American Campus Podcast

On the material history of the universityReferences and suggested readings:William Whyte. 2026. The University: A History in Stone, Silk, and Blood. Harvard University Press. William Whyte’s faculty page, Twitter, and LinkedInText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:Marshall Steinbaum and David Austin Walsh. 2026. How America’s Public Universities Stopped Being Public. Hedgehog Review.Robert A. Nesbit. 1996. The Degradation of the Academic Dogma. Routledge.Zachary Bleemer and Aashish Mehta. December 2024. College Major Restrictions and Student Stratification. National Bureau of Economic Research.Maya Rosen. October 11, 2026. Degrees of Separation. Jewish Currents. Anna Perez. 2023. Understanding Zionism: History and Perspectives. Fortress Press.F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night.Theodore Dreiser. Jennie Gerhardt.Molly Crabapple. 2026. Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund. One World.Mark Weitzman, Robert J Williams, James Wald, eds. 2025. The Routledge History of Antisemitism. Routledge.Marshall Steinbaum on Twitter @econ_Marshall and his website, marshallsteinbaum.orgDavid Austin Walsh’s email [email protected] the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:Karen Weaver. 2026. Understanding College Athletics: What Campus Leaders Need to Know About College Sports. Johns Hopkins University Press. Karen Weaver. 2025. Sport Finance: Where the Money Comes From and Where the Money Goes, 2nd ed. Kendall Hunt.W Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne. 2026. The Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant. Harvard Business Review Press.Trustees and Presidents Managing Intercollegiate Athletics podcast on YouTubeKaren Weaver’s website, Instagram, Bluesky, LinkedInText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

A deep-dive into the personal lives of the famed 20th century French theorists (all men) with their newest biographer.References and suggested readings:Emily Eakin. 2026. The Frenchmen: Or, My Life in Theory. Penguin Press.Sarah Bakewell booksRoss Douthat. November 2, 2022. How the Right Became the Left and the Left Became the Right. New York Times.James Miller. 2010. The Passion of Michel Foucault. Harvard University Press.John Guillory and Merve Emre. 2023. Cultural Capital: The Problem of Literary Canon Formation. University of Chicago Press.Meghan O’Gieblyn. 2026. Will and Attention: A Memoir. Doubleday.Emily Eakin’s website, essays at NYT, InstagramText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:Peter Burke. 2026. The Connoisseur: A Cultural History. Reaktion Books. Gore Vidal. 2000. Burr: A Novel. Vintage Books.Peter Burke’s websiteText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

On the origins of the German research university and what universities should be today.References and suggested readings:Chad Wellmon. 2016. Organizing Enlightenment: Information Overload and the Invention of the Modern Research University. Johns Hopkins University Press.Chad Wellmon. 2026. After the University: Higher Education and the Future of Intellectual Work. Johns Hopkins University Press. Paul Reitter and Chad Wellmon. 2023. Permanent Crisis: The Humanities in a Disenchanted Age. University of Chicago Press.The Other University episode with Chad Wellmon.Ann M. Blair. 2011. Too Much to Know: Managing Scholarly Information Before the Modern Age. Yale University Press.Frank Landymore. February 23, 2026. New AI Agent Logs Directly Into College Platform Canvas to Do Your Homework for You. Futurism.Daniel Mendelsohn, trans. 2026. The Odyssey. University of Chicago Press.Jonathan Lear. 2008. Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation. Harvard University Press.Dennis Duncan. 2023. Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age. W. W. Norton.What Was the Internet? Boston Review. August 2026.Follow Chad on Twitter @cwellmonChadwellmon.comText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:James Chandler. 2026. The Know-Nothing Campaign Against Higher Learning. Prickly Paradigm Press. Robert Mackey. April 18, 2026. Trump’s antipathy for Pope may have roots in childhood Protestant church. The Guardian.Alexis de Tocqueville. Democracy in America.Wendy Brown. 2017. Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism's Stealth Revolution. Zone Books.Sam Moyn 2024. Liberalism Against Itself: Cold War Intellectuals and the Making of Our Times. Yale University Press.Adam Smith. The Wealth of Nations.Tyler G. Anbinder. 1994. Nativism and Slavery: The Northern Know Nothings and the Politics of the 1850s. Oxford University PressLaura K. Field. 2025. Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right. Princeton University Press.Jennifer Pitts. Kayfabe, Trolling, Satire, and Cynicism. Prickly Paradigm Press blog.Richard Hofstadter. 1966. Anti-Intellectualism in American Life. Vintage.Thorstein Veblen. 1918. The Higher Learning in America: A Memorandum on the Conduct of Universities by Business Men. Open Access PDF.American Campus episodes on Thorstein Veblen and with Laura Field on Furious Minds.Text the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:Trevor Griffey. 2007. “The Strongest Chapter in WA: Bellingham's KKK.” The Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project.Allan J. Lichtman. 2008. White Protestant Nation: The Rise of the American Conservative Movement. Grove Press.Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925)Lothrop Stoddard WikiPerlstein’s mea culpa: Rick Perlstein. April 11, 2017. I Thought I Understood the American Right. Trump Proved Me Wrong. New York Times Magazine.On MAGA small business owners and car dealers: Alexander Sammon. May 30, 2023. Want to Stare Into the Republican Soul in 2023? Slate. Higher Ed Labor (in California and Beyond) SubstackFollow Trevor on Twitter, BlueSkyhttps://x.com/trevorgriffey/status/2080041013507510403?s=46 Text the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

