Best Will Routledge Podcasts (2025)

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Shulamit Reinharz, "Hiding in Holland: A Resistance Memoir" (Amsterdam Publishers, 2024) 1:00:29

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Born in Amsterdam in 1946, Professor Shulamit Reinharz grew up amid the lingering shadows of wartime trauma, an experience that shaped her later academic path and her role in the creation of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute. With Hiding in Holland: A Resistance Memoir (Amsterdam Publishers, 2024), she has crafted a unique form of Holocaust memoir, d…

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Hannah Shafiroff, "My Little Book of Big Jewish Holidays" (Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2025) 33:57

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Hannah Shafiroff is celebrating a book about celebrations! In our interview we talk about her brand new picture book which she both wrote and illustrated, My Little Book of Big Jewish Holidays (Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2025). We talk about her own childhood and memories of Sabbath and holidays, and how her she was able to turn her childhood pas…

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Ofer Ashkenazi, et al., "Still Lives: Jewish Photography in Nazi Germany" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2025) 1:01:17

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Still Lives: Jewish Photography in Nazi Germany (U Pennsylvania Press, 2025) is a systematic study of the ways Jews used photographs to document their experiences in the face of National Socialism. In a time of intensifying anti-Jewish rhetoric and policies, German Jews documented their lives and their environment in tens of thousands of photograph…

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Steven J. Zipperstein, "Philip Roth: Stung by Life" (Yale UP, 2025) 1:00:38

1h ago1:00:38

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In his literary biography, Philip Roth: Stung by Life (Yale UP, 2025), Steven J. Zipperstein captures the complex life and astonishing work of Philip Roth (1933–2018), one of America’s most celebrated writers. Born in Newark, New Jersey—where his short stories and books were often set—Roth wrote with ambition and awareness of what was required to p…

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Laura Hobson Faure, "Who Will Rescue Us?: The Story of the Jewish Children who Fled to France and America During the Holocaust" (Yale UP, 2025) 1:12:22

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The first account of Jewish children’s flight from Nazi Germany to France—and their subsequent escape to America from the Vichy regime At the eve of the Second World War, an estimated 1.6 million Jewish children lived in Nazi-occupied Europe. While 10,000 of them escaped to Britain in the Kindertransport, only some 500 found a new home in France. H…

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Christopher C. Gorham, "Matisse at War: Art and Resistance in Nazi Occupied France" (Citadel Press, 2025) 48:18

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In 1940, with the Nazis sweeping through France, Henri Matisse found himself at a personal and artistic crossroads. His 42-year marriage had ended, he was gravely ill, and after decades at the forefront of modern art, he was beset by doubt. As scores of famous figures escaped the country, Matisse took refuge in Nice, with his companion, Lydia Delec…

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Cynthia Paces, "Prague: The Heart of Europe" (Oxford UP, 2025) 1:40:09

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Prague: The Heart of Europe (Oxford University Press, 2025) traces Prague's origins in the ninth century through the end of the Cold War. Highlights include the golden ages of Charles IV and Rudolph II; the religious conflicts of the Hussite and Thirty Years Wars; the rich culture of Europe's largest Jewish community; the rivalry between the city's…

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Leah Hochman and Stanley M. Davids, "Re-forming Judaism: Moments of Disruption in Jewish Thought" (Central Conference of American Rabbis, 2023) 49:50

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The story of Judaism is the story of change. Throughout Jewish history, revolutionary events and subversive ideas have burst forth, repeatedly transforming Jewish experience. Re-forming Judaism: Moments of Disruption in Jewish Thought (Central Conference of American Rabbis, 2023), edited by Rabbi Stanley M. Davids (z’l) and Dr. Leah Hochman seeks t…

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Markus Vinzent, "Christ's Torah: The Making of the New Testament in the Second Century" (Routledge, 2023) 1:18:06

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This volume explores the creation of the collection now known as the New Testament. While it is generally accepted that it did not emerge as a collection prior to the late second century CE, a more controversial question is how it came to be. Markus Vinzent, who had held the H.G. Wood Chair in the History of Theology at the University of Birmingham…

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Ofer Ashkenazi and Thomas Pegelow Kaplan, "Rethinking Jewish History and Memory Through Photography" (SUNY Press, 2025) 52:11

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Ofer Ashkenazi is a Professor of History and the director of the Richard Koebner-Minerva Center for German History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. While on sabbatical, in 2025-2026 he is the Mosse Visiting Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the co-author of the recently published monograph Still Lives: Jewish Photography…

