American Writers (One Hundred Pages at a Time)
1,061 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 21 hours ago - ★★★★★ - 16 ratingsIn each episode I discuss around 100 pages from the works of American writers. Contact me at [email protected]
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Episodes
Episode 587:Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner: The Gilded Age (Part 3)
June 04, 2023 22:52 - 29 minutes - 30.7 MBNow we need to deal with two sussy colonels in this novel? Colonel Sellers and Colonel Selby team-up to extract love and money from post-Civil War Washington. THE GILDED AGE by Mark Twain is actually a pretty underrated novel.
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Episode 34: Waldo
June 04, 2023 22:49 - 24 minutes - 25.4 MBWe wrap up our pre-war coverage of Heinlein's works with WALDO, a fitting story to complete the Anson MacDonald ASTOUNDING period of Heinlein's career. It hits so many of the themes Heinlein had been playing with since he started writing.
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Episode 33: My Object All Sublime and Pied Piper (1942)
May 30, 2023 13:59 - 13 minutes - 14.4 MBIn this episode I mostly look at Heinlein's short story "My Object All Sublime" but also mention "Pied Piper". These forgettable tales may have some thematic interest regarding vigilantes and total war.
Episode 585: Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner: The Gilded Age (Part 2)
May 30, 2023 13:57 - 28 minutes - 29.8 MBPart two of my review of THE GILDED AGE by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner. This part of the novel moves our focus to the national level and exposes how deep the corruption in the nation ran.
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Episode 32: The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag
May 23, 2023 12:36 - 19 minutes - 21.4 MB"... Jonathan Hoag" is a great Robert A. Heinlein story that keeps getting me to think about and talk about Philip K. Dick. I loved it.
Episode 584: Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner: The Gilded Age (Part 1)
May 23, 2023 12:34 - 34 minutes - 36.2 MBPart one of my review of the underrated novel THE GILDED AGE, by Mark Twain and another guy. It is one of the most sturdy investigations into America's political and economic culture. Sellers and Hawkins got something for you to buy.
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Episode 31: Goldish Bowl
May 17, 2023 15:16 - 18 minutes - 19.1 MB"Goldfish Bowl" by Robert A. Heinlein is almost a H. P. Lovecraft story. One of his best pieces of short fiction that I read from him.
Episode 583: Mark Twain: Following the Equator
May 17, 2023 15:14 - 20 minutes - 21.8 MBWith this final episode on FOLLOWING THE EQUATOR, I finish up with Mark Twain's travel literature. Coming up is THE GILDED AGE and his later novels.
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Episode 30: Beyond this Horizon (Part 2)
May 11, 2023 22:42 - 25 minutes - 27.4 MBThere is a lot happening in the second half of BEYOND THIS HORIZON by Robert A. Heinlein, but I skip over most of that to talk about Heinlein and the gun culture.
Episode 582: Mark Twain: Following the Equator (Part 3)
May 11, 2023 22:41 - 20 minutes - 22.1 MBAt the halfway point of Mark Twain's FOLLOWING THE EQUATOR, we shift our focus to British India and the cultural changes and continuities in India under British rule.
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Episode 29: Beyond this Horizon (Part 1)
May 09, 2023 11:43 - 28 minutes - 30.5 MBBEYOND THIS HORIZON by Robert A. Heinlein came out in early 1942 in ASTOUNDING. It is one of the best early Heinlein books and explores various themes he had been developing up to this time, including his vision for a post-scarcity society and a broadly available genetically engineered society. It is also famous for its commentary on gun culture.
Episode 581: Mark Twain: Following the Equator (Part 2)
May 09, 2023 11:40 - 27 minutes - 29.7 MBThe part of Mark Twain's FOLLOWING THE EQUATOR that I discuss in this episode explores the British colonization of Australia and carries on many of the themes from the first part of the book. It is a brutal and honest look at forced migrations, ecological change, and genocide.
