Smarty Pants
By The American Scholar
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Category: Society & Culture
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Episodes: 329
Description
Tune in every other week to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. A podcast from The American Scholar magazine. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
| Episode | Date |
|---|---|
|
Why the Bronx Burned
|
Sep 12, 2025 |
|
What Lies Beneath the Levee Camp Holler
|
Aug 29, 2025 |
|
The Art of *Doing* Politics
|
Aug 15, 2025 |
|
The Linguistics of Brain Rot
|
Jul 25, 2025 |
|
Michael Douglas Explains It All
|
Jul 11, 2025 |
|
Once in a Lifetime
|
Jun 27, 2025 |
|
Family Values
|
Jun 13, 2025 |
|
Lingua Obscura
|
May 23, 2025 |
|
The Shipping News
|
May 09, 2025 |
|
Coming Home
|
Apr 25, 2025 |
|
Muscle Memory
|
Apr 11, 2025 |
|
The Most Famous Unknown Artist
|
Mar 28, 2025 |
|
The Root Cause
|
Mar 14, 2025 |
|
Something New in the West
|
Feb 28, 2025 |
|
Family/History
|
Feb 14, 2025 |
|
The Epic Viking Saga of the Everyday
|
Jan 31, 2025 |
|
Keepers of the Old Ways
|
Jan 17, 2025 |
|
Kinship and Contradictions
|
Dec 13, 2024 |
|
Overconsumed
|
Nov 29, 2024 |
|
Fiction, Fakery, and Factory Farming
|
Nov 15, 2024 |
|
American Horror Story
|
Oct 31, 2024 |
|
The Writing on the Wall
|
Oct 18, 2024 |
|
This Woman’s Work
|
Oct 04, 2024 |
|
Queen of the Night
|
Sep 20, 2024 |
|
A Toothsome Tale
|
Sep 06, 2024 |
|
A Rebel to Remember
|
Aug 23, 2024 |
|
Going for Gold
|
Aug 09, 2024 |
|
Paradise Reclaimed
|
Jul 26, 2024 |
|
Bathing Badasses
|
Jul 12, 2024 |
|
Turning the World to Powder
|
Jun 28, 2024 |
|
#292: Indiana Absurd
|
May 17, 2024 |
|
Changing the Lens
|
May 10, 2024 |
|
In Memoriam: American Modernism’s Lost Boy-King
|
May 03, 2024 |
|
Let Us Compare Mythologies
|
Apr 26, 2024 |
|
Interlude: The Idea of “The West”
|
Apr 19, 2024 |
|
The Spirit of ’68
|
Apr 12, 2024 |
|
Reedies Against Racism
|
Apr 04, 2024 |
|
Sing, Muse
|
Mar 29, 2024 |
|
Trailer: Exploding the Canon
|
Mar 18, 2024 |
|
#291: Dancing the Imperial Twist
|
Aug 04, 2023 |
|
#290: Dying for Fashion
|
Jul 28, 2023 |
|
#289: On the Line
|
Jul 21, 2023 |
|
#288: Of Panic and Paranoia
|
Jul 14, 2023 |
|
#287: Man vs. Mosquito
|
Jul 07, 2023 |
|
#286: The Falcon’s Odd Little Cousin
|
Jun 30, 2023 |
|
#285: Imagined Cuisines
|
Jun 23, 2023 |
|
#284: What Could Be Wurst?
