Smarty Pants

Today, almost 90 percent of the world’s population is hooked on coffee or its most addictive component, caffeine. But 500 years ago, hardly anyone drank it, and the story of how coffee came to grace so many breakfast tables, office kitchens, and factory breakrooms speaks volumes about the very unequal world we live in. Our guest this week is Augustine Sedgewick, whose new book, Coffeeland: One Man's Dark Empire and the Making of Our Favorite Drug, uses the global history of the Hill family, a coffee dynasty in El Salvador, to unravel how societies, rural and urban alike, were recast in the wake of the Industrial Revolution. Ultimately, that restructuring led to many of the inequalities we still see today between the global North that drinks coffee and the global South that farms it.Go beyond the episode:Augustine Sedgewick’s Coffeeland: One Man's Dark Empire and the Making of Our Favorite DrugRead his recent essay in The Wall Street Journal, “How Coffee Became a Modern Necessity”Check out the recent documentary Black Gold, about the trading practices of multinational coffee companiesCommonplace Book, Celebrity Coffee Fan Edition:“Without my morning coffee, I’m just like a dried-up piece of goat”—J. S. Bach“I never laugh until I’ve had my coffee”—Clark Gable“I would rather suffer with coffee than be senseless.”—Napoleon Bonaparte“Coffee: the favorite drink of the civilized world”—Thomas Jefferson“As soon as coffee is in your stomach, there is a general commotion. Ideas begin to move ... similes arise, the paper is covered. Coffee is your ally and writing ceases to be a struggle.”—Honoré de Balzac“Among the numerous luxuries of the table ... coffee may be considered as one of the most valuable. It excites cheerfulness without intoxication; and the pleasing flow of spirits which it occasions ... is never followed by sadness, languor or debility.”—Benjamin Franklin“Coffee, according to the women of Denmark, is to the body what the Word of the Lord is to the soul.”—Isak Dinesen“Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee?”—Albert CamusTune in every 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.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave 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! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sometimes, historical truth is so strange that it demands to be turned into fiction. Such is the story of William Sydney Porter, better known as the American short-story writer O. Henry. Before he made it big with tales about Magi gifts and the Cisco Kid, he embezzled some money in Texas and fled for Honduras, which at the turn of the 20th century had no extradition treaty with the United States. There, Porter observed the machinations of American robber barons that inspired him to coin the term "banana republic"—which also happens to be the title of a new novel by Eric Sean Rawson, a professor of creative writing at the University of Southern California and our guest this week. Inspired by the true life and crimes of O. Henry, Rawson's novel vividly depicts the banana republics of the 20th century, and the troubled U.S. interventions therein, through the ironical, often drunken eyes of a fictionalized William Sydney Porter.Go beyond the episode:Eric Sean Rawson's Banana RepublicFor more on real-life banana republics and the men who made them, Rawson recommends The Incredible Yanqui by Hermann Deutsch and The Fish that Ate the Whale by Rich CohenExplore the classic stories of O. Henry hereTune in every 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.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave 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! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You may not know her name, but Odetta was one of the most influential singers of the 20th century: called “the voice of the civil rights movement” by The New York Times and anointed “queen of American folk music” by Martin Luther King Jr., himself. Our guest this week is music journalist Ian Zack, author of the first in-depth biography of Odetta, whose incredible voice rang out at some of the most pivotal moments in the struggle for African-American equality, including 1960s marches in Washington and Selma.Go beyond the episode:Ian Zack’s Odetta: A Life in Music and ProtestZack recommends that new listeners begin with of Odetta’s first two albums: Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues and Odetta at the Gate of Horn (or her lone rock album, Odetta Sings)Or to get a feel for the effect she had on audiences, listen to a live album like Odetta at Town Hall—or watch her 1964 concert on YouTubeTune in every 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.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave 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! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1536, a now obscure poet named Vincent Obsopoeus published a long verse called The Art of Drinking, or De Arte Bibendi, filled with shockingly modern advice. Moderation, not abstinence, is the key to lasting sobriety, he writes—and then turns around and teaches us how to win at drinking games and give a proper toast. Joining us this week is the man who brought this sound advice to modern English—Michael Fontaine, professor of classics at Cornell University, whose newly rebranded How to Drink: A Classical Guide to the Art of Imbibing is the first proper English translation of Obsopoeus’s ode to mild inebriation.Go beyond the episode:Michael Fontaine’s How to Drink: A Classical Guide to the Art of Imbibing (read an excerpt here)Read his series of posts on the Best American Poetry blog, run by friend of the magazine David Lehman: “We Have Sex Education. Should We Teach Drinking Education, Too?”, “What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger,” and moreReady to pour one? May we recommend the sazerac, per Wayne Curtis, which Fontaine also recommends in his list of “Quarantinis” for drinking at home?Tune in every 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.