Episode 580: Mark Twain: Following the Equator (Part 1)
May 04, 2023 22:21 - 27 minutes - 29.4 MBIn this episode I begin the final Mark Twain travelogue FOLLOWING THE EQUATOR. It is one of the greatest anti-imperialist texts of the 19th century, an excellent travelogue, and an example of Twain's most bitterly charged satire.
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Episode 28: Elsewhen
May 04, 2023 22:19 - 25 minutes - 27.3 MB"Elsewhen" (also known as "Elsewhere") by Robert A. Heinlein is another borderline fantasy story that explores the unrealized potential of human beings. It also introduces the multiverse to his writing (a theme he will take up later).
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Episode 27: And He Built a Crooked House
May 02, 2023 22:21 - 20 minutes - 21.6 MB"... And Be Built A Crooked House" is a solid and fun story by Robert Heinlein, exploring the geography of four dimensions through the device of a tesseract house.
Episode 579: Mark Twain: A Tramp Abroad (Part 4, Conclusion)
May 02, 2023 22:19 - 11 minutes - 12.6 MBA bit of fatigue with these travelogues by Mark Twain hits me in this (one of my shortest) episodes. A TRAMP ABROAD descends into more simple tourism at the end, sadly. Hopefully, I will have more to say in FOLLOWING THE EQUATOR.
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Episode 26: By His Bootstraps
April 30, 2023 14:44 - 23 minutes - 25.2 MBWell, this one is a doozy. BY HIS BOOTSTRAPS is one of the best Robert A. Heinlein stories yet. A perfectly constructed time travel story that begs the question: Can you lift yourself by your own bootstraps? Answer: Maybe?
Episode 578: Mark Twain: A Tramp Abroad (Part 3)
April 30, 2023 14:41 - 19 minutes - 21.4 MBPart 3 of my review of Mark Twain's A TRAMP ABROAD tried to take a big picture look at this book and its significance among Twain's travel literature.
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Episode 25: Sixth Column (Part 2)
April 26, 2023 10:56 - 24 minutes - 27 MBThe second part of my review of SIXTH COLUMN by Robert A. Heinlein. It is a fascinating a troublesome book about race, religion, resistance, and technology.
Episode 577: Mark Twain: A Tramp Abroad (Part 2)
April 26, 2023 10:53 - 20 minutes - 22.3 MBI continue to work my way through the works of Mark Twain with A TRAMP ABROAD. Mark Twain seems to be coming to terms with European nationalism and folklore as he makes his deep dive into the German land, culture, and people.
Episode 576: Mark Twain: A Tramp Abroad (Part 1)
April 20, 2023 09:12 - 22 minutes - 24.2 MBWe go back to the travel writings with Mark Twain's 1880 A TRAMP ABROAD. These are some of the funnest to read and some of the hardest to talk about books I have ever one on this podcast. In any case, let's see what Mark Twain thinks of Europe now that he is not innocent anymore.
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Episode 24: Sixth Column (Part 1)
April 20, 2023 09:10 - 31 minutes - 48.6 MBThis one (Robert A. Heinlein's SIXTH COLUMN) certainly leaves us with lots to talk about, including Pan-Asianism, technology, religion, and race. This is episode 1 of 2 exploring this short novel, originally published in 1941.
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Episode 23: Lost Legacy
April 17, 2023 14:43 - 26 minutes - 27.9 MBLet's explore some Super science and posthumanism with Robert A. Heinlein's LOST LEGACY, a novella about the untapped potential of humanity and infiltrating The Boy Scouts.
Episode 575: Mark Twain: The Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (Part 4)
April 17, 2023 14:40 - 19 minutes - 21 MBIn this episode I finish another book (Mark Twain's PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF JOAN OF ARC) and another volume of the Library of America. At this rate, I will finish in about the time it took for France to win the 100 Years War!
Episode 574: Mark Twain: The Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (Part 3)
April 13, 2023 22:59 - 19 minutes - 20 MBLike in the previous episodes on THE PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF JOAN OF ARC by Mark Twain, I focus on what Joan of Arc can mean to us today. The book stans way to hard for Joan, so we need move a bit beyond the text.