|
Jun 16, 2023 |
|
#283: Why the West Won’t Die
|
Jun 09, 2023 |
|
#282: No-No Novel
|
Jun 02, 2023 |
|
#281: Music to Have Revelations To
|
May 26, 2023 |
|
#280: Lines from the Front
|
May 19, 2023 |
|
#279: Losing the Lot
|
May 12, 2023 |
|
#278: The Pacifist and the Battlefield
|
May 05, 2023 |
|
#277: A Home in Chinatown
|
Apr 28, 2023 |
|
#276: Listening to the Dead
|
Apr 21, 2023 |
|
#275: That Time of the Month
|
Apr 14, 2023 |
|
#274: Twenty Years of War
|
Apr 07, 2023 |
|
#273: The Art of Doing Nothing Much, Together
|
Mar 31, 2023 |
|
#272: Cherry Blossom Bonanza
|
Mar 24, 2023 |
|
#271: Filling in the Fragments
|
Mar 17, 2023 |
|
#270: Reading the Trail Trees
|
Mar 10, 2023 |
|
#269: Chaucer’s Leading Lady
|
Mar 03, 2023 |
|
#268: The Comic Queen of Metafiction
|
Feb 24, 2023 |
|
#267: Justice, Arrested
|
Feb 17, 2023 |
|
#266: Past is Present
|
Feb 10, 2023 |
|
#265: The Promised Land of the Pampas
|
Feb 03, 2023 |
|
#264: Medieval Madams
|
Jan 27, 2023 |
|
#263: The Sensual Sargent
|
Jan 20, 2023 |
|
#262: Lost in Smog
|
Jan 13, 2023 |
|
#261: Santa’s Slay Bells
|
Dec 23, 2022 |
|
#260: By Land and By Sea
|
Dec 16, 2022 |
|
#259: Girl Troubles
|
Dec 09, 2022 |
|
#258: The Forgotten Radical
|
Dec 02, 2022 |
|
#257: Roughing It
|
Nov 18, 2022 |
|
#256: The Abortion Underground
|
Nov 11, 2022 |
|
#255: Tulsa 2022
|
Nov 04, 2022 |
|
#254: For the Love of Horror
|
Oct 28, 2022 |
|
#253: The Fantasy of Real Life
|
Oct 21, 2022 |
|
#252: Welcome to the Osmocosm
|
Oct 14, 2022 |
|
#251: Fifty Years of Song
|
Oct 07, 2022 |
|
#250: Ordinary Madness
|
Sep 30, 2022 |
|
#248: Baba Yaga Comes to America
|
Sep 16, 2022 |
|
#247: The Music of the Ancients
|
Sep 09, 2022 |
|
#246: More Than a Mere Tastemaker
|
Sep 02, 2022 |
|
#245: The Butler Did It
|
Aug 26, 2022 |
|
#244: Don’t Forget the Death Workers
|
Aug 19, 2022 |
|
#243: When Science Is Not the Answer
|
Aug 12, 2022 |
|
#242: Mob Music
|
Aug 05, 2022 |
|
#241: The Original Influencer
|
Jul 29, 2022 |
|
#240: Take Two Shots and Call Me in the Morning
|
Jul 22, 2022 |
|
#239: You, Me, and the Deep Blue Sea
|
Jul 15, 2022 |
|
#238: How the Black Creek Lost Their Citizenship
|
Jul 08, 2022 |
|
#237: Free, Legal, On Demand
|
Jul 01, 2022 |
|
#236: Split City, U.S.A.
|
Jun 24, 2022 |
|
#235: The Joyce of Cooking
|
Jun 16, 2022 |
|
#234: What’s Love Got to Do With It?
|
Jun 10, 2022 |
|
#233: Once Upon a Time in Manchester
|
Jun 03, 2022 |
|
#232: Bird of America
|
May 27, 2022 |
|
#231: Life Is a Highway
|
May 20, 2022 |
|
#230: Crowdsourced Clairvoyance
|
May 13, 2022 |
|
#229: The Intelligence Gatherers
|
May 06, 2022 |
|
#228: New Name for an Old Ceremony
|
Apr 29, 2022 |
|
#227: Indiana Absurd
|
Apr 22, 2022 |
|
#226: Portrait as Performance
|
Apr 15, 2022 |
|
#225: Hashtag Lit
|
Apr 08, 2022 |
|
#224: No Place Is Perfect
|
Apr 01, 2022 |
|
#223: The Promised Land of the Pampas
|
Mar 25, 2022 |
|
#222: Sakura Fever
|
Mar 18, 2022 |
|
#221: The Sound of Science
|
Mar 11, 2022 |
|
#220: Normalized Abortion
|
Mar 04, 2022 |
|
#219: Immortal by Mistake
|
Feb 25, 2022 |
|
#218: The Frigid Fringe
|
Feb 18, 2022 |
|
#217: Ode to Antwerp
|
Feb 11, 2022 |
|
#216: Changing How America Eats
|
Feb 04, 2022 |
|
#215: Murder, He Wrote
|
Jan 28, 2022 |
|
#214: Strokes of Genius
|
Jan 21, 2022 |
|
#213: Aww, Phiwosophy!