An intellectual history of inequality in the US.References and suggested readings:Kim Phillips-Fein. 2026. Country of Lords: Neo-Aristocrats, Social Darwinists, Tech Utopians, and the Long Fight Against Equality in America. W. W. Norton.Kim Phillips-Fein. 2018. Fear City: New York's Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics. Picador.Kim Phillips-Fein. 2010. Invisible Hands: The Businessmen's Crusade Against the New Deal. W. W. Norton.Corey Robin. 2018. The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Endmund Burke to Donald Trump, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press. Open access PDF. Richard Herrnstein. 1971.  “i.q.” The Atlantic.Pioneer Fund, the dark money trust that won't let race science die American Campus episode with John P. Jackson Jr.Victor S. Navasky. 2003. Naming Names. Hill and Wang.Thomas Mann. 1996. Magic Mountain. Vintage.Anna Veltfort. 2019. Goodbye, My Havanna: The Life and Times of a Gringa in Revolutionary Cuba. Redwood Press.Kim Phillips-Fein’s faculty pagekimphillipsfein.comText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

How Napoleon's École polytechnique inspired A&M universities on the Western US border (ft. some of our favorite topics: American imperialism, science, and social hierarchy)References and suggested readings:Sveinn M. Jóhannesson. 2026. The Scientific-Military State: How Enlightened Engineers Reinvented Early American Government. University of Chicago Press. James McNeill Whistler. 1879. Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (known as Portrait of the Artist’s Mother) painting.Livy’s History of RomeTacitus The Annals of Imperial RomeSveinn M. Jóhannesson’s websiteText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

A century later, what did Veblen get right?References and suggested readings:Christian J. Churchill and Gerald Levy. 2011. The Enigmatic Academy: Class, Bureaucracy, and Religion in American Education. Temple University Press. Thorstein Veblen. 1918. The Higher Learning in America: A Memorandum on the Conduct of Universities by Business Men. PDF.Thorstein Veblen. 1899. The Theory of the Leisure Class. PDF.On Google’s former motto, “Don’t be evil.”Know Your Meme: “Wait. Is this f****** play about us?”Arthur J Vidich and Joseph Bensman. 2000. Small Town in Mass Society: Class, Power, and Religion in a Rural Community. University of Illinois Press.Hannah Arendt. The Origins of Totalitarianism.Tragedy of the education commons episode with Guy StandingHerbert Blumer. 1986. Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method. University of California Press.Peter Gould. 2026. Part for the Whole. Whetstone Publishing.John Williams. Stoner.Elizabeth Cotton. 2025. Ubertherapy: The New Business of Mental Health. Bristol University Press.christianjchurchill.com Jerry Levy’s faculty pageText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

On class rank, Latin honors, the 4.0 grading scale, and other old traditionsReferences and suggested readings:Joshua R. Eyler. 2024. Failing Our Future: How Grades Harm Students, and What We Can Do About It. Johns Hopkins University Press. Josh Eyler. February 26, 2024. The Origin of Grades in American Schools. Saturday Evening Post.Adam Laats. 2024. Mr. Lancaster’s System: The Failed Reform That Created America's Public Schools. Johns Hopkins University Press.Victor Hugo. Les Miserables.Follow Josh on LinkedIn and BlueskyJosh Eyler’s faculty page, email Josh at [email protected] Text the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

