American Campus Podcast

References and suggested readings:Jason Blakely, We Built Reality: How Social Science Infiltrated Culture, Politics, and Power (Oxford University Press, 2020)Jason Blakely, Lost in Ideology: Interpreting Modern Political Life (Agenda Publishing, 2024) Jason Stanley, Fascism: The Politics of Us and Them (Random House, 2020)Jason Blakely, “Teaching Trump to College Students,” The Atlantic, August 31, 2016C. P. Snow, Two Cultures: The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution, Open Access PDFJason Blakely, “The Thin Line Between ‘Postliberalism’ and Theocracy,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, August 2, 2023Patrick J. Deneen, Why Liberalism Failed (Yale University Press, 2019)Patrick J. Deneen, Regime Change: Toward a Postliberal Future (Sentinel, 2023)Jon Josse, SeptologyJon Josse, A ShiningJason Blakely on Goodreads, Twitter, faculty pageThe Secret Is OUTThe Secret Is Out tells the coming-out stories of LGBTQ people —...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showLeave feedback or request an episode / browse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:Samuel Goldman, Right Minds: How a Revolt Against Academia Made American Conservatism (Basic Books, 2027)Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies (Routledge, 1945)Lauren Lassabe Shepherd, “Old Project, New Vehicle: Conservative Civics and Leadership Institutes in Historical Context,” Frontiers of American Illiberalism, May 7, 2025American Campus Podcast episode on Allan Bloom with Mark HlavacikAllan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's StudentsSaul Bellow, RavelsteinAmerican Campus Podcast episode on Why white nationalists love Plato with Curtis DozierJames Loeffler, Exceptional Hatred: Antisemitism and the Fight over Free Speech in Modern America (Metropolitan Books, 2026)American Campus Podcast episode on Frank S. Meyer with Daniel FlynnStephanie Slade, Fusionism: Liberty, Virtue, and the Future of the American Right (University of Notre Dame Press, 2026)Sam’s faculty page, TwitterThe Secret Is OUTThe Secret Is Out tells the coming-out stories of LGBTQ people —...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showLeave feedback or request an episode / browse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:Barrett J. Taylor and Brendan Cantwell, The Postliberal University: Governance, Leadership, and Partisanship in Higher Education (Harvard Education Press, 2026)Burton R. Clark, The Higher Education System: Academic Organization in Cross-National Perspective (University of California Press, 1986)Gary Gerstle, The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era (Oxford University Press, 2023)Christopher Newfield, Unmaking the Public University: The Forty-Year Assault on the Middle Class (Harvard University Press, 2011)Elizabeth Popp Berman, Thinking Like an Economist: How Efficiency Replaced Equality in U.S. Public Policy (Princeton University Press, 2023)Elizabeth Popp Berman, Creating the Market University: How Academic Science Became an Economic Engine (Princeton University Press, 2015)Follow Brendan Cantwell on BlueskyThe Secret Is OUTThe Secret Is Out tells the coming-out stories of LGBTQ people —...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showLeave feedback or request an episode / browse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:Christopher Broadhurst and Gordan W. Maples, Myths, Mysteries, and the Macabre on American Campuses (University of New Orleans Press, 2026)A Thread About Squirrels On College Campuses Totally Blew Up On Twitter, BuzzfeedThe Squirrel Club at the University of MichiganUniversity of South Carolina’s sewer man legendTiya Miles, Tales from the Haunted South: Dark Tourism and Memories of Slavery from the Civil War Era (University of North Carolina Press, 2017)David W. Anthony, The Horse, The Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World (Princeton University Press, 2010)Patrik Svensson, The Book of Eels: Our Enduring Fascination with the Most Mysterious Creature in the Natural World (Ecco, 2021)Leila Philip, Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America (Twelve, 2024)Merlin Sheldrake, Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures (Random House, 2021)Chris Broadhurst’s LinkedInGordon Maples on LinkedIn Henrietta the Chihuahua @HenriettaWithOneIThe Secret Is OUTThe Secret Is Out tells the coming-out stories of LGBTQ people —...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showLeave feedback or request an episode / browse the American Campus bookshelf

