Best Walter Pearce Podcasts (2025)

1
David Stasavage, "The Decline and Rise of Democracy: A Global History from Antiquity to Today" (Princeton UP, 2020) 39:13

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7m ago39:13

39:13

Historical accounts of democracy's rise tend to focus on ancient Greece and pre-Renaissance Europe. The Decline and Rise of Democracy: A Global History from Antiquity to Today (Princeton University Press, 2020) draws from global evidence to show that the story is much richer--democratic practices were present in many places, at many other times, fr…

1
Has FRANKENSTEIN got Mark (re)animated? + Russell Tovey 1:24:14

2d ago1:24:14

1:24:14

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you.…

1
Moudhy Al-Rashid, "Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History" (W.W. Norton, 2025) 43:42

3d ago43:42

43:42

In 1923, archaeologist Leonard Woolley stumbled upon a room that dated back to 530BC, the time of the Babylonians. Oddly, the room was filled with artifacts that were thousands of years older. A clay drum led Woolley to speculate that he might have stumbled across the world’s first museum. Whether that was really the case is still somewhat unknown.…

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454: Amie Ichikawa—You Can’t Bring a Vagina to a Penis Fight 1:21:16

2d ago1:21:16

1:21:16

Mike sits down with Amie Ichikawa—former inmate, prison reform advocate, and founder of Woman II Woman, an organization dedicated to protecting the rights and dignity of incarcerated women. Amie shares her firsthand experience in the California prison system, the disturbing reality of fully intact men being housed in women’s prisons, and the silenc…

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Justin Stover and George Woudhuysen, "The Lost History of Sextus Aurelius Victor" (Edinburgh UP, 2023) 1:24:47

6d ago1:24:47

1:24:47

This book rediscovers a lost history of the Roman Empire, written by Sextus Aurelius Victor (ca. 320-390) and demonstrates for the first time both the contemporary and lasting influence of his historical work. Though little regarded today, Victor is the best-attested historian of the later Roman Empire, read by Jerome and Ammianus, honoured with a …

1
TRON: ARES: “It was like my brain was atrophying” + Kathryn Bigelow & Rebecca Ferguson 1:15:46

10d ago1:15:46

1:15:46

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you.…

1
Karen Pechilis ed., "A Cultural History of Hinduism: Volumes 1-6" (Bloomsbury, 2024) 59:55

7d ago59:55

59:55

In this episode, Raj Balkaran speaks with Karen Pechilis, Jarrod Whitaker, and Valerie Stoker about A Cultural History of Hinduism (Bloomsbury, 2024), a landmark six-volume series that traces Hindu traditions from the ancient world to the present. Each volume is organized around eight core themes—Sources of Authority; Body and Mind; Social Organiza…

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453: Enes Kanter Freedom—In the Name of Freedom 1:21:51

9d ago1:21:51

1:21:51

NBA player turned human rights activist Enes Kanter Freedom shares his remarkable journey growing up in Turkey under an oppressive regime, his rise to NBA stardom, and the high personal cost of speaking out against tyranny. From being exiled by his home country to being effectively blackballed from the NBA, Enes opens up about the courage it takes …

1
Aimee Lou Wood on Film Club + a DOUBLE BILL of films of the week 1:17:05

17d ago1:17:05

1:17:05

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you.…

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452: Payton McNabb—Enough of This Crap! 1:06:36

16d ago1:06:36

1:06:36

Mike sits down with former high school volleyballer Payton McNabb, who was knocked unconscious by a spike to the face, delivered by a male competing on the girls’ team, and woke up in the middle of a national controversy. What followed wasn’t just a concussion and long-term neurological damage. It was a brutal, firsthand lesson in biology, politics…

1
William H. F. Altman, "The Revival of Platonism in Cicero's Late Philosophy: Platonis Aemulus and the Invention of Cicero" (Lexington Books, 2016) 1:59:48

16d ago1:59:48

1:59:48

The Revival of Platonism in Cicero's Late Philosophy: Platonis Aemulus and the Invention of Cicero (Lexington Books, 2016) argues that Cicero deserves to be spoken of with more respect and to be studied with greater care. Using Plato's influence on Cicero's life and writings as a clue, Altman reveals the ineffable combination of qualities that enab…

1
Jennifer Barry, "Gender Violence in Late Antiquity: Male Fantasies and the Christian Imagination" (U California Press, 2025) 51:48

20d ago51:48

51:48

Gender Violence in Late Antiquity confronts the violent ideological frameworks underpinning the early Christian imagination, arguing that gender-based violence is not peripheral but is fundamental to understanding early Christian history. By analyzing hagiographical and doctrinal writings, Jennifer Barry reveals how male authors used portrayals of …

1
Tiffany Earley-Spadoni, "Landscapes of Warfare: Urartu and Assyria in the Ancient Middle East" (UP Colorado, 2025) 39:05

