How to be an Atheist in the Middle Ages
We tend to think that it was impossible not to subscribe to Christianity in the Middle Ages. But, as in any age, belief can wax and wane. But the chroniclers…
I Want You to Want Me
Charlotte Shane discusses desire, sex work, and writing
Sex and Christianity: 2,000 years of love and fury
What were Jesus's views on sex? Why did so many Christians choose a life of celibacy? Has the church ever been tolerant of homosexuality? These are some of the questions…
Episode 163: Ten Years After “Over the Garden Wall”
We're taking a cozy, autumnal trip back in time to "peak television," when animation was truly feral and we had shows like "Over the Garden Wall." We'll talk about this…
Witches in Art
This is a (Halloween special!) bonus episode that explores the image of Witches in Art, as told by Professor Lyndal Roper! What is a witch? Where does it stem from?…
Laila El-Haddad
The Gaza Kitchen
Robber Barons, Marcel Duchamp, and Big Museums’ Dirty Little Secrets
In 1915, Marcel Duchamp bought a snow shovel at a hardware store in New York City. He inscribed his signature and the date on its wooden handle. On the evening…
Shopping and snacking: a social history of the high street
Daring department store stunts. Warming cups of cocoa. Argumentative bartering with butchers. What can revisiting high streets gone by reveal about British social history? Historian Annie Gray takes listeners on…
Either Apartheid is right or wrong
that's the beginning and the end of the argument
Natalie Haynes on Medusa
the author of a fantastic book, Stone Blind, which retells the story of the gorgon Medusa, who, originally in mythology, was cursed by Athena who turned her hair into snakes…