Interviews Archives - Public Books https://www.publicbooks.org/category/interviews/ a magazine of ideas, arts, and scholarship Fri, 06 Feb 2026 23:01:39 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://www.publicbooks.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/cropped-favicon-2-300x300.png Interviews Archives - Public Books https://www.publicbooks.org/category/interviews/ 32 32 “To Wither in the Same Way We Shall”: Talking Archives, Diseases, and History with Edna Bonhomme https://www.publicbooks.org/to-wither-in-the-same-way-we-shall-talking-archives-diseases-and-history-with-edna-bonhomme/ Thu, 05 Feb 2026 16:00:00 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=64530 “The progressive and leftist organizers that I knew before think about three things: educate, organize and agitate. And that could apply to the public health students and public health people.”

The post “To Wither in the Same Way We Shall”: Talking Archives, Diseases, and History with Edna Bonhomme appeared first on Public Books.

]]> Defending the Possibility of the University: A Roundtable on “University Keywords” https://www.publicbooks.org/defending-the-possibility-of-the-university-a-roundtable-on-university-keywords/ Wed, 04 Feb 2026 16:00:00 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=64702 “What would it look like for faculty unions and graduate student unions to collaborate or work together with K-12 teachers’ unions to push back against anti-DEI legislation or book bans?”

The post Defending the Possibility of the University: A Roundtable on “University Keywords” appeared first on Public Books.

]]> At the Edge of Erasure: An Interview with Anouche Kunth, Historian of Exile https://www.publicbooks.org/at-the-edge-of-erasure-an-interview-with-anouche-kunth-historian-of-exile/ Wed, 14 Jan 2026 16:50:40 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=61484 In the basement of a French administration office there was a mass of 12,000 documents related to the refugees of the Armenian genocide, telling a terse story of loss.

The post At the Edge of Erasure: An Interview with Anouche Kunth, Historian of Exile appeared first on Public Books.

]]> “Not So Ephemeral After All”: Talking Op-Eds, War, and Memory with Bécquer Seguín https://www.publicbooks.org/not-so-ephemeral-after-all-talking-op-eds-war-and-memory-with-becquer-seguin/ Tue, 02 Dec 2025 16:00:16 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=61239 “Why does the op-ed still hold sway over writers who want to be intellectuals or want to have some public presence?”

The post “Not So Ephemeral After All”: Talking Op-Eds, War, and Memory with Bécquer Seguín appeared first on Public Books.

]]> Cloth and Complicity: Seth Rockman on Plantations, Textiles, and the Art of Weaving https://www.publicbooks.org/cloth-and-complicity-seth-rockman-on-plantations-textiles-and-the-art-of-weaving/ Tue, 18 Nov 2025 16:00:23 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=61141 “But I had found a set of instructions in the archives of one of New England's leading manufacturers of low-end woollen cloth for enslaved wearers.”

The post Cloth and Complicity: Seth Rockman on Plantations, Textiles, and the Art of Weaving appeared first on Public Books.

]]> The Past as a Site of Radical Otherness in Nishant Batsha’s “A Bomb Placed Close to the Heart” https://www.publicbooks.org/the-past-as-a-site-of-radical-otherness-in-nishant-batshas-a-bomb-placed-close-to-the-heart/ Wed, 29 Oct 2025 15:00:23 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=61000 “I am a novelist first and a historian second. That’s how the tension you mention resolves itself: I know I’m trying to tell a story.”

The post The Past as a Site of Radical Otherness in Nishant Batsha’s “A Bomb Placed Close to the Heart” appeared first on Public Books.

]]> “Conjuring and Reality”: An Interview with Jeanne Thornton https://www.publicbooks.org/conjuring-and-reality-an-interview-with-jeanne-thornton/ Thu, 02 Oct 2025 15:00:21 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=60791 “Pronouncing a sentence about a person, wrapping them up in your narrative, can be a very gracious action, or a cruel one, or probably most often both.”

The post “Conjuring and Reality”: An Interview with Jeanne Thornton appeared first on Public Books.

]]> “Suddenly, the New Story Was There” https://www.publicbooks.org/suddenly-the-new-story-was-there-warren-cariou-on-the-athabasca-tar-sands-petrography-and-alternative-land-relations/ Thu, 18 Sep 2025 15:04:18 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=60775 “I had seen a lot of bitumen in the devastated landscapes of the bitumen mines. But seeing it here, in such a mundane and tranquil setting, surprised me. That was when I first understood that this material is natural.”

The post “Suddenly, the New Story Was There” appeared first on Public Books.

]]> “If You Do Something Social, You Have to Do It Local”: Pedro Lasch on Art, Protest, and Migration https://www.publicbooks.org/if-you-do-something-social-you-have-to-do-it-local-pedro-lasch-on-art-protest-and-migration/ Thu, 11 Sep 2025 15:00:21 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=60632 “From the very beginning, I knew I was part of a social movement for undocumented immigrants’ rights.”

The post “If You Do Something Social, You Have to Do It Local”: Pedro Lasch on Art, Protest, and Migration appeared first on Public Books.

]]> “A Second Enlightenment”: Greg Grandin on Latin America, the United States, and the Creation of Social-Democratic Modernity https://www.publicbooks.org/a-second-enlightenment-greg-grandin-on-latin-america-the-united-states-and-the-creation-of-social-democratic-modernity/ Tue, 09 Sep 2025 15:00:13 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=60590 “My books try to explain a tension.”

The post “A Second Enlightenment”: Greg Grandin on Latin America, the United States, and the Creation of Social-Democratic Modernity appeared first on Public Books.

]]>