Best DC Public Library Podcasts (2025)

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Decatur Township Newest Fight Over Data Center, Former Basketball Players Sue IU, IN Group Wants Closer Look At Preemptive Laws, IN Home Energy Rebate Program, NW IN Courts Chicago Bears 6:11

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20m ago6:11

6:11

Decatur Township on the southwest side of Marion County has become the newest fight over a data center in Indiana. Six former men’s basketball players at IU Indianapolis are suing the university, alleging physical and emotional abuse by fired coach Paul Corsaro. Candidates for the 2026 Indiana Secretary of State race are already pooling campaign do…

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From Policy to Progress: What’s Next for School Construction With Alex Donahue 58:01

2h ago58:01

58:01

Recorded live at MACo’s 2025 Winter Conference, this episode features an in-depth, candid conversation with Alex Donahue, Executive Director of the Interagency Commission on School Construction (IAC), on one of the most pressing challenges facing Maryland counties: school construction. Joined by MACo Executive Director Michael Sanderson, Donahue br…

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Erik Lin-Greenberg, "The Remote Revolution: Drones and Modern Statecraft" (Cornell UP, 2025) 25:13

14m ago25:13

25:13

In The Remote Revolution: Drones and Modern Statecraft (Cornell UP, 2025), Erik Lin-Greenberg shows that drones are rewriting the rules of international security, but not in ways one would expect. Emerging technologies like drones are often believed to increase the likelihood of crises and war. By lowering the potential risks and human costs of mil…

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Leila Hudson, "Lines of Flight, Assemblages of Home: Syrian Women Displaced" (Syracuse UP, 2025) 52:13

17h ago52:13

52:13

While humanitarian organizations and media outlets often reduce Syrian refugees to statistics or brief anecdotes, the real story of displacement unfolds in the intimate spaces of family life. Through the interwoven narratives of five middle-aged sisters from Damascus, Lines of Flight, Assemblages of Home reveals how Syrian women navigate war, exile…

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Amy Erdman Farrell, "Intrepid Girls: The Complicated History of the Girl Scouts of the USA" (UNC Press, 2025) 57:52

7h ago57:52

57:52

When eight-year-old Amy Erdman Farrell moved with her family to Akron, Ohio, in 1972, she found herself adrift in a sea of taunting boys and mean girls. Shy by nature, she dreaded her long, unhappy days at school. But a few years later, Farrell found an escape from bullying, the promise of sisterhood, a rising sense of confidence, adventure, and—be…

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ILEA Recommends Major Shakeup For Indy Schools, Woman Seeks Damages From City, Communities Look For Ways To Fill Child Care Funding Gaps, IU Expands Opioid Response 6:40

1d ago6:40

6:40

A state-mandated task force led by Mayor Joe Hogsett has recommended a major shakeup for Indianapolis schools. Lauren Roberts is seeking damages from the City of Indianapolis after she was forcibly removed from a City-County Council meeting earlier this year. Indiana University is expanding its emergency opioid response. After Indiana cut preschool…

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Jeff Roche, "The Conservative Frontier: Texas and the Origins of the New Right" (U Texas Press, 2025) 1:20:52

1h ago1:20:52

1:20:52

American conservatism as we know it today is a West Texas export, argues College of Wooster professor Jeff Roche in The Conservative Frontier: Texas and the Origins of the New Right (U Texas Press, 2025). Tracing the roots of the state's conservative movement back to the giant cattle ranches and tycoons of the nineteenth century, Roche argues that …

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Marion County Sheriff Announces State Senate Bid, ILEA Votes On Governance Plan For Schools, IPS Backs Down From Legal Fight With IN AG, IDOH Launches New Dashboard 5:17

1d ago5:17

5:17

Marion County Sheriff Kerry Forestal will run for the state Senate District 31 seat in central Indiana. The Indianapolis Local Education Alliance votes Wednesday on a plan to reshape how district and charter schools are governed. Indianapolis Public Schools is backing down in a legal fight with the state’s attorney general over immigration. More th…

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Bonus Episode - Katherine Marsh 6:01

1h ago6:01

6:01

Katherine Marsh says her son helped a lot with the creation of "The Door by the Staircase." She also offers some writing tips.By Kitty Felde

