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Songbirds are disappearing at an alarming rate, with some species teetering on the verge of extinction, barely clinging to their endangered habitats. Birders, not to mention scientists, are sounding the alarm. But true as these words are today, they also describe the 19th century, and the valiant—and occasionally violent—efforts to protect birds from the utter devastation of human activity. This is the subject of James H. McCommons's new book, The Feather Wars. Birds were threatened by aggressive logging, farming, hunting, sport, and the desire to put a feather in a woman's cap. But they were also imperiled by the very people who claimed to love them—ornithologists, and their kindred oologists, whose hobby consisted of killing thousands upon thousands of birds and collecting their eggs to fluff out their collections. McCommons takes us behind the battle lines of the first American effort to save the birds, in the hopes that some lessons might apply to our current circumstances.

Go beyond the episode:

• James H. McCommons’s The Feather Wars: And the Great Crusade to Save America’s Birds
• Get to know the birds in your back yard with eBird from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• Learn how to garden for wildlife
• Read this viral essay about keeping your cat indoors: “The Domestic Cat: Bird Killer, Mouser and Destroyer of Wild Life; Means of Utilizing and Controlling It” (1916)

Tune in every (other) week to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek and sponsored by the Phi Beta Kappa Society.

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Have suggestions for projects you’d like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. And rate us on iTunes!

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The Vikings are here. A cold-blooded murder in seaside Dorset marks the beginning of the Viking Age in the British Isles. Scandinavian warriors with no fear of death set sail across the North Sea, targeting riches a-plenty. A construction project in 2008 unearths an astonishing boat burial in Estonia. And in 793, a community of monks on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne brace themselves, as dragon-shaped prows appear on the horizon…

A Noiser podcast production. Narrated by Iain Glen.

Featuring Eleanor Barraclough, Stefan Brink, Lars Brownworth, Ben Raffield, Levi Roach, Elizabeth Rowe, Pragya Vohra, Davide Zori.

Written by Roger Morris | Produced by Jeff Dawson | Executive Producer: Joel Duddell | Research by Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow | Fact check by Grant Jones | Sound Supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Jacob Booth & Tom Pink | Additional editing by Anisha Deva | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cian Ryan-Morgan. Recording Engineer: Tom Rouse at Jungle Studios.

Get every episode of Real Vikings two weeks early and ad-free by joining Noiser+. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions

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Japan faced some of the world’s toughest planning problems. It solved them by letting homeowners replan whole neighborhoods privately by supermajority vote. You can see the images, graphs and read the article at https://worksinprogress.co/issue/how-to-redraw-a-city/

And you can find the rest of Works in Progress at worksinprogress.co

Words by Anya Martin
Read by Stuart Ritchie
Music by David Hackett

We aren't afraid to ask the big questions here at Gastropod, such as: what exactly is a pancake? If you think you know the answer, prepare to have your mind blown. It turns out the sweet, syrup-covered stack of American breakfast fame are far from the only members of the pancake family—and there are some truly controversial cakes in the wider pan family. Speaking of controversy: if you've made instant pancakes from a certain famous mix, you might not realize the racist history behind it. Join us for the shocking story of Aunt Jemima, stay for the great pancake debate, and don't blame us if you end up craving something flattish, fluffy, and floppy for your next meal!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1930s New York, there was only one publication that fully covered the worsening situation for Jews in Europe: the Aufbau. With a daring approach to journalism, editor Manfred George transformed the tiny newsletter of a German-Jewish social club into a lifeline for a worldwide community of refugees. His paper also reported on the atrocities unfolding in Hitler’s Germany long before the mainstream press. The Aufbau held together a community strained past the breaking point, and helped its local readers integrate as Americans. It was a project so successful that it could not last.

In addition to the complete run of Aufbau from 1934–2004, which the LBI has digitized and made freely accessible online, our collections include the papers of Norbert and Lilo Goldenberg, the publishers of Aufbau.

Learn more at lbi.org/aufbau

Nobody’s happy with how the Biden administration handled the U.S./Mexico border, but it’s hard to find an honest reckoning.

That’s why you need to hear the story of Charanya Krishnaswami, a senior advisor at the Department of Homeland Security during all four of those tumultuous years. She’s brilliant, insightful, and even hilarious – all while pulling back the curtain on how so many smart people struggled to make good decisions.

