Podcast appearances and mentions of michael blanding

“It's too easy to look back at sciences of the past and say they were all fools. The exact same thing is gonna happen two hundred years from now when people look back at us.” — Paul Stob on the lessons of phrenology Step right up. Over the road from P.T. Barnum's American Museum in 19th century New York stood the city's more metaphorical circus — the Phrenological Cabinet, where admission was free and you could hold a murderer's skull in your hand. After the Barnum museum, it was the second most popular show in town. Although back then phrenology — the supposed science of skull size and head bumps — wasn't seen as the province of tricksters or clowns. So who created this 19th century American obsession with skulls, who created the phrenology phenomenon? In his new book, Empire of Skulls, the Vanderbilt scholar Paul Stob tells the phrenology story through the wealthy Fowler family — Orson, Lorenzo, and Charlotte — who financed and promoted this American circus. It was the Fowlers, Stob explains, who shaped phrenology into the intellectual glue of 19th century American progress and convinced reformers like Walt Whitman, Susan B. Anthony, John Brown, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton of its social value. The appeal was self-improvement, that most American ideal. In Europe, your skull was your fate; in Fowler's America, you could supposedly reshape your brain like a bicep in order to grow new bumps. A gym for skulls. And, in P.T. Barnum fashion, it toured, bringing replica skull collections to the utopian communes of mid 19th century America. And in good (or bad) American fashion, this bunk often had a darker subtext with skulls pilfered from native burial mounds and, inevitably, a slaveholding phrenologist wing. Not everyone bought a ticket. Mark Twain visited Lorenzo Fowler's London depot incognito and was told his skull shape indicated an absence of humor. Three months later, he reappeared, this time as Twain, and got the reverse prognosis. But what finally killed phrenology wasn't Twain but the hitherto unparalleled bloodshed of the Civil War. Not even the Fowlers could glean much positive from the mountains of actual skulls at Gettysburg or Antietam. The circus had ended. Now it's the Fowlers who are the freaks. We gawk at them rather than their skulls. Step right up. The show must go on. Five Takeaways •       The Intellectual Glue of American Reform. From the 1830s to the 1860s — the era of reform — practically every movement to improve the young republic was led by believers in phrenology: abolition, women's suffrage, temperance, prison and education reform. Whitman, Susan B. Anthony, John Brown, Stanton, and Mott were all sympathetic; Orson Fowler barnstormed Massachusetts with his Amherst friend Henry Ward Beecher, who swore by phrenology for the rest of his life; John Brown Jr. worked at the Fowlers' Phrenological Cabinet until Bleeding Kansas called him west. The reason was one word: improvement. Even the enslaved, the phrenologists argued, must be freed — because every human being deserves the chance to improve.•       Curl Your Brain Like a Bicep. European phrenology said your skull was your fate. The Fowlers Americanized it: exercise a mental faculty, they taught, and the brain deposits new gray matter that literally pushes out the skull — self-improvement you could measure with calipers. Parents brought children for readings, returned years later, and found the head had grown just as prescribed: to the Fowlers, concrete proof. The ideal male head measured twenty-three inches around, the female twenty-two — women started in a different place, but nothing said they couldn't climb. And in 1843's Hereditary Descent, Orson made an argument radical for his century: that race mixing was a positive good for humanity.•       Second Only to Barnum. For three decades the Fowlers' Phrenological Cabinet at Clinton Hall — free of charge, unlike the American Museum kitty-corner across the street — was the second most visited tourist attraction in New York City. Visitors could hold a murderer's skull and feel for themselves why he killed, or trace the bumps of statesmen and writers. The empire was literal: the global skull trade of the era, from Samuel Morton's Crania Americana to skulls pilfered from native burial mounds, stocked the shelves. The Fowlers were millionaires, not billionaires — and Orson spent his share on a sixty-room octagon mansion, flagship of the 500-odd octagon houses he inspired across America.•       Twain's Two Visits — and the Birth of “Pseudoscience.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. said reading a brain through a skull was like reading the inside of a safe by feeling the knob — and coined the word “pseudoscience” specifically for the phrenologists. Mark Twain ran the experiment: visiting Lorenzo Fowler's London depot incognito, he was told his organ of mirthfulness was a divot; three months later, business card presented, it was off the charts. Stob still insists on calling phrenology a science — because that is how its era understood it, because it was more accurate than much of the competition, and because one of the fathers of American neurology emerged from the Fowlers' own circle.•       We Are the Phrenologists Now. What killed phrenology was the Civil War: three decades of promising heaven on earth ran skull first into carts of actual skulls, and the utopia of self-improvement died on the battlefield. But the impulse never did. Phrenology, Stob argues, was self-help before the word existed — and its descendants fill the airport bookstore: astrology, Myers-Briggs, the Enneagram, the genetic ancestry kit, all of them, in his words, scientifically garbage yet enormously significant in people's lives. The uncharitable reading of the past is a trap. In two hundred years, Stob warns, they will look back at our sciences of the self exactly the way we look at the Fowlers. About the Guest Paul Stob is Director of the Program in American Studies at Vanderbilt University, where he also teaches in the Department of Communication Studies and the Program in the Communication of Science and Technology. His research focuses on nineteenth-century American intellectual culture — religion, democracy, populism, and social movements. He is co-author, with Stephen Lucas, of The Art of Public Speaking, now in its fourteenth edition. His first trade book is Empire of Skulls: Phrenology, the Fowler Family, and a New Nation's Quest to Unlock the Secrets of the Mind (Counterpoint, April 14, 2026). References: •       Empire of Skulls: Phrenology, the Fowler Family, and a New Nation's Quest to Unlock the Secrets of the Mind by Paul Stob (Counterpoint, April 2026). Jennifer Wright in The New York Times Book Review: “A thoroughly researched and intriguing work.”•       The Gospel According to Hobby Lobby by Michael Blanding — the recent Keen On episode on the Greens, this show's previous installment of ...

