Oct. 19, 2026
Episode 837: Ghost Month with Simon Wroe
In Episode 837, the History of Literature Podcast host Jacke Wilson gets ready for the Halloween season with an episode filled with madness, murder, and ghosts! First, he recounts the story of Romantic period writers Charles and Mary Lamb. Although the brother-sister duo later became famous for their summaries of Shakespeare's tales, they each spent time in madhouses due to fits of "lunacy," one of which resulted in Mary killing their mother with a kitchen knife. Then Jacke talks to author Simon Wroe about his new novel Ghost Month, in which the spirits of the dead return to visit London for four weeks each year. What do they want? And how do Londoners respond? Happy Halloween!
Episode 836: Nicomachean Ethics with Robin Waterfield and John Sellars
What does it mean to live a good life? How can we accomplish it? For more than two thousand years, Western civilization has looked to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics to help answer those questions. In Episode 836, Jacke talks to translator Robin Wat…
Episode 835: Race in Modern Iran and the Diaspora with Amy Motlagh
What do Iranians - both home and abroad - think of race? Does "blackness" exist in Iran? And what can we learn about race and slavery in Iran from folklore, ethnography, literature, and films? In Episode 835, Jacke talks to author Amy Motlagh abou…
