The Endless Knot

We talked to Dr. Curtis Dozier about his new book, The White Pedestal: How White Nationalists Use Ancient Greece and Rome to Justify Hate. Curtis has spent the last decade or so tracking examples of white nationalists and far right groups using Greco-Roman history and culture to support their ideologies. His book demonstrates the uses to which the ancient world is being put and how the field of Classics has reacted, and asks how we could or should respond.Note: Our hosting site won’t allow us to add a transcript to the RSS feed, but there is a link below to a page that has the full (automatic and lightly edited) transcript. The White Pedestal: How White Nationalists Use Ancient Greece and Rome to Justify HatePharos: Doing Justice to the ClassicsCurtis’s faculty pageCurtis on BlueskyTranscript of this episodeThis episode on YouTubeOur Patreon pageRedbubble storeThis podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International LicenseThe Endless Knot RSS

We’re jumping into the Odyssey movie discourse, finally! We discuss our reactions to the Nolan movie and what we found interesting about it, and then chat with some podcasters who’ve just released relevant books! Oh, and Marcie has a song about Odysseus. Doug Metzger’s podcastThe Odyssey: An Illustrated GuideJeff Wright’s websiteMythtake podcastLiv Albert’s websiteThe Odyssey: A Modern RetellingJoel Christensen’s new book The Oxford Critical Guide to Homer’s OdysseyErica Stevenson’s new book The Odyssey Effect: How Homer's Epic Poem Shaped the WorldThe theme song from the 60’s Hercules cartoon Marcie’s song “Can’t See No Blues”Transcript of this episodeThis episode on YouTubeOur Patreon pageRedbubble storeThis podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International LicenseThe Endless Knot RSS

We talked to Kory Stamper, lexicographer and author, about the unexpectedly gripping story of the struggle to define colours and wrestle the kaleidoscope of our social, scientific, artistic, sartorial, and commercial understanding of hues into some sort of order. This is truly one of our favourite books we’ve ever read for this podcast!Kory’s book True ColorKory Stamper’s websiteTranscript of this episodeThis episode on YouTubeOur Patreon pageRedbubble storeThis podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International LicenseThe Endless Knot RSS

What does your accent say about you? (And yes, you DO have an accent!) Why do accents develop, and what is the history behind the wide range of modern American accents? We talked to Valerie Fridland about all of these questions and more, covered in her delightful new book “Why We Talk Funny”.Valerie’s book “Why We Talk Funny”Like, Literally, Dude! and our interview with her about itDr. Valerie Fridland’s websiteTranscript of this episodeThis episode on YouTubeOur Patreon pageRedbubble storeThis podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International LicenseThe Endless Knot RSS

We spoke with linguist, writer and podcaster Dr Danny Bate about his debut book, Why Q Needs U, a “linguistico-historical non-fiction book” that sets out to answer two big questions: Where did we get the letters of the alphabet from? And why does English use them so strangely? We had a delightful conversation about the book, his podcast, Indo-European, and cats!Danny’s book “Why Q Needs U”Transcript of this episodeThis episode on YouTubeOur Patreon pageRedbubble storeThis podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International LicenseThe Endless Knot RSS

An apology for absence, some personal news, and the guests coming in the next few months.Transcript of this episodeThis episode on YouTubeOur Patreon pageRedbubble storeThis podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International LicenseThe Endless Knot RSS

Grace Tierney is back with another great book about the word origins, this time “Words Christmas Gave Us"! She regales us with festive stories and we talk about some of the fun traditions and treats of the winter holidays.It’s been a long, unintended break since our last episode, but we’re happy to be back at it, in time to wish everyone very happy holidays!Wordfoolery websiteTranscript of this episodeThis episode on YouTubeOur Patreon pageRedbubble storeThis podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International LicenseThe Endless Knot RSS

We spoke with Dr. Anne Curzan about her new book, “Says Who? A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares about Words”. We talk about language change, inner grammandos, the benefits of learning the rules of texting from one’s students, and of course, surprising connections!Also, please check out the Defeat Depression fundraising event, and the Sudbury Walk/Run on May 25.Anne Curzan’s websiteTranscript of this episodeThis episode on YouTubeOur Patreon pageRedbubble storeThis podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International LicenseThe Endless Knot RSS

Buried deep under volcanic ash lie hundreds of burnt scrolls containing texts from the first century. A new project is driving the work to try to read these chunks of carbon, to uncover new works and open new doors into the past. We spoke to one of the leaders of this project, Dr. Stephen Parsons, about the Vesuvius Challenge, the technical aspects of ‘virtual unrolling’, the possibilities of new classical texts, the development of new ways of doing scholarship, and more. Also, please check out the Defeat Depression fundraising event, and the Sudbury Walk/Run on May 25.The Vesuvius ChallengeKaitlyn Hill’s booksTranscript of this episodeThis episode on YouTubeOur Patreon pageRedbubble storeThis podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International LicenseThe Endless Knot RSS

We talked to Dr. Karen Carr about the global history of swimming — in myth, folktale, and history. Who swam, who didn’t, and how do the stories different cultures told reflect these patterns? We also talked a bit about Dr. Carr’s next book, all about silver, women, and textiles.Dr. Carr’s academic websiteDr. Carr’s history website and blog, Quatr.usTranscript of this episodeThis episode on YouTubeOur Patreon pageRedbubble storeThis podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International LicenseThe Endless Knot RSS