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Hyun Ho Park, "Intergroup Conflict, Recategorization, and Identity Construction in Acts: Breaking the Cycle of Slander, Labeling and Violence" (Bloomsbury, 2023) 29:37

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In Intergroup Conflict, Recategorization, and Identity Construction in Acts: Breaking the Cycle of Slander, Labeling and Violence (Bloomsbury, 2023) Hyun Ho Park employs social identity to create the first thorough analysis via such methodology of Acts 21:17-23:35, which contains one of the fiercest intergroup conflicts in Acts. Park's assessment a…

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Tracy Slater, "Together in Manzanar: The True Story of a Japanese Jewish Family in an American Concentration Camp" (Chicago Review Press, 2025) 42:03

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On Feb. 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced Executive Order 9066, which authorized the confinement of tens of thousands of Japanese and Japanese-Americans living in the Western U.S., sending them to cramped, hastily-constructed camps like Manzanar and Amache. One such Japanese-American was Karl Yoneda, a well-known labor activist–an…

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Francesca Stavrakopoulou, "God: An Anatomy" (Knopf, 2022) 44:50

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The scholarship of theology and religion teaches us that the God of the Bible was without a body, only revealing himself in the Old Testament in words mysteriously uttered through his prophets, and in the New Testament in the body of Christ. The portrayal of God as corporeal and masculine is seen as merely metaphorical, figurative, or poetic. But, …

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Ronald D. Price, "Divrei Halev: Thoughts of Rabbi Professor David Weiss Halivni on the Weekly Torah Portion" (Gefen, 2025) 42:22

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Rabbi Professor David Weiss Halivni, of blessed memory (1927–2022), was one of the most profound Talmudic scholars and theological voices of the postwar era. A Holocaust survivor, Halivni went on to shape generations of students through his decades of teaching at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Columbia University, the Hebrew University of Jerusal…

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Alexander Kimel and Martin Kimel, "The Pessimists Son: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope" (Cherry Orchard Books, 2025) 1:14:23

20d ago1:14:23

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The Pessimists Son: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope (Cherry Orchard Books, 2025) is a personal depiction of life in Poland set against the Nazi and Soviet takeovers of Europe and their cataclysmic aftermaths. It is the compelling memoir of Alexander Kimel, taking him from a shtetl to a Nazi ghetto to liberation and the parallel Holocaust story of his be…

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Barbara Vinick and Shulamit Reinharz, "100 Jewish Brides: Stories from Around the World" (Indiana UP, 2024) 1:05:22

21d ago1:05:22

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100 Jewish Brides: Stories from Around the World (Indiana UP, 2024), is the result of a collaboration between two sociologists, Professor Shulamit Reinharz and Dr. Barbara Vinick. Both come from backgrounds deeply intertwined with Jewish history and feminism. Prof. Reinharz, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, became a rabbi's daughter after her f…

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Barry Strauss, "Jews vs. Rome: Two Centuries of Rebellion Against the World's Mightiest Empire" (Simon & Schuster, 2025) 44:57

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Jews vs. Rome: Two Centuries of Rebellion Against the World's Mightiest Empire (Simon & Schuster, 2025) by Barry Strauss recounts the history and events of three major uprisings: the Great Revolt of 66–70 CE, which led to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, culminating in the Siege of Masada, where defenders chose mass suicide over surrend…

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Geoffrey D. Claussen, "Jewish Ethics: The Basics" (Routledge, 2024) 45:26

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In the Jewish world, we often hear people cite “Jewish values” as defense for their positions. The irony, however, is that in the same argument, two people will cite text and law from the same book to defend their views. They will both shout to the other that Jewish values are on their side. The multivocal nature of Jewish ethics is what makes the …

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Marla Segol, "Kabbalah and Sex Magic: A Mythical-Ritual Genealogy" (Pennsylvania State UP, 2022) 56:55

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In Kabbalah and Sex Magic: A Mythical-Ritual Genealogy (Penn State University Press, 2021) a provocative book, Marla Segol explores the development of the kabbalistic cosmology underlying Western sex magic. Drawing extensively on Jewish myth and ritual, Segol tells the powerful story of the relationship between the divine and the human body in late…

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Anna Cichopek-Gajraj, "Beyond Violence: Jewish Survivors in Poland and Slovakia, 1944–48" (Cambridge UP, 2014) 1:25:22

25d ago1:25:22

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Beyond Violence: Jewish Survivors in Poland and Slovakia, 1944–48 (Cambridge UP, 2014) tells a story of Polish and Slovak Holocaust survivors returning to homes that no longer existed in the aftermath of the Second World War. It focuses on their daily efforts to rebuild their lives in the radically changed political and social landscape of post-war…

