University of Minnesota Press

About University of Minnesota Press

Authors join peers, scholars, and friends in conversation. Topics include environment, humanities, race, social justice, cultural studies, art, literature and literary criticism, media studies, sociology, anthropology, grief and loss, mental health, and more.

Publisher

University of Minnesota Press

Category

arts · education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

9 Jun 2020

Latest episode

21 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

149 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   21 Oct 2026

   Queer lives under the fog of Gilded Age sensationalism

   Addie Liona Walker. Leon A. Belmont. Nova McClure Carr. Romantic Sensation (https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517915841/romantic-sensation/) tells the full story of this one ordinary person’s singular life. Assigned a female sex at birth, Addie was born in Massachusetts in 1853 and lived as a woman for twenty-five years. After transitioning in 1878, Addie became Leon and lived as a man for twenty-four years before making a second gender transition and living as a woman, Nova, for the rest of her life. Placing these milestones within the historical context of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Lizzie Ehrenhalt traces Belmont’s life, from child laborer to husband, from celebrity outlaw to heartthrob, and from stepfather to single mother—and demonstrates how trans, queer, and intersex histories are inseparable from American history. Ehrenhalt is joined here in conversation with Hugh Ryan. Lizzie Ehrenhalt is an editor and public historian who specializes in the history of gender and sexuality. Ehrenhalt is author of Romantic Sensation: The Queer Lives of Leon A. Belmont, 1853-1927 (https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517915841/romantic-sensation/) and coeditor of Precious and Adored: The Love Letters of Rose Cleveland and Evangeline Simpson Whipple, 1890–1918 (https://shop.mnhs.org/products/precious-and-adored). Since 2013, Ehrenhalt has edited MNopedia (https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia), the encyclopedia of Minnesota history produced by the Minnesota Historical Society. Hugh Ryan (https://www.hughryan.org/) is lead historian at the American LGBTQ+ Museum (https://americanlgbtqmuseum.org/) and author of My Bad: A Personal History of the Queer Nineties and Beyond (https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/hugh-ryan/my-bad/9781645030577/), The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison (https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/hugh-ryan/the-womens-house-of-detention/9781645036647/?lens=bold-type-books), and When Brooklyn Was Queer (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250621405/whenbrooklynwasqueer/). EPISODE REFERENCES: Theodore Roosevelt Jules Gill-Peterson’s Substack series (https://sadbrowngirl.substack.com/) William N. Eskridge Jr. Elizabeth Reis Geertje Mak PRAISE FOR THE BOOK: "Stands as an important reminder that gender transgression has a deep past in the United States." —Emily Skidmore "A fascinating primer for understanding the complex evolution of American ideas around gender, sexuality, trans/queer identity, and the body." —Hugh Ryan Romantic Sensation: The Queer Lives of Leon A. Belmont, 1853-1927 (https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517915841/romantic-sensation/) by Lizzie Ehrenhalt is available from University of Minnesota Press. Thank you for listening.

2. 

   14 Oct 2026

   Brokering the ongoing energy transition

   In our fraught and ongoing energy transition, the metrics of finance are largely determining how, when, and where the electricity sector transitions to low-carbon energy sources—if at all. Author Conor Harrison (Brokers of Power (https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517919016/brokers-of-power/)) draws from case studies including 2021’s Winter Storm Uri and interviews people working in the electricity and financial sectors to reveal how the various entanglements of private equity, investment banking, and financial modeling are shaping the future and raising the costs of this vital infrastructure. Harrison is joined here in conversation with Shelley Welton. Conor Harrison is associate professor in the Department of Geography and School of Earth, Ocean, and Environment at the University of South Carolina. Shelley Welton is Presidential Distinguished Professor of Law and Energy Policy with the Kleinman Center and Penn Carey Law School at the University of Pennsylvania. EPISODE REFERENCES: Article, New York Times: “His Lights Stayed on During Texas’ Storm. Now He Owes $16,752. (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/us/texas-storm-electric-bills.html)” Stephen Maher and Scott Aquanno, The Fall and Rise of American Finance (https://www.versobooks.com/products/2831-the-fall-and-rise-of-american-finance) Brett Christophers, The Price is Wrong (https://www.versobooks.com/products/3069-the-price-is-wrong) and Our Lives in Their Portfolios (https://www.versobooks.com/products/2985-our-lives-in-their-portfolios-why-asset-managers-own-the-world) Matt Huber Nikki Luke PRAISE FOR THE BOOK: "It’s hard to think of two more important industries than energy and finance. Not much happens in the world without the supply of both, so it’s surprising that little attention gets paid to the nexus of the two: energy finance. Showing that Wall Street, not Washington, ultimately dictates the pace of America’s energy transition, Conor Harrison busts open the black box." —Brett Christophers "This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand why the electricity system looks like it does—and the forces that must be reshaped to accomplish a just and rapid energy transition." —Shelley Welton Brokers of Power: The Financialization of the US Electricity System (https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517919016/brokers-of-power/) by Conor Harrison is available from University of Minnesota Press. Thank you for listening.