18d ago39:05

39:05

Landscapes of Warfare: Urartu and Assyria in the Ancient Middle East (University Press of Colorado, 2025) offers an in-depth exploration of the Urartian empire, which occupied the highlands of present-day Turkey, Armenia, and Iran in the early first millennium BCE. Lesser known than its rival, the Neo-Assyrian empire, Urartu presents a unique case …

1
Is ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER film of the year? With Paul Thomas Anderson 1:15:09

24d ago1:15:09

1:15:09

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you.…

1
451: Meredith Olson—Better Education Now 1:33:03

23d ago1:33:03

1:33:03

Meredith Olson is president of Vela, a nonprofit that funds everyday entrepreneurs who are ditching the traditional school model in favor of something a little more… flexible. Vela doesn’t run schools—it supports people creating their own. From homeschool co-ops to microschools in living rooms and libraries, Vela empowers parents, students, and ent…

1
Stuart McHardy, "Scotland's Sacred Goddess: Hidden in Plain Sight" (Luath, 2025) 27:30

26d ago27:30

27:30

In Scotland’s Sacred Goddess: Hidden in Plain Sight (Luath Press, 2025), Stuart McHardy delves into the rich tapestry of pre-Christian Scottish beliefs, uncovering the enduring presence of ancient mythologies in today’s landscape. Long before the arrival of Christian monks, the Scots revered a pantheon of deities, with the Cailleach Goddess at its …

1
Robert Redford remembered + Paul Greengrass on THE LOST BUS 1:15:46

1M ago1:15:46

1:15:46

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you.…

1
450: Elaine Culotti—California is in Real Trouble 1:32:27

1M ago1:32:27

1:32:27

Serial entrepreneur, lipstick farmer, and season 2 undercover billionaire Elaine Culotti unleashes a no-holds-barred critique of California’s downward spiral. From endless red tape and anti-business policies to the sluggish response to the Palisades fire, Elaine argues that leadership under Gavin Newsom has been nothing short of disastrous. She doe…

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Owen Rees, "The Far Edges of the Known World: Life Beyond the Borders of Ancient Civilization" (Norton, 2025) 1:24:30

1M ago1:24:30

1:24:30

When Ovid was exiled from Rome to a border town on the Black Sea, he despaired at his bleak and barbarous new surroundings. Like many Greeks and Romans, Ovid thought the outer reaches of his world was where civilization ceased to exist. Our own fascination with the Greek and Roman world has for centuries followed this perspective, shrouding culture…

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“Plato and the Tyrant” with author James Romm 58:06

1M ago58:06

58:06

In 388 BCE, Plato, at the age of about forty and in the midst of writing The Republic, visited for the first time the then-Greek city state of Syracuse, on the eastern shores of Sicily. Syracuse was ruled by a tyrant, Dionysius, who on death was followed by his son, also a tyrant. Over the course of his three separate visits to Syracuse over the ye…

1
Does SPINAL TAP II turn it up to 11? + the rockin’ Warren Ellis 1:15:59

1M ago1:15:59

1:15:59

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you.…

1
449: Theo Von—A Troubled White 1:34:52

1M ago1:34:52

1:34:52

Comedian, podcaster, and self-described “troubled white” Theo Von joins the party for a candid discussion about the bone he found on his way to the studio, what he was manifesting during the Lion’s Portal, and why he loves ‘Merica. There’s a little wrestling, a little recovery, and lot of talk of a new Mike and Theo Antique Road Show-type show feat…

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HONEY, DON’T: a film title that reviews itself? + Sam Riley on ISLANDS 1:10:00

1M ago1:10:00

1:10:00

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you.…

1
Tiffany Earley-Spadoni, "Landscapes of Warfare: Urartu and Assyria in the Ancient Middle East" (UP of Colorado, 2025) 58:49

1M ago58:49

58:49

Landscapes of Warfare: Urartu and Assyria in the Ancient Middle East (University Press of Colorado, 2025) by Dr. Tiffany Earley-Spadoni offers an in-depth exploration of the Urartian empire, which occupied the highlands of present-day Turkey, Armenia, and Iran in the early first millennium BCE. Lesser known than its rival, the Neo-Assyrian empire, …

1
Oswyn Murray, "The Muse of History: The Ancient Greeks from the Enlightenment to the Present" (Harvard UP, 2024) 1:02:16

1M ago1:02:16

1:02:16

The study of ancient Greece has been central to Western conceptions of history since the Renaissance. The Muse of History: The Ancient Greeks from the Enlightenment to the Present (Harvard UP, 2024) traces the shifting patterns of this preoccupation in the last three centuries, in which successive generations have reinterpreted the Greeks in the li…

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

2M 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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Summer Holiday Highlights of the year so far 1:08:24