Hobby Lobby is a multibillion-dollar chain of craft stores. Its founder, David Green, built a craft empire - and used his fortune to push a radical religious agenda, donating billions of dollars to right-wing evangelical causes, running advertisements for the Bible, crusading against birth control, and stealing, looting, and forging artifacts for their Museum of the Bible. The Gospel According to Hobby Lobby: Inside a Billionaire Family's Quest to Craft a Christian Nation is a new book by Michael Blanding and tells the story of the Green family. Blanding discusses the book and Hobby Lobby's enduring effects on American politics. Cover art courtesy of Hatchette Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The multibillion dollar arts and crafts corporation Hobby Lobby has long been steeped in Evangelical Christianity, owned by a family that is extremely influential in conservative politics. Our guest today is investigative journalist Michael Blanding, author of the brand new book The Gospel According to Hobby Lobby: Inside a Billionaire Family's Quest to Craft a Christian Nation. For this episode, Michael tells me about the spiritual history of the family behind Hobby Lobby, their Indiana-Jonesian scandals involving stolen religious relics, the contents of their propagandic bible museum, and the right wing groups and causes they have funneled their riches into. Get a copy of Michael's book ⁠The Gospel According to Hobby Lobby ⁠⁠⁠Become a Patron⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content Or subscribe to American Hysteria on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get some of our new merch at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠americanhysteria.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, all profits go to The Sameer Project, a Palestinian-led mutual aid group who are on the ground in Gaza delivering food and supplies to displaced families. Leave us a message on the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Urban Legends Hotline⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Producer and Editor: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Miranda Zickler⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Associate Producer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Riley Swedelius-Smith⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Additional editing by ⁠⁠⁠⁠Kaylee Jasperson⁠⁠⁠⁠ Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We've done plenty of abstract shows on American Christian nationalism. But this one is about a single family: the Greens of Oklahoma City, owners of the Hobby Lobby retail empire, and probably the wealthiest Christian nationalist family you've never heard of. According to investigative writer Michael Blanding, the Greens have amassed a $14 billion fortune from selling glitter glue and popsicle sticks. In his new book The Gospel According to Hobby Lobby, Blanding reveals what he insists is this billionaire family's quest to craft a Christian nation. Hobby Lobby is an all-American story — especially in its ridiculous ironies. A fundamentalist fortune built on bead-buying hippy consumers. The business came out of the Sixties counterculture. That said, the Greens have built the closest thing to a Christian corporate behemoth. Hobby Lobby has no corporate debt, is closed on Sundays, pays above average wages, and has a founder, David, who still flies coach. And yet this is the same Trump-loving corporation that forced its warehouse laborers to work during COVID and denies them birth control coverage. And then there is the Museum of the Bible, blocks from the Capitol — God's base camp, as it's known — stocked with 40,000 shady artifacts including a $1.7 million Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, and forged Dead Sea Scrolls. Such are the absurdities of life in Christian MAGAland. Render unto Trump what is Trump's. Then deduct, forge or steal the rest. Five Takeaways •       The Most Influential Family You've Never Heard Of. Hobby Lobby is an $8 billion business with a thousand big-box stores, and the Greens are worth $14 billion — among the richest people in America — from what Blanding calls the perfect recession-proof business: when times are good, people buy crafts, and when times are bad, they make things instead of buying them. David Green saw the waste at the TG&Y department store chain in the sixties, started making picture frames in his garage, and — by his own account — owes the takeoff to the beatniks and hippies buying beads. The family credits God rather than themselves: chosen, anointed, and bearing no responsibility for the wealth. •       True Believers, Not Hypocrites. Whatever else the Greens are, Blanding insists, they are not hypocrites: they genuinely believe everyone is going to hell without Jesus, and they live accordingly. No corporate debt, wages well above the minimum, closed Sundays to honor the Lord, a founder who flies coach and lives modestly in Oklahoma. The record cuts both ways: during COVID, warehouse employees worked unmasked in hundred-degree heat after David Green's wife had a vision from God that the company must stay open. And the 2014 Supreme Court case over birth control coverage made Hobby Lobby a national flashpoint — half the country boycotts it, and the other half shops there precisely because of it. •       Seven Mountains and the Attack on Pluralism. The Greens work within the democratic system, Blanding concedes under Andrew's devil's advocacy — but they are associated with Seven Mountains dominionism, the crusade for evangelical control of government, law, entertainment, and the other commanding heights of American society. Steve Green, David's son, is on record that there is one true worldview, incompatible with all others, and that pluralism should not exist because the rules are laid out in the Bible. His Bible curriculum for public schools taught scripture as reliable historical truth. This isn't guilt by association, Blanding argues — it's what the family says in its own books and interviews. •       Trump as Cyrus. David Green came out against Trump in 2016 — an op-ed, a Fox News appearance, support for Marco Rubio — as a poor example of moral leadership. Then Trump became the nominee, the Supreme Court became the prize, and the family fell in line with the movement's theology of the imperfect vessel: Trump as Cyrus, the pagan Persian king who freed the Jews and delivered for the faithful without being one of them. To their credit, Blanding notes, the bet paid off — no president, including the professed believers, has pushed conservative Christian exceptionalism further through the courts and executive orders. •       God's Base Camp: The Museum of the Bible. Blocks from the Capitol sits the Greens' Museum of the Bible, stocked with some 40,000 cuneiform tablets, papyri, and Torah scrolls acquired in part to prove the Bible historically true — and acquired, it turned out, from shady dealers. The federal government seized the $1.7 million Gilgamesh Dream Tablet as looted from Iraq; the museum's Dead Sea Scrolls proved to be forgeries; and the acquisition machine doubled as a tax strategy, with artifacts bought cheap, reappraised high, and donated for deductions so large they sometimes paid for themselves. Radical Christian conservatives held their conferences there — one called it God's base camp. Ingenious, entirely legal, and, in Blanding's telling, entirely revealing. About the Guest Michael Blanding is a Boston-based investigative journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, WIRED, Slate, Smithsonian, and The Boston Globe Magazine. His previous books include The Map Thief, a New York Times bestseller; The Coke Machine; and In Shakespeare's Shadow, the subject of his last appearance on this show in 2022. His new book is The Gospel According to Hobby Lobby: Inside a Billionaire Family's Quest to Craft a Christian Nation (PublicAffairs, July 14, 2026). References: •       The Gospel According to Hobby Lobby: Inside a Billionaire Family's Quest to Craft a Christian Nation by Michael Blanding (PublicAffairs, July 14, 2026). Virginia Heffernan in The New York Times: “Blanding is at the height of his arts and crafts.” •       Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (2014) — the Supreme Court case in which the company successfully argued it need not provide insurance covering birth control, and the moment Hobby Lobby became a national flashpoint. •       The Museum of the Bible — the Greens' institution blocks from the Capitol, whose looted Gilgamesh Dream Tablet was seized by the federal government and whose Dead Sea Scrolls proved to be forged. •       Seven Mountains dominionism — the movement seeking evangelical Christian control of government, law, media, entertainment, and the other commanding heights of society. •       