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Inna Faliks, "Weight in the Fingertips: A Musical Odyssey from Soviet Ukraine to the World Stage" (Backbeat Books, 2023) 45:38

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Adventurous and passionate” (The New Yorker) Ukrainian-born pianist Inna Faliks has established herself as one of the most communicative, and poetic artists of her generation. She has made a name for herself through commanding performances of standard piano repertoire, as well genre-bending, interdisciplinary projects, and inquisitive work with con…

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Wildlife and Wild Places: Nate Wilbourne’s New Zealand Mission 30:50

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In this episode, we sit down with Nate Wilbourne, one of New Zealand’s most passionate young conservationists, to talk all things wildlife. From bird relocation projects to predator trapping, Nate shares his experiences working hands on in conservation across Aotearoa. We explore the challenges of protecting native species, the success stories that…

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Raffaele Bedarida, "Corrado Cagli: Transatlantic Bridges (1938-1947)" (Centro Primo Levi, 2023) 1:52:42

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As a Jewish and openly gay artist, Cagli became the target of virulent attacks, especially after Italy promulgated its racial laws in 1938. In response to these hostile conditions, Cagli chose to leave his homeland and seek refuge in the United States. In America, he became an influential figure within the New York émigré artistic scene. He found c…

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Michael Geheran, "Comrades Betrayed: Jewish World War I Veterans under Hitler" (Cornell UP, 2020) 1:13:02

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What claims could Jewish veterans make on the Nazi state by virtue of their having fought for Germany? How often did Germans treat Jewish veterans differently from Jewish men without military experience during the Weimar and Nazi periods? How did perceptions of masculinity and of Germanness intersect to shape attitudes and behaviors of Jewish veter…

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Daniel I. Block, "Hearing the Gospel According to Moses: Chapters 24-34" (Inspirata, 2024) 31:44

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For renowned scholar Daniel Block, Deuteronomy is the “Gospel according to Moses.” In his farewell addresses, Moses calls God’s people to remember divine grace in salvation and their covenant relationship with him, as well as his revelation of a way of blessing in a lost world. Tune in as we speak with Daniel Block about the third and final volume …

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Benjamin J. Segal, "Kohelet's Pursuit of Truth: A New Reading of Ecclesiastes" (Gefen, 2016) 37:14

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The Song of Songs, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes—full of poetry and enigmatic imagery, these are among the most challenging books of the Bible to understand. Well take heart, because we have some help coming your way! Tune in as we speak with Rabbi Benjamin Segal about his Gefen publications on the Ketuvim. We’ll talk with Rabbi Segal about his transl…

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Yorai Linenberg, "Jewish Soldiers in Nazi Captivity: American and British Prisoners of War During the Second World War" (Oxford UP, 2024) 1:27:54

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This book explores the extraordinary story of Jewish POWs in German captivity during the Second World War - extraordinary because of the contrast between Germany's genocidal policy towards Jews on one hand, and its relatively non-discriminatory treatment of Jewish POWs from western countries on the other. The radicalisation of Germany's anti-Semiti…

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Thomas Pegelow Kaplan ed. et al., "Holocaust Testimonies: Reassessing Survivors' Voices and Their Future in Challenging Times" (Bloombury, 2025) 1:00:15

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Close to a time when there will be no more survivors to speak about their suffering, this innovative study takes much-needed stock of the past, present and future of Holocaust testimony. Drawing from a vast range of witness accounts including a never-before-published survivor interview and carefully situating analysis within broader historical and …

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Anne Hand, "Austrian Again: Reclaiming a Lost Legacy" (Amsterdam Publishers, 2025) 1:15:07

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Austrian Again: Reclaiming a Lost Legacy is a personal memoir that follows Anne Hand's emotional and bureaucratic journey to reclaim her Austrian citizenship—revoked from her ancestors during the Holocaust. As she digs into her family history, Anne uncovers stories of trauma, resilience, and exile that had long been buried or forgotten. Through arc…

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Living Fossils: Richard Pearce on Japan’s Giant Salamanders 41:47

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In this episode, we’re joined by Richard Pearce, founder of Bushido Japan and passionate conservationist, to uncover the mysterious world of the Japanese giant salamander one of the world’s largest and most elusive amphibians. Richard shares how he became involved with this ancient species, what makes it so unique, and the cultural and ecological i…

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Matthew V. Novenson, "Paul and Judaism at the End of History" (Cambridge UP, 2024) 59:09