3. 

   8 Oct 2026

   Humanitarianism and “doing good”

   An ethnography of Islamic Relief (IR), the largest Islamic NGO based in the West, Racializing the Ummah: Muslim Humanitarians beyond Black, Brown, and White (https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517920272/racializing-the-ummah/) explores how a Muslim organization can do good in a world where racial capitalism permeates all aspects of humanitarianism. Author Rhea Rahman paints a frank, nuanced portrait of the constraints Islamic aid entities face in the effort to disentangle themselves from neocolonialism and Western hegemony. Rahman is joined here in conversation with Arun Kundnani and Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan. Rhea Rahman is assistant professor of anthropology at Brooklyn College, CUNY. She is author of Racializing the Ummah: Muslim Humanitarians Beyond Black, Brown, and White (https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517920272/racializing-the-ummah/), and her research has been published in Africa, Religions, and an edited volume of The Anthropology of White Supremacy. Arun Kundnani is a writer interested in race, Islamophobia, surveillance, police violence, and radicalism. Kundnani is editorial director of Monthly Review (https://monthlyreview.org/) and the author of What is Antiracism? (https://www.versobooks.com/products/2670-what-is-antiracism) (Verso, 2023), The Muslims are Coming! (https://www.versobooks.com/products/2353-the-muslims-are-coming) (Verso, 2014) and The End of Tolerance (https://www.plutobooks.com/product/the-end-of-tolerance/) (Pluto, 2007), which was selected as a New Statesman book of the year, and co-author of Homeland Security: Myths and Monsters (https://www.commonnotions.org/buy/homeland-security-myths-and-monsters) (Common Notions, 2024). Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan is a poet, writer, educator, and author of Postcolonial Banter (https://www.vervepoetrybookshop.com/product-page/postcolonial-banter-suhaiymah-manzoor-khan), Tangled in Terror (https://www.plutobooks.com/product/tangled-in-terror/), Seeing for Ourselves (https://www.hajarpress.com/books/seeing-for-ourselves), and the play, Peanut Butter & Blueberries (https://www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/peanut-butter-and-blueberries). She was the runner-up of the Roundhouse National poetry slam 2017 with her viral poem, This is Not a Humanising Poem. She co-founded The Nejma Collective, a volunteer-led abolitionist group working in solidarity with Muslims and all people in prison. EPISODE REFERENCES: Ambalavaner Sivanandan H. Rap Brown Yassir Morsi / Radical Skin, Moderate Masks (https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/radical-skin-moderate-masks-9781783489114/) Steve Biko Mariame Kaba PRAISE FOR THE BOOK: "A much-needed and overdue book." —Darryl Li, author of The Universal Enemy "A richly detailed transnational ethnography . . . trace(s) a historical arc explaining the present and reenvisioning what the future might be." —Cultural Studies Racializing the Ummah: Muslim Humanitarians Beyond Black, Brown, and White (https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517920272/racializing-the-ummah/) by Rhea Rahman is available from University of Minnesota Press. Thank you for listening.

Who has been a guest on University of Minnesota Press

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Vinay Gidwani
• Hemangini Gupta
• Kaveri Medappa
• Swathi Shivanand
• Michael Goldman

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.4 / 5

7 ratings

Spotify

4.5 / 5

4 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 54 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

96

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

31

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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