On this special live episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about Hobby Lobby with my guest Michael Blanding, author of the new book The Gospel According to Hobby Lobby: Inside a Billionaire Family's Quest to Craft a Christian Nation.   Michael is a Boston-based investigative journalist and author of In Shakespeare's Shadow and the New York Times bestseller, The Map Thief. A former senior writer at Boston Magazine and senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, his work has appeared in The New York Times, WIRED, Slate, Smithsonian, The Boston Globe, and other publications. Visit his website at www.michaelblanding.com. Michael visited the Craft Industry Alliance studio to tape this interview in front of a live virtual audience. +++++ To get the full show notes for this episode visit Craft Industry Alliance where you can learn more about becoming a member of our supportive trade association. Strengthen your creative business, stay up to date on industry news, and build connections with forward-thinking craft professionals. Join today.

The Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson joins us to discuss Trump’s bad math for getting the SAVE Act passed after Lindsey Graham’s death.Author Michael Blanding joins us to talk about his new book, The Gospel According to Hobby Lobby: Inside a Billionaire Family’s Quest to Craft a Christian Nation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Leading shipping companies are joining forces to combat ocean plastic pollution through the launch of the Maritime Association for Clean Seas (MACS): a new industry alliance driving measurable reductions in plastic and operational waste at scale. Founded by Seven Clean Seas (SCS), an ocean impact organisation, MACS unites founding members including Berge Bulk, X-Press Feeders, and others from across the global maritime value chain. Clean Seas to tackle ocean plastic Our oceans underpin global trade and face mounting plastic challenges Oceans carry around 90% of global trade and provide livelihoods for more than 2 million seafarers worldwide. Yet they face unprecedented pressure, with 14 million tonnes of plastic entering and damaging marine ecosystems every year. While the maritime sector contributes only a small fraction of this pollution, even isolated cargo losses or poor waste handling on board or quayside can have serious consequences which could be prevented, especially with plastic pellets, films and light packaging. By advancing best practices, innovation, and collaboration across the value chain, the industry can play a pivotal role in reducing plastic leakage and protecting the very waters it relies on. A pivotal moment for maritime sustainability MACS builds on the IMO's established Plastic Marine Litter Action Plan and responds to the growing global sentiment for coordinated, industry-wide action on plastic pollution. As scrutiny around environmental and community impact intensifies, MACS creates a unified front for maritime players to reduce plastic use, share best practices, and inspire change across adjacent sectors with even larger plastic footprints. Collective action for measurable impact MACS builds on SCS' track record of tackling plastic pollution at its source. Operating in some of the world's most polluted coastal regions, SCS develops holistic certified recovery projects that not only recover ocean plastic but also deliver fair employment and community impact on the ground. The Association brings maritime leaders together to tackle two core objectives of ocean plastic recovery at scale and waste reduction across the maritime value chain, with the initial focus for 2026 on three key areas: Sustainable procurement and material use; Vessel waste measurement and reduction; And improved portside waste reception. These efforts align directly with the IMO's 2030 Action Plan. It also marks a key milestone in SCS' mission to recover 100,000,000 kilograms of plastic and improve 200,000 lives by 2030, proving how targeted collaboration can drive systemic change and inspire far-reaching environmental progress. "Seven Clean Seas has always believed in collective action as the most powerful lever for change," said Tom Peacock-Nazil, Founder & Chairman of MACS. "With MACS, we're providing the maritime industry with the tools it needs to make measurable progress against plastic pollution. Not in isolation, but together." Driving systemic change through collaboration Founding members Berge Bulk, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), X-Press Feeders, and Britoil