Episodes

  • Maurice Casey, "Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism's Forgotten Radicals" (Footnote Press, 2024)

    Maurice Casey, "Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism's Forgotten Radicals" (Footnote Press, 2024)
    Dec 23 2024
    Sexy young revolutionaries, a queer romance, and international communism--what more could you ask for?! In his brilliant new book, Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism’s Forgotten Radicals (Footnote Press, 2024), Maurice Casey delivers up an intriguing story of friendship, love, and revolution in a story spanning decades and continents. Following May O’Callaghan, an Irish communist revolutionary with an impressive curricula vitae, and her two dearest friends Nellie Cohen and Emmy Leonhard, Casey takes us from London to Moscow to New York City to Mexico. In a clever narrative intervention, Casey also takes us with him to an attic in the Cotswolds and a shed in Galicia as he documents his own journey in researching this book. He tells his research story in a way that draws back the curtain not just on the immensely complex process of collecting the pieces of this narrative, but also on the duality of doing historical research: equal parts thrilling and heartbreaking. Join us as we chat about political intrigue, a host of fascinating--famous or forgotten--twentieth-century revolutionaries, an enduring friendship that built the blocks for a queer romance captured in incredible love letters, and one historian’s determination to follow the breadcrumbs to the satisfying conclusion of an international story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    40 mins
  • Megan Rae Blakely, "Technology, Intellectual Property Law, and Culture: The Tangification of Cultural Heritage" (Routledge, 2024)

    Megan Rae Blakely, "Technology, Intellectual Property Law, and Culture: The Tangification of Cultural Heritage" (Routledge, 2024)
    Nov 25 2024
    How can we protect diverse cultural expressions in an era of huge technological change? In Technology, Intellectual Property Law and Culture: The Tangification of Intangible Cultural Heritage (Routledge, 2024), Megan Rae Blakely, a lecturer in law at Lancaster University, examines the contemporary international legal context for heritage. The book uses three detailed case studies of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, considering heritage in many different forms, from tourism and nation branding through to language and clothing. Rich in detail, but accessible for a those who are not specialists in law, technology, or heritage, the book is essential reading across the humanities and social sciences, as well as for anyone interested in how best to support and preserve the past. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    42 mins
  • Conor McCabe, "The Lost and Early Writings of James Connolly, 1889-1898" (Iskra Books, 2024)

    Conor McCabe, "The Lost and Early Writings of James Connolly, 1889-1898" (Iskra Books, 2024)
    Nov 11 2024
    Dr. Conor McCabe is a research fellow with Queen’s Business School, Queens University Belfast. He is the author of numerous policy and research reports and is also the author of two Irish political economy books: Sins of the Father (2013), and Money (2018). He works mainly with grassroots political, trade union, artist, and community groups, exploring the dynamics of theory and action for societal change In this interview he discusses his new edited collection of the early writings of James Connolly. The Lost and Early Writings of James Connolly, 1889-1898 (Iskra Books, 2024) unveils the formative years of one of the 20th century's most influential socialist thinkers and revolutionary leaders. In this groundbreaking collection, historian Conor McCabe brings together Connolly's earliest articles, letters, and speeches, many of which have remained unpublished or inaccessible for over a century. These writings offer a rare glimpse into Connolly's evolving political thought as he navigated the fight for workers' rights, socialism, and Irish independence. Through his sharp critiques of capitalism and imperialism, Connolly laid the intellectual groundwork for the radical movements that would later define his legacy. This collection not only captures Connolly's intellectual rigor but also his deep personal commitment to the working class and the oppressed. From his early involvement in Scottish socialist circles to his growing leadership in Ireland, Connolly's writings reveal a thinker who was as much a man of action as of theory. His early works show the seeds of what would become his revolutionary strategy—a blend of Marxist analysis, Irish republicanism, and a fierce advocacy for international solidarity. Aidan Beatty is a lecturer in history at Carnegie Mellon University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    54 mins
  • Jennifer Mooney, "Feminist Discourse in Irish Literature: Gender and Power in Louise O'Neill's Young Adult Fiction" (Routledge, 2022)