This episode is Part 1 of Charanya’s story, starting on day one of the Biden administration and taking us through the mounting panic of the second year… 

Learn More

Amanda, Claire, and Doug express their own personal opinions on The Melting Pod. This episode was produced by Michael Palmer (⁠palmer.media⁠). Read more about the topics in this episode:

* How the Other Side Leaves - This American Life visits a refugee camp in Tijuana, Mexico filled with Ukrainians fleeing the war (05.06.2022)

* Coins depicting Border Patrol agent grabbing Haitian migrant trigger investigation - Los Angeles Times (06.16.2022) 

* The Voyage of the St. Louis - Museum of Jewish Heritage (May 5, 2022)

Give More

Want to help build a more sane and humane immigration system? Support hardworking organizations like these:

National:

* ⁠#AfghanEvac⁠ – working to ensure the U.S. keeps its promise to our Afghan allies

* ⁠Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project⁠ – the country’s largest membership organization of asylum seekers, working together for change

* ⁠Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI)⁠ – organizing and advocating for racial, social and economic justice

* ⁠Haitian Bridge Alliance⁠ – providing humanitarian, legal, and social services

* ⁠International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP)⁠ - strategic litigation and advocacy to uphold the rights of people seeking safety

* ⁠Justice Action Center⁠ - immigrant justice through litigation and storytelling

Local:

* ⁠Al Otro Lado⁠ - legal and humanitarian support to refugees, deportees, and other migrants in the U.S. and Tijuana

* ⁠Catholic Charities Rio Grande Valley⁠ - providing assistance to the poor and most vulnerable populations in the Rio Grande Valley community

* ⁠Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center⁠ - free and low-cost legal services to immigrants and refugees in West Texas, New Mexico, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

* ⁠Support an immigration service provider near you⁠

Chapters

(00:00:00) Intro

(00:00:32) Biden and the border – many failures, no simple heroes or villains

(00:02:29) Why you need to hear Charanya Krishnaswami

(00:04:47) Honest post-mortems are good; acronyms are bad

(00:06:51) 2021: Starting up a new presidential administration … via Zoom 

(00:11:24) Biden did not reverse all of Trump’s immigration policies on day one

(00:14:17) What is Title 42? 

(00:17:23) Why no president can “just shut down the border”

(00:21:13) We have asylum laws for a reason; remember the St. Louis

(00:23:31) How the Title 42 border rules made everything worse

(00:29:27) COVID, lawsuits, and chaos

(00:31:25) What happened when Haitian refugees arrived in Del Rio

(00:36:44) Why did Border Patrol feel betrayed?

(00:39:01) 2022: Attempted solution #1: The Asylum Officer Rule

(00:49:31) Why did this solution die on the vine?

(00:51:39) The vibe shift: Make Number Go Down

(00:55:24) Freakout as the pandemic is ending

(00:58:31) A strange and obscure silver lining

(01:00:36) Attempted solution #2: The Transit Ban

(01:02:49) “Skim milk protection”

(01:05:22) What happened when Ukrainian refugees arrived in Tijuana

(01:11:34) Conclusion (until Part 2…)

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Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday. Grab a coffee, settle onto the couch, and see your weekend out with a deep dive into the best new book releases…

This week, Richard Aldous talks to Christopher Clark, author of A Scandal in Königsberg (Penguin).

Follow Persuasion on X, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube to keep up with our latest articles, podcasts, and events, as well as updates from excellent writers across our network.

An interview with Danny Funt, author of Everybody Loses. The book is a stunning exposé on the massive and perilous world of American sports gambling.

Orville and Wilbur Wright have been immortalized as the men opened the skies to human flight. But could they have achieved such great heights without the wind beneath their wings — their sister? Katharine Wright was her brothers' biggest champion, official spokesperson, closest confidante and the only one of the Wright siblings with a college degree. For years, Katharine, Wilbur and Orville were inseparable — until tragedy and a love affair upended everything. This is the story of the Wright sibling that history almost left out.

Guests:

Thomas Paone, museum specialist at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum
Tom Crouch, curator emeritus of the aeronautics division at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum and author of The Bishop’s Boys: A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright

"The bug is eaten. The life cycle continues."

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The voice of Lexi is Meg Bashwiner

Written by Jeffrey Cranor and Janina Matthewson

Music: Mary Epworth

Director: Janina Matthewson

Producer: Jeffrey Cranor

Available Now: YOU FEEL IT JUST BELOW THE RIBS (a novel) by Jeffrey Cranor and Janina Matthewson

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