Best Daniel Pollack Podcasts (2026)

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Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, "Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist" (Simon and Schuster, 2025) 59:59

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6d ago59:59

59:59

Hello, this is Eric LeMay, a host on the New Books Network. Today, I speak with Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, author of the new artist’s biography Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist (Simon & Schuster, 2025). The book was recently named one of NPR’s Books We Loved for 2025. Pollack-Pelzner is a cultural historian, theater critic, and teacher a…

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Tony Spawforth, "What the Greeks Did for Us" (Yale UP, 2023) 57:22

17h ago57:22

57:22

Our contemporary world is inescapably Greek. Whether in a word like “pandemic,” a Freudian state of mind like the “Oedipus complex,” or a replica of the Parthenon in a Chinese theme park, ancient Greek culture shapes the contours of our lives. Ever since the first Roman imitators, we have been continually falling under the Greeks’ spell. But how di…

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Gil Ben-Herut, "Stories of Shiva's Saints: Selections from Harihara's Ragales" (Oxford UP, 2025) 1:06:29

17h ago1:06:29

1:06:29

The Kannada language boasts an ongoing literary tradition spanning more than a millennium, with a rich array of social positions and roles, religious traditions, and poetic styles that developed over the dramatic history of the region. Yet translations from premodern Kannada to English have been inconsistent, with only a handful of works that have …

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J. W. Rinzler and Lee Unkrich, "Stanley Kubrick's The Shining" (Taschen, 2023) 56:47

1d ago56:47

56:47

In 1966 Stanley Kubrick told a friend that he wanted to make “the world’s scariest movie.” A decade later Stephen King’s The Shining landed on the director’s desk, and a visual masterpiece was born. J. W. Rinzler and Lee Unkrich's book Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (Taschen, 2023) is the definitive compendium of the film that transformed the horror…

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Anna Zeide, "US History in 15 Foods" (Bloomsbury, 2023) 38:24

1d ago38:24

38:24

From whiskey in the American Revolution to Spam in WWII, food reveals a great deal about the society in which it exists. Selecting 15 foods that represent key moments in the history of the United States, this book takes readers from before European colonization to the present, narrating major turning points along the way, with food as a guide. US H…

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The Real Life of a Magician | Building Tricks, Passion & Success with Nathan Earl 18:11

1h ago18:11

18:11

In this inspiring and deeply personal episode, we are honored to welcome Nathan Earl — a professional magician and Associate of The Magic Circle, one of the most prestigious magic societies in the world. From discovering magic at a young age, to spending countless hours practicing sleight of hand, studying classic illusions, and building original t…

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12/30/25 -- Dan Ball W/ Steve Moore, Rep. Kristin Robbins, Jacqueline Toboroff, Joshua Philipp & Mike Sarraille, Dov Hikind. 58:38

10m ago58:38

58:38

By One America News Network

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12/29/25 -- Dan Ball W/ Col. Robert Maness, Nick Sortor & Ben Bergquam, Steve Hilton, Joey Mannarino, Judd Saul. 1:00:38

11m ago1:00:38

1:00:38

By One America News Network

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Andy Cowan, "B-Side: A Flipsided History of Pop" (Headpress, 2023) 49:10

1h ago49:10

49:10

In his new book B-Sides: A Flipsided History of Pop (Headpress, 2023), Andy Cowan explores a century of music b-sides. Pop music would be a different beast without the B-Side. Music history is riven with songs deemed throwaway that revolted against their lowly status and refused to be denied. Be it rock'n'roll's national anthem ('Rock Around The Cl…

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Kathryn Cornell Dolan, "Breakfast Cereal: A Global History" (Reaktion Books, 2023) 1:07:58

1h ago1:07:58

1:07:58

Breakfast Cereal: A Global History (Reaktion, 2023) by Dr. Kathryn Dolan presents the long, distinguished and surprising history of breakfast cereal. Simple, healthy and comforting, breakfast cereals are a perennially popular way to start the day around the world. They have a long, distinguished and surprising history – around 10,000 years ago, wit…

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Richard Bradford, "Tough Guy: The Life of Norman Mailer" (Bloomsbury, 2023) 1:12:09