    Jennifer Mooney, "Feminist Discourse in Irish Literature: Gender and Power in Louise O'Neill's Young Adult Fiction" (Routledge, 2022)
    Sep 28 2024
    Feminist Discourse in Irish Literature: Gender and Power in Louise O'Neill's Young Adult Fiction (Routledge, 2022) addresses the role of YA Irish literature in responding and contributing to some the most controversial and contemporary issues in today's modern society: gender, and conflicting views of power, sexism, and consent. This volume provides an original, innovative, and necessary examination of how "rape culture" and the intersections between feminism and power have become increasingly relevant to Irish society in the years since Irish author Louise O'Neill's novels for young adults Only Ever Yours and Asking for It were published. In consideration of the socio-political context in Ireland and broader Western culture from which O'Neill's works were written, and taking into account a selection of Irish, American, Australian and British YA texts that address similar issues in different contexts, this text highlights the contradictions in O'Neill's works and illuminates their potential to function as a form of literary/social fundamentalism which often undermines, rather than promotes, equality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr
  • Susan Doran, "From Tudor to Stuart: The Regime Change from Elizabeth I to James I" (Oxford UP, 2024)

    Susan Doran, "From Tudor to Stuart: The Regime Change from Elizabeth I to James I" (Oxford UP, 2024)
    Sep 24 2024
    From Tudor to Stuart: The Regime Change from Elizabeth I to James I (Oxford UP, 2024) tells the story of the troubled accession of England's first Scottish king and the transition from the age of the Tudors to the age of the Stuarts at the dawn of the seventeenth century. From Tudor to Stuart: The Regime Change from Elizabeth I to James I tells the story of the dramatic accession and first decade of the reign of James I and the transition from the Elizabethan to the Jacobean era, using a huge range of sources, from state papers and letters to drama, masques, poetry, and a host of material objects. The Virgin Queen was a hard act to follow for a Scottish newcomer who faced a host of problems in his first years as king: not only the ghost of his predecessor and her legacy but also unrest in Ireland, serious questions about his legitimacy on the English throne, and even plots to remove him (most famously the Gunpowder Plot of 1605). Contrary to traditional assumptions, James's accession was by no means a smooth one. The really important question about James's reign, of course, is the extent of change that occurred in national political life and royal policies. Sue Doran also examines how far the establishment of a new Stuart dynasty resulted in fresh personnel at the centre of power, and the alterations in monarchical institutions and shifts in political culture and governmental policies that occurred. Here the book offers a fresh look at James and his wife Anna, suggesting a new interpretation of their characters and qualities. But the Jacobean era was not just about James and his wife, and Regime Change includes a host of historical figures, many of whom will be familiar to readers: whether Walter Raleigh, Robert Cecil, or the Scots who filled James's inner court. The inside story of the Jacobean court also brings to life the wider politics and national events of the early seventeenth century, including the Gunpowder Plot, the establishment of Jamestown in Virginia, the Plantations in Ulster, the growing royal struggle with parliament, and the doomed attempt to bring about union with Scotland. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • Robert Polner and Michael Tubridy, "An Irish Passion for Justice: The Life of Rebel New York Attorney Paul O'Dwyer" (Cornell UP, 2024)

    Robert Polner and Michael Tubridy, "An Irish Passion for Justice: The Life of Rebel New York Attorney Paul O'Dwyer" (Cornell UP, 2024)
    Sep 22 2024
    In the city of New York from the 1930s to the 1990s, Irish attorney Paul O’Dwyer was a fierce and enduring presence in courtrooms, on picket lines, and in contests for elected office. He was forever the advocate of the downtrodden and marginalized, fighting not only for Irish Catholics in Northern Ireland but for workers, radicals, Jews, and African Americans and against the Vietnam War. With his shock of white hair and bushy eyebrows, O’Dwyer was widely recognized in politics and in the media. His work as a reform Democrat transformed the Democratic Party and his advocacy for peace and justice in Northern Ireland bore fruit in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 that ended decades of conflict. Until now, however, there has been no biography of this happy warrior for social justice. Fortunately, that problem has been remedied with a new book by Robert Polner and Michael Tubridy, An Irish Passion for Justice: The Life of Rebel New York Attorney Paul O’Dwyer (Cornell UP, 2024). Host Robert W. Snyder is Manhattan Borough Historian and professor emeritus of journalism, and American Studies at Rutgers University. His latest book, When the City Stopped: Stories from New York’s Essential Workers, is due out in March 2025 from Cornell University Press. Email: rwsnyder@rutgers.edu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    51 mins
  • Aideen O’Shaughnessy, "Embodying Irish Abortion Reform: Bodies, Emotions, and Feminist Activism" (Bristol UP, 2024)