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Episode 22: Methuselah’s Children (part 3)
April 13, 2023 22:56 - 30 minutes - 32.6 MBI finish up my thoughts on METHUSELAH'S CHILDREN in this episode. Mostly, I talk about the tension between individualism and the community. If it were not so cliche I would have mentioned Tocqueville.
Episode 573: Mark Twain: The Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (Part 2)
April 10, 2023 22:31 - 18 minutes - 18.5 MBThis part of the THE PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF JOAN OF ARC is about lifting the siege of Orleans, but I do not says much about that and instead continue to explore the question of what in Mark Twain's mind made Joan of Arc great and what she transformation she causes.
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Methuselah’s Children (Part 2)
April 10, 2023 22:28 - 28 minutes - 30.3 MBHere I take a look at part 2 of "Methuselah's Children" by Robert A. Heinlein. I spend most of the time trying to figure out what might be the key to understanding this story and Heinlein himself. I fail. I guess I will need to read more Heinlein.
Episode 572: Mark Twain: The Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (Part 1)
March 31, 2023 09:19 - 24 minutes - 27.6 MBWhat do we owe our youth? Maybe we just owe it to get out of their way. In this episode I use JOAN OF ARC by Mark Twain to reflect on this question and the type of world we leave to our children.
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Methuselah’s Children (Part 1)
March 31, 2023 09:18 - 23 minutes - 26.1 MBThe first part of METHUSELAH'S CHILDREN by Robert A. Heinlein does a great deal of work in putting together the "future history" world and introduces one of his cornerstone characters. It is also a great ideas novel.
Episode 571: Mark Twain: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (Part 3)
March 28, 2023 22:29 - 30 minutes - 34.7 MBIn the finale of my review of A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT, I explore technology, power and the chilling climax of the novel. This is one of Twain's best books and worth a close look.
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Episode 19: ”We Also Walk Dogs”
March 28, 2023 22:26 - 15 minutes - 17.3 MBPay attention Hollywood, this episode on Heinlein's 1941 short story "We Also Walk Dogs" includes a pitch for the next hit TV series.
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Episode 18: The Logic of Empire
March 24, 2023 22:13 - 29 minutes - 33.5 MBHeinlein may always have been annoying, but it sort of triggers me in this one. In this episode I discuss "The Logic of Empire" (1941) and Heinlein's allegory for American slavery and indentured servitude.
Episode 570: Mark Twain: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (Part 2)
March 24, 2023 22:10 - 30 minutes - 33.1 MBPart two of my review of Mark Twain's A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT. I discuss mostly the points where reform hits the cultural wall, and the nature of authority and power in Twain's imagination.
Episode 569: Mark Twain: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (Part 1)
March 21, 2023 10:55 - 26 minutes - 28.5 MBPart one of my review of Mark Twain's novel CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING'S ARTHUR COURT. The first third of this book mostly sets up the hero and the setting. Over the next few episodes I will explore the themes of technology, power, and religion as they are explored and lambasted in the novel.
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Episode 17: Common Sense (1941)
March 21, 2023 10:52 - 21 minutes - 24.3 MB"Common Sense" is Robert A. Heinlein's action-packed sequel to "Universe". While I do not find it quite as elegant a story as "Universe", I did enjoy how it wrapped up the story with a bittersweet success for our heroes, but maybe a loss for humanity.
Episode 568: Mark Twain: The Prince and the Pauper (2)
March 16, 2023 22:45 - 23 minutes - 25.7 MBThis episode includes part two of my review of THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER by Mark Twain (1882). I discuss my concerns that Twain is making safe arguments from a safe place and cannot quite see the necessity for radical alternatives.
Episode 567: Mark Twain: The Prince and the Pauper (1)
March 14, 2023 22:50 - 27 minutes - 29.3 MBPart one of my review of THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER, an 1882 children's novel by Mark Twain. This classic role-swapping story is a window into American attitudes about aristocracy and class.
