In May of 2021 I launched a podcast called ENDURING INTEREST. There are lots of podcasts devoted to the Great Books—generally acknowledged classics—and recently published books, but there are not many devoted to all the books in between. ENDURING INTEREST covers books and essays that are unjustly neglected or forgotten—works that deserve a wider audience. At EI we group series of episodes (6-8) around a particular theme. In the first series we examined works related to totalitarianism and ideology; in the second we turned to the topic of liberal education; and in the third we examined works related to American identity and culture. Future themes will include: speech and censorship; war; American constitutionalism; and virtue and vice. We also have an occasional series devoted to the lesser-known works by authors of the Great Books.
If you have suggestions for books or guests, please send an email (ftaylor at skidmore dot edu) or send a message on X (@theEIpod).
The first series includes:
Jacob Howland on Yevgeny Zamyatin’s novel We
Daniel J. Mahoney on Raymond Aron’s The Opium of the Intellectuals
Clare Cavanagh on a few poems by Czeslaw Milosz
The second series includes:
Michael & Catherine Zuckert on two essays by Leo Strauss
Rita Koganzon on two essays by Hannah Arendt
Pavlos Papadopoulos on Eva Brann’s Paradoxes of Education in a Republic
The third series includes:
Marc Conner & Lucas Morel on two essays by Ralph Ellison
Elizabeth Amato on William Alexander Percy’s Lanterns on the Levee
Fred Bauer on Norman Podhoretz’s Making It
Occasional series:
Matthew Dinan on Søren Kierkegaard’s Two Ages
Pamela Jensen on Rousseau’s Letter to d’Alembert
You can listen to brief excerpts from many of these conversations at our YouTube channel.
