Dec. 8, 2025
#8 Greatest Book of All Time
There is a lot to praise about Herman Melville's Moby Dick, which comes in at #8 on the History of Literature's list of 25 Greatest Books of All Time. In Episode 747, Jacke considers this tale that is so much more than a story about a whale. Eager to dive deeper into the novel? Take a listen to episodes 481 and 482, a pair of episodes in which Jacke pursues 10 essential questions regarding this literary leviathan that begins with the memorable first line:
Call me Ishmael.
Episode 831: Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" with Rachel Pastan
When times are tough, can literature help? After sharing an email from a listener, Jacke talks to author Rachel Pastan about her novel We're So Lucky to Live Here, in which a woman copes with a tragic loss by staging a production of Chekhov's The Ch…
Episode 830: Stendhal with Hadley Suter
We often say it's important for a person to be "authentic," but what does that mean? Why is that necessarily a good thing? In Episode 830 of the History of Literature Podcast, Jacke talks to author Hadley Suter (Becoming Stendhal: The Performance o…