Muscular Christianity and its various forms on the campusReferences and suggested readings:Amy Laura Hall. 2026. Erecting the Pulpit: Muscular Christianity from Teddy Roosevelt to Donald Trump. Bloomsbury.Theodore Roosevelt. 1899. The Strenuous Life speech.From the vault: [Lawrence] Wright talks to Alec Baldwin about Scientology and Tom Cruise. October 10, 2022.Darren Dochuk. 2019. Anointed with Oil: How Christianity and Crude Made Modern America. Basic Books.Bethany Moreton. 2010. To Serve God and Wal-Mart: The Making of Christian Free Enterprise. Harvard University Press.Daneil Silliman. 2021. An Evangelical Is Anyone Who Likes Billy Graham: Defining Evangelicalism with Carl Henry and Networks of Trust. Church History, 90(3): 621-643.Darren E. Grem. 2014. Christianity Today: J. Howard Pew, and the Business of Conservative Evangelicalism. Enterprise and Society, 15(2): 337-379.Ahmanson family’s Institute on Religion and Democracy WikiAdam Laats’s research on K12 schools Geoffrey Canada’s Wiki Waiting for Superman trailer on IMDBDana Goldstein. September 23, 2010. Grading Waiting for Superman. The Nation.Julie A. Webber. 2002. Failure to Hold: The Politics of School Violence. Rowman & Littlefield.Frank Deford. September 8, 2010. Football Fans Ignore Increasing Violence. NPR.Audre Lorde. 1982. Zami: A New Spelling of My Name. Crossing Press.Ayoush Lazikani. 2025. Medieval Moon: A History of Haunting and Blessing. Yale University Press.Amy Laura Hall’s faculty page, Twitter, BlueskyText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:Ira Halpern. 2026. Imagining Health: Medicine, Social Protest, and Modern American Literature. University of Massachusetts Press.Abraham Flexner. 1910. Medical Education in the United States and Canada: A Report to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.Regina Kunzel. 2024. In the Shadow of Diagnosis: Psychiatric Power and Queer Life. University of Chicago Press.Ivan Illich. 2000. Limits to Medicine: Medical Nemesis - The Expropriation of Health. Marion Boyars Publishers.Ira Halpern’s faculty pageText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