|
Jan 14, 2022 |
|
#212: Good and Angry
|
Jan 07, 2022 |
|
#210: Ho Ho Horror
|
Dec 17, 2021 |
|
#209: How to Lose a War
|
Dec 10, 2021 |
|
#208: Paleolithic Passions
|
Dec 03, 2021 |
|
#207: Spinning a Good Yarn
|
Nov 26, 2021 |
|
#206: Nature’s Pharmacy
|
Nov 19, 2021 |
|
#205: People of the Parchment
|
Nov 12, 2021 |
|
#204: American Modernism’s Lost Boy-King
|
Nov 05, 2021 |
|
#203: The Sorceresses’ Amanuensis
|
Oct 29, 2021 |
|
#202: Bite Club
|
Oct 22, 2021 |
|
#201: Haunting the Homeland
|
Oct 15, 2021 |
|
#200: A Literary Love Letter to Egypt
|
Oct 08, 2021 |
|
#199: The Late, Great, Country House
|
Oct 01, 2021 |
|
#198: Between the Sheets and In the Streets
|
Sep 24, 2021 |
|
#197: Nature on Trial
|
Sep 17, 2021 |
|
#196: Drawing in Young Readers
|
Sep 10, 2021 |
|
#195: Outsider Physics
|
Sep 03, 2021 |
|
#194: Skater Boy
|
Aug 27, 2021 |
|
#193: All the Pretty Horses
|
Aug 20, 2021 |
|
#192: Age of Arthurs
|
Aug 13, 2021 |
|
#191: Nature on the Brain
|
Aug 06, 2021 |
|
#190: Here for the Beer
|
Jul 30, 2021 |
|
#189: Positively Sweaty
|
Jul 23, 2021 |
|
#188: Skin Deep, Only Deeper
|
Jul 16, 2021 |
|
#187: The Feminine Critique
|
Jul 09, 2021 |
|
#186: Shelling Out
|
Jul 02, 2021 |
|
#185: The Devils’ Books
|
Jun 25, 2021 |
|
#184: Listening to the Trees
|
Jun 18, 2021 |
|
#183: Has Electronic Dance Music Lost Its Soul?
|
Jun 11, 2021 |
|
#182: Eat, Pray, Love Like an Ancient
|
Jun 04, 2021 |
|
#181: The Author’s Accomplice
|
May 28, 2021 |
|
#180: Two Parts Gin, One Part Sin
|
May 21, 2021 |
|
#179: Godmother to Poets
|
May 14, 2021 |
|
#178: A Verray, Parfit Gentil Knyght
|
May 07, 2021 |
|
#177: Between Science and Séance
|
Apr 30, 2021 |
|
#176: The Lingo of LOLcats
|
Apr 23, 2021 |
|
#175: Caracara, Caw Caw
|
Apr 16, 2021 |
|
#174: Hope Against the Storm
|
Apr 09, 2021 |
|
#173: Oh, Cruel Stagolee
|
Apr 02, 2021 |
|
#172: The Cherry Blossom Evangelist
|
Mar 26, 2021 |
|
#171: Our One-Click World
|
Mar 19, 2021 |
|
#170: Women at War
|
Mar 12, 2021 |
|
#169: How to Be a Grown-Up
|
Mar 05, 2021 |
|
#168: The Many Faces of Aeneas
|
Feb 26, 2021 |
|
#167: Red Star Avant Garde
|
Feb 19, 2021 |
|
#166: What’s Happening in Myanmar
|
Feb 12, 2021 |
|
#165: Home Alone, with 200,000 Friends
|
Feb 05, 2021 |
|
#164: All in the Family
|
Jan 29, 2021 |
|
#163: Death in Papua New Guinea
|
Jan 22, 2021 |
|
#162: Looking In, Looking Out
|
Jan 15, 2021 |
|
#161: The Father of Art History
|
Jan 08, 2021 |
|
#160: A Solstice Send-Off
|
Dec 23, 2020 |
|
#159: Pencil-Pushing Spies
|
Dec 18, 2020 |
|
#158: If I Only Had a Brain!
