Podcast

“Put on the Diamonds”

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Vivian Gornick, Sigrid Nunez on October 18, 2021

On the act of eating one’s words (and worse): Vivian Gornick and Sigrid Nunez discuss the experience of humiliation Read More

To Be a Field of Poppies

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Lisa Wells, Ann Neumann on October 11, 2021

Compost yourself: on the social, psychological, and ecological implications of rethinking what happens to our bodies after we die Read More

Bad News

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Joseph Bernstein on September 17, 2021

Nostalgia for something that never was: deconstructing the power of disinformation Read More

When the Raids Came

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Andrew Quilty on September 9, 2021

A deeper view of life in Afghanistan during (and after) wartime Read More

Seven Steps to Heaven

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Wyatt Mason on August 31, 2021

The voice: on Jon Fosse’s Septology Read More

Men in Dark Times

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Rebecca Panovka on August 18, 2021

The banality of misreading Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism Read More

Waterlog and Green Green Green

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Leanne Shapton, Gillian Osborne on August 6, 2021

Surf and turf: Leanne Shapton on Roger Deakin’s swimming memoir and Gillian Osborne on her wild essay collection Read More

Home Country

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Héctor Tobar on July 30, 2021

False cognates: on the diversity and shared experiences within the Latino community Read More

A Complicating Energy

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Elisa Gabbert on July 16, 2021

I never knew I needed you: the detrimental effects of isolation and the importance of strangers Read More

The Man Who Loved Presidents

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Thomas Frank on July 9, 2021

Thomas Frank on The Soul of America Read More

Hard Bargain

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Daniel Brook on June 25, 2021

On the ground during the unionization effort in Bessemer, Alabama Read More

Prayer for a Just War

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Greg Jackson on June 10, 2021

Don’t keep calm and carry on: a new way of thinking about action on climate change Read More

Stages of Grief

Host Violet Lucca, Guest William Deresiewicz, Sarah Schulman on June 2, 2021

History will recall: ACT UP, COVID-19, and the arts Read More

The Anxiety of Influencers

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Barrett Swanson on May 24, 2021

How to gain followers and influence people: TikTok superstars and the perils of our algorithm-driven society Read More

The Lightning Farm

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Caroline Lester on May 14, 2021

Cruel and unusual: as more states abolish capital punishment, what will happen to federal prisoners sentenced to die? Read More

Birds of a Feather

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Zach St. George on April 29, 2021

Crafting an Endangered Species Act that could better respond to the climate crisis Read More

Lost in Thought

Host Violet Lucca, Guest David Kortava on April 22, 2021

Against a one-size-fits-all approach to meditation and mental health Read More

Town of C

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Richard Rothman, Lyle Rexer on April 15, 2021

Talking pictures: Richard Rothman and Lyle Rexer Read More

The Crow Whisperer

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Lauren Markham on April 13, 2021

Don’t Dolittle: on the need to reassess our relationship with animals Read More

The Possessed

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Joshua Cohen on April 1, 2021

No Ouija board required: on Philip Roth’s writing, legacy, and a new biography Read More

Pafko at the Wall

Guest Jennifer Egan, Rowan Ricardo Phillips on March 26, 2021

At the precipice of the 20th century: Jennifer Egan and Rowan Ricardo Phillips discuss Don DeLillo’s prologue to Underworld Read More

False Prophets

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Madeleine Schwartz on March 18, 2021

Beg, borrow, or steal: the questionable business of artifacts Read More

Complexity

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Hari Kunzru on January 14, 2021

QAnon and the mechanics of belief Read More

“If Only I Could Begin Again!”

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Vivian Gornick on December 22, 2020

The power of memoir Read More

Skin in the Game

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Avi Asher-Schapiro on December 18, 2020

A market-based solution to the student-debt crisis may have financial repercussions that are just as burdensome Read More

State of Exception

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Alexander Dziadosz on December 10, 2020

The permanently temporary status of Syrian refugees in Lebanon Read More

Making Meaning

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Garth Greenwell on October 30, 2020

You may know what you want, but you may not know what you need Read More

Time to Destination

By Harper’s Magazine, on October 22, 2020

The first chapter of Don DeLillo’s new novel, The Silence, in audio Read More

America’s Game

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Kent Russell on September 25, 2020

The art, violence, mystery, and failure of the XFL Read More

The Big Tech Extortion Racket

Host Violet Lucca, Guest Barry C. Lynn on September 18, 2020

Unsubscribe from all: how to stop Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Uber from controlling our lives Read More

From the Archive

Got it! Thanks for signing up!