On the origins of natural language processing and how corporations like IBM leaned into predictive algorithms.References and suggested readings:Xiaochang Li. 2026. Divination Engines: Natural Language Processing, Artificial Intelligence, and the Making of Algorithmic Culture. University of Chicago Press.Anil Seth. July 15, 2026. “Once again we are told AI may be conscious – I study consciousness, and I have my doubts.” The Guardian.Paul Kockelman. 2024. Last Words: Large Language Model and the AI Apocalypse. Prickly Paradigm Press.Lief Weatherby. 2025. Language Machines: Cultural AI and the End of Remainder Humanism. University of Minnesota Press.Carlo Ginzburg. 2026. The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth Century Miller, 50th anniversary edition. Johns Hopkins University Press.Kate Crawford. 2022. Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence. Yale University Press.Chris Wiggins and Matthew L. Jones. 2024. How Data Happened: A History from the Age of Reason to the Age of Algorithms. W. W. Norton.Christopher Manning and Hinrich Schütze. 2026. Foundations of Statistical Natural Language Processing. MIT Press.Danial Jurafsky and James Martin. 2026. Speech and Language Processing.Xiaochang Li’s faculty page and @[email protected] the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:Guy Standing. 2026. Human Capital:  The Tragedy of the Education Commons. Penguin Press. “Linda McMahon slaps her daughter Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley: RAW IS WAR, Apr. 17, 2000”Nafeez Ahmed, Peter Jukes,  and Hardeep Matharu. July 9, 2026. Palantir Co-Founder Peter Thiel and Reform UK’s Cambridge University Recruitment Pipeline Project Revealed. Byline Times.Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway. 2011. Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Climate Change. Bloomsbury.Ralph Wilson and Isaac Kamola. 2021. Free Speech and Koch Money: Manufacturing a Campus Culture War. Pluto Press.Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff. 2026. Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed. Harper.Hannah Arendt. The Human Condition.Guy Standing. 2021. The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class Special Covid-19 Edition. IB Taurus & Co.Guy Standing. 2023. The Blue Commons: Rescuing the Economy of the Sea. Pelican.Guy Standing’s websiteText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:Matthew C. Ehrlich. 2021. Dangerous Ideas on Campus: Sex, Conspiracy, and Academic Freedom in the Age of JFK. University of Illinois Press.Matthew C. Ehrlich. 2024. The Krebiozen Hoax: How a Mysterious Cancer Drug Shook Organized Medicine. University of Illinois Press.Pseudoscience and the ethics of academic medicine episode with Matthew C. EhrlichMichael Bérubé and Jennifer Ruth. 2022. It’s Not Free Speech: Race, Democracy, and the Future of Academic Freedom. Johns Hopkins University Press.Mary Anne Franks. 2024. Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment. Bold Type Books.Beware of FIRE (and institutional neutrality) episode with Mary Anne FranksJacob Holmes. June 9, 2026. “Auburn board takes control of curricula, dissolves faculty senate.” Alabama Political Reporter.Thomas Milan Konda. 2019. Conspiracies of Conspiracies: How Delusions Have Overrun America. University of Chicago Press.John Durham Peters. 2020. Courting the Abyss: Free Speech and the Liberal Tradition. University of Chicago Press.Jim Windolf. 2026. Where the Music Had to Go: How Bob Dylan and the Beatles Changed Each Other—and the World. Scribner.Matthew C. Ehrlich’s faculty pageText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:Zak Foste and Lauren N. Irwin. 2026. Disrupting White Noise: Challenging Beliefs about Race on Campus. Harvard Education Press. CODE FOR 20% OFF: HCPR26  Elijah Anderson. 2023. Black in White Space: The Enduring Impact of Color in Everyday Life. University of Chicago Press.Beverly Daniel Tatum. 2025. Peril and Promise: College Leadership in Turbulent Times. Basic Books.Sarah J. Mass. 2023. Throne of Glass. Bloomsbury.Colin Diver. 2022. Breaking Ranks: How the Rankings Industry Rules Higher Education and What to Do about It. Johns Hopkins University Press.Follow Lauren N. Irwin and Zak Foste on LinkedInText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:Alexander D. Hyres. 2026. Protest and Pedagogy: Charlottesville’s Black Freedom Struggle and the Making of the American High School. University of Georgia Press. Alex Hyres’s faculty pageHeather Andrea Williams. 2007. Self-Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom. University of North Carolina Press.James D. Anderson. 1988. Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935. University of North Carolina Press. Jarvis R. Givens. 2023. Fugitive Pedagogy: Carter G. Woodson and the Art of Black Teaching. Harvard University Press.Vanessa Siddle Walker. 1996. Their Highest Potential: An African American School Community in the Segregated South. University of North Carolina Press.School Yearbook: A Cringey Tradition and Its Digital Afterlife episode with Kate Eichhorn Scott Anderson. 2025. King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation. Doubleday.Instagram @hyres376 Bluesky @hyres376.bsky.social, linktree Text the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

On the student life apparatus.References and suggested readings:Chad Wellmon. 2026. After the University: Higher Education and the Future of Intellectual Work. Johns Hopkins University Press. Paul Reitter and Chad Wellmon. 2023. Permanent Crisis: The Humanities in a Disenchanted Age. University of Chicago Press.Chad Wellmon. 2016. Organizing Enlightenment: Information Overload and the Invention of the Modern Research University. Johns Hopkins University Press.Bavarian L. Baldwin. 2021. In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities Are Plundering Our Cities. Bold Type Books.David S. Busch. 2025. Disciplining Democracy: How the Modern American University Transformed Student Activism. Cornell University Press.Matteo Pasquinelli. 2023. The Eye of the Master: A Social History of Artificial Intelligence. Verso.Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Phenomenology of Perception.Sean Keilen. 2026. Shakespeare's Scholars: Three Lessons from the Liberal Arts. Princeton University Press.Chadwellmon.comText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

