Radio & Podcast

Body Stuff with Dr. Jen Gunther

An interesting discussion about sleep health and sleep history. I come in at about the 12-minute mark to talk about how sleep got connected to ideas about economic productivity in the nineteenth century.

You’re Dead to Me” (BBC Radio)

I’m the “history” guest on the BBC radio history/comedy program “You’re Dead to Me,” for an episode on the master 19th-century human exploiter P.T. Barnum. The comedian, Desiree Burch, was priceless on this one.

Innovation Hub (NPR)

An interview about the history of sleep with the syndicated NPR program Innovation Hub.
 

Think” (Texas Public Radio)

A live interview about Wild Nights with Think, a radio program that airs on public radio stations in Texas.  I had a lot of fun with this one, especially with the callers during the last 20 minutes or so.

Two Way Street” (with Bill Nigut, GPB)

An interview taped in front of a live audience at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and then aired on Georgia Public Broadcasting's "Two Way Street" with Bill Nigut. 

Backstory with the American History Guys” (NPR)

A radio spot for the program Backstory with the American history guys, in which I discussed the strange case of Jane C. Rider, the Springfield Somnambulist

Think About It” (Podcast with Uli Baer, NYU)

I “sat down” with NYU professor Ulrich Baer to talk about Henry David Thoreau on his podcast.

Origin of Everything” (PBS)

PBS's "Origin of Everything" made this thoughtful video about the history of solitary sleeping, based largely on Wild Nights.

 

Against the Grain” (KPFA) 

A radio interview about political responses to campus shootings like the one at Virginia Tech

 

Folger Shakespeare Library podcast (NPR)

A radio spot produced by the Folger Shakespeare Library, in which I discuss Shakespeare’s prominence in early American psychiatry

 

To the Best of Our Knowledge” (PRI)

My first-ever radio program, in which I discussed my first book, The Showman and the Slave