Best Criminal Adaptations Podcasts (2025)

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To Die For 1:58:17

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1h ago1:58:17

1:58:17

In this episode, we peel back the layers of Gus Van Sant’s darkly satirical To Die For (1995) and the true story that inspired it: The 1990 murder of Greg Smart, orchestrated by his wife, Pamela Smart. Nicole Kidman’s icy portrayal of Suzanne Stone – an ambitious small-town woman willing to kill for fame – captivated audiences, but how closely does…

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Breanne Pleggenkuhle and Joseph A. Schafer, "Crime, Corrections, and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Responses and Adaptations in the US Criminal Justice System" (Southern Illinois UP, 2025) 24:20

16d ago24:20

24:20

While COVID-19 lockdowns affected nearly everyone worldwide, feelings of anxiety and fear were exacerbated for those already entangled in the criminal justice system. Scholars recognized the unique opportunity to study crime and the justice system’s response during this period, though they soon realized that determining the pandemic’s effects would…

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Diamonds_Stolen_from_Kingston 27:20

1h ago27:20

27:20

Diamonds_Stolen_from_Kingston

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Professor_Beasley_Is_Murdered 29:02

2h ago29:02

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Professor_Beasley_Is_Murdered

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Karen Robert, "Driving Terror: Labor, Violence, and Justice in Cold War Argentina" (U New Mexico Press, 2025) 1:04:55

3h ago1:04:55

1:04:55

Driving Terror: Labor, Violence, and Justice in Cold War Argentina (U New Mexico Press, 2025) by Dr. Karen Robert tells the story of twenty-four Ford autoworkers in Argentina who were tortured and “disappeared” for their union activism in 1976, miraculously survived, and pursued a decades-long quest for truth and justice. In December 2018, more tha…

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Masaya Llavaneras Blanco and Damien P. Gock eds., "Pandemic Policies and Resistance: Southern Feminist Critiques in Times of Covid-19" (Bloomsbury, 2025) 43:31

4d ago43:31

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Offering Southern feminist assessments of detailed case studies from 12 countries, this open access book Pandemic Policies and Resistance: Southern Feminist Critiques in Times of Covid-19 (Bloomsbury, 2025) provides crucial insights into the gendered repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on macroeconomics, labour, migration and human mobilities, a…

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Susan Erikson, "Investable! When Pandemic Risk Meets Speculative Finance" (MIT Press, 2025) 35:03

14h ago35:03

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Investable! When Pandemic Risk Meets Speculative Finance (MIT Press, 2025) by Dr. Susan Erikson presents a critical and sobering look at how international bankers and investors turn pandemics into investment opportunities, and what we stand to lose when we rely on “innovative finance.” In a world increasingly defined by crisis, bankers and investor…

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Harry_Walker_Murdered 28:49

1h ago28:49

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Harry_Walker_Murdered

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Jackie_Meers_Prison_Break 26:27

1h ago26:27

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Jackie_Meers_Prison_Break

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Jack Hartnell, "Wound Man: The Many Lives of a Surgical Image" (Princeton UP, 2025) 1:04:56

7h ago1:04:56

1:04:56

The Wound Man—a medical diagram depicting a figure fantastically pierced by weapons and ravaged by injuries and diseases—was reproduced widely across the medieval and early modern globe. In Wound Man: The Many Lives of a Surgical Image (Princeton University Press, 2025), Dr. Jack Hartnell charts the emergence and endurance of this striking image, u…

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About Time: But Really About Dads (with Jordan Morris) 1:33:15

44m ago1:33:15

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CATEGORY: LOVEY DOVEY TIMEY WIMEY Our final movie in the collection of time travel rom-coms is the 2013 gentle charmer, About Time, starring Domhnall Gleeson and Rachel McAdams. And for this sweet but meandering movie, we're joined by writer and podcaster Jordan Morris (Jordan, Jesse, Go!, Free With Ads, Bubble, Youth Group) who brings up PG-13 Sex…

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Episode 49 - Criminal Background Checks 34:36

4d ago34:36

34:36

Send us a text This week we’re focusing on a topic that’s essential for the safety and well-being of our youngest learners, criminal background checks. Whether you are a parent, provider, or educator, understanding how DECAL conducts these checks is crucial to ensuring that our early care environments remain safe and trustworthy. Joining us to talk…

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Meet Cutie Bonus Episode: Palm Springs 15:45

1d ago15:45

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SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE BONUS EPISODE Listen to the beginning of an exclusive bonus episode for our Podstruck Patreon subscribers AKA our Meet Cuties covering the 2020 time loop rom-com, Palm Springs. Chelsea and Elena discuss how this Hulu movie builds on Groundhog Day and yet finds ways to make the time loop feel completely fresh. It's a movie jam-p…

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Katherine Eva Maich, "Bringing Law Home: Gender, Race, and Household Labor Rights" (Stanford UP, 2025) 48:40