On age, class, and jobs.References and suggested readings:Samuel Moyn. 2026. Gerontocracy in America: How the Old Are Hoarding Power and Wealth—and What to Do About It. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.Samuel Moyn. April 23, 2026. Professors Are Too Old: The Academy’s Gerontocracy Problem is Worse than Anyone Admits. The Chronicle of Higher Education.Dino Buzzati, translated by Lawrence Venuti. 2023. The Stronghold. NYRB Classics.Nazmul Sultan. 2024. Waiting for the People: The Idea of Democracy in Indian Anticolonial Thought. Harvard University Press.Samuel Moyn’s faculty pageFollow Sam on X, The Everything App, @samuelmoynText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

Speaking to the dead, academically.References and suggested readings:Jesse Bering. 2026. The Incredible Afterlives of Dr. Stevenson: One Scientist's Epic Quest for Evidence of Reincarnation, Apparitions, Poltergeists, and Other Matters of the Soul. University of Chicago Press.Jesse Bering’s websiteBering in Mind SubstackText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

A nice companion episode to last week's on The West with Curtis Dozier.References and suggested readings:Emmaia Gelman. 2026. The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State. University of California Press. Alice Speri. April 24, 2026. US universities are seeing an influx of ‘antisemitism centers’. Some Jewish scholars are worried. The Guardian.Lauren Lassabe Shepherd. May 7, 2025. Old Project, New Vehicle: Conservative Civics and Leadership Institutes in Historical Context. Frontiers of American Reaction.Sabri Jiryis. 2025. Foundations of Zionism, translated by Fida Jiryis. Ebb Books.Rana Barakat. 2026. Ongoing Return: Mapping Memory and Storytelling in Palestine. University of North Carolina Press.Emmaia Gelman’s websiteInstitute for the Critical Study of Zionism websitePeer-Reviewed Journal: JCSZInstagram: @institutecszPodcast: Unpacking ZionismFollow Emmaia Gelman on Instagram and BlueskyText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

Athens, Jerusalem, and sometimes Rome.References and suggested readings:Curtis Dozier. 2026. The White Pedestal: How White Nationalists Use Ancient Greece and Rome to Justify Hate. Yale University Press. Why white nationalists love Plato with Curtis DozierAnders Stephanson. 2025. American Imperatives: The Cold War and Other Measures. Verso.Naoíse Mac Sweeney. 2023. The West: A New History in Fourteen Lives. Dutton.Stephen Graham Jones. 2021. The Only Good Indians. S&S/Saga Press.Dozier’s website, Pharos: Doing Justice to the Classics, Pharos on FacebookCurtis Dozier on BlueSkyText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

A small question!References and suggested readings:Marc Spooner and James McNinch, eds. 2026. Knowledge Under Siege: Charting a Future for Universities. University of Regina Press. Marc Spooner and James McNich, eds. 2018. Dissident Knowledge in Higher Education. University of Regina Press.Ellen Schrecker. 1986. No Ivory Tower: McCarthyism and the Universities.AAUP’s 1915 Declaration and 1940 StatementMichael Atzmon, John Cheney-Lippold, Gary D. Krenz, and Melanie S. Tanielian, eds. 2026. In the Spirit of H. Chandler Davis. Disobedience Press.Brian Soucek. 2026. The Opinionated University: Academic Freedom, Diversity, and the Myth of Neutrality in American Higher Education. University of Chicago Press. The Opinionated University episode with Brian Soucek Creating the AAUP episode with Hank Reichman Marc Spooner’s faculty pageText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:The Wild RobotHoppersJonathan Hauser’s website and LinkedInText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

On all things AKAReferences and suggested readings:Deborah E. Whaley. 2010. Disciplining Women: Alpha Kappa Alpha, Black Counterpublics, and the Cultural Politics of Black Sororities. SUNY Press. Twenty Pearls: The Story of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority documentaryStephanie Y. Evans. 2021. Black Women’s Yoga History: Memoirs of Inner Peace. SUNY Press.Deborah Whaley’s website, faculty page, and on Instagram at @dewhaley and @afrovegan.in.the.world Text the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:Emma Taylor. 2026. An Elite Education: How Privilege Is Produced in a Private School. Princeton University Press.Sam Friedman and Daniel Laurison. 2020. The Class Ceiling: Why It Pays to Be Privileged. Policy Press.Michael Foucault. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison.Pierre Bourdieu and Loïc J D Wacquant. 1992. An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. University of Chicago Press.Karen Gravett. 2024. Relational Pedagogies: Connections and Mattering in Higher Education. Bloomsbury Academic.Lauren White, Will Mason, Vicky Grant, Alison Romaine, Grace Cleary, and Shona Tulloch. April 2026. Towards a Pedagogy of Joy. British Journal of Sociology of Education.Emma Taylor’s LinkedInText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