4d ago1:12:09

1:12:09

Twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize, firstly in 1969 for The Armies of the Night and again in 1980 for The Executioner's Song, Norman Mailer's life comes as close as is possible to being the Great American Novel: beyond reason, inexplicable, wonderfully grotesque and addictive.The Naked and the Dead was acclaimed not so much for its intrinsic qualit…

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Helle Strandgaard Jensen, "Sesame Street: A Transnational History" (Oxford UP, 2023) 57:23

1h ago57:23

57:23

In Sesame Street: A Transnational History (Oxford UP, 2023), author Helle Strandgaard Jensen tells the story of how the American television show became a global brand. Jensen argues that because the show's domestic production was not financially viable from the beginning, Sesame Street became a commodity that its producers assertively marketed all …

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Richard Bradford, "Tough Guy: The Life of Norman Mailer" (Bloomsbury, 2023) 1:12:09

3d ago1:12:09

1:12:09

Twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize, firstly in 1969 for The Armies of the Night and again in 1980 for The Executioner's Song, Norman Mailer's life comes as close as is possible to being the Great American Novel: beyond reason, inexplicable, wonderfully grotesque and addictive.The Naked and the Dead was acclaimed not so much for its intrinsic qualit…

1
Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, "Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist" (Simon and Schuster, 2025) 59:59

5d ago59:59

59:59

Hello, this is Eric LeMay, a host on the New Books Network. Today, I speak with Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, author of the new artist’s biography Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist (Simon & Schuster, 2025). The book was recently named one of NPR’s Books We Loved for 2025. Pollack-Pelzner is a cultural historian, theater critic, and teacher a…

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How to Fix Baseball with author Jane Leavy 58:27

3d ago58:27

58:27

For hard-core baseball folks, for anyone who cares for the future of the game, veteran baseball writer Jane Leavy compels attention with her provocative book, Make Me Commissioner: I Know What’s Wrong With Baseball And How To Fix It (Grand Central, 2025). Our conversation focuses on her proposed solutions to the core problem of a sport in the destr…

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Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, "Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist" (Simon and Schuster, 2025) 59:59

6d ago59:59

59:59

Hello, this is Eric LeMay, a host on the New Books Network. Today, I speak with Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, author of the new artist’s biography Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist (Simon & Schuster, 2025). The book was recently named one of NPR’s Books We Loved for 2025. Pollack-Pelzner is a cultural historian, theater critic, and teacher a…

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Sustainability, Identity, Artisans and Designers 55:40

3h ago55:40

55:40

Long before the fashion industry formally addressed questions of sustainability and advocated for “slow fashion,” a husband-and-wife design duo were working to create handcrafted leather-goods and functional women’s sportswear that could be worn for decades. Active from the 1940s to the late 1960s, the Phelps quickly won acclaim, attracting a broad…

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Douglas Morris, "Legal Sabotage: Ernst Fraenkel in Hitler's Germany" (Cambridge UP, 2020) 1:03:35

8d ago1:03:35

1:03:35

During the mid-1930s, Germans opposed to Adolf Hitler had only a limited range of options available to them for resisting the Nazi regime. One of the most creative and successful challengers in this effort was Ernst Fraenkel, who as an attorney sought to use the law as a means of opposing Nazi oppression. In Legal Sabotage: Ernst Fraenkel in Hitler…

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Filip Kovacevic, "KGB Literati: Spy Fiction and State Security in the Soviet Union" (U Toronto Press, 2025) 51:57

8d ago51:57

51:57

KGB Literati: Spy Fiction and State Security in the Soviet Union (University of Toronto Press, 2025) offers a first-ever glimpse into the mysterious and long-ignored world and work of Soviet spies- and counterspies-turned-writers. Once out of active service, many former spies have turned to writing spy fiction. They drop the dagger and pick up the …

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1570: Holly Jolly Jimmy (with Bradley Freeman Jr.) 51:22

23h ago51:22

51:22

Joined by guest Bradley Freeman Jr. DJ Bob discusses the Jimmy Neutron Christmas special, Holly Jolly Jimmy. They talk about the timeless nature of the special and the show as a whole, pop culture memories, character arcs, and more in this special episode!

