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When considering some of the milestone moments in feminist history, you might think about the Seneca Falls Conference of 1848, the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 or the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But the 1990s?

“This was actually one of the most pivotal decades, I believe, for feminist history.” 

We talk with Lisa Levenstein, the Director of the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at UNC Greensboro and the author of They Didn't See Us Coming: The Hidden History of Feminism in the Nineties. She tells us about the importance of the ‘90s and how it shaped feminism today.

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Welcome to the Nerdette Book Club! Each month, we read a book and chat about it with a rotating group of panelists. This month’s pick is Sameer Pandya’s debut novel Members Only.

It takes place over the course of one very intense week in the life of Raj, a middle-aged Indian-American anthropology professor. When he’s asked to help his tennis club interview potential new members, he’s thrilled by the opportunity to help diversify his tennis partners. But he makes a huge gaffe in front of a Black family, and the rest of his week gets worse from there.

Listen along as Nerdette host Greta Johnsen discusses the book with Jade Chang, author of The Wangs vs. the World, and author Alisha Rai, whose Modern Love series is part of an upswell in romance novels with strong female characters and feminist sensibilities.

And then get ready for next month’s pick: The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste.

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We didn’t ask him, but I think we can say it with certainty: Peter Sagal definitely cannot dunk.

Episode 3 of Nerdette Recaps features our very first sportsball movie: 1992’s White Men Can’t Jump, starring Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson and Rosie Perez. It’s director Ron Shelton’s followup to Bull Durham and the script might just contain more obscenities than non-obscenities.

Listen to this conversation with Peter, Tricia and Greta, then join us next week for our discussion of Dazed and Confused.

And don’t forget, we want to hear from you! Join the party and send us a voice recording about any of the movies we’re featuring. Just record yourself on your smartphone and send the audio file to [email protected]. Do it by Thursday!

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Argonne National Laboratory is a massive research facility outside of Chicago that’s run by the U.S. Department of Energy. And this week, Nerdette hosts Tricia Bobeda and Greta Johnsen take you behind the curtain to learn about some of the innovative stuff happening there. Stuff like superbatteries, supercomputers, and questions that may never get answers

This episode originally aired on August 10, 2018.

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The optimism of one woman’s 20s meets the disappointment of her 30s in I Used To Go Here, a new film from Chicago filmmaker Kris Rey.

We talked to Rey about the inspiration for the film, her recent name change from Swanberg to Rey, and what she tells young filmmakers.

“Go for it,” she said. “The stakes are not that high. You can always start over.”

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If you’re a former fighter pilot and the world is facing annihilation at the hands of an alien species whose only motivation is permanently ending the human race, well then, who cares if you’re the president? You belong in the air, baby!

Welcome back to Nerdette Recaps with Peter Sagal, the podcast where we rewatch movies of the ‘90s and dissect them like the intense nerds we are. Today is all about the 1996 blockbuster Independence Day, starring Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Vivica A. Fox, Bill Pullman and at least 25 gallons of pure Americana.

Listen to the conversation and then join us next week for our discussion of White Men Can’t Jump.

And don’t forget, we want to hear from you! Join the party and send us a voice recording about any of the movies we’re featuring. Just record yourself on your smartphone and send the audio file to [email protected].

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified exactly 100 years ago Tuesday, the culmination of decades of activism that finally gave women the right to vote.

Finish the Fight! is a new children’s book that chronicles the stories of some of the lesser-known suffragettes that made the 19th Amendment possible. 

Greta talks with author Veronica Chambers about 100 years of women’s suffrage and some of her favorite, lesser-known suffragettes. 

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We’re all human, but who has the right to make mistakes? That’s a question at the heart of Members Only, the debut novel from author Sameer Pandya. In it, Raj Bhatt's life falls apart after he makes a racist remark to an African-American couple at a posh tennis club.

In this Nerdette Book Club author interview, host Greta Johnsen talks with Pandya about the weaponization of the term “cancel culture,” why a tennis club serves as the setting for a story about Indian-American identity and who gets to recover from their mistakes.

Listen to this spoiler-free conversation with Pandya and then join us later this month for a panel discussion on Members Only.

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Some of you may already be familiar with Nerdette Recaps with Peter Sagal, the podcast where Greta Johnsen and Nerdette cohost-emeritus Tricia Bobeda recapped Game of Thrones with Peter Sagal, host of NPR's Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me! 

Well we are very happy to announce that we’re BACK, and this time, we’re doing '90s movies! So here is our very first episode! It’s a recap of 1995's 'Clueless,' featuring Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, and Paul Rudd. We break it down, ask if it holds up, and hear from YOU, too. 

Recaps will run the next six weeks, but this is the only episode we’re going to put in the Nerdette feed. So If you like it, hop on over and subscribe to Nerdette Recaps with Peter Sagal wherever you get your pods. 

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Welcome back to Nerdette Recaps with Peter Sagal! the podcast where we rewatch movies of the ‘90s and talk about them like the intense nerds we are.

Our first selection is Clueless, the 1995 Emma adaptation filled with ridiculous footwear, Paul Rudd putting mayo on cold cuts and also Friedrich Nietzsche for some reason. Listen to our conversation, then join us next week for a discussion of Independence Day.

And don’t forget, we want to hear from you! Join the party and send us a voice recording about any of the movies we’re featuring. Just record yourself on your smartphone and send the audio file to [email protected]. Snaps to you!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.