|
Dec 11, 2020 |
|
#157: I Will Not Make Any More Boring Podcasts
|
Dec 04, 2020 |
|
#156: Sitting Down With Witold Rybczynski
|
Nov 27, 2020 |
|
#155: Four-Legged Friends
|
Nov 20, 2020 |
|
#154: The Ghosts of Nazi Germany
|
Nov 13, 2020 |
|
#153: Berlin Bops
|
Nov 06, 2020 |
|
#152: Morbid and Misunderstood
|
Oct 30, 2020 |
|
#151: In Search of the Good Death
|
Oct 23, 2020 |
|
#150: Do You Believe in Magic?
|
Oct 16, 2020 |
|
#149: Quoth the Raven
|
Oct 09, 2020 |
|
#148: Meet the Dean of American Cooking
|
Oct 02, 2020 |
|
#147: Who’s the Nerd Now?
|
Sep 25, 2020 |
|
#146: How to Save Farming From Itself
|
Sep 11, 2020 |
|
#145: How Architecture Shapes Our Emotions
|
Sep 04, 2020 |
|
#144: Jeremy Irons Reads T. S. Eliot
|
Aug 28, 2020 |
|
#143: Studying Stones
|
Aug 21, 2020 |
|
#142: All the Fish in the Sea
|
Aug 14, 2020 |
|
#141: This Is How an Empire Falls
|
Aug 07, 2020 |
|
#140: I Want to Believe
|
Jul 31, 2020 |
|
#139: The Oldest Living Music in the World
|
Jul 24, 2020 |
|
#138: Twin Pandemics
|
Jul 17, 2020 |
|
#137: Preaching the Floral Gospel
|
Jul 10, 2020 |
|
#136: Read Me A Poem, Won’t You?
|
Jul 03, 2020 |
|
#135: Whale Song
|
Jun 26, 2020 |
|
#134: Founding Falsehoods
|
Jun 19, 2020 |
|
#133: The Antebellum Feminine Mystique
|
Jun 12, 2020 |
|
#132: Still Junk Science
|
Jun 05, 2020 |
|
#131: Reading Together, Alone
|
May 29, 2020 |
|
#130: Cræft in the Time of Corona
|
May 22, 2020 |
|
#129: Spy Games and Secrets
|
May 15, 2020 |
|
#128: Trouble Brewing
|
May 08, 2020 |
|
#127: Tropical Troublemakers
|
May 01, 2020 |
|
#126: The Queen of American Folk Music
|
Apr 24, 2020 |
|
#125: Here’s to Drinking at Home
|
Apr 17, 2020 |
|
#124: Dressing for Disaster
|
Apr 10, 2020 |
|
#123: A Good Time for Opera
|
Apr 03, 2020 |
|
#122: Coronavirus vs. the Urban Commons
|
Mar 27, 2020 |
|
#121: What Zombie Movies Can Teach Us About Viruses
|
Mar 20, 2020 |
|
#120: How Global Agriculture Grew a Pandemic
|
Mar 13, 2020 |
|
#119: All Your Friends Are Listening to This Podcast
|
Mar 06, 2020 |
|
#118: Gimme Shelter
|
Feb 28, 2020 |
|
#117: Past is Present
|
Feb 21, 2020 |
|
#116: The Meaning of Minimalism
|
Feb 14, 2020 |
|
#115: The Global Garage Sale
|
Dec 13, 2019 |
|
#114: House of Mirrors
|
Dec 06, 2019 |
|
#113: Getting Physical
|
Nov 22, 2019 |
|
#112: A Good Yarn
|
Nov 08, 2019 |
|
#111: A Rather Haunted Episode
|
Oct 31, 2019 |
|
#110: From Black Cabs to Blacklisted
|
Oct 25, 2019 |
|
#109: Where the Wild Things Are
|
Oct 18, 2019 |
|
#108: Live, Laugh, Love Ancient Philosophy
|
Oct 11, 2019 |
|
#107: The Banjo and the Ballot Box
|
Oct 04, 2019 |
|
#106: What Makes a Refugee?
