The TLS Podcast

We explore the complex, brutal, swaggering history of pearls and those who found, traded and wore them, with Kathryn Hughes. Sam Byers talks about the self-authored creation that was Michael Jackson and the public's response to him. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Philip Roth, who died last week aged eighty-five, has left behind a vast literary canon and a complicated legacy. But is there more to this great American novelist than just sordid sex? Ben Markovits shares his thoughts; TLS Features editor, Roz Dineen interviews Man Booker international prize winner Olga Tokarczuk, and her translator, Jennifer Croft; Eric Ormsby explores the significance of context when translating the seemingly immutable text of the Qur’an.BooksFlights by Olga TokarczukThe Koran in English - A biography by Bruce B. Lawrence The Qur'an - A historical-critical introduction by Nicolai Sinai The Sanaa Palimpsest - The transmission of the Qur'a n in the first centuries by Asma Hilali  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re joined by the novelist Margaret Drabble, whose books have for decades chronicled the difficult path to selfhood, particularly for women, and the actor and writer Robert Webb, whose recent memoir How Not To Be a Boy, focuses on how notions of masculinity shape identity. Recorded in front of a live audience at Bath Festival.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The world is being slowly poisoned, the environment destroyed. Why don’t we care about such an apocalypse more? Clare Saxby joins us to discuss; Mary Beard considers the cultural legacy of Caligula, that most reviled of all emperors, via a revisionist work of fiction told from the perspective of the emperor's exiled sister; as Arsène Wenger's twenty-two year tenure as Arsenal manager draws to a close, the TLS's History editor and Arsenal fan David Horspool shares his thoughts on football's modern myth-makingBooks  Mourning Nature: Hope at the heart of ecological loss and grief, edited by Ashlee and Karen Landman CunsoloWalking on Lava: Selected works for uncivilised times, edited by Charlotte Du Cann, Dougald Hine, Nick Hunt and Paul KingsnorthEnergy Humanities: An anthology, edited by Imre Szeman and Dominic BoyerCaligula by Simon Turney Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucy Dallas is joined by Madeline Miller to discuss her new book, Circe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Lucy DallasReal-life millennial Samuel Earle pops in to consider the status of young people in an unequal society, keeping avocado references to a minimum; Ruth Scurr analyses the role of mothers in life and literature; and Madeline Miller talks about inhabiting the role of Circe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In popular science books, including 'Seven Brief Lessons on Physics' and 'Reality Is Not What It Seems', the Italian theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli has studied the phenomena – namely time and space – that structure our very existence. In doing so, he has become something of a phenomenon himself, praised for his charm, clarity and humour – things we might not immediately associate with the field of quantum gravity. Here, the TLS's Samuel Graydon asks him about his new book The Order of Time Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do we account for Richard Nixon's stubborn unpopularity? Sure, he was a liar and a crook, but that has not stopped the rehabilitation of many a politician – as a new biography appears Barton Swaim joins us to discuss; why is it that certain ailments suffered by women are so scarcely discussed or resolved? Leonore Tiefer considers endometriosis and a "legacy of disinterest";  “The world is far more complicated than what we see”, says the theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli, putting it mildly. Reality “is mind-blowing” – here, he discusses the structure of time with the TLS's Samuel GraydonBooksRichard Nixon: The Life by John A. FarrellThe Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli Ask Me About My Uterus: A quest to make doctors believe in women's pain by Abby Norman Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Martin Rowson, cartoonist for the Guardian and elsewhere, joins us to discuss caricature as political hit-job; the TLS's Arts editor Lucy Dallas considers the jolly japes and scrapes of the Beano, as that publication marks its eightieth year; and our Features editor Rozalind Dineen goes to meet Jesmyn Ward, a writer described in our pages as “an important new voice of the American South – one developing, perhaps, into the twenty-first-century’s answer to William Faulkner”BooksThe Communist Manifesto: A Graphic Novel, adapted by Martin RowsonThe Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race by Jesmyn Ward  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Lucy Dallas. Lionel Shriver castigates the arrogant British for snootiness over American English; David Coward tells the story of Simon Leys, "the man who did for Mao" and who called Sartre a "windbag"; and Kate Bingham reads her poem "This hair". Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.