Offshore Services represent a cross-section of the global maritime sector, from bulk carriers and ship management to offshore operations. Their participation reflects a shared commitment to operational excellence, environmental leadership, and data transparency. "At Berge Bulk, the oceans are at the heart of our business, so we have always felt an obligation to protect them and a responsibility to keep them clean," said Michael Blanding, Head of Sustainability & Communications. "Our long-standing work with SCS has already delivered tangible results, and through MACS, we're proud to help lead a united industry response that can achieve change at scale." Francis Goh, Chief Operating Officer of X-Press Feeders, added, "As a global shipping company, we recognise the responsibility we have to safeguard the oceans that sustain global trade. Our collaboration with S...

February/March 2025 | Hosts Holly Browning and Dylan Posa talk about the one-one-one genealogy program, and recommend: 'Spare' by Prince Harry 'Polostan' by Neal Stephenson 'The Midnight Feast' by Lucy Foley and 'The Map Thief' by Michael Blanding.

Novelist Fred Waitzkin (Searching for Bobby Fischer) stops by to discuss Jack Kerouac, Ernest Hemingway, and his new novel Anything Is Good, which tells the story of a childhood friend who was a genius - and who ended up living among the unhoused for years. PLUS Michael Blanding (In Shakespeare's Shadow: A Rogue Scholar's Quest to Reveal the True Source Behind the World's Greatest Plays) stops by to discuss his choice for the last book he will ever read. Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/donate. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at www.thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get your DEMYSTICON 2024 tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/demysticon-2024-tickets-727054969987 The true identity of the person who wrote Shakespeare's plays has long been debated. At least 87 potential authors - from Daniel Defoe to Sir Francis Drake to Anne Hathaway to Sheikh Zubar - have been proposed as candidates, but all of these proposals suffer from the same problem - they don't quite fit the historical facts and so have to be stretched, ill fitting, to even be considered. Only one of the theories seems to make sense in context of history and biography, and it is that the true author of the plays was Sir Thomas North, soldier, lawyer, and translator. Returning guest Dennis McCarthy is joined by journalist Michael Blanding and author Derek Hunter for a conversation about uncovering the true identity of Shakespeare, the life and times of Thomas North, and the tangled thread of politics, philosophy, and liberty that stretches from the printing press to ChatGPT by way of the Old Globe. Tell us what you think in the comments or on our Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub Support the podcast by buying Michael Blanding, Dennis McCarthy, and Dennis Hunter's books: North by Shakespeare: https://amzn.to/4a3xp4n Thomas North, the Original Author of Shakespeare's Plays: https://amzn.to/3wF1nNx Anonymous Agnostic Antichrist: https://amzn.to/3v17rj7 Sign up for a yearly Patreon membership for discounted conference tickets: https://bit.ly/3lcAasB (00:00) Go! (00:03:22) The man & the myth (00:16:08) Repurposing of ancient tales (00:29:27) Conventional Shakespeare Story (00:49:11) Lost Plays of Other Authors (01:04:39) Ressurection of ancient mythology (01:10:25) Theory without a home (01:19:41) Thowing out the good with the bad (01:23:33) Cycles of secular idealism (01:42:42) Telling theory in fiction (01:49:46) Essex rebellion (02:04:20) How to move the needle? (02:16:48) Modern renaissance in the future? (02:28:22) Pendulum of history (02:30:46) Where to find more #Shakespeare #authorshipdebate #SirThomasNorth #DennisMcCarthy #MichaelBlanding #DerekHunter #history #biography #literature #myths Check our short-films channel, @DemystifySci: https://www.youtube.com/c/DemystifyingScience AND our material science investigations of atomics, @MaterialAtomics https://www.youtube.com/@MaterialAtomics Join our mailing list https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S PODCAST INFO: Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities. - Blog: http://DemystifySci.com/blog - RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rss - Donate: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaD - Swag: https://bit.ly/2PXdC2y SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySci MUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671