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Peter Mancina, "On the Side of ICE: Policing Immigrants in a Sanctuary State" (NYU Press, 2025) 26:29

17m ago26:29

26:29

In the United States, local law enforcement agencies are legally and organizationally independent entities from federal law enforcement agencies like the FBI and ICE. While local police enforce local, state and federal laws, they are not required to enforce civil immigration laws. On the Side of ICE: Policing Immigrants in a Sanctuary State (NYU Pr…

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IMPD Data Report, Increased Cash Assistance For Low-Income Families, Medicaid Open Enrollment Extended, Purdue Adds AI Requirement 4:44

1d ago4:44

4:44

The results of a violent crime initiative in Indianapolis can be seen in this year's data report from the city's police department. Indiana has increased cash assistance for low-income families under recent welfare reforms. Indiana health officials are extending open enrollment for two major Medicaid programs through December 24. Incoming classes t…

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David Nasaw, "The Wounded Generation: Coming Home After World War II" (Penguin, 2025) 55:22

4d ago55:22

55:22

In its duration, geographical reach, and ferocity, World War II was unprecedented, and the effects on those who fought it and their loved ones at home, immeasurable. The heroism of the men and women who won the war may be well documented, but we know too little about the pain and hardships the veterans endured upon their return home. As historian D…

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Mariana Ortega, "Carnalities: The Art of Living in Latinidad" (Duke UP, 2024) 1:16:41

38m ago1:16:41

1:16:41

How can habits of racialization be affected by art, in its reception and its creation? How can a carnal aesthetics help us understand Latinx life? What if we listen to photographs? How might they undo us? Can we be undone? In Carnalities: The Art of Living in Latinidad (Duke UP, 2025), Mariana Ortega focuses on photography using a hermeneutics of l…

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IN Sen. Liz Brown Steps Down From Leadership, Southern IN Lawmakers Divided ON Redistricting Bill, IDOE Announce Funds To Support Students, IU’s Mendoza Wins Heisman Trophy 5:17

1d ago5:17

5:17

The rift among Republican lawmakers deepens as Indiana State Senator Liz Brown steps back from a leadership position. Southern Indiana lawmakers were divided on a bill to redraw U.S. congressional lines. Farmers are having a tough year. Amid tariffs and rising costs, Indiana producers say aid from the Trump Administration could hold them over until…

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Joseph L Graves, "Why Black People Die Sooner: What Medicine Gets Wrong about Race and How to Fix It" (Columbia UP, 2025) 27:59

6d ago27:59

27:59

Why Black People Die Sooner is a powerful and rigorous examination of the ways racism shapes health and disease. Joseph L. Graves Jr. demonstrates that the medical profession still fails to grasp basic facts about race, tracing how deep-rooted falsehoods have perpetuated the disparity between Black and white lifespans. He equips readers with the to…

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Mirya Holman, "The Hidden Face of Local Power: Appointed Boards and the Limits of Democracy" (Temple UP, 2025) 44:08

3d ago44:08

44:08

The Hidden Face of Local Power: Appointed Boards and the Limits of Democracy (Temple UP, 2025) by Dr. Mirya Holman explicates the purpose, role, and consequences of appointed boards in U.S. cities. Dr. Holman finds cities create strong boards that generate policy, consolidate power, and defend the interests of businesses and wealthy and white resid…

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IN Senate Votes 19 to 31 Against Redistricting, Trump Lashes Out At IN Sen. Bray, Proposed Cuts To EPA, IDOH Says IN Infant Mortality Rates Low, Allen County Library To Host Monks 7:17

3d ago7:17

7:17

Indiana lawmakers voted 19 to 31 against the congressional redistricting called for by President Donald Trump in his attempt to help Republicans win the 2026 midterm elections. President Donald Trump is lashing out at Indiana’s top state senator after legislation to redraw congressional districts failed Thursday in the General Assembly. House Repub…

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Julian Schmid, "Marvel, DC and US Security: The Superhero Genre and Foreign Policy in the Twenty-first Century" (Edinburgh UP, 2025) 44:42

