Stephanie Bastek is the associate editor of the Scholar and the producer/host of the Smarty Pants podcast.
Stephanie Bastek
The Global Garage Sale
What happens to all the stuff we downsize, declutter, and discard?
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, December 13, 2019
House of Mirrors
Carmen Maria Machado on her meta-memoir of a harrowing relationship
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, December 06, 2019
Getting Physical
How people experienced their bodies in the Middle Ages
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, November 22, 2019
A Good Yarn
Once upon a time, a woman adopted a 676-pound bale of wool and got an inside look at a disappearing industry
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, November 08, 2019
Live, Laugh, Love Ancient Philosophy
Bringing self-help back to its ancient Greek roots
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, October 11, 2019
From Black Cabs to Blacklisted
Mike Isaac on how Uber went so wrong
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, October 25, 2019
Where the Wild Things Are
How a radical conservation effort is transforming a former farm into a verdant, biodiverse landscape—and challenging our ideas about what conservation looks like
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, October 18, 2019
The Banjo and the Ballot Box
How country music has been used on the campaign trail—and in political office
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, October 04, 2019
What Makes a Refugee?
A writer explores how displaced people, and adopted countries, should respond to the highest levels of displacement on record
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, September 27, 2019
Why Has American Classical Music Ignored Its Black Past?
And the immigrant composer who predicted a different future
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, September 13, 2019
Fashion Kills
How our hunger for more clothes is killing the environment and exploiting workers
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, September 06, 2019
The Next Menu
What will our dinner tables look like 30 years into the climate crisis?
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, August 30, 2019
One Job Should Be Enough
How workers’ voices were silenced in America—and how they’re fighting back
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, August 23, 2019
Bloodsuckers
How the mosquito changed human history—for better and for worse
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, August 16, 2019
Junk Science
How belief in biological racial difference pollutes the world of science, from eugenics to genetics
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, August 09, 2019
A Delicate Elephant Balance
Could human partnership be the secret to saving this Asian giant?
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, August 02, 2019
You Never Step Into the Same Internet Twice
Linguist Gretchen McCulloch on the new rules of language
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, July 26, 2019
Aida’s Story
What one woman’s life between two countries can teach us about the humanitarian crisis at the border
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, July 12, 2019
How a Language Dies
Chronicling the disappearance of a remote Papua New Guinean tongue—and everything else that goes with it
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, June 28, 2019
Crimes Against Sexuality
How true crime stories were used to fan the flames of homophobia—and let killers get away with murder
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, June 21, 2019
Stick Shifts and Safety Belts
How car culture swallowed America
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, June 14, 2019
The Wine-Merchant’s Son’s Tale
The first biography of Geoffrey Chaucer in a generation explores the places that inspired the English poet
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, June 07, 2019
The Space Between Our Ears
How movement, gesture, and spatial reasoning form the foundation of thoughts
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, May 17, 2019
Totes Adorbs
A philosopher digs into the subversive meaning of “cuteness”
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, May 10, 2019
Little Boxes, Big Ideas
Looking to America’s history of experimental suburbs to solve the housing crisis
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, May 03, 2019
The Ten Commandments of Bible Translation
Robert Alter talks about capturing the art of the original Hebrew
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, April 19, 2019
“Making Books Is a Countercultural Act”
A glimpse into the inner workings of a polyphonic publishing house
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, April 26, 2019
Not Ready to Make Nice
Meet Lillian Smith, forgotten southern radical
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, April 05, 2019
The Man Who Changed the Face of Spring
How an English eccentric saved Japan’s cherry blossoms—and spread them around the world
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, March 29, 2019
White Like Me
How a photograph of a young girl transformed a movement
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, March 22, 2019
A Woman’s Place
White female slave owners in the South were just as deeply invested in the institution as their male counterparts
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, March 15, 2019
The Backdoor to Equality
Alternative arguments for fair treatment
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, March 08, 2019
A Different Sort of Superhero
Black Panther reminds us of comic book protagonists outside the mainstream
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, March 01, 2019
The Gray Edges of Blackness
Emily Bernard’s essays explore her own experience of race in America
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, February 22, 2019
Postcolonial Punchlines
Alain Mabanckou on what a joke can do
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, February 15, 2019
Heroin’s Long History
What our historical fascination with opium can tell us about the present
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, February 08, 2019
Searching for the Spirit of Acid House
Has electronic dance music lost its soul?
