Nathan Hesselink generously spent part of his recent birthday talking with me about his great new book on contemporary Korean percussion music and its roots in itinerant performance culture. You can listen to some of the wonderful music described in Hesselink’s book on the CD that accompanies SamulNori, and you can listen in on our conversation here. Continue reading SamulNori: An Interview
I recently spoke with Sean Cocco about his beautiful new book on the natural, scientific, visual, and mobile histories of Vesuvius. You can find our conversation here. Continue reading Watching Vesuvius: An Interview
Larry Principe and I recently spoke about his wonderful new book on the history of alchemy. You can find our conversation here. Continue reading The Secrets of Alchemy: An Interview
Aminda Smith and I recently spoke about her fascinating new book on social control and the “dangerous classes” in twentieth century Chinese Communist thought reform and reeducation efforts. You can listen to our conversation here. Continue reading Thought Reform and China’s Dangerous Classes: An Interview
[Reposted from the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at Stanford, where this blog post originally appeared on 14 March 2013] Shhh. If you stand outside on an early spring day and you’re very, very quiet, and very, very still, you might hear it. Hiyong hiyong. You might have to close your eyes. I find that helps. Hiyong hiyong. I first heard this sound … Continue reading Histories of Failure
Chinese History: A New Manual is a landmark publication that is a must-read for any historian of China. Endymion Wilkinson recently spoke with me about composing, compiling, and contextualizing his incredible book. You can listen to our conversation here. Continue reading Chinese History: An Interview
Gennifer Weisenfeld and I recently spent a wonderful afternoon at the National Humanities Center talking about her beautiful and thoughtful new book on the visual cultures of disaster following the 1923 Kanto earthquake. You can listen to our conversation here. Continue reading Imaging Disaster: An Interview
The wonderful Liz Perry and I recently spoke about her masterful new book on the cultures of revolutionary mobilization and historicization in modern China. You can listen to our conversation here. Continue reading Anyuan: An Interview
Matt Wisnioski and I recently spoke about his great new book on the myriad ways that engineers navigated new landscapes of technology and its discontents in 1960s America. You can find our conversation here. Continue reading Engineers for Change: An Interview
Lucas Klein and I recently spoke about his thoughtful and evocative new translation of Xi Chuan’s poetry. You can listen to our conversation here. Continue reading Notes on the Mosquito: An Interview
Carla Nappi 