Available on Amazon worldwide. Want to laugh while you learn who really wrote Shakespeare? I DARE you to read this book. It is STUNNING!" Michael Blanding, Dennis McCarthy, and June Schlueter were the first to announce “the North theory” which took the literary world by storm in 2021 and landed them on the front page of the NY Times.The Blanding-authored book North by Shakespeare pro --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/daniel-lucas66/message

Dennis McCarthy is a writer, historian, and independent researcher who, in the process of tracing Hamlet's origin, ended up unwinding the entire legend of Shakespeare. Digging deeper into the history of Shakespeare's plays alongside collaborators June Schlueter and Michael Blanding, McCarthy uncovered evidence that all but two of Shakespeare's plays were written by Sir Thomas North, an English translator, lawyers, and justice of the peace. We dig into the evidence for the overlap between the two figures, unpack the myth of the lone genius, and seek to understand how the origin of ideas is driven by the sum total of the biogeographic connections that impinge on a given time and place. Support DemystifySci & Dennis McCarthy while getting learned: https://amzn.to/3xTPels Support the scientific revolution by joining our Patreon: https://bit.ly/3lcAasB Tell us what you think in the comments or on our Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub #genius #shakespeare #demystifysci (00:00) Go! (00:10:13) Of Politics and Plays (00:15:12) Are North and Shakespeare the same Person? (00:20:38) Myths of Lone Genius (00:25:24) Shifting Cultural Frames (00:34:43) An Idea is Fine, but a Theory is Too Much (00:39:57) How Many of the Plays are North's? (00:43:48) Biogeography & The Spread of Ideas (00:52:52) No True Origin Stories (01:02:44) How Much Did North Know? (01:12:30) Here Be Dragons (01:17:16) Artistic Explosions (01:24:30) Archetypal Tendencies (01:33:33) Convergent Evolution of Stories (01:40:34) Getting Published by Oxford (01:51:26) Does the Opposition Ever Chill? (01:54:51) Physics (02:11:26) The Source of Motivation (02:16:48) Close Check our short-films channel, @DemystifySci: https://www.youtube.com/c/DemystifyingScience AND our material science investigations of atomics, @MaterialAtomics https://www.youtube.com/@MaterialAtomics Join our mailing list https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S PODCAST INFO: Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Michael Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities. - Blog: http://DemystifySci.com/blog - RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rss - Donate: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaD - Swag: https://bit.ly/2PXdC2y SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySci MUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671

The History of Literature: Literature enthusiast Jacke Wilson journeys through the history of literature, from ancient epics to contemporary classics. In this episode, Jacke talks to investigative journalist Michael Blanding, author of In Shakespeare's Shadow, about a renegade scholar named Dennis McCarthy's theory that Shakespeare may have drawn upon a previously unknown source – the lost plays of Sir Thomas North – and how Blanding himself joined the pursuit of searching for evidence to support McCarthy's theory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's a paradox that has bothered Shakespeare's fans for centuries: the man was as insightful into human beings as anyone whoever lived, and yet his own life is barely documented. This combination of literary genius plus biographical uncertainty has spun off a number of mysteries - including the question of how exactly Shakespeare came to know the things that he did. In this episode, Jacke talks to investigative journalist Michael Blanding, author of In Shakespeare's Shadow, about a renegade scholar named Dennis McCarthy's theory that Shakespeare may have drawn upon a previously unknown source - the lost plays of Sir Thomas North - and how Blanding himself joined the pursuit of searching for evidence to support McCarthy's theory. Additional listening suggestions: 360 FMK Shakespeare! (with Laurie Frankel) 70 Shakespeare's Julius Caesar 48 Hamlet Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/shop. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at www.thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted by Andrew Keen, Keen On features conversations with some of the world's leading thinkers and writers about the economic, political, and technological issues being discussed in the news, right now. In this episode, Andrew is joined by Michael Blanding, co-author of North by Shakespeare: A Rogue Scholar's Quest for the Truth Behind the Bard's Work. Michael Blanding is a Boston-based investigative journalist, whose work has appeared in The New York Times, WIRED, Slate, The Boston Globe Magazine, Boston magazine, and other publications. He is author of The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps (2014), which was a New York Times bestseller and an NPR Book of the Year; and The Coke Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind the World's Favorite Soft Drink (2010). A former writing fellow at Brandeis University and The Harvard Kennedy School, he has taught feature writing at Tufts University, Emerson College, and GrubStreet Writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted by Andrew Keen, Keen On features conversations with some of the world's leading thinkers and writers about the economic, political, and technological issues being discussed in the news, right now.In this episode, Andrew is joined by Michael Blanding, co-author of North by Shakespeare: A Rogue Scholar's Quest for the Truth Behind the Bard's Work.Michael Blanding is a Boston-based investigative journalist, whose work has appeared in The New York Times, WIRED, Slate, The Boston Globe Magazine, Boston magazine, and other publications. He is author of The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps (2014), which was a New York Times bestseller and an NPR Book of the Year; and The Coke Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind the World's Favorite Soft Drink (2010). A former writing fellow at Brandeis University and The Harvard Kennedy School, he has taught feature writing at Tufts University, Emerson College, and GrubStreet Writers.

