Indiana University Press blog

Podcast: Catherine Roach discusses Happily Ever After

Why does the narrative of finding your one true love and living happily ever after dominate the romance novel? In this IU Press podcast, Happily Ever After author Catherine M. Roach, alongside her romance-writer alter-ego, Catherine LaRoche, guides the reader deep into Romancelandia where the smart and the witty combine with the sexy and seductive to explore why this genre has such a grip on readers.

Podcast: David Heineman discusses Thinking about Video Games

On this episode of the IU Press podcast, David Heineman discusses his new book Thinking about Video Games. Heineman's book brings together some of the most iconic, influential, and interesting voices from across the gaming industry. He reveals what he learned about the past, present, and future of video games through his interviews with gaming experts.

Podcast: Peter Schrag discussess When Europe Was a Prison Camp

On this episode of the IU Press podcast, Peter Schrag discusses When Europe Was a Prison Camp. This book weaves together Peter’s and his father Otto’s memoirs about their experiences in Occupied Europe during World War II. The Schrags were Jews, and Otto was interned in a French prison camp. Schrag shares the compelling story of how he and his family escaped to America.

Podcast: Claire Arbogast discusses 'Leave the Dogs at Home'

In Claire Arbogast’s new memoir Leave the Dogs at Home, she writes about her journey to build a better life on the debris of her old one, after her lover Jim dies. On this episode of the IU Press podcast, we discuss how his death forced her to face the hard, evasive truths of their complicated 27-year relationship and pushed her to reinvent herself.

Podcast: David Fidler discusses The Snowden Reader

When Edward Snowden began leaking NSA documents in June 2013, his actions sparked impassioned debates about electronic surveillance, national security, and privacy in the digital age. On this episode of the IU Press podcast, David Fidler discusses his new edited collection The Snowden Reader. In this book, he and other experts analyze the historical, political, legal, and ethical issues raised by Snowden's disclosures. 

Podcast: Maple Razsa discusses Bastards of Utopia

On this episode of the IU Press podcast, Maple Razsa discusses his new book Bastards of Utopia. The companion to a feature documentary film of the same name, this book explores the experiences and political imagination of young radical activists in the former Yugoslavia, participants in what they call alterglobalization or "globalization from below."

Podcast: Ray Boomhower discusses John Bartlow Martin

On this episode of the IU Press podcast, author Ray Boomhower discusses his latest book John Bartlow Martin: A Voice for the Underdog. During the 1940s and 1950s, Martin's name dominated the pages of the “big slicks,” the Saturday Evening Post, LIFE, Harper’s, Look, and Collier’s. Over a career that spanned nearly fifty years, his peers lauded him as “the best living reporter,” the “ablest crime reporter in America,” and “one of America’s premier seekers of fact.”

Boomhower covers Bartlow’s career, his Indiana upbringing, and his connections to some of the most prominent Democratic politicians of the 20th century in this interview:

Reading selection for the anniversary of the Tet Offensive

Read an excerpt

As the citizens of Hue are preparing to celebrate Tet, the start of the Lunar New Year, Nha Ca arrives in the city to attend her father’s funeral. Without warning, war erupts all around them, drastically changing or cutting short their lives. After a month of fighting, their beautiful city lies in ruins and thousands of people are dead. Mourning Headband for Hue tells the story of what happened during the fierce North Vietnamese offensive, which began on this date back in 1968. Translated into English for the first time by Olga Dror, Nha Ca's book is an unvarnished and riveting account of war as experienced by ordinary people caught up in the violence.

Learn more about the book and Nha Ca's experience during the war in this podcast with translator Olga Dror:

Podcast: Bob Hammel discusses The Bill Cook Story II

On this day in 1931, Cook Group founder and philanthropist Bill Cook was born. We remember Cook's life today in this podcast with Bob Hammel, who discusses his new biography The Bill Cook Story II: The Re-Visionary. In this book, Hammel takes us through the final years of Cook's life and the restoration projects he championed in Indiana and in his hometown of Canton, Illinois.

Podcast: Tamar Barzel discusses New York Noise

Coined in 1992 by composer/saxophonist John Zorn, “Radical Jewish Culture,” or RJC, became the banner under which many artists in Zorn's circle performed, produced, and circulated their music. On this episode of the IU Press podcast, Tamar Barzel discusses her book New York Noise and how RJC forged a new vision of Jewish identity in the contemporary world.