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Marcus Willaschek, "Kant: A Revolution in Thinking" (Harvard UP, 2025) 1:05:04

9d ago1:05:04

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Immanuel Kant is undoubtedly the most important philosopher of the modern era. His Critique of Pure Reason, “categorical imperative,” and conception of perpetual peace in the global order decisively influenced both intellectual history and twentieth-century politics, shaping everything from the German Constitution to the United Nations Charter. Ren…

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Pluribus Episodes 6 & 7 Analysis: I Feel Fine! 1:08:15

1d ago1:08:15

1:08:15

It’s The Pop Culture Professors, and we continue our analysis of Pluribus, with our thoughts on episode 6, “HDP” an episode 7, “The Gap.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/popular-culture…

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Thomas Manuel Ortiz, "Why We Struggle to Go Green: Hard Truths about the Clean Energy Transition" (Texas A&M Press, 2025) 45:01

9d ago45:01

45:01

Clean energy won’t save us from the effects of climate change. Amid corporate Net Zero campaigns, the politics of the Green New Deal, and the calls to abandon fossil fuels for renewable technology — or vice versa — lies a troubling truth: No clean technological solutions can solve the problem of human-induced climate change. To find a credible path…

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1569: Christmas In Bluffington (with Jim Jinkins, Constance Shulman & Chris Thomas Hayes) 50:34

1d ago50:34

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In this episode, DJ Bob and guests talk about the two Doug Christmas specials. Joined by co-host Chris Thomas Hayes, and guest stars Jim Jinkins and Constance Shulman, Bob leads a discussion on the enduring value of shows like Doug, the production process of these specials, and behind-the-scenes secrets.…

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Patrick C. Fleming, "Animating the Victorians: Disney's Literary History" (UP of Mississippi, 2025) 37:46

10d ago37:46

37:46

Many Disney films adapt works from the Victorian period, which is often called the Golden Age of children’s literature. Animating the Victorians: Disney’s Literary History (University Press of Mississippi, 2025) explores Disney’s adaptations of Victorian texts like Alice in Wonderland, Oliver Twist, Treasure Island, Peter Pan, and the tales of Hans…

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Amy Bowers Cordalis, "The Water Remembers: My Indigenous Family's Fight to Save a River and a Way of Life" (Little Brown, 2024) 1:02:51

10d ago1:02:51

1:02:51

For the members of a Northern California tribe, salmon are the lifeblood of the people—a vital source of food, income, and cultural identity. When a catastrophic fish kill devastates the river, Amy Bowers Cordalis is propelled into action, reigniting her family’s 170-year battle against the U.S. government. In a moving and engrossing blend of memoi…

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Patrick C. Fleming, "Animating the Victorians: Disney's Literary History" (UP of Mississippi, 2025) 37:46

10d ago37:46

37:46

Many Disney films adapt works from the Victorian period, which is often called the Golden Age of children’s literature. Animating the Victorians: Disney’s Literary History (University Press of Mississippi, 2025) explores Disney’s adaptations of Victorian texts like Alice in Wonderland, Oliver Twist, Treasure Island, Peter Pan, and the tales of Hans…

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Liberation & the Literature of the Women’s Movement with Bess Wohl and Honor Moore 56:18

10d ago56:18

56:18

Wednesday, December 17—“The best play I’ve seen this season,” says New York Magazine’s Sara Holdren about Liberation, Bess Wohl’s moving exploration of the women’s movement through the story of an Ohio consciousness-raising group in the early 1970s and a daughter who yearns to understand her mother’s life and her own. To discuss this timely play an…

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12/22/25 -- Dan Ball W/ David Pollack, Mike Sarraille, Judd Saul, Mike Appling, Tammy Nobles. 59:38

8d ago59:38

59:38

By One America News Network

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1568: Olive The Other Reindeer (with Joe Hennes) 45:31

3d ago45:31

45:31

In this episode, DJ Bob invites Joe Hennes of ToughPigs.com to talk about a holiday special, Olive the Other Reindeer. It was Hennes' first time watching the film, as he watched few Christmas specials growing up. The two talk about the film's script, Hennes' expectations going in versus how the special actually came across, and relate it to both ho…