On good cheese and how the career services office destroyed the American economyReferences and suggested readings:Dylan Gottlieb. 2026. Yuppies: The Bankers, Lawyers, Joggers, and Gourmands Who Conquered New York. Harvard University Press. Sam Tanenhaus. 2025. Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America. Penguin Random House. God and Man at Yale episode with Sam TanenhausWho Makes Cents: A History of Capitalism podcastCheck out Dylan’s website and follow him on Bluesky and Twitter Text the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

Ready to feel old?References and suggested readings:Austin McCoy. 2026. Living in a D.A.I.S.Y. Age: The Music, Culture, and World De La Soul Made. Simon and Schuster.De La Soul. 1989. Me, Myself, and I. Flo Rida ft. T-Pain. 2009. Low (Apple Bottom Jeans). Hip-Hop Evolution. Netflix.OutKast. 2000. B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad).Keith Jopling. 2026. Body of Work: How the Album Outplayed the Algorithm and Survived Playlist Culture. Repeater.Liz Pelly Mood Machine. 2025. Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist. Atria/One Signal Publishers.Austin McCoy’s websiteText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:AJA Woods. 2026. The Cultural Marxism Conspiracy: Why the Right Blames the Frankfurt School for the Decline of the West. Verso Books. Paul Hanebrink. 2020. A Specter Haunting Europe: The Myth of Judeo-Bolshevism. Belknap.The Frankfurt School Comes to US episode with Jonathan FineMatt Bernstein. May 15, 2026. The Tucker Carlson Problem (with Naomi Klein). A Bit Fruity.Anton Jäger. 2026. Hyperpolitics: Extreme Politicization without Political Consequences. Verso.Julian Barnes. 2026. Departure(s). Knopf.Follow AJ on Twitter @adubwoods, Bluesky @ajawoods.bsky.socialAnticapitalist Resistance Brighton on Instagram @acrbrightonText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

And why the IRB exempts humanities research.References and suggested readings:Marco Ramos’s faculty pageCommunity Histories Lab Yale University LabLaura Stark. 2012. Behind Closed Doors: IRBs and the Makings of Ethical Research. University of Chicago Press.Annika Norlin. 2025. The Colony (translated by Alice E Olsson). Europa Editions.Courtney E. Thompson and Kylie M. Smith, eds. 2025. Do Less Harm: Ethical Questions for Health Historians. Johns Hopkins University Press. Text the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

No gatekeeping.References and suggested readings:David M. Perry. 2026. The Public Scholar: A Practical Handbook. Johns Hopkins University Press. Follow David on Bluesky @lollardfish.bsky.social Read David at The Minnesota Star Tribunedavidmperry.comMark Twain. Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court.Center for Mark Twain StudiesText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:Brent Cebul and Lily Geismer, eds. 2025. Mastery and Drift: Professional-Class Liberals since the 1960s. University of Chicago Press. Brent Cebul. 2026. Illusions of Progress: Business, Poverty, and Liberalism in the American Century. University of Pennsylvania Press.Brent Cebul, Lily Geismer, and Mason B. Williams, eds. 2019. Shaped by The State: Toward a New Political History of the Twentieth Century. University of Chicago Press.Lily Geismer. 2022. Left Behind: The Democrats’ Failed Attempt to Solve Inequality. PublicAffairs.Lily Geismer. 2017. Don’t Blame Us: Suburban Liberals and the Transformation of the Democratic Party. Princeton University Press.Dylan Gottlieb. 2026. Yuppies: The Bankers, Lawyers, Joggers, and Gourmands Who Conquered New York. Harvard University Press.Molly Crabapple. 2026. Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund. One World.Follow Lily on Twitter and Brent on BlueskyLily and Brent’s new book series, America Unsettled: Political History for What Comes Next at the University of Chicago PressText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