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The apostle Paul was a Jew. He was born, lived, undertook his apostolic work, and died within the milieu of ancient Judaism. And yet, many readers have found, and continue to find, Paul's thought so radical, so Christian, even so anti-Jewish – despite the fact that it, too, is Jewish through and through. This paradox, and the question how we are to…

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Gabriella Gelardini, "Deciphering the Worlds of Hebrews: Collected Essays" (Brill, 2021) 26:54

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In her book, Deciphering the Worlds of Hebrews, Gabriella Gelardini reads Hebrews within its context of Second Temple Judaism, writing about the structure and intertext of Hebrews, sin and faith, atonement and cult, as well as space and resistance. Join us as we speak with Gabriella Gelardini about the Book of Hebrews! Gabriella Gelardini is Profes…

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Ilana Rosen, "Israeli Documentary Poetry: Coming of Age with the State" (Academic Studies Press, 2025) 58:42

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Israeli Documentary Poetry: Coming of Age with the State introduces and explores documentary poetry written by Israeli poets who came of age during the first two decades of the state and who, since the 1970s and 1980s, have recorded their experiences of that period. This study offers a literary-cultural analysis of forty-two poems by thirty Israeli…

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Halina Brunning and Olya Khaleelee eds., "Sitting on a Suitcase: Psychoanalytic Stories" (Karnac Books, 2025) 47:07

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Sitting on a Suitcase: Psychoanalytic Stories (Karnac Books, 2025) contains eighteen moving tales of disparate Jewish lives from Eliat Aram, Leslie B. Brissett, Louisa Diana Brunner, Halina Brunning, Leila Djemal, Shmuel Erlich, Mira Erlich-Ginor, Franca Fubini, Stan Gold, Larry Hirschhorn, Susan Kahn, Alicia E. Kaufmann, Olya Khaleelee, James Kran…

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Ory Amitay, "Alexander the Great in Jerusalem: Myth and History" (Oxford UP, 2025) 46:26

2M ago46:26

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When I sat down with Dr. Ory Amitay, his passion for myth, history, and ancient cultures was infectious. Our conversation about his new book, Alexander the Great in Jerusalem: Myth and History, Oxford University Press, 2025, quickly revealed that for Ory, the real intrigue isn’t whether Alexander literally visited Jerusalem, but how and why this st…

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Marc Herman, "After Revelation: The Rabbinic Past in the Medieval Islamic World" (U of Pennsylvania Press, 2025) 51:05

2M ago51:05

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After Revelation: The Rabbinic Past in the Medieval Islamic World offers a dynamic new perspective on medieval Jewish legal thought and its integration in the wider Islamic world. Here, Marc D. Herman demonstrates that Jews were fully conversant in their contemporaries' ideas about revelation, law, and legal interpretation. Bookended by the two lum…

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Daniel C. Matt, "Becoming Elijah: Prophet of Transformation" (Yale UP, 2022) 31:46

2M ago31:46

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Elijah is a zealous prophet, attacking idolatry and injustice, championing God. He performs miracles, restoring life and calling down fire. When his earthly life ends, he vanishes in a whirlwind, carried off to heaven in a fiery chariot. Was this a spectacular death, or did Elijah escape death entirely? The latter view prevailed. Though residing in…

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Lucas F. W. Wilson, "At Home with the Holocaust: Postmemory, Domestic Space, and Second-Generation Holocaust Narratives" (Rutgers UP, 2025) 46:38

2M ago46:38

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At Home with the Holocaust: Postmemory, Domestic Space, and Second-Generation Holocaust Narratives (Rutgers UP, 2025) examines the relationship between intergenerational trauma and domestic space, focusing on how Holocaust survivors’ homes became extensions of their traumatized psyches that their children “inhabited.” Analyzing second- and third-ge…

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Rachel Fell McDermott and Daniel F. Polish, "A Hindu-Jewish Conversation: Root Traditions in Dialogue" (Lexington Books, 2024) 1:02:19

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This book engages historically and theologically with the Hindu and Jewish traditions, covering conceptions of the divine, religious heroes, women, devotional literature, theodicy, land, and nationalist claims on it, and social differentiation and oppression. Scholarly considerations are enriched with actual conversations between Hindus and Jews. L…

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Anastasios Karababas, "In the Footsteps of the Jews of Greece: From Ancient Times to the Present Day" (Vallentine Mitchell & Co, 2024) 41:52

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“To live, a people must always be able to know its past, to judge it, to accept it.” — Simone Veil, French politician and Shoah survivor When I sat down with historian Anastasios Karababas to discuss his new book, In the Footsteps of the Jews of Greece: From Ancient Times to the Present Day (Paperback, published January 30, 2024), I was struck by t…