9d ago48:40

48:40

The personal nature of domestic labor, and its location in the privacy of the employer's home, means that domestic workers have long struggled for equitable and consistent labor rights. The dominant discourse regards the home as separate from work, so envisioning what its legal regulation would look like is remarkably challenging. In Bringing Law H…

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Groundhog Day: The Devil Sells Insurance 1:33:57

1h ago1:33:57

1:33:57

CATEGORY: LOVEY DOVEY TIMEY WIMEY The time travel rom-coms venture into time loops this week with the groundbreaking philosophical masterpiece, Groundhog Day, a movie that destroyed the friendship of Bill Murray and Harold Ramis but made America fall in love. Chelsea and Elena talk about the days they wish they could repeat forever, whether Ned Rye…

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Andrea Louise Campbell, "Taxation and Resentment: Race, Party, and Class in American Tax Attitudes" (Princeton UP, 2025) 57:32

13d ago57:32

57:32

Why Americans favor progressive taxation in principle but not in practice Most Americans support progressive taxation in principle, and want the rich to pay more. But the specific tax policies that most favor are more regressive than progressive. What is behind such a disconnect? In Taxation and Resentment: Race, Party, and Class in American Tax At…

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Episode 48 - Quality Rated Family Support Call Center 27:00

4h ago27:00

27:00

Send us a text This week we’re talking about a significant development that promises to enhance support for families in our community. DECAL has created the Quality Rated Family Support Call Center that can be reached through the popular 877-ALL-GA KIDS phone number the agency created many years ago. Joining us to talk about the new Quality Rated F…

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Breanne Pleggenkuhle and Joseph A. Schafer, "Crime, Corrections, and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Responses and Adaptations in the US Criminal Justice System" (Southern Illinois UP, 2025) 24:20

16d ago24:20

24:20

While COVID-19 lockdowns affected nearly everyone worldwide, feelings of anxiety and fear were exacerbated for those already entangled in the criminal justice system. Scholars recognized the unique opportunity to study crime and the justice system’s response during this period, though they soon realized that determining the pandemic’s effects would…

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May Friedman, "Fat Studies: The Basics" (Routledge, 2025) 23:15

22h ago23:15

23:15

Fat Studies: The Basics (Routledge, 2025) introduces the reading of fat bodies and the ways that Fat Studies, as a field, has responded to waves of ideas about fat people, their lives, and choices. Part civil rights discourse and part academic discipline, Fat Studies is a dynamic project that involves contradiction and discussion. In order to under…

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Breanne Pleggenkuhle and Joseph A. Schafer, "Crime, Corrections, and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Responses and Adaptations in the US Criminal Justice System" (Southern Illinois UP, 2025) 24:20

16d ago24:20

24:20

While COVID-19 lockdowns affected nearly everyone worldwide, feelings of anxiety and fear were exacerbated for those already entangled in the criminal justice system. Scholars recognized the unique opportunity to study crime and the justice system’s response during this period, though they soon realized that determining the pandemic’s effects would…

1
Breanne Pleggenkuhle and Joseph A. Schafer, "Crime, Corrections, and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Responses and Adaptations in the US Criminal Justice System" (Southern Illinois UP, 2025) 24:20

5d ago24:20

24:20

While COVID-19 lockdowns affected nearly everyone worldwide, feelings of anxiety and fear were exacerbated for those already entangled in the criminal justice system. Scholars recognized the unique opportunity to study crime and the justice system’s response during this period, though they soon realized that determining the pandemic’s effects would…

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Ruth E. Toulson, "Necropolitics of the Ordinary: Death and Grieving in Contemporary Singapore" (U Washington Press, 2024) 58:30

17d ago58:30

58:30

Can a state make its people forget the dead? Cemeteries have become sites of acute political contestation in the city-state of Singapore. Confronted with high population density and rapid economic growth, the government has ordered the destruction of all but one burial ground, forcing people to exhume their family members. In Necropolitics of the O…

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David J. Lynch, "The World's Worst Bet: How the Globalization Gamble Went Wrong (And What Would Make It Right)" (PublicAffairs, 2025) 58:59

19d ago58:59

58:59

The triumphant globalization that began in the 1990s has given way to a world riven by conflict, populism, and economic nationalism. In The World's Worst Bet: How the Globalization Gamble Went Wrong (And What Would Make It Right), (PublicAffairs, 2025) David J. Lynch offers a trenchant, fast-paced narrative of the rise and fall of the greatest engi…

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Dan Roche, "Eyes by Hand: Prosthetics of Art and Healing" (MIT Press, 2025) 1:05:02

16d ago1:05:02

1:05:02

Eyes by Hand: Prosthetics of Art and Healing (MIT Press, 2025) is a book about artificial eyes—about the artisans and artists who make them, and about the life-changing and sometimes life-saving experience of wearing them, as author Dan Roche has done for 15 years. Eye making is done by hand, for one person at a time, by a very small number of ocul…

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Santiago Zabala, "Signs from the Future: Philosophy of Warnings" (Columbia UP, 2025) 53:45