When it comes to Shakespeare, there are still discoveries to be made!Show Notes:Show Notes:Carol Ann Lloydwww.carolannlloyd.com@shakeuphistorypatreon.com/carolannlloydMichael Blandingmichaelblanding.com@michael_blanding, @michaelblandingIn Shakespeare's Shadow (paperback available 3 May)https://bit.ly/Cymbelinestory (Guardian article)Creative Director: Lindsey LindstromMusic: Inspiring Dramatic Pack by Smart Sounds via Audio Jungle; Music Broadcast License

We talk with playwright Migdalia Cruz about her adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth for modern audiences. Then, Michael Blanding talks about his book, North By Shakespeare: A Rogue Scholar's Quest For The Truth Behind The Bard's Work. The post Writer's Voice: Migdalia Cruz, MACBETH & Michael Blanding NORTH BY SHAKESPEARE appeared first on Writer's Voice.

In North by Shakespeare, Michael Blanding presents the twinning narratives of rogue scholar Dennis McCarthy, called “the Steve Jobs of the Shakespeare community,” and Sir Thomas North, an Elizabethan courtier whom McCarthy believes to be the previously undiscovered source for Shakespeare's plays. For the last fifteen years, Dennis McCarthy has obsessively pursued the true source of Shakespeare's works—with fascinating results. Using plagiarism software, he has found direct links between Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and other plays and Thomas North's published and unpublished writings—as well as Shakespearean plotlines seemingly lifted straight from North's colorful life. McCarthy's wholly original conclusion is this: Shakespeare wrote the plays, but he adapted them from source plays written by North decades before—many of them penned on behalf of North's patron, Robert Dudley, a longtime suitor to Queen Elizabeth. That bold theory answers many lingering questions about the Bard with compelling new evidence, including a newly unearthed journal of North's travels through France and Italy, filled with locations and details appearing in Shakespeare's plays. North by Shakespearealternates between the dramatic life of Thomas North, the intrigues of the Tudor court, the rivalries of English Renaissance theatre, and McCarthy's attempts to air his provocative ideas in the clubby world of Shakespearean scholarship. Through it all, Blanding employs his keen journalistic eye to craft a highly readable drama, upending our understanding of the beloved playwright and his “singular genius.” Michael Blandingis a Boston-based investigative journalist, whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Wired, Slate, the Boston Globe Magazine, Bostonmagazine, and other publications. He is the author of The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps (2014), which was a New York Times bestseller and an NPR Book of the Year, and The Coke Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind the World's Favorite Soft Drink (2010). A former journalism fellow at Brandeis University and Harvard Law School, he has taught feature writing at Tufts University, Emerson College, and GrubStreet Writers. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/steve-richards/support

Join Andrea and Michael Blanding as they talk about finding purpose through the things that incite our passion. Michael is an investigative journalist whose work has appeared in various publications. He is also the author of multiple bestselling books. In this episode, he shares how passion promotes productivity. It makes a big difference if you're doing something that's aligned with what you want to do. Stay tuned! Here are the things to expect in this episode: The challenges of selling his self-published books. How did he reinvent himself to figure out how to publicize his works? Creating a balance between a sustainable way of making a living and doing passion projects. Why is this necessary? Learning the hard way that passion is an important key in writing a book. And more! About Michael Blanding: Michael Blanding is a Boston-based investigative journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, WIRED, Slate, The Boston Globe, and other publications. He is the author of North by Shakespeare: A Rogue Scholar's Quest for the Truth Behind the Bard's Work (2021), and The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps (2014), which was a New York Times-bestseller and an NPR Book of the Year. He has also been a journalism fellow at Brandeis University and Harvard University, and taught writing at Tufts University, Emerson College, and GrubStreet Writers. Connect with Michael! Website - http://www.michaelblanding.com Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/MichaelBlandingWriter Twitter - https://twitter.com/michaelblanding Instagram - http://instagram.com/Michael_Blanding   For more tips and strategies follow along with Andrea: FB Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/uplevelcollective Website - https://www.andreafreemanconsulting.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/afreeman_insta/ Podcast Powerhouse Masterclass - https://www.andreafreemanconsulting.com/masterclass

Interview with Investigative Journalist Michael Blanding from May 2021.

Even for the most dedicated "traditional" Shakespeare scholar, the fact of the Bard's use (or rather plagiarism) of previous sources is beyond controversy. One universally agreed-upon source is the work of the Elizabethan intellectual Thomas North, whose translation of Plutarch has long been identified as the basis for much of Shakespeare's so-called "Roman" work. But what if North's involvement in creating the Shakespearian canon goes much, much further? That's the question one unlikely investigator, Dennis McCarthy, has been asking for over a decade. McCarthy's quest to illuminate the full extent of North's role in giving us "Shakespeare" - as well as his conviction that North was a playwright and that Shakespeare's plays contain biographical elements of North's life - is chronicled by journalist Michael Blanding in his new book, North by Shakespeare. Blanding joined John to talk about his love of a good story, the allure of his subjects, North and McCarthy, and whether or not he regrets treading into the murky and often infuriating world of the Shakespeare Authorship Question. You can find Michael on Twitter @michaelblanding You can find Dennis McCarthy on Twitter @4threvolt You can visit Michael's website and learn more about his work here: http://www.michaelblanding.com/ You can learn more about the Thomas North/Shakespeare connection and explore McCarthy's work on his website: https://sirthomasnorth.com/

