{"podcast":{"title":"New Books in Women's History","slug":"new-books-in-women-s-history-4096544","podcast_index_feed_id":4096544,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/NBN5185885598","website_url":"https://newbooksnetwork.com","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/8c1cce70-e7c0-11eb-b746-c7e42408e0c6/image/408fcda0603b5d9e2b5decf747722d4d.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"New Books Network","episode_count":1866,"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","last_synced_at":"2026-07-20T16:17:46.820872+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-women-s-history-4096544"},"episode":{"title":"Mary T. Freeman, \"Abolitionists and the Politics of Correspondence\" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026)","slug":"mary-t-freeman-abolitionists-and-the-politics-of-correspondence-u-pennsylvania-press-2026","published_at":"2026-05-23T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-women-s-history-4096544/mary-t-freeman-abolitionists-and-the-politics-of-correspondence-u-pennsylvania-press-2026","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-women-s-history-4096544","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK2177388852.mp3","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK2177388852.mp3","summary":"Mary Freeman, associate professor of history at the University of Maine, joins Michael Stauch to discuss her new book Abolitionists and the Politics of Correspondence (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026), about how abolitionists harnessed the power of letter-writing to further their political aims. It highlights everyday Americans’ involvement in abolition, and shows in particular how women and Black Americans used letters to intervene in politics when other avenues were closed to them. Freeman focuses not only on what people wrote but also how they wrote about it: how they manipulated, exploited, and subverted cultural conventions to make political statements and claims. Highlights include: The inspiration behind the book’s striking title; The influence of the “archival turn” on Freeman’s analysis of the materiality of letters; A bold new reading of the lives of Angelina and Sarah Grimke, suggesting how their letter writing influenced their activism; How the abolitionist movement grew alongside the rise of the post office; The role of new forms of technology in shaping social movements, yesterday and today. Guest: Mary Freeman is an associate professor of history at the University of Maine, with a focus on the political, social, and cultural history of slavery and abolition. Her writing has appeared in the Journal of the Early Republic and she is currently developing research projects on nineteenth-century Black activism in Maine and on the history of abolitionist archives. Host: Michael Stauch is an associate professor of history at the University of Toledo and the author of Wildcat of the Streets: Detroit in the Age of Community Policing, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices","meta_description":"Mary Freeman, associate professor of history at the University of Maine, joins Michael Stauch to discuss her new book Abolitionists and the Politics of C…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4356,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-women-s-history-4096544/episodes/mary-t-freeman-abolitionists-and-the-politics-of-correspondence-u-pennsylvania-press-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-women-s-history-4096544/mary-t-freeman-abolitionists-and-the-politics-of-correspondence-u-pennsylvania-press-2026.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}