8d ago44:42

44:42

Marvel, DC and US Security: The Superhero Genre and Foreign Policy in the Twenty-first Century (Edinburgh UP, 2025) by Dr. Julian Schmid considers how the long-standing superhero genre has been reinvigorated in the twenty-first century as an interlocutor of security and surveillance discourses following the events of ‘9/11’. While superheroes have …

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Julian Schmid, "Marvel, DC and US Security: The Superhero Genre and Foreign Policy in the Twenty-first Century" (Edinburgh UP, 2025) 44:42

8d ago44:42

44:42

Marvel, DC and US Security: The Superhero Genre and Foreign Policy in the Twenty-first Century (Edinburgh UP, 2025) by Dr. Julian Schmid considers how the long-standing superhero genre has been reinvigorated in the twenty-first century as an interlocutor of security and surveillance discourses following the events of ‘9/11’. While superheroes have …

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Matt Sleat, "Post-Liberalism" (Polity, 2025) 42:13

9h ago42:13

42:13

Liberalism may feel as though it has been around forever - as the "dominant ideology of the modern west" - but not even its advocates and detractors can agree what it is. Political sophisticates ask whether it is classical-, social-, ordo- or neo-liberal while American main street associates it with socialism. Yet a new generation of "post-liberal"…

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Vote To Scale Back On Hep-B Vaccine For Newborns, IN Senate Rejects Amendments To New Map Bill, Where Did IN’s New Map Come From, Dozens Denied Citizenship At Naturalization Ceremony 5:19

4d ago5:19

5:19

Federal vaccine advisers voted last week to scale back their guidance on hepatitis B shots for newborns. The Indiana Senate on Wednesday rejected a handful of amendments to a redistricting bill designed to benefit Republicans. Indiana Republicans are considering whether to approve a controversial new congressional map that favors their party. State…

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René Esparza, "From Vice to Nice: Midwestern Politics and the Gentrification of AIDS" (UNC Press, 2025) 52:07

9d ago52:07

52:07

Shifting the focus of AIDS history away from the coasts to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, this impressive book uncovers how homonormative political strategies weaponized the AIDS crisis to fuel gentrification. During the height of the epidemic, white gay activists and politicians pursued social acceptance by assimilating to Midwestern…

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Caitlin Wiesner, "Between the Street and the State: Black Women’s Anti-Rape Activism Amid the War on Crime" (U Pennsylvania, 2025) 1:15:08

9d ago1:15:08

1:15:08

Beginning in the 1970s, a series of government agencies established to carry out the federal “war on crime” offered financial and ideological support to the fledgling feminist movement against sexual violence. These entities promoted the carceral tactics of policing, prosecution, and punishment as the only viable means of controlling rape, and they…

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IN National Guard Troops Arrive In D.C., IN Senate Adopts Report On New Map, Martin University To Pause Operations, Vop Osili Steps Down As Indy Council President 4:25

23h ago4:25

4:25

About 300 Indiana National Guard troops arrived in Washington, D.C., Saturday. Indiana schools already ban cell phones during instructional time, but a new proposal would lock them away for the entire day. Republicans in the Indiana Senate continue to move forward with a bill aimed at flipping the state's two Democratic congressional seats. Indiana…

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Episode 79 -The Door By The Staircase by Katherine Marsh 21:20

1h ago21:20

21:20

This week, we get a new look at an old fairy tale – the story of the Russian witch known as Baba Yaga. A boys book club in Portland, Oregon met us at Powell's Books to discuss Katherine Marsh's novel "The Door by the Staircase" with host Kitty Felde. Congressman Earl Blumenauer, who represents Portland on Capitol, is celebrity reader.…

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Michael D. Dwyer, "Tinsel and Rust: How Hollywood Manufactured the Rust Belt" (Oxford UP, 2025) 1:11:48

10d ago1:11:48

1:11:48

Tinsel and Rust: How Hollywood Manufactured the Rust Belt (Oxford UP, 2025) tells the story of Hollywood's role in the shaping of the Rust Belt in the United States. During the 1970s and 1980s, filmic representations of shuttered auto plants, furloughed millworkers, and decaying downtowns in the industrial heartland contributed to pervasive narrati…