(6/7/21) In this new book North by Shakespeare: A Rogue Scholar's Quest for the Truth Behind the Bard's Work, investigative journalist Michael Blanding presents the parallel narratives of renegade scholar Dennis McCarthy, known as “the Steve Jobs of the Shakespeare community,” and Sir Thomas North, an Elizabethan courtier whom McCarthy believes to be the undiscovered source of Shakespeare's work. Plagiarism software has revealed direct links between Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and North's published and unpublished writings—as well as Shakespearean plotlines seemingly lifted straight from North's own colorful life. Prepare to have your view of William Shakespeare as a singular genius playwright upended in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

Author Michael Blanding stops by #ConversationsLIVE to discuss his new book NORTH BY SHAKESPEARE with host Cyrus Webb. 

In this episode Matt Crawford speaks with author Michael Blanding about his book North by Shakespeare. Did Shakespeare actually right all his plays? I didn't know this was even a question that needed to be asked. Who is Thomas North? The plot thickens and Blanding takes us along on his search for the answers. Plagiarism software, digital term searches and archival finds are just some of the tools that unravel this juicy story. A book that reads like a detective novel this one is hard to put down, and will have you saying "That's Gin!"

Steven speaks with investigative journalist Michael Blanding about his new book exploring the research of Dennis McCarthy who points to Sir Thomas North as an undiscovered source of Shakespearean writings. Support the show by picking up official Don't Quill the Messenger merchandise at www.dontquillthepodcast.com  Presented by the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship. Learn more at www.shakespeareoxfordfellowship.org  Don't Quill the Messenger is a part of the Dragon Wagon Radio independent podcast network. For more great podcasts visit www.dragonwagonradio.com

Hosted by long time radio reporter, anchor, editor, producer, director, and host, Larry Matthews, "Matthews and Friends" brings you the best interviews with guests from whom you want to hear! Join Larry Matthews today to hear his work with Harvard Business School Professor, Tom Eisenmann, on his book, "Why Startups Fail"; Israeli-American scholar, Bar-Giora Goldberg, on his book, "The Mind is Mightier"; and investigative journalist Michael Blanding on his book, "North by Shakespeare".  "Matthews and Friends" can be heard at 8:00 am and 10:00 pm ET, seven days a week on Impact Radio USA.

North by Shakespeare: A Rogue Scholar's Quest for the Truth Behind the Bard's Work by Michael Blanding The true story of a self-taught Shakespeare sleuth’s quest to prove his eye-opening theory about the source of the world’s most famous plays, taking readers inside the vibrant era of Elizabethan England as well as the contemporary scene of Shakespeare scholars and obsessives. Acclaimed author of The Map Thief, Michael Blanding presents the twinning narratives of renegade scholar Dennis McCarthy, called “the Steve Jobs of the Shakespeare community,” and Sir Thomas North, an Elizabethan courtier whom McCarthy believes to be the undiscovered source for Shakespeare’s plays. For the last fifteen years, McCarthy has obsessively pursued the true origins of Shakespeare’s works. Using plagiarism software, he has found direct links between Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and other plays and North’s published and unpublished writings—as well as Shakespearean plotlines seemingly lifted straight from North’s colorful life. Unlike those who believe someone else secretly wrote Shakespeare, McCarthy’s wholly original conclusion is this: Shakespeare wrote the plays, but he adapted them from source plays written by North decades before. Many of them, he believes, were penned on behalf of North’s patron Robert Dudley, in his efforts to woo Queen Elizabeth. That bold theory addresses many lingering mysteries about the Bard with compelling new evidence, including a newly discovered journal of North’s travels through France and Italy, filled with locations and details appearing in Shakespeare’s plays. North by Shakespeare alternates between the enigmatic life of Thomas North, the intrigues of the Tudor court, the rivalries of English Renaissance theater, and academic outsider Dennis McCarthy’s attempts to air his provocative ideas in the clubby world of Shakespearean scholarship. Through it all, Blanding employs his keen journalistic eye to craft a captivating drama, upending our understanding of the beloved playwright and his “singular genius.” Michael Blanding is a Boston-based investigative journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, WIRED, Slate, The Boston Globe, and other publications. He is the author of North by Shakespeare: A Rogue Scholar’s Quest for the Truth Behind the Bard’s Work (2021), and The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps (2014), which was a New York Times-bestseller and an NPR Book of the Year. He has also been a journalism fellow at Brandeis University and Harvard University, and taught writing at Tufts University, Emerson College, and GrubStreet Writers.

