References and suggested readings:

• Emma Taylor. 2026. An Elite Education: How Privilege Is Produced in a Private School. Princeton University Press.
• Sam Friedman and Daniel Laurison. 2020. The Class Ceiling: Why It Pays to Be Privileged. Policy Press.
• Michael Foucault. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison.
• Pierre Bourdieu and Loïc J D Wacquant. 1992. An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. University of Chicago Press.
• Karen Gravett. 2024. Relational Pedagogies: Connections and Mattering in Higher Education. Bloomsbury Academic.
• Lauren White, Will Mason, Vicky Grant, Alison Romaine, Grace Cleary, and Shona Tulloch. April 2026. Towards a Pedagogy of Joy. British Journal of Sociology of Education.
• Emma Taylor’s LinkedIn

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On good cheese and how the career services office destroyed the American economy

References and suggested readings:

• Dylan Gottlieb. 2026. Yuppies: The Bankers, Lawyers, Joggers, and Gourmands Who Conquered New York. Harvard University Press.
• Sam Tanenhaus. 2025. Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America. Penguin Random House.
• God and Man at Yale episode with Sam Tanenhaus
• Who Makes Cents: A History of Capitalism podcast
• Check out Dylan’s website and follow him on Bluesky and Twitter

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Browse the American Campus bookshelf

Get in touch! Email Lauren at shephell@iu.edu. You can also anonymously request an episode or give feedback on the show.

Ready to feel old?

References and suggested readings:

• Austin McCoy. 2026. Living in a D.A.I.S.Y. Age: The Music, Culture, and World De La Soul Made. Simon and Schuster.
• De La Soul. 1989. Me, Myself, and I.
• Flo Rida ft. T-Pain. 2009. Low (Apple Bottom Jeans).
• Hip-Hop Evolution. Netflix.
• OutKast. 2000. B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad).
• Keith Jopling. 2026. Body of Work: How the Album Outplayed the Algorithm and Survived Playlist Culture. Repeater.
• Liz Pelly Mood Machine. 2025. Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist. Atria/One Signal Publishers.
• Austin McCoy’s website

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Browse the American Campus bookshelf

Get in touch! Email Lauren at shephell@iu.edu. You can also anonymously request an episode or give feedback on the show.

References and suggested readings:

• AJA Woods. 2026. The Cultural Marxism Conspiracy: Why the Right Blames the Frankfurt School for the Decline of the West. Verso Books.
• Paul Hanebrink. 2020. A Specter Haunting Europe: The Myth of Judeo-Bolshevism. Belknap.
• The Frankfurt School Comes to US episode with Jonathan Fine
• Matt Bernstein. May 15, 2026. The Tucker Carlson Problem (with Naomi Klein). A Bit Fruity.
• Anton Jäger. 2026. Hyperpolitics: Extreme Politicization without Political Consequences. Verso.
• Julian Barnes. 2026. Departure(s). Knopf.
• Follow AJ on Twitter @adubwoods, Bluesky @ajawoods.bsky.social
• Anticapitalist Resistance Brighton on Instagram @acrbrighton

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And why the IRB exempts humanities research.

References and suggested readings:

• Marco Ramos’s faculty page
• Community Histories Lab Yale University Lab
• Laura Stark. 2012. Behind Closed Doors: IRBs and the Makings of Ethical Research. University of Chicago Press.
• Annika Norlin. 2025. The Colony (translated by Alice E Olsson). Europa Editions.
• Courtney E. Thompson and Kylie M. Smith, eds. 2025. Do Less Harm: Ethical Questions for Health Historians. Johns Hopkins University Press.

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No gatekeeping.

References and suggested readings:

• David M. Perry. 2026. The Public Scholar: A Practical Handbook. Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Follow David on Bluesky @lollardfish.bsky.social
• Read David at The Minnesota Star Tribune
• davidmperry.com
• Mark Twain. Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court.
• Center for Mark Twain Studies

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Get in touch! Email Lauren at shephell@iu.edu. You can also anonymously request an episode or give feedback on the show.

References and suggested readings:

• Brent Cebul and Lily Geismer, eds. 2025. Mastery and Drift: Professional-Class Liberals since the 1960s. University of Chicago Press.
• Brent Cebul. 2026. Illusions of Progress: Business, Poverty, and Liberalism in the American Century. University of Pennsylvania Press.
• Brent Cebul, Lily Geismer, and Mason B. Williams, eds. 2019. Shaped by The State: Toward a New Political History of the Twentieth Century. University of Chicago Press.
• Lily Geismer. 2022. Left Behind: The Democrats’ Failed Attempt to Solve Inequality. PublicAffairs.
• Lily Geismer. 2017. Don’t Blame Us: Suburban Liberals and the Transformation of the Democratic Party. Princeton University Press.
• Dylan Gottlieb. 2026. Yuppies: The Bankers, Lawyers, Joggers, and Gourmands Who Conquered New York. Harvard University Press.
• Molly Crabapple. 2026. Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund. One World.
• Follow Lily on Twitter and Brent on Bluesky
• Lily and Brent’s new book series, America Unsettled: Political History for What Comes Next at the University of Chicago Press

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Get in touch! Email Lauren at shephell@iu.edu. You can also anonymously request an episode or give feedback on the show.

Is grade inflation real, who cares, and why?

References and suggested readings:

• Lisa M. Di Bartolomeo and Kevin M. Gannon, eds. 2026. The Campus Crisis Toolkit: Strategies and Solidarity for the Rest of Us. SUNY Press.
• Joshua R Eyler. 2024. Failing Our Future: How Grades Harm Students, and What We Can Do About It. Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Jane Nam. May 23, 2924. Grade Inflation in College: Trends and Why It Happens. Best Colleges.
• Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files novel series.
• Kevin R. McClure. 2025. The Caring University: Reimagining the Higher Education Workplace After the Great Resignation. Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Catherine J. Denial. 2024. A Pedagogy of Kindness. University of Oklahoma Press.
• Paulo Freire. 2021. Education for Critical Consciousness: With a New Introduction. Bloomsbury Academic.
• bell hooks. 1994. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. Routledge.
• thetattooedprof.com
• Bluesky @thetattooedprof

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Support the show

Browse the American Campus bookshelf

Get in touch! Email Lauren at shephell@iu.edu. You can also anonymously request an episode or give feedback on the show.