Is grade inflation real, who cares, and why?References and suggested readings:Lisa M. Di Bartolomeo and Kevin M. Gannon, eds. 2026. The Campus Crisis Toolkit: Strategies and Solidarity for the Rest of Us. SUNY Press. Joshua R Eyler. 2024. Failing Our Future: How Grades Harm Students, and What We Can Do About It. Johns Hopkins University Press.Jane Nam. May 23, 2924. Grade Inflation in College: Trends and Why It Happens. Best Colleges.Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files novel series.Kevin R. McClure. 2025. The Caring University: Reimagining the Higher Education Workplace After the Great Resignation. Johns Hopkins University Press.Catherine J. Denial. 2024. A Pedagogy of Kindness. University of Oklahoma Press.Paulo Freire. 2021. Education for Critical Consciousness: With a New Introduction. Bloomsbury Academic.bell hooks. 1994. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. Routledge.thetattooedprof.comBluesky @thetattooedprofText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

Explaining the show's new art and how Mick Jagger "failed democracy and impoverished the souls" of students before 1987.References and suggested readings:God and Man at Yale episode with Sam TanenhausWhy white nationalists love Plato episode with Curtis DozierAllan Bloom. The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's Students.George Lowery. April 16, 2009. A campus takeover that symbolized an era of change. Cornell Chronicle.Lauren Lassabe Shepherd. March 21, 2025. Attack on the Faculties. The Carryall.Michelle Alexander. 2020. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. The New Press.Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein. 2024. They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. W. W. Norton.Saul Bellow. Ravelstein.Mark Hlavacik. 2025. Willing Warriors: A New History of the Education Culture Wars. University of Chicago Press. Mark Hlavacik. 2016. Assigning Blame: The Rhetoric of Education Reform. Harvard University Press.Mark Hlavacik’s faculty page.Text the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

Find May Day events near you in the resources below:Higher Education Labor United websiteHELU May Day events mapMay Day Strong websiteAnne Balay. 2020. Inside the World of Gay, Trans, and Black Truck Drivers. University of North Carolina Press. Anne Balay. 2016. Steel Closets: Voices of Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Steelworkers. University of North Carolina Press. AnneBalay.comText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

This is Part I of a conversation with Michael Stambolis-Ruhstorfer, Eléana Sanchez, and Jonathan Hauser. Listen to Part I here.References and suggested readings:Michael Stambolis-Ruhstorfer. 2025. By the Power Vested in Me: How Experts Shape Same-Sex Marriage Debates. Columbia University Press.Michael Stambolis-Ruhstorfer's websiteEléana Sanchez's website, HAL (open science platform in France), and BlueskyJonathan Hauser's websiteJon is watching Koh-LantaEléana is watching Rooster and listening to La dernière Marwan Mohammed. 2026. C'était pas gagné !: De l'échec scolaire au CNRS, histoire d'une remontada. Seuil.Michael is playing Cities: Skylines and Cities: Skylines IIR. F. Kuang. 2023. Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution. Harper Voyager.Text the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

This is Part I of a conversation with Michael Stambolis-Ruhstorfer, Eléana Sanchez, and Jonathan Hauser. Stay tuned for Part II next.References and suggested readings:Michael Stambolis-Ruhstorfer. 2025. By the Power Vested in Me: How Experts Shape Same-Sex Marriage Debates. Columbia University Press.Michael Stambolis-Ruhstorfer's websiteEléana Sanchez's website, HAL (open science platform in France), and BlueskyJonathan Hauser's websiteText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

I know, I know, it’s Frankenstein’s monster…Thanks to Tara McMullin for inviting me to talk about 21st century higher education on the What Works podcast.Follow along with What Works!Text the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

On YAF, the male loneliness epidemic, evangelicals v. trad Caths, and much more.References and suggested readings:Pentagon's Protestant-only Good Friday service fuels bias concerns. MSN.George Saunders. 2018. Lincoln in the Bardo. Random House.Mark A. Noll. 2022. The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. William B. Eerdmans.Karen Swallow Prior. 2023.  The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images, and Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis. Brazos. Daniel Ruggles’s websiteUpon the Gears SubstackMario Savio’s Bodies Upon the Gears speech, UC Berkeley 1964Text the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

Colleges really come out on top in the education-industrial complex.References and suggested readings:Alexandre Frenette. 2026. Blame the Intern: On (Not) Breaking Into the Creative Economy. Princeton University Press. Alexandre Frenette’s faculty pageJohn Wynn. 2025. The Set Up. Belt Publishing.Nina Bandelj. 2026. Overinvested: The Emotional Economy of Modern Parenting. Princeton University Press.Alexandre Frenette on LinkedIn Text the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

