American Campus Podcast

By Lauren Lassabe ShepherdEducation Arts Books History

American Campus Podcast episodes

April 08Made up college rankings with Jonathan Beecher Field
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.
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36 min
April 05Sex testing and the path to transvestigating college athletes with Johanna Mellis
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 profile
End of Sport podcast
Feminist Sport Lab
Johanna Mellis in The Guardian and Los Angeles Times
Rachel Reid. 2024. Game Changers. Carina Press. (Heated Rivalry book series)
Pride and Prejudice 1995 BBC adaptation
Instagram @JoJoMellis
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30 min
March 31The history of college learning disability accommodations with Scott Gelber
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.
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20 min
March 29India's pipeline to Silicon Valley with Dwaipayan Banerjee
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
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52 min
March 25Publishing your academic book after leaving academia with Danielle Casarez Lemi
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 Editing
Maria Ressa. 2023. How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future. Harper Perennial.
Real Housewives on Bravo
90 Day Fiance on TLC Go
Danielle Casarez Lemi’s website, LinkedIn, and consulting
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16 min
March 22Pioneer Fund, the dark money trust that won't let race science die with John P. Jackson Jr.
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.org
John P. Jackson, Jr. website
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33 min
March 18China and the decline of American universities with Mark S. Ferrara
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 page
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31 min
March 15Why white nationalists love Plato with Curtis Dozier
Plus! Voltaire, antisemitism, the West as a concept, and the Great Replacement theory
References 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 Classics
Dan-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, Hulu
Curtis Dozier on BlueSky: @curtisdozier.bsky.social
Pharos on Facebook
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46 min
March 11Jesse Jackson and “Western Culture” at Stanford with John K. Wilson
"Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Western Culture's got to go!"
References and suggested readings:
John K. Wilson. February 19, 2026. Jesse Jackson and the Myth of the Stanford Chant. Inside Higher Ed.
John K. Wilson. 1995. The Myth of Political Correctness: The Conservative Attack on Higher Education. Duke University Press.
Brian Soucek. 2026. The Opinionated University: Academic Freedom, Diversity, and the Myth of Neutrality in American Higher Education. University of Chicago Press.
John Tomasi and Bernard Schweizer, eds. 2026. Viewpoint Diversity: What It Is, Why We Need It, and How to Get It. Heresy Press.
John K. Wilson’s columns in Inside Higher Ed
John K. Wilson on Twitter
Image credit: “Jesse Jackson and students protest Western Culture program on Palm Drive, photograph, 1987,” Stanford Stories From the Archives, Stanford University Libraries online exhibit.
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23 min
March 08L. Brent Bozell, trad Cath intellectual with Joshua Tait
References and suggested readings:
Joshua Tait. January 12, 2026. “Stitching Banners to an Exiled King”: Triumph, Radical Traditionalism, and the Temptation of Despair. To Live is to Maneuver.
Daniel J. Flynn. 2025. The Man Who Invented Conservatism: The Unlikely Life of Frank S. Meyer. Encounter Books.
Tait’s To Live is To Maneuver newsletter
The Associated Press. May 17, 2024. Conservative activist’s son sentenced to nearly 4 years in prison for ‘relentless’ attack on Capitol. POLITICO.
Darrin M. McMahon. 2002. Enemies of the Enlightenment: The French Counter-Enlightenment and the Making of Modernity. Oxford University Press.
Midge Decter. 2001. An Old Wife’s Tale: My Seven Decades in Love and War. William Morrow.
Isaac Asimov. 1991. Foundation. Spectra.
Arkady Martine. 2020. A Memory Called Empire. Tor Books.
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31 min