WATCH this episode on Patreon!References and suggested readings:Noam Scheiber, Mutiny: The Rise and Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2026)Dylan Gottlieb, Yuppies: The Bankers, Lawyers, Joggers, and Gourmands Who Conquered New York (Harvard University Press, 2026)Alex Press, “On the Origins of the Professional-Managerial Class: An Interview with Barbara Ehrenreich,” Dissent, October 22, 2019Karent Hao, Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI (Penguin, 2026)Tom Segev, One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate (Picador, 2001)Rashid Khalidi, The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017 (Metropolitan Books, 2021)Rashid Khalidi, Palestine: A Primer (Godwin Books, 2026)Noam Scheiber’s website, New York Times page , Twitter, BlueskyThe Secret Is OUTThe Secret Is Out tells the coming-out stories of LGBTQ people —...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showLeave feedback or request an episode / browse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:Iván Chaar López and Erin McElroy, “Who Benefits from Distorting American Studies?” Public Books, June 17, 2026Iván Chaar López, The Cybernetic Border: Drones, Technology, and Intrusion (Duke University Press, 2024)Erin McElroy, Silicon Valley Imperialism: Techno Fantasies and Frictions in Postsocialist Times (Duke University Press, 2024)Theodor Adorno, Authoritarian PersonalityJulian Posada, Platform Extractivism: Data Work and the People Powering Artificial Intelligence (University of California Press, 2026)Michel Serres, Conversations on Science, Culture, and Time: Michel Serres with Bruno Latour (University of Michigan Press, 1995)John Dewey, Democracy and Education OPEN ACCESS PDFMax Horkheimer and Theodor W Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments OPEN ACCESS PDFDan Scott, Conscripts of Modernity: The Tragedy of Colonial Enlightenment (Duke University Press, 2004)Alberto Toscano, Late Fascism: Race, Capitalism and the Politics of Crisis (Verso, 2023)Erin McElroy’s websiteIván Chaar López’s websiteThe Secret Is OUTThe Secret Is Out tells the coming-out stories of LGBTQ people —...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showLeave feedback or request an episode / browse the American Campus bookshelf

UPDATE as of Nov 8: the protests are ongoing and have spread to other campuses in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and elsewhere. Students at the University of Toulouse remain on strike, but have created a website to share events, workshops, and learning sessions: https://savoirslibres-mirail.fr/ References and suggested readings:Michael Stambolis-Ruhstorfer, By the Power Vested in Me: How Experts Shape Same-Sex Marriage Debates (Columbia University Press, 2025). “French student loses hand to grenade in unprecedented protests,” CNN, October 6, 2026Tom McCarthy, “Paris moves to sue Fox News for false reporting on Muslim 'no-go zones',” The Guardian, February 12, 2015“How racist police infiltration of high schools created the "Bismillah, it's darkness" meme,” LeHuffPost explainerMediapart, French online newspaperCole Stangler, US journalist in franceOctavia E. Butler, The Parables collectionMichael Michael Stambolis-Ruhstorfer’s website and BlueskyThe Secret Is OUTThe Secret Is Out tells the coming-out stories of LGBTQ people —...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showLeave feedback or request an episode / browse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:Omar Zahzah, Terms of Servitude: Zionism, Silicon Valley, and Digital Settler Colonialism in the Palestinian Liberation Struggle (The Censored Press, 2025)Omar Zahzah, “A Question of Violence: Palestine in American Academia After October 7,” The Palestine Chronicle, April 3, 2026Eman Ghanayem and Theresa Rocha Beardall, “The University Is a Colony,” Diacritics 52, no. 1 (2024): 8-23Omar Zahzah, “Michigan 8 case is part of a broader pattern of repression,” The Electronic Intifada, August 49, 2026Omar Zahzah, “Two UCSD Professors Face Suspension in the War on Campus Protest,” Institute for Palestine Studies blog, September 3, 2026Purge palentir: Find Palentir near youMESA AFI report on attacks on academic workers since October 7thLearn more about the Civility Industrial ComplexDominique J. Baker, “What’s Wrong With Civilty?” Inside Higher Ed, October 13, 2026Christopher Newfield, Unmaking the University: The Forty-Year Assault on the Middle Class (Harvard University Press, 2011)Sidney Hook, Academic Freedom and Academic Anarchy (Cowles Book Company, 1970)Omar Zahzah’s website and faculty pageThe Secret Is OUTThe Secret Is Out tells the coming-out stories of LGBTQ people —...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showLeave feedback or request an episode / browse the American Campus bookshelf

Apologies for the mic difficulties on Lauren's end!References and suggested readings:Merle Eisenberg’s faculty pageInfectious Historians podcastDean O. Smith, How University Budgets Work (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019)Dean O. Smith, University Finances: Accounting and Budgeting Principles for Higher Education (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019)Chris Newfield, The Great Mistake: How We Wrecked Public Universities and How We Can Fix Them (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018)Office Hours with EABDavid Arnold, Pandemic India: From Cholera to Covid-19 (Oxford University Press, 2022)Michael G. Vann and Liz Clarke, The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: Empire, Disease, and Modernity in French Colonial Vietnam (Oxford University Press, 2018)The Secret Is OUTThe Secret Is Out tells the coming-out stories of LGBTQ people —...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showLeave feedback or request an episode / browse the American Campus bookshelf

References and suggested readings:Phillip B. Levine, Hidden Tuition: An Insider's Guide to College Pricing and Financial Aid (University of Chicago Press, 2026)ON COST DISEASE: Dennis M. Hogan, Artificial Negligence: Why are college administrators so eager to adopt AI? Hedgehog Review, Summer 2026Dean Spears and Michael Geruso, After the Spike: Population, Progress, and the Case for People (Simon & Schuster, 2025)Phillip Levine on LinkedIn, MyIntuition.org, Brookings InstitutionThe Secret Is OUTThe Secret Is Out tells the coming-out stories of LGBTQ people —...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   SpotifySupport the showLeave feedback or request an episode / browse the American Campus bookshelf