Create your own college ranking list! The parameters are totally up to you. Email Lauren at [email protected]. JBF will pick the winner of MANY FREE BOOKS!References and suggested readings:JonathanBeecherField.net Scott Romine. 2024. The Zombie Memes of Dixie. University of Georgia Press.Ruth Wilson Gilmore. 2007. Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California. University of California Press.Anthony Harkins and Meredith McCarroll, eds. 2019. Appalachian Reckoning: A Region Responds to Hillbilly Elegy. West Virginia University Press.Jonathan Beecher Field. September 20, 2019. Got Shakespeare? Boston Review. Phyllis Schlafly. October 3, 2007. Advice To College Students: Don’t Major In English. Eagle Forum.Nicole Hemmer. 2018. Messengers of the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics. University of Pennsylvania Press.Text the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

The International Olympic Committee’s decision to sex test professional athletes, and what that means for college sports. References and suggested readings:Johanna Mellis faculty profileEnd of Sport podcast Feminist Sport LabJohanna Mellis in The Guardian and Los Angeles TimesRachel Reid. 2024. Game Changers. Carina Press. (Heated Rivalry book series)Pride and Prejudice 1995 BBC adaptationInstagram @JoJoMellis Text the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:Scott M. Gelber. 2024. From Compensation to Accommodation: The History of Learning Disabilities in American Higher Education. History of Education Quarterly.Scott M. Gelber. 2020. Grading the College: A History of Evaluating Teaching and Learning. Johns Hopkins University Press.Scott M. Gelber. 2015. Courtrooms and Classrooms: A Legal History of American College Access, 1860-1960. Johns Hopkins University Press.Scott M. Gelber. 2011. The University and the People: Envisioning American Higher Education in an Era of Populist Protest. University of Wisconsin Press.Text the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

It only flows one way.References and suggested readings:Dwaipayan Banerjee. 2026. Computing in the Age of Decolonization: India’s Lost Technological Revolution. Princeton University Press. Dwai Banerjee’s faculty page@dwai_banerjee on X, @dwaibanerjee on Instagram Text the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:Danielle Casarez Lemi. 2026. Doing Identity Labor: How Mixed-Race Politicians Disrupt Descriptive Representation. Oxford University Press.Nadia E. Brown and Danielle Casarez Lemi. 2021. Sister Style: The Politics of Appearance for Black Women Political Elites. Oxford University Press.Kelly Clancy’s Epilogue EditingMaria Ressa. 2023. How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future. Harper Perennial.Real Housewives on Bravo90 Day Fiance on TLC GoDanielle Casarez Lemi’s website, LinkedIn, and consulting Text the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:John P. Jackson, Jr. 2005. Science for Segregation: Race, Law, and the Case Against Brown V. Board of Education. New York University Press. John P. Jackson, Jr. 2001. Social Scientists for Social Justice: Making the Case Against Segregation. New York University Press.John P. Jackson, Jr. books on bookshop.orgJohn P. Jackson, Jr. websiteText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:Mark S. Ferrara. 2015. Palace of Ashes: China and the Decline of American Higher Education. Johns Hopkins University Press. Tessa Hulls. 2025. Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Novel. Picador. Olga Tokarczuk. 2025. House of Day, House of Night. Riverhead Books. Daniel Biebuyck. 2021. The Mwindo Epic from the Banyanga. The University of California Press. Mark Ferrara’s faculty pageText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf

Plus! Voltaire, antisemitism, the West as a concept, and the Great Replacement theoryReferences and suggested readings:Curtis Dozier. 2026. The White Pedestal: How White Nationalists Use Ancient Greece and Rome to Justify Hate. Yale University Press. Dozier’s website, Pharos: Doing Justice to the ClassicsDan-el Padilla Peralta. 2025. Classicism and Other Phobias. Princeton University Press.Jack Jenkins. 2021.American Prophets: The Religious Roots of Progressive Politics and the Ongoing Fight for the Soul of the Country. HarperCollins.The X Files, HuluCurtis Dozier on BlueSky: @curtisdozier.bsky.socialPharos on FacebookText the show here!Support the showBrowse the American Campus bookshelf