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, February 01, 2019
The Snow Maiden
Our final episode of 2018 is a send-off to the solstice
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, December 21, 2018
The Microscopic House Guest
Coming to terms with the abundance of life in our homes
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, December 07, 2018
Opera 101
A crash course in how to love one of the most elusive art forms
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, November 30, 2018
Through a Lens Darkly
A photographer on how we represent conflict
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, November 16, 2018
Too Much Future
How East German punks tore down the Berlin Wall
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, November 09, 2018
Bad Blood
Why the 17th-century vampire still haunts us today
by Stephanie Bastek | Wednesday, October 31, 2018
The Future Is Feminist Book Collecting
How women are shaking up the rarefied world of antiquarian books
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, October 26, 2018
Neglected Books Revisited, Part 2
by Stephanie Bastek | Monday, July 20, 2015
Threepenny Thriller
An 18th-century thief gets a 21st-century update
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, September 28, 2018
Shifting Sands
We’re almost out of this tiny grain—and we’re only now beginning to pay attention
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, September 21, 2018
Black Birds of the Tower
There’s evermore to ravens than you think
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, October 12, 2018
Something Witchy This Way Comes
The social forces at work behind history’s favorite scapegoat
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, October 05, 2018
Fryderyk Chopin: A Life and Times
A video teaser for Alan Walker’s new biography
by Stephanie Bastek | Thursday, September 20, 2018
Weirdo Capital of the West
The fantastical saga of Oklahoma City
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, September 14, 2018
Smell Ya Later
How 19th-century Americans used their noses to fight for urban change
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, September 07, 2018
A Road Unforeseen
Read an excerpt from Meredith Tax’s book about the women fighting the Islamic State—and winning
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Women v. ISIS
Feminism in the Syrian desert, microbes everywhere, and one agony aunt
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Long Live the Library
Our favorite public institution provides far more than books
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, August 24, 2018
Strange Fruit and Stolen Lives
The ugly story of the whitest county in America
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, August 17, 2018
Call of the Wild
How a radical conservation effort has transformed a former farm
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, August 10, 2018
Making the Most of #MeToo
A second-wave feminist on 21st-century feminism
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, August 03, 2018
Wonderbrain
Inside the extraordinary minds of people who feel others’ emotions, hear hallucinations, and get lost in their own homes
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, July 27, 2018
No-No Novel
Resurrecting the legacy of John Okada, the first Japanese-American novelist
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, July 20, 2018
Get Rich or Die Trying
In the shadow of the Silicon Valley of death
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, May 04, 2018
Stitching History
What an old quilt can teach us about antebellum America
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, May 11, 2018
An Epirotic Odyssey
One man’s quest to uncover Europe’s oldest surviving folk music
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, June 01, 2018
Go Tell It on the Mountain
A tribute to our protected wilderness
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, June 22, 2018
Lock Her Up
The decades-long U.S. government plan to imprison “promiscuous” women
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, June 08, 2018
Letter From Underwater
Facing rising sea levels on our own shores
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, June 15, 2018
Wimbledon Unwound
The surprising sexual politics of tennis
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, July 06, 2018
A Whale of a Show
Unlocking the mysteries of the world’s largest mammals with old bones and new technology
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, June 29, 2018
Graveyard Clay and The Dirty Dust
Compare two translations of “Cré na Cille,” Máirtín Ó Cadhain’s Irish masterpiece
by Stephanie Bastek | Wednesday, March 16, 2016
When the Chicken Hits the Fan
Bobbie Ann Mason on fiction and character
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, April 27, 2018
The Floral Gospel
How the Plant Messiah saves species from the brink of extinction
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, April 20, 2018
Voicing a Legend
Jeremy Irons on reading T. S. Eliot and why poetry matters
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, April 13, 2018
Go Fish
The story of a Senegalese fishing community on the brink
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, April 06, 2018
Burmese Daze
How political powers in Myanmar engineered the Rohingya crisis
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, March 30, 2018
The Killers’ Canon
What the publishing habits of the 20th century’s dictators reveal
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, March 16, 2018
Top of the Tots
What child prodigies have to tell us about our achievement obsession
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, March 09, 2018
Zombies and Plagues and Bombs, Oh My!
How hyperbolic outbreak narratives have infected our worldview—from media to the government
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, February 23, 2018
Renaissance Rumor Mill
The man behind the great men of the Renaissance
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, February 16, 2018
Reclaiming Craftiness
What the things we make with our hands tell us about ourselves
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, February 09, 2018
A Revolutionary Change of Heart
How a moving essay on war and suffering sprang from a childhood book
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, February 02, 2018
Rhapsodies in Blue
Vulgar tongues, cruel etymologies, and a spot of poetry
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, September 15, 2017
Once and Future Food
Imagining a new world of teas and tastes
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, September 29, 2017
Back in the USSR
A glimpse inside the house that Stalin built, and Italy’s anti-fascist First Family
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, October 13, 2017
Witches Never Die
Burial practices around the world, from mummies to dancing skulls, and the history of magic’s bad girls
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, October 27, 2017
The Three Percent
Literature in translation—including the first fiction ever published in English from Madagascar and Tibet
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, November 10, 2017
Jane Austen and the Making of Desire
On being a Regency fanboy, and America’s weird relationship with sex
by Stephanie Bastek | Monday, November 20, 2017
Funny Business
Cullen Murphy on growing up in the golden age of make-believe
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, December 08, 2017
Brainwaves
A composer and a neuroscientist unravel the story of human creativity
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, December 15, 2017
CSI: Roman Empire
How climate change and disease might have been the real killers
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, December 22, 2017
School’s Out for Segregation
How charter schools and other private measures undermine a public good
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, January 26, 2018
Seeing Red
How the artistic avant-garde made a modern China
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, January 12, 2018
Scientists and Saints
Women’s roles and rituals under the microscope
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, September 01, 2017
Lady Pirates and Oceans of Plastic
One very daring journey and the pirate who puts Blackbeard to shame
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, August 11, 2017
What the Nose Knows
Smell detectives, laughing gas, and all the forces we cannot see
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, July 28, 2017
Love Games and First Impressions
How to judge tennis—or a stranger’s face
by Stephanie Bastek | Thursday, July 13, 2017
From Beer to Eternity
Exploring ancient ales and fermentation re-creations
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, June 27, 2017
From the Horse’s Mouth
True tales of horse historians, mad bombers, and infinite jam jars
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, June 09, 2017
Twin Peaks
Reporting from the world’s highlines and highlands
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, May 16, 2017
The Fox in the Big House
Soviets, poetry, and foxes, oh my!
