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 842: Medea with Edith Hall
The Greek tragedian Euripides gave the world perhaps the most villainous woman ever created: Medea, the scorned wife who murders her own children. But can we trace this mythological figure back to a real-life historical woman who migrated to Greece …
Episode 841: Caribbean Romanticism with Kir Kuiken
“An aesthetics of the earth?... Yes. But an aesthetics of disruption and intrusion. Finding the fever of passion for the ideas of 'environment' (which I call surroundings) and 'ecology', both apparently such futile notions in these landscapes of des…
