

4y ago37:38

37:38

Toward the Wild Abundance received the Wheelbarrow Books Prize for Poetry from Center for Poetry at the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities here at MSU in 2018. In her introduction to the volume, the contest’s judge, Sarah Bagby, says the book “conjures emotions initiated by the frailty and wonder of our lives. ... These kaleidoscopic po…

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