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Artwork for The World in Time / Lapham’s Quarterly

The World in Time / Lapham’s Quarterly

Lapham’s Quarterly
Moby Dick
Herman Melville
Lapham's Quarterly
Moby-Dick
Lewis Lapham
Lewis H. Lapham
American Revolution
Mark Twain
San Francisco
Harper's Magazine
Translation
The Odyssey
Samuel Adams
History
Francine Prose
Technology
Father-Son Relationships
The Sea
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Attention

Donovan Hohn, the acting editor of Lapham's Quarterly, interviews historians, writers, and journalists about books that bring voices from the past up to the microphone of the present. New episodes are released bi-weekly.

PublishesTwice monthlyEpisodes141Founded9 years ago
Number of ListenersCategory
History

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Artwork for The World in Time / Lapham’s Quarterly

Latest Episodes

“He’s an intuitive ethnographer,” Andrea Wulf says of George Forster, the subject of her new book, on this week’s episode of The World in Time. “As they travel across the South Pacific and stop at all these different islands, he records the islanders... more

Two years ago today, Lewis Lapham’s voice joined all those other departed voices of the past. This summer we’ve been welcoming his voice back to the microphone of the present, and today, in commemoration of the anniversary of his death, we are sharin... more

“America’s founding is not just your conventional heroic struggle for noble ideas and ideals,” says historian Holger Hoock on today’s episode of The World in Time. “It is also a profoundly violent civil war—America’s first civil war—and a civil war i... more

“What’s extraordinary in those speeches that Lincoln gave on the eve of the war,” says Gordon S. Wood in this episode of The World in Time, “is his realization of how diverse America

had become. We’ve got Frenchmen, we’ve got Spaniards, we’ve got Ge... more

Key Facts

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Recent Guests

Holger Hoock
Historian, author of Scars of Independence
University of Virginia? (mentioned in transcript)
Episode: America's Violent Birth (with Joseph J. Ellis and Holger Hoock)
Joseph J. Ellis
Historian, author of The Cause, The American Revolution and its Discontents
Episode: America's Violent Birth (with Joseph J. Ellis and Holger Hoock)
Jill Lepore
Harvard historian and longtime The New Yorker contributor
Harvard University
Episode: Lapham’s Revolutionary America: Jill Lepore and Gordon S. Wood
Gordon S. Wood
Brown University historian, expert on Revolutionary America
Brown University
Episode: Lapham’s Revolutionary America: Jill Lepore and Gordon S. Wood
Michael Pollan
Author and journalist discussed in depth about his book A World Appears
Author, Harvard/UC Berkeley connections mentioned
Episode: Michael Pollan on Consciousness
Zena Hitz
Founder of the Catherine Project
Catherine Project
Episode: Whither the Humanities? (With Zena Hitz, Justin Smith-Ruiu, and D. Graham Burnett)
Mary Beard
Professor Emerita of Classics at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
Episode: Mary Beard on the Classics
Yiyun Li
Author and essayist
Author of Things in Nature Merely Grow
Episode: Yiyun Li on “The Try-Works”
Adrienne Mayor
Folklorist, classicist, historian of ancient science
Lapham's Quarterly contributor; author of Mythopedia
Episode: Adrienne Mayor on Geomyths

Host

Donovan Hohn
Acting editor of Lapham's Quarterly; host of The World in Time

Reviews

4.9 out of 5 stars from 354 ratings
  • Oh that voice … !

    Thank you for honouring the great man at last.

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    aged librarian
    United Kingdoma year ago
  • Great Podcast

    I understand Mr. Latham passed away. I missed his great podcast. His website had excellent articles from different topics and reputable sources. I hope his online magazine can continue as well as his podcast. It seems there is a foundation behind the publication. My condolences to his family and friends. He will be greatly missed.

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Palunargar
    United Statesa year ago
  • Why did it stop? I need to hear these episodes

    Lewis Lapham's The World In Time: Please send us more. LTF

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Billi
    United States2 years ago
  • The best podcast

    None better

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Che Block
    United States3 years ago
  • Episode 100 explains it all

    Except it’s unclear to me why the wealthy don’t understand the importance of a strong middle class Looking forward to reading the book Thank you Q: What was all that gargling at the beginning of the episode?

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Che Block
    United States3 years ago

Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

Some note the episodes inspire further reading and engagement with the material.
Many praise the host's ability to steer deep, nuanced conversations that illuminate historical topics.
Listeners describe the show as insightful and intellectually rich with high-quality guests.

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Apple Podcasts
#177
Russia/History
Apple Podcasts
#191
Brazil/History
Apple Podcasts
#196
Denmark/History

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

America's Violent Birth (with Joseph J. Ellis and Holger Hoock)
Q: Give us a small sketch of the story you're going to tell, and then tell us how you got into writing the book, what prompted you to do this work, and where did it begin?
Holger Hoock explains that Scars of Independence traces the violence of the Revolution from 1774 to 1783 and beyond, highlighting how violence shaped narratives and legacies across the British Empire and the new American nation, and revealing how the story emerged from his research into monuments and Loyalist experiences.
Michael Pollan on Consciousness
Q: Do you think a science of consciousness is enough, or should humanities play a larger role?
Pollan argues for an interdisciplinary approach, where literature, philosophy, and Buddhism illuminate aspects of consciousness that pure third-person science may miss, suggesting that science and humanities together can offer a fuller picture.
Michael Pollan on Consciousness
Q: What's the hard problem of consciousness as the book frames it?
The hard problem asks how physical processes in the brain give rise to felt experience and consciousness, a question that resists easy reduction to brain activity or computational models.
Adrienne Mayor on Geomyths
Q: What makes a geomyth a reliable witness to past events, according to your framework?
If a myth contains datable geological details that align with scientific understanding of events like eruptions or floods, and if those details can be corroborated across independent sources, then it gains credibility as a historical memory rather than mere fable.
Adrienne Mayor on Geomyths
Q: How did you come to study such a wide range of disciplines in Mythopedia?
I deliberately avoided being confined to a single field, preferring interdisciplinary collaboration and drawing from archaeology, folklore, geology, and classics to illuminate how early observations became embedded in myth and memory.

Audience Metrics

Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.

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Frequently Asked Questions About The World in Time / Lapham’s Quarterly

What is The World in Time / Lapham’s Quarterly about and what kind of topics does it cover?

A thoughtful interview series that centers historical literature, archival materials, and cross-disciplinary conversations. Guests range from literary writers and biographers to classicists, historians, and journalists, who explore how past voices come alive in present-day storytelling. Noteworthy are in-depth discussions of classic works, the interplay between fact and fiction, and multiple episodes that weave scholarly analysis with personal anecdotes. The show often features prominent historians and literary figures, offering rigorous context while remaining accessible to curious listeners who want to read more after listening.

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2. Open Source with Christopher Lydon
3. The Ezra Klein Show
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5. Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

How many episodes of The World in Time / Lapham’s Quarterly are there?

The World in Time / Lapham’s Quarterly launched 9 years ago and published 141 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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What guests have appeared on The World in Time / Lapham’s Quarterly?

Recent guests on The World in Time / Lapham’s Quarterly include:

1. Holger Hoock
2. Joseph J. Ellis
3. Jill Lepore
4. Gordon S. Wood
5. Michael Pollan
6. Zena Hitz
7. Mary Beard
8. Yiyun Li

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