Michael Blanding & Hank Garrett

Rogue scholar Dennis McCarthy has relied on plagiarism software, travels through Europe, and an obsession to find the truth to continue his quest for a new source of Shakespeare's plays. He concludes that Tudor courtier and author Thomas North, whose family was at the center of political intrigue for years, wrote plays that Shakespeare used as source material.Award-winning journalist and author Michael Blanding traces the journey of McCarthy, the so-called "Steve Jobs of the Shakespeare community." Blanding takes us on a journey with McCarthy through the Elizabethan court, through trips to France and Italy, and through an imaginative reenactment of North's influence on the world's most famous playwright.North by Shakespeare, a Rogue Scholar's Quest for the Truth Behind the Bard's Work is a lively discussion of forgotten journeys, newly discovered manuscripts, political intrigue, and possible new ways of seeing stories we thought we knew.

Michael Blanding, author of "North by Shakespeare: a Rogue Scholar's Quest for the Truth behind the Bard's Work." The book explores the work of self-taught scholar Dennis McCarthy, who is convinced that most of the plays attributed to William Shakespeare should be - at least in part - credited to Sir Thomas North.

On this episode I speak with investigative journalist and author, Michael Blanding. Michael and I chat about his new book North by Shakespeare, and the journey he took with Shakespeare sleuth, Dennis McCarthy, to tell the story of Sir Thomas North (1535 - c. 1604). Then, on Ask the Expert (ATE), International best-selling author Nicola Cornick returns to answer YOUR questions on Amy Robsart. Lastly, on A Brief History (ABH), I talk about Anne Boleyn.   Michael Blanding - Shakespeare: 0:00 - 29:26 Nicola Cornick - Amy Robsart: 29:27- 53:23 ABH - Anne Boleyn: 53:24 - 1:00:59 -- Show Notes: TudorsDynastyPodcast.com -- Credits:   Written by: Rebecca Larson, Steph Stohrer & Lissa Bryan Voiced by: Rebecca Larson, Steph Stohrer, Michael Blanding & Nicola Cornick Produced by: Rebecca Larson & Steph Stohrer Imaging by: Troy Larson (TroyLarsonCreative.com)   Music Credits: Open Music Credit: Pavana alla veneziana by Paul O'Dette, Composed by Joan Ambrosio Dalza ABH Music: The Court Of The King by MusicLFiles Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/7732-the-court-of-the-king License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Resources:   TudorsDynasty.com TudorsDynastyPodcast.com YouTube.com/TudorsDynasty Patreon.com/TudorsDynasty (Patron site) patron.podbean.com/tudorsdynasty (Patron site)

We speak with investigative journalist Michael Blanding and self-taught Shakespeare scholar Dennis McCarthy.

Creator of Dispatches from the Frat House   Interview starts at 14:23 and ends at 40:20   I'd like to write the kind of book that I'd like to read. And immediately there's that thing in your head that goes, “Why? There are a gazillion books out there. Why would you want to write a book? This little wife in the midwest surrounded by kids—who's going to want to read that?” And the other part of my brain goes, “Well why not? Why shouldn't I write that? If nobody reads it, I wrote it, I'm happy. So why not?"   News “Watch out, Siri, Amazon's Alexa could be coming to iOS soon” by Jeff Brynes at appadvice.com - August 3, 2015 Alexa Voice Service blog post at Amazon - July 31, 2015 “Why Apple and Amazon Chose to be ‘Frenemies'” by Michael Blanding at Forbes - August 3, 2015 "Frenemies in Platform Markets: The Case of Apple's iPad vs. Amazon's Kindle” by Ron Adner, Jianqing, and Feng Zhu at HBS Working Paper Series (Full paper in PDF) “Amazon Cuts Down on Prime Members Sharing Their Benefits” by Sarah Perez at TechCrunch - August 3, 2015   Tech Tips Christina Warren's method for adding author autograph to a Kindle cover - on the Accidental Tech Podcast - May 29, 2015 Kindle Direct Publishing KDP Pricing Support Beta Psychotherapeutic Reiki: A Holistic Body-Mind Approach to Psychotherapy by Richard Curtin Jr. - $3.49 on Kindle   Interview with Carie Harling “Clippings.io and Evernote” - YouTube video by Carie Harling October 21, 2015 Clippings.io Evernote Amazon's kindle.amazon.com retrieval tool for Kindle notes and highlights Moleskine Evernote Smart Notebooks Carie Harling's “Cheating” post on switching to paper planning tools - March 14, 2013 “Digital Vs Paper Planning” by Carie Harling at Filofax - October 17, 2013 Omnifocus Carie Harling's “What's Your Why Not?” site Stochasticity post    Content “Awesome Indies Books (A Criticism of Book Awards and Seals)” by Derek Murphy at CreativeINDIE Awesome Indies Blue Ink Review   Comment Legimi, a book subscription service in Poland Google Books   Next Week's Guest Harry Bingham, author of the Fiona Griffiths mysteries -  1. Talking to the Dead 2. Love Story, With Murders 3. The Strange Death of Fiona Griffiths 4. This Thing of Darkness   Music for my podcast is from an original Thelonius Monk composition named "Well, You Needn't." This version is "Ra-Monk" by Eval Manigat on the "Variations in Time: A Jazz Persepctive" CD by Public Transit Recording" CD.    Please Join the Kindle Chronicles group at Goodreads!