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Hilary Davidson, "A Guide to Regency Dress: from Corsets and Breeches to Bonnets and Muslins" (Yale UP, 2025) 57:04

6d ago57:04

57:04

In A Guide to Regency Dress: from Corsets and Breeches to Bonnets and Muslins (Yale UP 2025), celebrated dress historian Dr. Hilary Davidson brings together nearly 20 years of research on Regency fashion in an illustrated guide for the first time. All the elements of the Regency wardrobe of both men and women—from coats, gowns and undergarments to …

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Zubeda Jalalzai, "Literary License and the West’s Romance with Afghanistan" (Bloomsbury, 2023) 25:50

3d ago25:50

25:50

In this episode of New Books Network, I speak with Zubeda Jalalzai about her book Literary License and the West’s Romance with Afghanistan (Bloomsbury, 2023). Literary License and the West’s Romance with Afghanistan, analyzes the role literature and poetic sensibility played in colonial British and American writings on Afghanistan from the nineteen…

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Michael Braddick, "Christopher Hill: The Life of a Radical Historian" (Verso Books, 2025) 53:52

11d ago53:52

53:52

Christopher Hill was one of the leading historians of his generation. His work across more than 15 books and dozens of articles fundamentally rewrote the way we understand the English Revolution and the development of the modern British state. While his career brought many of the trappings of establishment respectability – he was both a Fellow of t…

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Rabbi Jonathan Tawil | Channukah the festival of lights 20:05

10d ago20:05

20:05

In this special Hanukkah episode, Rabbi Jonathan Tawil explores the deeper meaning of the Festival of Lights. Moving beyond the historical events, he uncovers the spiritual struggle between Greek wisdom and Torah wisdom, and why Channukah represents far more than a military victory. Rabbi Tawil explains how Greek culture sought control and human ma…

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Jane Eisner, "Carole King: She Made the Earth Move" (Yale UP, 2025) 42:26

4d ago42:26

42:26

Jane Eisner is a widely published journalist who held leadership positions at the Philadelphia Inquirer and The Forward. She is the author of Taking Back the Vote. Eisner lives in New York City. In our wonderful interview we discuss her new book, Carole King: She Made the Earth, (Yale UP, 2025), and her thoughts on what made Carole King the start t…

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Judith Jesch, "The Saga of the Earls of Orkney" (Birlinn, 2025) 49:57

4d ago49:57

49:57

In The Saga of the Earls of Orkney (Birlinn, 2025), Professor Judith Jesch presents a fascinating history of the Earldom of Orkney, which was established in the Viking Age, records the adventures, feuds and battles of powerful Norsemen during its first three centuries. The medieval earls of Orkney owed allegiance to the kings of Norway but their in…

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Jane Eisner, "Carole King: She Made the Earth Move" (Yale UP, 2025) 42:26

4d ago42:26

42:26

Jane Eisner is a widely published journalist who held leadership positions at the Philadelphia Inquirer and The Forward. She is the author of Taking Back the Vote. Eisner lives in New York City. In our wonderful interview we discuss her new book, Carole King: She Made the Earth, (Yale UP, 2025), and her thoughts on what made Carole King the start t…

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Arthur Bahr, "Chasing the Pearl-Manuscript: Speculation, Shapes, Delight" (U Chicago Press, 2025) 42:55

13d ago42:55

42:55

A unique study of the only physical manuscript containing Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as both a material and literary object. In this book, Arthur Bahr takes a fresh look at the four poems and twelve illustrations of the so-called “Pearl-Manuscript,” the only surviving medieval copy of two of the best-known Middle English poems: Pearl and Sir G…

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Veronica House, "Local Organic: Food Rhetorics and Community Writing for Impact" (Utah State UP, 2025) 53:44

12d ago53:44

53:44

This episode features a conversation with the inspiring Dr. Veronica House, whose book Local Organic: Food Rhetorics and Community Writing for Impact (Utah State University Press, 2025) explores how writing takes shape within community networks. House brings a generous scholarly voice to questions of writing, community partnership, and meaningful c…