5d ago53:45

53:45

Returning to NBN is the philosopher Santiago Zabala, here to introduce his new book Signs from the Future: A Philosophy of Warnings (Columbia University Press, 2025). Warnings, for Zabala, are not synonymous with predictions. They are instead as much about the present as the future. They point towards already present crisis and contradictions. They…

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EP 43: Shelf Life #6 (with Iona Bain & Michael Gilmore) 53:47

6d ago53:47

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Personal finance is the theme of this episode as we hear from two friends of the Library of Mistakes deeply committed to making financial understanding more accessible – particularly to younger people. Iona Bain has made her name as a supporter of millennials striving to make the most of their finances, and is the resident money expert on BBC One's…

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Kate & Leopold: Meg Ryan Meets The Matrix (with Demi Adejuyigbe) 1:23:48

6d ago1:23:48

1:23:48

CATEGORY: LOVEY DOVEY TIMEY WIMEY To kick off our new collection of time travel rom-coms, we're joined by comedian Demi Adejuyigbe (The Good Place, The Late Late Show with James Corden, Gilmore Guys) to cover our third Meg Ryan movie - 'Kate & Leopold.' We rewatch this underrated movie about a Duke in the 1870s (Hugh Jackman) falling through a port…

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Helen C. Epstein, "Why Live: An Anatomy of Suicide Epidemics" (Columbia Global Reports, 2025) 31:34

21d ago31:34

31:34

What causes suicide epidemics—and how can we prevent them? Many suicides are caused by biological mental illness, but sometimes the suicide rate of a particular group jumps—two-, three-, or even ten-fold—in a short time, behaving like an epidemic. Suicide epidemics unfold more slowly than microbial plagues like flu or malaria, but they happen far t…

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Helen C. Epstein, "Why Live: An Anatomy of Suicide Epidemics" (Columbia Global Reports, 2025) 31:34

21d ago31:34

31:34

What causes suicide epidemics—and how can we prevent them? Many suicides are caused by biological mental illness, but sometimes the suicide rate of a particular group jumps—two-, three-, or even ten-fold—in a short time, behaving like an epidemic. Suicide epidemics unfold more slowly than microbial plagues like flu or malaria, but they happen far t…

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Episode 47 - Georgia's 2Gen Academy 51:35

9d ago51:35

51:35

Send us a text The third cohort of the Georgia 2Gen Academy celebrated its graduation in early June marking a significant milestone in the state’s commitment to fostering holistic support for children and families. Joining us to talk about their experience with Georgia’s 2Gen Academy are Quandra Obi, Special Assistant to Commissioner Jacobs and Boa…

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Matthew D. C. Larsen and Mark Letteney, "Ancient Mediterranean Incarceration" (U California Press, 2025) 1:20:39

8d ago1:20:39

1:20:39

Ancient Mediterranean Incarceration (open access) examines spaces, practices, and ideologies of incarceration in the ancient Mediterranean basin from 300 BCE to 600 CE. Analyzing a wide range of sources—including legal texts, archaeological findings, documentary evidence, and visual materials—Matthew D. C. Larsen and Mark Letteney argue that prison…

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David Edmonds, "Death in a Shallow Pond: A Philosopher, a Drowning Child, and Strangers in Need" (Princeton UP, 2025) 55:30

23d ago55:30

55:30

Imagine this: You’re walking past a shallow pond and spot a toddler thrashing around in the water, in obvious danger of drowning. You look around for her parents, but nobody is there. You’re the only person who can save her and you must act immediately. But as you approach the pond you remember that you’re wearing your most expensive shoes. Wading …

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Catch Me If You Can 2:23:46

8d ago2:23:46

2:23:46

In our season five premiere, we put Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can (2002) under the microscope and compare it to the real-life story of Frank Abagnale Jr., the infamous con man whose wild exploits inspired the film. How much of Leonardo DiCaprio’s slick, globe-trotting portrayal matches reality, and how much is pure Hollywood invention? We …

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Dan Davies, "The Unaccountability Machine: Why Big Systems Make Terrible Decisions—and How the World Lost Its Mind" (U of Chicago Press, 2025) 52:51

25d ago52:51

52:51

For this episode of Liminal Library, I interviewed Dan Davies about The Unaccountability Machine: Why Big Systems Make Terrible Decisions—and How the World Lost Its Mind (U Chicago Press, 2025). Davies examines how we've systematically engineered responsibility out of our institutions, creating a world where major decisions happen without clear hum…

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Daniel Wortel-London, "The Menace of Prosperity: New York City and the Struggle for Economic Development, 1865–1981" (U of Chicago Press, 2025) 30:20

25d ago30:20

30:20

Many local policymakers make decisions based on a deep-seated belief: what’s good for the rich is good for cities. Convinced that local finances depend on attracting wealthy firms and residents, municipal governments lavish public subsidies on their behalf. Whatever form this strategy takes—tax-exempt apartments, corporate incentives, debt-financed…