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Redistricting Bill Passes Out Of Senate Committee, Anti-Redistricting Protest Outside Senate Chamber, Bullying And Suicide Prevention Bill, Indy’s Designated Outdoor Refreshment Areas Proposal 6:09

22h ago6:09

6:09

Senate Republicans Monday night passed a bill out of committee that aims to redraw Indiana's congressional districts to favor their party. Several hundred people protested the controversial congressional redistricting plan at the Indiana Statehouse Monday. Indiana schools would need to notify parents if their child was a victim of bullying, or expr…

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Magda Long et. al., "Covert Action: National Approaches to Unacknowledged Intervention (Georgetown UP, 2025) 1:02:21

11d ago1:02:21

1:02:21

Covert action is generally understood as unacknowledged interference by one state in the affairs of another state or non-state actor to affect change. This definition, inspired from the US approach, dominates the debate in intelligence policy and scholarship and provides a prism through which most observers (mis)understand this form of secret state…

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Benjamin Schneider, "The Unfinished Metropolis: Igniting the City-Building Revolution" (Island Press, 2025) 1:13:03

8d ago1:13:03

1:13:03

In The Unfinished Metropolis: Igniting the City-Building Revolution (Island Press, 2025), Benjamin Schneider argues that American city-building is a lost art. U.S. cities used to constantly evolve, experimenting with new urban designs and ambitious infrastructure projects, from railroads and subways to public housing and shopping malls. But in rece…

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James Sears, "Queering Rehoboth Beach: Beyond the Boardwalk" (Temple UP, 2024) 56:04

11d ago56:04

56:04

“Create A More Positive Rehoboth” was a decades-long goal for progress and inclusiveness in a charming beach town in southern Delaware. Rehoboth, which was established in the 19th century as a Methodist Church meeting camp, has, over time, become a thriving mecca for the LGBTQ+ community. In Queering Rehoboth Beach: Beyond the Boardwalk (Temple UP,…

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IN Senate Convenes, Talks Redistricting, Trump Congratulates IN House For New Map, Marion County’s Potential Split With New Map, Grandparents Talk Life Before Vaccines, IU Big Ten Champs 8:33

10d ago8:33

8:33

The Indiana Senate will meet today to discuss a congressional map that would flip Indiana’s two Democratic congressional seats for Republicans. President Donald Trump posted on social media over the weekend, congratulating the Indiana House for passing a new congressional map. Indiana House Republicans have approved a controversial new congressiona…

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Sylvia D. Hoffert, "Wagging Tongues and Tittle Tattle: Gossip, Rumor, and Reputation in a Small Southern Town" (U Georgia Press, 2025) 46:21

12d ago46:21

46:21

In Wagging Tongues and Tittle Tattle: Gossip, Rumor, and Reputation in a Small Southern Town (University of Georgia Press, 2025), Dr. Sylvia Hoffert calls on a particularly rich collection of primary sources, including diaries, letters, oral histories, census data, court documents, church records, and psychiatric hospital logs, all relating to Hill…

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David Silkenat, "Scars on the Land: An Environmental History of Slavery in the American South" (Oxford UP, 2022) 1:04:47

12d ago1:04:47

1:04:47

They worked Virginia's tobacco fields, South Carolina's rice marshes, and the Black Belt's cotton plantations. Wherever they lived, enslaved people found their lives indelibly shaped by the Southern environment. By day, they plucked worms and insects from the crops, trod barefoot in the mud as they hoed rice fields, and endured the sun and humidity…

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Andrea Flores, "The Succeeders: How Immigrant Youth Are Transforming What It Means to Belong in America" (UC Press, 2021) 1:07:49

12d ago1:07:49

1:07:49

Dr. Andrea Flores’ most recent book, The Succeeders: How Immigrant Youth Are Transforming What It Means to Belong in America (University of California Press, 2021), is a detailed account of how immigrant youth in Nashville, Tennessee negotiated the stakes of academic achievement by reproducing terms of belonging while at the same time recasting wha…

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Peace A. Medie, "Global Norms and Local Action: The Campaigns to End Violence Against Women in Africa" (Oxford UP, 2020) 1:02:06