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave 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!Our theme music was composed by Nathan Prillaman. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposes just how connected the world is, while, at the same time, circumscribing our individual worlds much more. How do we dress for these new circumstances, where our trips outside the house are limited to neighborhood walks and forays into the yard? Our guest today, Shahidha Bari, has been thinking deeply about how we interact with our clothes since long before the current pandemic. She’s a professor of Fashion Cultures and Histories at the London College of Fashion and a fellow of the Forum for European Philosophy at the London School of Economics. Her new book, Dressed, is what you get when you cross a philosopher with a fashion critic. She writes about the feeling you experience when your feet are mercifully dry in a pair of yellow rain boots, or what the subtle pull of a tie can do to your spine and your personality.Go beyond the episode: Read an excerpt for Shahidha Bari’s new book, Dressed: A Philosophy of ClothesFollow these historical clothing accounts on Instagram for a bite of fashion history: @defunctfashion, @katestrasdin, @coraginsburg, @lagrossetoile, @tatterbluelibrary, @georgian_diaspora, @fidmmuseum, @museumatfit, @metconstumeinstitute, @the_art_of_dressTune in every 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.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave 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! Our theme music was composed by Nathan Prillaman. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Opera has a bad rap: it's stuffy, long, convoluted, expensive, weird … and at the end of the day, who really understands sung Italian anyway? The barriers aren’t just financial: there are hundreds of years of musical history at work, along with dozens of arcane terms that defy pronunciation. But opera has been loved by ardent fans for centuries, and the experience of seeing it—once you know what to listen for—can be sublime. So we asked Vivien Schweitzer, a former classical music and opera critic for The New York Times, to teach us how to listen to opera. This episode originally aired in November 2018.Go beyond the episode:Read Vivien Schweitzer’s A Mad Love: An Introduction to OperaCatch a free nightly stream of a Metropolitan Opera productionListen to the accompanying Spotify playlistReady? Find an opera performance near you by searching the National Opera Center of America’s database of upcoming offeringsListen to the Metropolitan Opera’s Saturday Matinee Broadcasts or catch it live in a movie theater near youAt The Guardian, Imogen Tilde explains “How to find cheap opera tickets”Songs sampled during the episode:“Possente spirito,” the first famous aria in opera, from Monteverdi’s Orfeo“Pur te miro,” the first important duet in opera, from Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea“Svegliatevi nel core,” an example of da capo aria and a rage aria, from Handel’s Giulio CesareThe Queen of the Night’s first-act aria, an example of very high soprano notes, from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte“O Isis und Osiris,” an example of very low bass notes from the same opera“Ah! mes amis, quel jour de fête!” an example of very high tenor notes, from Donizetti’s La fille du régiment“Casta diva,” an example of bel canto style of singing, from Bellini’s Norma“Bella figlia dell’amore,” an example of ensemble singing from Verdi’s RigolettoThe infamous Tristan chord from the prelude to Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde (and here is the resolution of the chord, hours later)For a taste of contemporary opera's eclecticism, here are three examples:Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern by Helmut Lachenmann, an example of an opera with no actual singingSatyagraha by Philip Glass, an example of minimalismSaint Francois D’Assise by Olivier Messiaen, a composer who imitated birdcalls in his musicTune in every 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.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave 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! Our theme music was composed by Nathan Prillaman. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One thing we’re thinking about at the Scholar as we’re all shut away, working from home, is how much we depend—emotionally and logistically—on contact with other people. As coming together in public parks, offices, arts hubs, and community spaces has become verboten in the age of social distancing, what will happen to the urban commons in cities? Amanda Huron, an associate professor of interdisciplinary social sciences at the University of the District of Columbia, was thinking about the urban commons long before we started longing for it. She joins us on the show for a conversation about what “the commons” is and how we can protect it in the midst of a pandemic.Go beyond the episode:Amanda Huron’s Carving Out the Commons and her other researchRead about the disappearance of our host’s beloved punk rock houses“Our Cities Are Designed for Loneliness,” says Vice, while The Guardian asks, “What’s the world’s loneliest city?”There’s even a Loneliness Lab working to fight the problem of alienation in citiesIn an earlier issue, we wondered whether coffeeshops encourage conversation or isolationTune in every 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.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave 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!Our theme music was composed by Nathan Prillaman. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In her book Going Viral, pop culture critic and film professor Dahlia Schweizer asks why, and when, outbreak narratives became such a part of our culture. She divides these narratives into three distinct waves of film starting in the early 1990s: first globalization, then terrorism and conspiracy, and then post-apocalypse and zombie films. What's surprising about these outbreak narratives, though, is that they aren't just limited to movies—we've got zombie video games and novels, of course, but we've also got infection and plague narratives saturating news media and government budget documents even before the current coronavirus pandemic made it all real. Journalism, movies, and governments all influence each other, blurring the line between fact and fiction. In her book, Schweizer explores why these outbreak narratives have infected the public conversation and how they have affected the way we see the world, from our neighbors to the government. Dahlia Schweizer joined us in the studio to talk about zombie viruses and bioengineered plagues. A previous version of this interview aired in February 2018.Go beyond the episode:Dahlia Schweitzer’s Going Viral: Zombies, Viruses, and the End of the WorldCheck out this chart of the three film cycles of outbreak narrativesWant to be comforted after all that terror? Here’s an outline of all the female scientists who save the day in these filmsWatch a how the film Pandemic (2016) blurs fact and fiction with actual news footageIn case you had any doubts about Dawn of the Dead (1978) was about consumerism: here’s the mall sceneAnd check out the whole “syllabus” for Going ViralTune in every 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.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave 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!  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are all inundated with news about the COVID-19 pandemic, but one thing is glaringly missing from the coverage: the underlying structural reasons for why this is happening. Yes, in our globalized economy, travel has increased exponentially in the past 20 years, not just for pleasure, but also for profit. Still, that alone does not explain why we’ve had a litany of infectious disease outbreaks over the same period, each one coming hot on the heels of the last and doing nothing to alter our public health response. What does? Evolutionary biologist Rob Wallace, of the Institute for Global Studies at the University of Minnesota, has some answers. For the past 25 years, he’s been studying the evolution and spread of influenzas and other pathogens. His research shows that if you really want to understand the nature of global outbreaks, you have to look at global agriculture. Where are large industrial farms or monocultural plantations encroaching on the habitats of wild animals that are the natural hosts for pathogens, like bats and civets and pangolins? Who has pushed people on the margins of society off their subsistence farms and deeper into hinterlands that used to regulate themselves before their ecosystems were destroyed? Who is really to blame for our current predicament?Go beyond the episode:Rob Wallace’s Big Farms Make Big Flu: Dispatches on Influenza, Agriculture, and the Nature of ScienceRead his article connecting coronavirus to agriculture, “Notes on a novel coronavirus”Check out “How to Think About the Coronavirus,” the first in Philip Alcabes’s weekly updates on the spread of COVID-19For more of Wallace’s work on Ebola, check out “Ebola’s Ecologies,” co-written with RodrickWallace (or these two academic articles)The most critical thing we can do now: flattening the coronavirus curve“Inequalities of US health system put coronavirus fight at risk, experts say”“This is where universal health care coverage and security intersect”: Read W.H.O. official Dr. Bruce Aylward, leader of the team that visited China, on how its free medical care stacks up against the U.S.Yes, there really is facial recognition technology for pigsTune in every 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. Follow us on Twitter @TheAmScho or on Facebook.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave 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! Our theme music was composed by Nathan Prillaman. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Social science research confirms what seems obvious: our decisions don’t occur in a void, but rather are hugely influenced by our peers and social context. Society influences our behavior but, in turn, our behavior influences society. To put it another way, our social behaviors are contagious. Because of our respective environments, we may feel compelled to cheat on our taxes, drive heavy cars, or waste energy, because that’s what our peers are doing. In his new book, Under The Influence: Putting Peer Pressure to Work, Cornell economist and New York Times columnist Robert H. Frank combines psychological insight with economics to argue that we can’t build public policy on the assumption that individuals will make completely independent decisions. Most of our choices—whether it’s to buy an SUV or an electric car, to bike or drive or take the bus to work, to smoke or quit—are shaped by the society we live in. So why don’t we use the insights of behavioral contagion to push society in the direction we want it to go? Frank argues that we should, by using government policies—and especially taxes—in a much more clever and targeted way than before.Go beyond the episode:Robert H. Frank’s Under the Influence: Putting Peer Pressure to WorkRead his essay about how individual decisions can produce cascading effects: “How peer pressure can stop climate change”For more on how behavioral cascades happen, check out the 1992 study, “A Theory of Fads, Fashion, Custom, and Cultural Change as Informational Cascades”Why tax evasion is trendy: read Jesse Eisinger and Paul Kiel’s story, “The IRS Tried to Take on the Ultrawealthy. It Didn’t Go Well.”People who buy bigger houses aren’t happier, those who spent more on lavish weddings don’t stay married longer, and other examples of why spending money on material goods can’t buy you happinessTune in every 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. Follow us on Twitter @TheAmScho or on Facebook.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave 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! Our theme music was composed by Nathan Prillaman. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.