|
Sep 27, 2019 |
|
#105: Why Has American Classical Music Ignored Its Black Past?
|
Sep 13, 2019 |
|
#104: Fashion Kills
|
Sep 06, 2019 |
|
#103: The Next Menu
|
Aug 30, 2019 |
|
#102: One Job Should Be Enough
|
Aug 23, 2019 |
|
#101: Bloodsuckers
|
Aug 16, 2019 |
|
#100: Junk Science
|
Aug 09, 2019 |
|
#99: A Delicate Elephant Balance
|
Aug 02, 2019 |
|
#98: You Never Step Into the Same Internet Twice
|
Jul 26, 2019 |
|
#97: Aida’s Story
|
Jul 12, 2019 |
|
#96: How a Language Dies
|
Jun 28, 2019 |
|
#95: Crimes Against Sexuality
|
Jun 21, 2019 |
|
#94: Stick Shifts and Safety Belts
|
Jun 14, 2019 |
|
#93: The Wine-Merchant’s Son’s Tale
|
Jun 07, 2019 |
|
#92: Meat Made
|
May 31, 2019 |
|
#91: The Space Between Your Ears
|
May 17, 2019 |
|
#90: Totes Adorbs
|
May 10, 2019 |
|
#89: Little Boxes, Big Ideas
|
May 03, 2019 |
|
#88: “Making Books Is a Countercultural Act”
|
Apr 26, 2019 |
|
#87: The Ten Commandments of Bible Translation
|
Apr 19, 2019 |
|
#86: Daughters of War
|
Apr 12, 2019 |
|
#85: Not Ready to Make Nice
|
Apr 05, 2019 |
|
#84: The Man Who Changed the Face of Spring
|
Mar 29, 2019 |
|
#83: White Like Me
|
Mar 22, 2019 |
|
#82: A Woman’s Place
|
Mar 15, 2019 |
|
#81: The Backdoor to Equality
|
Mar 08, 2019 |
|
#80: A Different Sort of Superhero
|
Mar 01, 2019 |
|
#79: The Gray Edges of Blackness
|
Feb 22, 2019 |
|
#78: Postcolonial Punchlines
|
Feb 15, 2019 |
|
#77: Heroin’s Long History
|
Feb 08, 2019 |
|
#76: Searching for the Spirit of Acid House
|
Feb 01, 2019 |
|
#75: The Snow Maiden
|
Dec 21, 2018 |
|
#74: The Microscopic House Guest
|
Dec 07, 2018 |
|
#73: Opera 101
|
Nov 30, 2018 |
|
#72: Through a Lens Darkly
|
Nov 16, 2018 |
|
#71: Too Much Future
|
Nov 09, 2018 |
|
#70: Bad Blood
|
Oct 31, 2018 |
|
#69: The Future Is Feminist Book Collecting
|
Oct 26, 2018 |
|
#68: Black Birds of the Tower
|
Oct 12, 2018 |
|
#67: Something Witchy This Way Comes
|
Oct 05, 2018 |
|
#66: Threepenny Thriller
|
Sep 28, 2018 |
|
#65: Shifting Sands
|
Sep 21, 2018 |
|
#64: Weirdo Capital of the West
|
Sep 14, 2018 |
|
#63: Smell Ya Later
|
Sep 07, 2018 |
|
#62: Long Live the Library
|
Aug 24, 2018 |
|
#61: Strange Fruit and Stolen Lives
|
Aug 17, 2018 |
|
#60: Call of the Wild
|
Aug 10, 2018 |
|
#59: Making the Most of #MeToo
|
Aug 03, 2018 |
|
#58: Wonderbrain
|
Jul 27, 2018 |
|
#57: No-No Novel
|
Jul 20, 2018 |
|
#56: Wimbledon Unwound
|
Jul 06, 2018 |
|
#55: A Whale of a Show
|
Jun 29, 2018 |
|
#54: Go Tell It On the Mountain
|
Jun 22, 2018 |
|
#53: Letter From Underwater
|
Jun 15, 2018 |
|
#52: Lock Her Up
|
Jun 08, 2018 |
|
#51: An Epirotic Odyssey
|
Jun 01, 2018 |
|
#50: Revenge of the Nerds
|
May 25, 2018 |
|
#49: Stitching History
|
May 11, 2018 |
|
#48: Get Rich or Die Trying
|
May 04, 2018 |
|
#47: When the Chicken Hits the Fan
|
Apr 27, 2018 |
|
#46: The Floral Gospel
|
Apr 20, 2018 |
|
#45: Voicing a Legend
|
Apr 13, 2018 |
|
#44: Go Fish
|
Apr 06, 2018 |
|
#43: Burmese Daze
|
Mar 30, 2018 |
|
#42: To Infinity (and Beyond!)