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Steven Scott Eichenblatt, "Pretend They Are Dead: A Father's Search for the Truth" (Christmas Lake Press, 2025) 1:04:03

2M ago1:04:03

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When Steven's dad, Allen, disappeared, he left behind more than his children-he left a legacy of loss and family secrets. Though working just miles away, Allen gave up his kids for adoption. He was soon replaced by another man, one with his own four children, whose strict rules and explosive temper made home a place of fear rather than refuge. Stev…

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Peter Jackson Backs De-Extinction Project: From Fossil to Fantasy, the Giant Moa 9:29

2M ago9:29

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In this episode, we dive into the cutting-edge science behind one of the most ambitious conservation experiments in history: the effort to bring back the giant moa. From ancient DNA and CRISPR technology to emu surrogates and artificial egg environments, William explores how scientists including those at Colossal Biosciences are rewriting extinctio…

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Sonja Stahlhammer, "Sonja’s Journey: Through Life and the Death Camps" (2022) 1:11:11

2M ago1:11:11

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The Nazis invade Poland. The young, cheerful and zestful Sonja Stahlhammer (born Zysa Mariem Kohn) is forced together with her family and relatives into the Łódź Ghetto where most of them die of disease, starvation, executions or are deported to Auschwitz. The only members of Sonja's family who are alive at the liquidation of the Ghetto are Sonja a…

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Daniel I. Block, "Hearing the Gospel According to Moses Volume 2: Chapters 12-23" (Inspirata, 2024) 32:17

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Some time ago, we spoke with Daniel Block about volume 1 of his Deuteronomy commentary, Hearing the Gospel According to Moses. Tune in as we hear from Dan now about his second volume, on chapters 12-23 of Deuteronomy, which he characterizes as “Responding to the grace of the LORD with righteous living.” Daniel Block is the Gunther H. Knoedler Profe…

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Yardena Schwartz, "Ghosts of a Holy War: The 1929 Massacre in Palestine That Ignited the Arab-Israeli Conflict" (Union Square, 2024) 48:54

2M ago48:54

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In this interview, Yardena Schwartz discusses her book Ghosts of a Holy War: The 1929 Massacre in Palestine That Ignited the Arab-Israeli Conflict, offering a nuanced exploration of the 1929 Hebron massacre and its enduring impact on the region’s history and present-day realities. Through a conversation that weaves personal narrative, historical an…

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Robert G. Morrison, "Merchants of Knowledge: Intellectual Exchange in the Ottoman Empire and Renaissance Europe" (Stanford UP, 2025) 58:04

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Between 1450 and 1550, a remarkable century of intellectual exchange developed across the Eastern Mediterranean. As Renaissance Europe depended on knowledge from the Ottoman Empire, and the courts of Mehmed the Conqueror and Bayezid II greatly benefitted from knowledge coming out of Europe, merchants of knowledge—multilingual and transregional Jewi…

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Wild Antarctica: A Researcher’s Life in the Coldest Classroom 33:47

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Life on Ice: Jean Pennycook on Living and Researching in Antarctica In this fascinating episode, I sit down with Jean Pennycook, a scientist and educator who has spent over two decades living and working in the icy wilderness of Antarctica. Jean shares what it’s like to sleep in a tent on the frozen continent, conduct penguin research in extreme co…

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Andrew Tobolowsky, "Israel and its Heirs in Late Antiquity" (Cambridge UP, 2025) 57:30

3M ago57:30

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Andrew Tobolowsky's Israel and Its Heirs in Late Antiquity (Cambridge UP, 2025) explores constructions of Israelite identity among Jewish, Samaritan Israelites, and Christian authors in Late Antiquity, especially early Late Antiquity. It identifies three major strategies for claiming an Israelite identity between these three groups: a 'biological' …

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Michael Marmur, "Living The Letters: An Alphabet of Emerging Jewish Thought" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025) 57:30

3M ago57:30

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Today, most Jewish thinkers have turned away from theology. And if they do, they look into one narrow window into the subject, writing a treatise into topics like the problem of evil or the nature of Jewish chosenness. Not so with today's guest, Michael Marmur. In his newest work, Living The Letters: An Alphabet of Emerging Jewish Thought (Palgrave…

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Elisabeth Åsbrink, "1947: Where Now Begins" (Other Press, 2019) 1:00:37

3M ago1:00:37

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An award-winning writer captures a year that defined the modern world, intertwining historical events around the globe with key moments from her personal history. The year 1947 marks a turning point in the twentieth century. Peace with Germany becomes a tool to fortify the West against the threats of the Cold War. The CIA is created, Israel is abou…