2M ago1:08:24

1:08:24

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you.…

1
Now and Ben: Olivia Colman and Jay Roach on THE ROSES 14:43

2M ago14:43

14:43

Surprise! It’s another tasty nugget of Now & Ben in the Take feed. This time, Ben sits down with Olivia Colman and Jay Roach, star and director of ‘The Roses’--which hits the big screen this Friday. This grown-up comedy with bite is all about marriage and what happens when it gets rocky. Colman plays one half of a battling couple alongside Bendict …

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448: Sheree Utash—It’s Only the Best School in America 1:15:39

2M ago1:15:39

1:15:39

Mike chats with Dr. Sheree Utash, Ed.D., president of WSU Tech and a national leader in workforce education. They talk about how she reinvented a community college into a national model for workforce development, her role in taking Mike’s S.W.E.A.T. Pledge and shaping it into the mikeroweWORKS curriculum, and why she believes skilled trades are key…

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Walter Scheidel, "What Is Ancient History?" (Princeton UP, 2025) 59:20

2M ago59:20

59:20

It’s easy to think that ancient history is, well, ancient history—obsolete, irrelevant, unjustifiably focused on Greece and Rome, and at risk of extinction. In What Is Ancient History?, Walter Scheidel presents a compelling case for a new kind of ancient history—a global history that captures antiquity’s pivotal role as a decisive phase in human de…

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

2M ago44:50

44:50

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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Barbara H. Rosenwein, "Winter Dreams: A Historical Guide to Old Age" (Reaktion, 2025) 46:39

2M ago46:39

46:39

Winter Dreams: A Historical Guide to Old Age (Reaktion, 2025) is an evocative history of the ways the old have thought, felt and expressed themselves over two millennia, tracking the experience of ageing through artistic, literary and historical records. While old age is often depicted as ‘sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything’, Dr. Ba…

1
Tom Hiddleston & Chiwetel Ejiofor on THE LIFE OF CHUCK 1:07:01

2M ago1:07:01

1:07:01

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you.…

1
447: Tommy Mello—The Secret Sauce is the Grind 1:36:03

2M ago1:36:03

1:36:03

Tommy Mello founded A1 Garage Door Service—a 100 million-plus-dollar business. Tommy shares how he went from reselling Bowflex, cleaning pools, and painting garage doors to building one of the largest home service companies in the country. He talks about the hustle, the screw-ups, and the systems that helped him scale, including his no-nonsense app…

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

2M ago44:57

44:57

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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Learning Ancient Languages: A Conversation with Antonia Ruppel 1:37:18

2M ago1:37:18

1:37:18

Sanskritist and seasoned teacher Dr. Antonia Ruppel shares her views on the merits and pitfalls of academic enterprise, the brave new world of self-employed scholarship and the teaching of ancient languages. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesBy New Books Network

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Bob Odenkirk talks NOBODY 2 – will it meet Mark’s expectations? 1:09:15

2M ago1:09:15

1:09:15

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you.…

1
Audrey Truschke, "India: 5,000 Years of History on the Subcontinent" (Princeton UP, 2025) 44:10

2M ago44:10

44:10

I’m Nicholas Gordon, host of the Asian Review of Books podcast, done in partnership with the New Books Network. On this show, we interview authors writing in, around, and about the Asia-Pacific region. How do you tell the story of India–not just the modern-day country, but the whole region of South Asia, home to over two billion people? Historian A…

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446: Nick Searcy—Justify This 1:22:42

2M ago1:22:42

1:22:42

Actor, director, and pseudo-troublemaker Nick Searcy is back! Nick recounts what he saw at the Capitol on January 6 and why he made Capital Punishment and its sequel, The War on Truth. Also discussed is Nick’s unfiltered memoir, Justify This: A Career Without Compromise, where he shares stories from his long career in Hollywood, and a new project a…

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Tatiana Bur, "Technologies of the Marvellous in Ancient Greek Religion" (Cambridge UP, 2025) 55:56

2M ago55:56

55:56

Tatiana Bur, Technologies of the Marvellous in Ancient Greek Religion (Cambridge UP, 2025) This open-access book investigates the ways that technological, and especially mechanical, strategies were integrated into ancient Greek religion. By analysing a range of evidence, from the tragic use of the deus ex machina to Hellenistic epigrams to ancient …

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Is Mark freaked out by FREAKIER FRIDAY? + Celine Song on THE MATERIALISTS 1:09:05

2M ago1:09:05

1:09:05

Vanguardistas have more fun—so if you don’t already subscribe to the podcast, join the Vanguard today via Apple Podcasts or extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. In return you’ll get a whole extra Take 2 alongside Take 1 every week, with bonus reviews, more viewing recommendations from the Good Doctors and whole bonus episodes just for you.…