Mouse Book Club

GUEST 

William Cook is Professor of History, SUNY Geneseo (Retired). Professor Cook earned his PhD in History from Cornell and taught Medieval History for 42 years, lecturing and writing on Dante extensively for a variety of different audiences. Bill now runs the William Cook Foundation which provides educational opportunities in low resource communities.

 

SHOW NOTES

Profound lesson from teaching Dante to murderers [2:15]

Overcoming the bitterness of factionalism [5:15]

Dante's identity and the bygone Roman Empire [12:30]

Hearing the Italian and breaking down structure [17:45]

Good translations and don't get lost in the notes  [20:30]

Free Will understanding who you are [23:00]

The journey of conversion [26:50]

Finding your place in the Divine Comedy [33:15]

Plug for the great work of the Bill Cook Foundation [37:00]

 

Guest: 
Emily Austin is Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Chicago, and author of Grief and the Hero: the Futility of Longing in the Iliad. Her area of expertise is emotion in the ancient world.

 

Show Notes: 
Greek concepts of Hell [3:45]

Repeating patterns of grief giving rise to anger [5:30]

Digging into the character of Odysseus [14:20]

Alice Oswald's Memorial as powerful excavation of Homer [16:450

Contemporary echoes of Electra [18:00]

Jonathan Shay on Homer, PTSD, and Vietnam [20:00]

 

Professor Austin's Odyssey translation recommendation: 
Robert Fitzgerald

 

Guest:

Lori Ginzberg is Professor of History and Women, Gender and Sexual Studies at Penn State University. Professor Ginzberg is the author of numerous books and articles on the history of the Suffrage movement, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton: An American Life.

 

Show Notes:

Below are the topics covered in this conversation (with time stamps). 

National Parks Service Suffrage Centennial WEBSITE [2:50]

Context from which demand for women's rights emerged [5:15]

Founding myths of the Suffrage Movement [8:00]

Confronting brutal facts of commemoration as a feminist killjoy [10:30]

Caty Stanton's disastrous, degrading racism [16:00]

Stanton's hostility to the clergy manifest in the Women's Bible [22:15]

The real question: what is the commemoration, really? [28:10]

What would Caty Stanton think of Universal Health Care? [29:24]

Suffrage today: contemporary efforts to suppress the vote [34:47]

First steps down the path of advocating women's rights? [40:40]

 

Further Reading:

Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All by Martha Jones

Recasting the Vote: How Women of Color Transformed the Suffrage Movement by Cathleen D. Cahill

Unceasing Militant: The Life of Mary Church Terrell by Alison Parker

It's All About Love by Bell Hooks

The Myth of Seneca Falls by Lisa Tetrault