Lapham's Quarterly: the Podcast: Recent Episodes
Lapham's Quarterly
Interviews and readings sprung from the pages of Lapham's Quarterly. Served up biweekly by LQ editor Lewis H. Lapham.
Author of The Imperfectionists tells Aidan Flax-Clark about his latest novel, The Rise and Fall of Great Powers.
Curb Your Enthusiasm producer and comedy documentarian Bob Weide has worked on a Kurt Vonnegut doc for the last three decades. Weide recounts what he's learned in that time about Vonnegut as a man, a writer, and a humorist.
How did the British assist in the murder of Rasputin, infiltrate the heights of Bolshevik power, and work in the shadows to halt the spread of global revolution? The early days of professional espionage, with Giles Milton, author of Russian Roulette.
In 1921, with the Russian revolution falling short of its ideals, Vladimir Lenin introduced the New Economic Policy. A brief flourishing of economic and personal liberties ensued. But was it a betrayal of Bolshevik ideals? Historian Orlando Figes explains.
BONUS! Simon Winchester recounts his strange job cutting open cadavers in a London mortuary in the early 1960s. Warning: Not for anyone easily grossed out.
As the new biopic Cesar Chavez hits theaters, writer Miriam Pawel has published her new biography on the labor leader, seeking to present a more complete, honest account of Chavez's life than the standard hagiography allows.
The true story of the 1805 slave revolt behind Herman Melville's novella Benito Cereno is the subject of Fordlandia author Greg Grandin's latest book, Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World.
Plummeting old women, false mustaches, subversive children's poetry, and sexual obsession. Exploring the life and work of early Russian surrealist Daniil Kharms with translators Anthony Anemone and Peter Scotto.
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin speaks with Lewis Lapham about her latest book, The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism.
Dirty French stories and poetry, plus the complaints of a medieval Japanese courtier, from our Comedy issue, as read by Community star Gillian Jacobs.
Cavett and our very own Lewis Lapham talk about comedy history, lessons learned from Mark Twain and Groucho Marx, and that time they both tried out for the same play at Yale.
A new Richard Pryor biography, Furious Cool, by Joe and David Henry, tells the story of Pryor's comedy and the mythic, tortured, tragic life behind it.
How did the U.S. find itself involved in the 1971 genocide against the people of East Pakistan? Gary Bass tells the story, which he chronicled in his book The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide.
The Morgan Library's exhibit Edgar Allan Poe: Terror of the Soul chronicles the author's life and influence through manuscripts, letters, publications, and artwork. Aidan Flax-Clark discusses the misunderstood writer's biography with the show's curators, Declan Kiely and Isaac Gewirtz.
The comedian and deranged millionaire himself comes on the podcast to read terrifying tales of live burial, mysterious suicide, and decadent tomb-building, all from our current issue, Death.
Navigate the strange and fascinating intersections of magic, con artistry, and science with author Alex Stone as he discusses his new book, Fooling Houdini.
The weird-fiction wizard talks to Aidan Flax-Clark about craft, genre writing, and the supernatural's power over his books.
Daily Show writer Kevin Bleyer set out to rewrite the Constitution. Of the United States. And he wrote a hilarious book about it called Me the People. He talks to LQ editor Aidan Flax-Clark about the hows and whys of his quixotic undertaking.
Gettleman, the East Africa bureau chief for the New York Times looks back with LQ editor Elias Altman to the 2007 Kenya presidential election and what it bodes for its next election in 2013.
Historian H. W. Brands talks to LQ editor Aidan Flax-Clark about the life and career of Ulysses Grant, the subject of his essay for LQ's "Politics" issue and of his new book, The Man Who Saved the Union.
Check out some of our favorite performances from some of LQ's best 2012 parties, with songs and readings from Anne Hathaway, Oliver Platt, Colin Donnell, Ari Graynor, and more.
Uncover the strange life and works of 17th-century scientist/nutball Athanasius Kircher with John Glassie, author of "A Man of Misconceptions."
Mutant mice! Cloned kittens! Cyborg beetles! Frankenstein's Cat author Emily Anthes explains how the field of biotechnology is remaking the animal kingdom and what it means for our world.
Religious scholar and historian Reza Aslan gets a chance to actually talk about his new book, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.
LQ favorite Simon Winchester has wandered "ceaselessly about on the world's oceans...in all weathers and seasons and climates." He tells some of his favorite tales from a life at sea.
Strange sea creatures haunted the margins of all kinds of maps between the 8th and 16th centuries. Chet van Duzer tells their stories and talks about his new book, Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps.
So said the New York Times headline when geologist Marie Tharp discovered the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which proved the theory of continental drift. Author Hali Felt chronicled Tharp's life in her book, Soundings.
Meet the 16th-century man behind the fabled prophecies of death and destruction. Nostradamus biographer Stephane Gerson introduces Aidan Flax-Clark to this "prophet of doom."
Actress extraordinaire Alison Pill reads a few excerpts from the latest LQ issue, Animals.
Piranhas! Bribery! Treasure hunting! Microfilm! These are just a few of the things you'll encounter when you listen to Lewis Lapham's sea stories.
LQ's beloved founder and editor lends his dulcet tones to this episode and reads some of his favorite selections from our most recent issue, The Sea.
Climate change, overfishing, and pollution are putting our oceans into a state of panic. Jeremy Jackson, Callum Roberts, Simon Winchester, and Lisa-ann Gershwin give us the score. (Part 1 of 2)
Sail the garbage patches with Captain Charles Moore; swim the dead zones with Nancy Rabalais, and hear how plastics, fertilizer, and other marine pollution are choking our seas.
