{"podcast":{"title":"New Books in Literary Studies","slug":"new-books-in-literary-studies-1048453","podcast_index_feed_id":1048453,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/LIT7489921391","website_url":"https://newbooksnetwork.com","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/2ca1ec9c-f032-11e8-b6fd-271dec2bac56/image/9b24a0e039edab7d8d6a4dedc3b8baca.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"New Books Network","episode_count":2751,"summary":"This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: newbooksnetwork.com Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/ Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky to learn about more our latest interviews: @newbooksnetwork Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies","last_synced_at":"2026-09-15T16:21:04.580879+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-literary-studies-1048453"},"episode":{"title":"A Nation Wrestles With God: American Prophets, Philosophers, and Firebrands","slug":"a-nation-wrestles-with-god-american-prophets-philosophers-and-firebrands","published_at":"2026-09-10T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-literary-studies-1048453/a-nation-wrestles-with-god-american-prophets-philosophers-and-firebrands","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-literary-studies-1048453","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK6400696488.mp3","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK6400696488.mp3","summary":"Spanning more than 400 years of spiritual transformation and imagination, A Nation Wrestles With God (Restless Books, 2026) collects diverse writers—poets, novelists, theologians, scientists, musicians, politicians, comedians, artists, mavericks, naturalists, futurists, and more—whose daring texts incited change and continue to influence a growing nation. In this anthology, you will find the stories, poems, letters, speeches, sermons, essays, song lyrics, comic strips, newspaper columns, and commentaries that have awoken new generations to free religious thought, from the precolonial to the present day. A landmark collection of the philosophers and firebrands that sparked a country’s journey through divinity—praising, challenging, and redefining the sacred. Guest: Ilan Stavans is the publisher of Restless Books and the Lewis-Sebring Professor of Humanities and Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College. His books include On Borrowed Words, and A Critic’s Journey. He has edited The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature, among dozens of other volumes. He is the recipient of numerous honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, Chile’s Presidential Medal, the International Latino Book Award, and the Jewish Book Award. His work, translated into twenty languages, has been adapted to the stage and screen. A cofounder of the Great Books Summer Program at Amherst, Stanford, Chicago, Oxford, and Dublin, he is the host of the NPR podcast “In Contrast.” Host: Dr. Christina Gessler holds a Ph.D. in history, which she uses to explore which stories we tell and what happens to those we never tell. She is the creator and producer of the Academic Life podcast and newsletter. She works as a writing coach and developmen…","meta_description":"Spanning more than 400 years of spiritual transformation and imagination, A Nation Wrestles With God (Restless Books, 2026) collects diver…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4514,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-literary-studies-1048453/episodes/a-nation-wrestles-with-god-american-prophets-philosophers-and-firebrands/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-literary-studies-1048453/a-nation-wrestles-with-god-american-prophets-philosophers-and-firebrands.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}