12d ago1:02:06

1:02:06

In Global Norms and Local Action: The Campaigns to End Violence against Women in Africa (Oxford UP, 2020), Peace A. Medie studies the domestic implementation of international norms by examining how and why two post-conflict states in Africa, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire, have differed in their responses to rape and domestic violence. Specifically, she…

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Gloria Browne-Marshall, "A Protest History of the United States" (Beacon Press, 2026) 1:06:22

12d ago1:06:22

1:06:22

Exploring 500 years of protest and resistance in US history—and how its force is foundational and can empower us to navigate our chaotic world In this timely new book in Beacon’s successful ReVisioning History series, professor Gloria Browne-Marshall delves into the history of protest movements and rebellion in the United States. Beginning with Ind…

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José Blanco F. and Raúl J. Vázquez-López, "Dress, Fashion, and National Identity in Puerto Rico: Taínos to Beauty Queens" (Bloomsbury, 2025) 1:00:14

13d ago1:00:14

1:00:14

Analyzing dress, costume, and fashion in Puerto Rico, Dress, Fashion, and National Identity in Puerto Rico: Taínos to Beauty Queens (Bloomsbury, 2025) by Dr. José Blanco F. & Raúl J. Vázquez-López utilizes case studies that explore national identity and nation formation as well as past and current practices in Puerto Rican visual culture. As the la…

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Gwyneth Mellinger, "Racializing Objectivity: How the White Southern Press Used Journalism Standards to Defend Jim Crow" (U Massachusetts Press, 2024) 24:46

14d ago24:46

24:46

“When the civil rights movement began to challenge Jim Crow laws, the white southern press reframed the coverage of racism and segregation as a debate over journalism standards. Many white southern editors, for instance, designated Black Americans as “Negro” in news stories, claiming it was necessary for accuracy and “objectivity,” even as white su…

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Redistricting Bill Passes 2nd House Reading, ILEA Vote On IPS, Rokita/Morales Noncitizen Voter Lawsuit, IU, Eli Lilly Deal For Clinical Trials, Bezos Housing Grant, Big Ten Championship Game 5:37

12d ago5:37

5:37

A bill that would redraw Indiana's congressional map to benefit Republicans passed through its second reading Thursday after hours of argument. A state-mandated task force chaired by Mayor Joe Hogsett has advanced two proposals that could fundamentally change how Indianapolis schools are governed. Attorney General Todd Rokita and Secretary of State…

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Professor Todd Eberly on “Interesting Times” in MD Politics 35:38

5h ago35:38

35:38

As Maryland heads into a challenging budget year and an election cycle legislative session, Professor Todd Eberly of St. Mary’s College of Maryland joins the Conduit Street Podcast to unpack the forces shaping the state’s political and economic landscape. Kevin Kinnally and Michael Sanderson talk with Prof. Eberly about the ripple effects of federa…

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Maja Davidović, "Governing the Past: 'Never Again' and the Transitional Justice Project" (Cambridge UP, 2025) 54:44

15d ago54:44

54:44

The way we govern the past to ensure peaceful futures keeps conflict anxieties alive. In pursuit of its own survival, permanence and legitimacy, the project of transitional justice, designed to put the 'Never Again' promise into practice, makes communities that ought to benefit from it anxious about potential repetition of conflict. Governing the P…

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IN State Sen. Won’t Seek Reelection, Impact Of AI Data Centers, Marion County Schools Gets Funds From Lilly Endowment, Marion County Gets Funds From Lilly Endowment 6:05

15d ago6:05

6:05

Republican state Sen. Kyle Walker won’t seek reelection next year. Tech companies and governments could be doing more to reduce the environmental impact of AI data centers. Indiana is testing out a new approach to supporting newborn parents in the workplace; one that could eventually reach state offices across the region. Millions of dollars are he…

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Daniel Skinner et al., "The City and the Hospital: The Paradox of Medically Overserved Communities" (U Chicago Press, 2023) 43:20

16d ago43:20

43:20

The City and the Hospital (Chicago 2023) focuses on an urban paradox: American hospitals are imagined as sites of healing and care, and yet the people who live and work in nearby neighborhoods have some of the worst health outcomes in the nation. One part urban sociology and one part policy analysis, this book reports insights from a collaborative …