    Aideen O’Shaughnessy, "Embodying Irish Abortion Reform: Bodies, Emotions, and Feminist Activism" (Bristol UP, 2024)
    Sep 21 2024
    Dr. Aideen O'Shaughnessy is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Lincoln. She has a PhD in Sociology from the University of Cambridge, an MA in Gender Studies Research from Utrecht University and a BA in Sociology and French at Trinity College Dublin. Her research focuses on gender, health, and social movements and she is particularly interested in the study of reproductive health, rights, and justice. She has published widely in journals including Body and Society, the European Journal of Women's Studies, and the BMJ Sexual and Reproductive Health. Embodying Irish Abortion Reform: Bodies, Emotions, and Feminist Activism (Bristol UP, 2024) explores the lived, embodied and affective experiences of reproductive rights activists living under, and mobilizing against, Ireland’s constitutional abortion ban. Through qualitative research and in-depth interviews with activists, the author exposes the subtle influence of the 8th Amendment on Irish women and their (reproductive) bodies, whether or not they have ever attempted to access a clandestine abortion. It explains how the everyday embodied practices, bodily labours and affective experiences of women and gestating people were shaped by the 8th amendment and through the need to ‘prepare’ for crisis pregnancies. In addition, it reveals the integral role of women’s bodies and emotions in changing the political and social landscape in Ireland, through the historical transformation of the country’s abortion laws. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    47 mins
  • Jack Crangle, "Migrants, Immigration and Diversity in Twentieth-century Northern Ireland: British, Irish or 'Other’?" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023)

    Jack Crangle, "Migrants, Immigration and Diversity in Twentieth-century Northern Ireland: British, Irish or 'Other’?" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023)
    Sep 20 2024
    Addressing questions about what it means to be ‘British’ or ‘Irish’ in the twenty-first century, Migrants, Immigration and Diversity in Twentieth-Century Northern Ireland: British, Irish or “Other”? (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023) focuses its attention on twentieth-century Northern Ireland and demonstrates how the fragmented and disparate nature of national identity shaped and continues to shape responses to social issues such as immigration. Immigrants moved to Northern Ireland in their thousands during the twentieth century, continuing to do so even during three decades of the Troubles, a violent and bloody conflict that cost over 3,600 lives. Foregrounding the everyday lived experiences of settlers in this region, in this groundbreaking book, Dr Jack Crangle comparatively examines the perspectives of Italian, Indian, Chinese and Vietnamese migrants in Northern Ireland, outlining the specific challenges of migrating to this small, intensely divided part of the UK. The book explores whether it was possible for migrants and minorities to remain ‘neutral’ within an intensely politicised society and how internal divisions affected the identity and belonging of later generations. An analysis of diversity and immigration within this divided society enhances our understanding of the forces that can shape conceptions of national insiders and outsiders - not just in the UK and Ireland - but across the world. It provokes and addresses a range of questions about how conceptions of nationality, race, culture and ethnicity have intersected to shape attitudes towards migrants. In doing so, the book invites scholars to embrace a more diverse, ‘four-nation’ approach to UK immigration studies, making it an essential read for all those interested in the history of migration in the UK. This interview was conducted by Niall Herron, a PhD student at Queen's University Belfast in Anthropological Studies, researching queer assemblages during the Troubles in NI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    54 mins