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Kwame Nkrumah and Pan-Africanism’s High Tide: A Conversation with Howard W. French 48:17

5d ago48:17

48:17

The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide (Liveright, 2025), the second work in a trilogy from best-selling author Howard W. French about Africa's pivotal role in shaping world history, underscores Adam Hochschild's contention that French is a "modern-day Copernicus." The title--referring to a brief period …

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12/19/25 -- Dan Ball W/ Rep. Mike Haridopolos, Katie Hopkins, Steve Hilton, Aly Legge, Randy Sutton. 1:00:08

6d ago1:00:08

1:00:08

By One America News Network

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12/18/25 -- Dan Ball W/ Steve Moore, Robert O'Neill, Stephen Davis, Randy Sutton. 58:38

6d ago58:38

58:38

By One America News Network

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Gian Piero Persiani, "Poets, Patrons, and the Public: Poetry as Cultural Phenomenon in Courtly Japan" (Brill, 2025) 33:47

14d ago33:47

33:47

Waka poetry was all the rage in tenth-century, courtly Japan. Every educated person composed it, emperors and consorts sponsored it, and societal interest in it was at an all-time high. Poets, Patrons, and the Public: Poetry as Cultural Phenomenon in Courtly Japan (Brill, 2025) offers an unprecedentedly broad and vivid portrayal of this season of l…

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Jeffrey Kroessler, "Rural County, Urban Borough: A History of Queens" (Rutgers UP, 2025) This 18:26

14d ago18:26

18:26

The borough of Queens is the largest of New York City’s five boroughs. It holds more people than Chicago or Los Angeles. And thanks to immigration, it is today home to a population of extraordinary ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity. Queens is also the subject of a new book by Jeffrey Kroessler, Rural County, Urban Borough: A History of Que…

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Max Brzezinski, "Under Pressure: A Song by David Bowie and Queen" (Duke UP, 2025) 59:04

14d ago59:04

59:04

In 1981, David Bowie and Queen both happened to be in Switzerland: They met and made "Under Pressure." Recorded on a lark, the song broke the path for subsequent pop anthems. In Under Pressure (Duke University Press, 2025), Max Brzezinski tells the classic track's story, charting the relationship between pop music, collective politics, and dominant…

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12/17/25 -- Dan Ball W/ Rep. Bob Onder, George Papadopoulos, Dr. Daniel Bober, Sgt. John Krupinsky. 58:38

7d ago58:38

58:38

By One America News Network

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Shiben Banerji, "Lineages of the Global City: Occult Modernism and the Spiritualization of Democracy" (U Texas Press, 2025) 1:06:08

15d ago1:06:08

1:06:08

War, revolution, genocide, rebellion, slump. The economic and political turmoil of the early twentieth century seemed destined to rip asunder the ties that bound colonizers and the colonized to one another. The upheaval represented an opportunity, and not just to nationalists who imagined new homelands or to socialists who dreamed of international …

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Joseph Torigian, "The Party’s Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping" (Stanford UP, 2025) 47:22

15d ago47:22

47:22

Xi Zhongxun’s career spanned the entirety of China’s modern history. Born just two years after the 1911revolution that overthrew the Qing Dynasty, Xi was an early member of the Chinese Communist Party, tookpart in the Second World War, became an early leader of the PRC, was purged, survived the CulturalRevolution, was rehabilitated, and helped jump…

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12/16/25 -- Dan Ball W/ Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis, Dr. Eric Nepute, Mark Lamb, Leanne & Jurgen Matthesius. 59:38

8d ago59:38

59:38

By One America News Network

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Lucy Jeffery and Anna Váradi, "Replaying Communism: Trauma and Nostalgia in European Cultural Production" (CEU Press, 2025) 59:01

16d ago59:01

59:01

In this episode, host Andrea Talabér (CEU Press) sat down with Lucy Jeffery and Anna Váradi to talk about their edited volume, Replaying Communism: Trauma and Nostalgia in European Cultural Production. The volume explores the lasting impact of the communist era across Central and Eastern Europe, with chapters thematically threaded through by concep…