Podcast Taken for Granted: The Remarkable Power of the Unremarkable June 20, 2021 Why is the term 鈥渙penly gay鈥� so widely used but 鈥渙penly straight鈥� is not? What are the unspoken assumptions behind terms like 鈥渕ale nurse,鈥� 鈥渨orking mom,鈥� and 鈥渨hite trash鈥�?聽 Read More
Podcast Listen in: Hate in the Homeland June 16, 2021 Hate in the Homeland: The New Global Far Right by Cynthia Miller-Idriss reveals the unexpected places where violent hate groups recruit young people. Listen to a chapter from the audiobook. Read More
Video How the giving habits of the super鈥憆ich affect the rest of us May 16, 2021 It鈥檚 the time of year when our personal finances come to the forefront, but not many Americans are aware that the spending and giving habits of the super-rich are having a direct impact on public provision and policy. Read More
Essay Mothers, by default May 07, 2021 A few weeks ago, I sat down with a mom I鈥檒l call Erica to talk about how she and her family have navigated the challenges of this past pandemic year. Read More
Essay 鈥榊ou try not to eat鈥�: What joblessness means for low鈥憄aid women in Pennsylvania May 04, 2021 Losing your job is difficult for anyone, but for working-class women without savings it is even harder.聽Sarah Damaske聽talked to women in low-wage jobs in Pennsylvania who struggled to afford to feed their families or pay for childcare so they could look for work. Read More
Interview Book Club Pick: Making Motherhood Work May 01, 2021 This month鈥檚 Book Club Pick is Making Motherhood Work: How Women Manage Careers and Caregiving by Caitlyn Collins. I can鈥檛 think of a more relevant or timely selection for today鈥檚 working parents鈥攅specially after the challenges that we鈥檝e faced in the last year. Read More
Essay Fracking, freedom, and the tragedy of the commons April 21, 2021 Whenever Earth Day rolls around, I think about Cindy Bower, one of the most dedicated environmentalists I know. When I first met her, in 2013, the silver-haired sexagenarian reminisced about carrying signs for the first Earth Day, many Aprils ago, in 1970. Read More
Podcast Can we fix social media? April 16, 2021 We use social media as a mirror to decipher our place in society but, as Chris Bail explains, it functions more like a prism that distorts our identities, empowers status-seeking extremists, and renders moderates all but invisible. Read More
Interview Chris Bail on Breaking the Social Media Prism April 14, 2021 In an era of increasing social isolation, platforms like Facebook and Twitter are among the most important tools we have to understand each other. Read More
Video Breaking the Social Media Prism April 01, 2021 Breaking the Social Media Prism is a revealing look at how user behavior is powering deep social divisions online鈥攁nd how we might yet defeat political tribalism on social media. Read More
Interview Book Club Pick: The Preacher鈥檚 Wife March 04, 2021 This month鈥檚 Book Club Pick is The Preacher鈥檚 Wife by Kate Bowler. In this book, Bowler tells the story of an important new figure that has appeared on the center stage of American evangelicalism鈥攖he celebrity preacher鈥檚 wife. Read More
Essay Translating science: The real work of forensic scientists January 16, 2021 When I tell people about my new book about forensic scientists, Blood, Powder and Residue:聽 How Crime Labs Translate Evidence into Proof, they usually think about popular TV shows such as 鈥淐SI.鈥� 聽But there鈥檚 a gap between the public image of scientists and what scientists do, and this gap matters. Read More
Podcast Hate in the Homeland: The New Global Far Right January 11, 2021 Hate crimes. Misinformation and conspiracy theories. Foiled white-supremacist plots. The signs of growing far-right extremism are all around us, and communities across America and around the globe are struggling to understand how so many people are being radicalized and why they are increasingly attracted to violent movements. Read More
Podcast Sexuality, gender, and race in the Middle Ages December 18, 2020 While the term 鈥渋ntersectionality鈥� was coined in 1989, the existence of marginalized identities extends back over millennia.聽Byzantine Intersectionality聽reveals the fascinating, little-examined conversations in medieval thought and visual culture around matters of sexual and reproductive consent, bullying and slut-shaming, homosocial and homoerotic relationships, trans and nonbinary gender identities, and the depiction of racialized minorities. Read More
Essay A look inside The Queens Nobody Knows October 30, 2020 Of the sixty-five million or so visitors to New York City every year, the overwhelming majority spend their time only in Manhattan. Because of Brooklyn鈥檚 cachet as a destination, a certain number will also include it in their itinerary. Queens remains something of a mystery to most visitors, a place that they know is part of the city, but that might not be of particular interest. Read More
