{"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":"Christopher Freeburg, \"Soul: A Brief History of Black Cultural Life\" (Yale UP, 2026)","slug":"christopher-freeburg-soul-a-brief-history-of-black-cultural-life-yale-up-2026","published_at":"2026-09-11T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-literary-studies-1048453/christopher-freeburg-soul-a-brief-history-of-black-cultural-life-yale-up-2026","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-literary-studies-1048453","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK8253101547.mp3","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK8253101547.mp3","summary":"Today’s guest, Christopher Freeburg, is the author of Soul: A Brief History of Black Cultural Life (Yale University Press, 2026). This book explores the US history of black cultural life as a history of soul – a spiritual lived practice rooted in communally fostered music, religion, and politics. It makes the case that soul is forged through black community connections and that it’s sustained by moral principles, or pillars, which define how it is lived. The book’s four chapters are organized around four of these pillars: resonance, revelation, resilience, and transcendence. A number of black individuals are foregrounded in these discussions: they include Phillis Wheatley, Gwendolyn Brooks, Nina Simone, Jewel Thais-Williams, Barack Obama, and others. By telling their stories, and by honoring the weight of the trauma and violence that has long befallen the black community, Christopher Freeburg’s Soul invites its readers to commune with the soul power of people who brought about transformation in the face of seeming impossibility. Jane Hwang Degenhardt is Professor English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of Globalizing Fortune on the Early Modern Stage (Oxford UP, 2022) and Islamic Conversion and Christian Resistance on the Early Modern Stage (Edinburgh UP, 2012). She is also a co-editor of the academic journal English Literary Renaissance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies","meta_description":"Today’s guest, Christopher Freeburg, is the author of Soul: A Brief History of Black Cultural Life (Yale University Press, 2026). This book expl…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2778,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-literary-studies-1048453/episodes/christopher-freeburg-soul-a-brief-history-of-black-cultural-life-yale-up-2026/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/christopher-freeburg-soul-a-brief-history-of-black-cultural-life-yale-up-2026.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}