Open Stacks

This week's episode examines prejudice in technological development. Marie Hicks discusses her book "Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing." Tom Mullaney talks about "The Chinese Typewriter: A History" which examines the development of a modern, nonalphabetic information infrastructure.

Open Stacks is the official podcast of the Seminary Co-operative Bookstores.

This week myths and folktales take the stage in their basic and abstract forms. William Hansen recounts ancient Greek and Roman folktales from his collection, "The Book of Greek and Roman Folktales, Legends, and Myths." Wendy Doniger joins us in talking about cross-cultural mythologies surrounding rings and their connection to love and sex as she writes about in her recent book, "The Ring of Truth."

Open Stacks is the official podcast of the Seminary Co-operative Bookstores.

This week on Open Stacks, signs of life in film and filmic renditions of life. Noa Steimatsky, Robert Pippin, and Carl Skoggard share in the cinematic tradition of building and relaying stories and worlds with the smallest of details.

Open Stacks is the official podcast of the Seminary Co-operative Bookstores.

This week we explore the embodied aspect of mental illness. Resmaa Menakem discusses racial trauma and his book "My Grandmother's Hands." Andrea Petersen discusses anxiety and her book "On Edge." Yael Shy shares mindfulness tips and a guided meditation.

Open Stacks is the official podcast of the Seminary Co-operative Bookstores.

Can history predict the future? Where do we fall in history's great cycles? History professor Alfred McCoy, author of "In the Shadow of the American Century," and historian and podcaster Mike Duncan, author of "The Storm Before the Storm," weigh in.

Open Stacks is the official podcast of the Seminary Co-op Bookstores.

Poet David Ferry reads from his translation of Vergil's Aeneid. Poets Mai Der Vang, Emily Yoon, and Zhou Sivan share stories of conflict and displacement. Eduardo Rabasa, Erika L. Sanchez, & José Ángel Navejas discuss the immigrant experience.

Open Stacks is the official podcast of the Seminary Co-operative Bookstores.

Art critic Jed Perl talks Alexander Calder and his new book "Calder: The Conquest of Time." Historian and critic Liesl Olson shares revelations from "Chicago Renaissance: Literature and Art in the Midwest Metropolis. Translator Sho Sugita reads poems by Japanese futurist poet Hirato Rekichi.

Open Stacks is the official podcast of the Seminary Co-op Bookstores.

This episode was produced by Kit Brennen, Imani E. Jackson, Marina Malazoniya & Joshua Edwards.

Augustus Rose reads from his acclaimed debut, "The Readymade Thief" and Baird Harper reads his linked short story collection, "Red Light Run." Plus, booksellers share the joy of reading with excerpts from their favorite books this year.

Open Stacks is the official podcast of the Seminary Co-op Bookstores. This episode was produced by Kit Brennen & Imani E. Jackson.

This week, we hear from Masha Gessen on 'The Future is History' and Putin's Russia, Julia Alekseyeva on 'Soviet Daughter,' and Franz Nicolay on 'The Humorless Ladies of Border Control' Plus, U. Chicago Professor William Nickell gives a crash course in the Russian Revolution & its legacy.

Open Stacks is the official podcast of the Seminary Co-operative Bookstores. This episode was produced by Kit Brennen, Imani E. Jackson and Marina Malazoniya.

This week, we explore the political side of hunger. Anti-hunger activist Andrew Fisher tells the story of his book "Big Hunger." Then, "Modern Hungers" author and historian Alice Weinreb explores the political uses of hunger in 20th Century Germany.

Open Stacks is the official podcast of the Seminary Co-operative Bookstores. This episode was produced by Kit Brennen.