|
Mar 23, 2018 |
|
#41: The Killers’ Canon
|
Mar 16, 2018 |
|
#40: Top of the Tots
|
Mar 09, 2018 |
|
#39: Zombies and Plagues and Bombs, Oh My!
|
Feb 23, 2018 |
|
#38: Renaissance Rumor Mill
|
Feb 16, 2018 |
|
#37: Reclaiming Craftiness
|
Feb 09, 2018 |
|
#36: A Revolutionary Change of Heart
|
Feb 02, 2018 |
|
#35: School’s Out for Segregation
|
Jan 26, 2018 |
|
#34: Seeing Red
|
Jan 12, 2018 |
|
#33: CSI: Roman Empire
|
Dec 22, 2017 |
|
#32: Brainwaves
|
Dec 15, 2017 |
|
#31: Funny Business
|
Dec 08, 2017 |
|
#30: Jane Austen and the Making of Desire
|
Nov 20, 2017 |
|
#29: The Three Percent
|
Nov 10, 2017 |
|
#28: Witches Never Die
|
Oct 27, 2017 |
|
#27: Back in the USSR
|
Oct 13, 2017 |
|
#26: Once and Future Food
|
Sep 29, 2017 |
|
#25: Rhapsodies in Blue
|
Sep 15, 2017 |
|
#24: Scientists and Saints
|
Sep 01, 2017 |
|
#23: Lady Pirates and Oceans of Plastic
|
Aug 11, 2017 |
|
#22: What the Nose Knows
|
Jul 28, 2017 |
|
#21: Love Games and First Impressions
|
Jul 13, 2017 |
|
#20: From Beer to Eternity
|
Jun 27, 2017 |
|
#19: From the Horse’s Mouth
|
Jun 09, 2017 |
|
#18: Twin Peaks
|
May 16, 2017 |
|
#17: The Fox in the Big House
|
Apr 21, 2017 |
|
#16: Out of the Closet and Into the Courts
|
Apr 07, 2017 |
|
#15: All the Rage
|
Mar 17, 2017 |
|
#14: Unlikely Encounters
|
Mar 03, 2017 |
|
#13: From Côte d’Ivoire to the California Coast
|
Feb 10, 2017 |
|
#12: Portraits of a Movement
|
Jan 27, 2017 |
|
#11: Sounds Like a Revolution
|
Dec 16, 2016 |
|
#10: The Aftermath
|
Nov 22, 2016 |
|
#9: Fighting the Zika Virus with John Wayne (and John Aubrey)
|
Nov 07, 2016 |
|
#8: High Art and Low Chairs
|
Oct 21, 2016 |
|
#7: Ku Klux Kounty
|
Oct 07, 2016 |
|
#6: Women v. ISIS
|
Aug 23, 2016 |
|
#5: A New Story for Black Americans
|
Aug 09, 2016 |
|
#4: Go West, Young Scholar
|
Jul 25, 2016 |
|
#3: Reading Lolita in Maximum Security Prison
|
Jul 11, 2016 |
|
#2: Superheroes Are So Gay!
|
Jun 27, 2016 |
|
#1: Mary Roach and a Double Dose of Shakespeare
|
Jun 13, 2016 |
|
Smarty Pants #0: Trailer
|
Jun 09, 2016 |