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Episode 16: Universe
March 12, 2023 12:59 - 34 minutes - 38.2 MBMy review of Heinlein's 1941 story "Universe". While the first part of the story later published as ORPHANS OF THE SKY stands on its own, only with the sequel "Common Sense," do we find a darker more pessimistic truth about the necessity of stability.
Episode 566: Mark Twain: Roughing It (Part 4)
March 09, 2023 22:52 - 27 minutes - 30.9 MBThe finale of my review of ROUGHING IT by Mark Twain. In the final chapters of this book Mark Twain moves on from Nevada to California and spends half a year in Hawaii. Is this a break from the earlier narrative or just part of a larger story of American empire?
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Episode 15: Magic, Inc.
March 08, 2023 14:24 - 26 minutes - 29.5 MB"Magic, Inc." is a fascinating novella by Robert A. Heinlein, published in 1940. It explores issues such as union power, technology, law, corruption, and industrial production, while also trying to take magic seriously by placing it in our world. It is worth checking out for the richness of the themes.
Episode 565:Mark Twain: Roughing It (Part 3)
March 08, 2023 14:21 - 22 minutes - 25.2 MBAfter failing as a silver prospector, Mark Twain took up journalism. He discusses his early days on the beat in ROUGHING IT (1872). I discuss this and other issues as I dig deeper in my review of this autobiographical book.
Episode 564: Mark Twain: Roughing It (Part 2)
March 03, 2023 12:54 - 23 minutes - 25.9 MBIn part 2 of my review of ROUGHING IT by Mark Twain, I find some of the most important commentary and observations on the betrayals at the heart of the ideology of democratic capitalism, and clues as to why the West was so quickly tamed by capital, big business, and government (later the military-industrial complex). Is there any future to an economy built on speculation?
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Episode 14: They
March 03, 2023 12:52 - 25 minutes - 28.3 MBIn "They", published in 1941, Robert A. Heinlein takes on issues I am more used to talking about in my series on Philip K. Dick: conspiracy, shifting realities, and paranoia. Mostly, I take on the question of the utility of conspiracy theories and express my distaste for the solipsism of the extremely based. But I cannot not recommend this story to Heinlein readers. It has its value.
Episode 563: Mark Twain: Roughing It (Part 1)
March 01, 2023 13:26 - 26 minutes - 28.9 MBIn this episode, I begin my look at one of my favorite Mark Twain books, ROUGHING IT (1872), an autobiographical exploration of life in the West in the the decades before it was tamed. The early pages deal with the stagecoach ride to Nevada and the myths that develop on the road.
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Episode 13: Successful Operation
March 01, 2023 13:23 - 16 minutes - 18.7 MBIn this episode, I take a short look at a very short Heinlein story, "Successful Operation". It can be read a couple of ways and I am happy with both.
Episode 562: Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad (Part 4)
February 22, 2023 11:17 - 28 minutes - 31.7 MBIn this episode, I finish up my study of INNOCENTS ABROAD by Mark Twain. There are so many layers to this book, the best I can so is lay them out and reflect on what I find most powerful: the relationship between a young nation and the deep past.
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Episode 12: Solution Unsatisfactory
February 22, 2023 11:15 - 36 minutes - 39.5 MB"Solution Unsatisfactory", published in 1940, is my favorite of the early Heinlein stories I have been exploring. It explores the consequences of the introduction of weapons of mass destruction to the world, the result being an reluctant American hegemony.
Robert A. Heinlein Book Club: Episode 11: Blowups Happen
February 17, 2023 12:48 - 25 minutes - 28.2 MBListen as I realize the obvious radical politics at the heart of this story by Robert A. Heinlein "Blowups Happen". This tale is at its heart about externalities and capitalism.
Episode 561: Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad (Part 3)
February 17, 2023 12:45 - 25 minutes - 27.5 MBIn this part of my look at INNOCENTS ABROAD by Mark Twain, we spend most or time looking at Twain's comments on Italy and our odd relationship to history and its horrors. Tourism remains banal to me, and I find Twain sharing my views.