Delving into past issues of LQ for stories of the vicissitudes of actors, playwrights, and the movies, Alec Baldwin comes on the LQ podcast to read Harpo Marx, Gustave Flaubert, and Maxim Gorky.
Animal minds are extraordinary. In ways you may never have dreamed of. Discover just how with writers and scientists like Jane Goodall, Frans de Waal, Virginia Morell, Irene Pepperberg, and more.
Transistors, lasers, satellites, information theory, and cell phones. Jon Gertner discusses the 20th-century technological powerhouse that was Bell Labs, which he chronicled in his book The Idea Factory.
Klingon. Esperanto. Dothraki. Dive into the strange and fascinating world of language invention with LQ editor Aidan Flax-Clark, linguist Arika Okrent, and an array of language inventors and enthusiasts.
LQ editor Aidan Flax-Clark delves into the creation of DARE, the Dictionary of American Regional English, with LQ contributor Simon Winchester and DARE chief editor Joan Hall.
Andy Zaltzman, co-host of The Bugle podcast, also known as the world's leading audio newspaper for a visual world, came by the LQ offices to read passages from LQ about some of antiquity's looniest despots. Featuring, Nero and his maniacal
David Javerbaum, former head writer of The Daily Show and current mortal secretary to God, talks about God's latest book, the hilarious "telleth-all" The Last Testament.
Ever heard of one of world literature's most famous heroes, Amir Hamza? If not, you're not alone, and LQ editor Aidan Flax-Clark speaks with Musharraf Ali Farooqi, translator of The Adventures of Amir Hamza, about this tremendous figure and
Author and translator Peter Ackroyd talks with Aidan Flax-Clark about his new retelling of Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur and discusses a little bit about his most recent London history, London Under.
Historian, radio star, and newest contributor to The Daily Show, Sarah Vowell reads from LQ's Future issue: Mark Twain's hilarious "Earthquake Almanac," William Safire's preparatory presidential space-disaster speech, and Futurist extraordi
John Crowley talks about his classic novel Little, Big with LQ editor Aidan Flax-Clark in the second part of their conversation.
Novelist John Crowley talks with LQ editor Aidan Flax-Clark about why the future is disappearing from people's imaginations and why it's being replaced by the past.
Marc Maron, standup comedian and host of the WTF podcast, talks with LQ editor Aidan Flax-Clark about reading, why his books might be bullying him, and why you can't go wrong with a good mac-and-cheese recipe.
Columbia Journalism Review managing editor Brent Cunningham comes on to talk with LQ editor Elias Altman about the trials and tribulations of the modern food-reform movement, and his essay, "Pastoral Romance," which appears in the new Lapha
LQ editor Aidan Flax-Clark talks with novelist Jason Goodwin about Turkish food, the delights of eating in the Ottoman empire, and his series of historical mystery novels, with their main character, the eunuch investigator Yashim, solving c
Author of "The Shadow Scholar," Ed Dante (pseudonym) talks with LQ editor Aidan Flax-Clark about his career in the college-paper-writing business and the problems in American higher education.
Liev Schreiber reads three excerpts from the pages of the Quarterly, all on the theme of jobs. The actor takes on Anton Chekhov, Salman Rushdie, and Buffalo Bill.
Philip Connors came by the LQ offices to talk with editor Elias Altman about his book Fire Season and the essay adapted from it that appears in the new Lapham's Quarterly issue, Lines of Work.
Donovan Hohn came by the LQ offices to talk with Aidan Flax-Clark about his book Moby Duck, as well as his essay "Lost Symbols," which appears in the new Lapham's Quarterly issue, Lines of Work.
Strange tales of the newspaper business in late-1950s San Francisco and Oakland, from Lapham's Quarterly founder and editor Lewis Lapham, live at the Moth, 2003.
Associate editor Aidan Flax-Clark talks to poet Coleman Barks about his work translating the thirteenth-century Sufi mystic poet Rumi.
Live from Joe's Pub, part 2. We had a release party at Joe's Pub in New York for our Celebrity issue, and we invited some real celebrities to join in the festivities and read some of their favorite excerpts from the issue. In part 2 of our
Live from Joe's Pub, part 1. We had a release party for our Celebrity issue, and we invited some real celebrities to help us make merry by reading some of their favorite excerpts from it. In this podcast and the next, we'll play you our fav
Lapham's Quarterly starts its new year of podcasts by offering up editor Michelle Legro's interview with Paul Collins. Collins spoke to her last December about Barbara Newhall Follett, a forgotten child prodigy who published her first novel
In 1968 the Beatles visited the ashram of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to study Transcendental Meditation. Though many tried to gain access, the only journalist allowed in was Lewis Lapham, who was writing about the Maharishi and TM for the Sa
Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky are two of the most well-known translators of Russian prose working today. Editor Aidan Flax-Clark sits down with the pair to talk about Russian literature and their new translation of Boris Pasternak'
The author of "Classics for Pleasure," and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Washington Post Book World, talks about his favorite writers featured in the Quarterly who deserve to be better-known.
In this trio of American texts, Lewis Lapham reads Henry Adams, Robert Krulwich reads Walt Whitman, and James Franco reads Benjamin Franklin.
Editor Aidan Flax-Clark talks with author John Crowley about Hermann Hesse's "The Glass Bead Game" and the fierce competition found in both sports and the arts.
First introduced to the critic after seeing his name on a Baltimore burrito shop, comedian Patton Oswalt has always admired the curmudgeonly tone of H.L. Mencken. He reads sections of Mencken from "Sports & Games," "Religion," and our n