by Stephanie Bastek | Thursday, April 20, 2017
Out of the Closet and Into the Courts
How sex met the law, plus the coolest queen in Africa
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, April 07, 2017
All the Rage
Enlightenment, architecture, and a few Irish favorites
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, March 17, 2017
Unlikely Encounters
Between fact and fiction, poetry and motion, and Milton Friedman and China’s General Secretary
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, March 03, 2017
From Côte d’Ivoire to the California Coast
Plus: Phillip Lopate tells us a secret
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, February 10, 2017
Red: The History of a Color
Read an excerpt from Michel Pastoureau’s new book about the color of love and rage
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Portraits of a Movement
Plus: our new visual arts blog, and a tour of Trump’s conflict of interest
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, January 27, 2017
Mary Roach & a Double Dose of Shakespeare
Listen to the debut episode of our new podcast
by Stephanie Bastek | Monday, June 13, 2016
Superheroes Are So Gay!
Dig into the queer politics of American comics
by Stephanie Bastek | Monday, June 27, 2016
Reading Lolita in Maximum Security Prison
Plus: underground art beneath Dupont Circle and headless chickens in Chile
by Stephanie Bastek | Monday, July 11, 2016
Go West, Young Scholar
Or, how to enjoy a California wine in a national park full of rattlesnakes
by Stephanie Bastek | Monday, July 25, 2016
A New Story for Black Americans
Plus: secrets of political conventions and the alchemy of crowdsourced poetry
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, August 09, 2016
Ku Klux Kounty
Plus, tall tales from Claude Monet and Betty MacDonald
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, October 07, 2016
High Art and Low Chairs
Plus: a book’s journey from foreign lands to American shelves, and espionage
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, October 21, 2016
Fighting the Zika Virus with John Wayne (and John Aubrey)
Well, not exactly
by Stephanie Bastek | Monday, November 07, 2016
The Aftermath
Finding hope in unexpected places: prison, protest, and poetry
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Sounds Like a Revolution
An interview with Madeleine Thien, plus: catching up with Jessica Love on language
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, December 16, 2016
The Winners of the 2015 Phi Beta Kappa Book Awards
by Stephanie Bastek | Thursday, October 01, 2015
Neglected Books Revisited, Part 1
by Stephanie Bastek | Wednesday, July 08, 2015
Scurvy: The Disease of Discovery
Read an excerpt from Jonathan Lamb’s new book about every sailor’s favorite ailment
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, December 16, 2016
Krazy
Read an excerpt from Michael Tisserand’s new biography of George Herriman
by Stephanie Bastek | Thursday, December 08, 2016
23/7
Read an excerpt from Keramet Reiter’s new book about the rise of solitary confinement
by Stephanie Bastek | Thursday, November 03, 2016
Ghostland
Read an excerpt from Colin Dickey’s history of America’s most haunted places
by Stephanie Bastek | Monday, October 17, 2016
How to Travel Without Seeing
Read an excerpt from Andrés Neuman’s dispatches from Latin America
by Stephanie Bastek | Monday, September 26, 2016
Weapons of Math Destruction
Read an excerpt from Cathy O’Neil’s book on how Big Data increases inequality and threatens democracy
by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, September 09, 2016
The Story of Egypt
Read an excerpt from Joann Fletcher’s book about the civilization that shaped the world
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, August 30, 2016
I Contain Multitudes
Read an excerpt from Ed Yong’s new book about the microbes within us
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, August 09, 2016
Catullus’ Bedspread
Read an excerpt from Daisy Dunn’s new biography of Rome’s most erotic poet
by Stephanie Bastek | Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Engineering Eden
Read an excerpt from Jordan Fisher Smith’s new book about the trial that changed our national parks
by Stephanie Bastek | Wednesday, July 20, 2016
“Guns Don’t Kill People, People Kill People” and Other Myths
Read an excerpt from Dennis A. Henigan’s updated book about gun control
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Neither Snow Nor Rain
Read an excerpt from Devin Leonard’s eclectic history of the U.S. Postal Service
by Stephanie Bastek | Monday, June 27, 2016
The Sting of the Wild
Read an excerpt from Justin O. Schmidt’s new book about venomous bugs
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Good Neighbors
An excerpt from Nancy L. Rosenblum’s new book about everyday American life
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, June 14, 2016
India’s War
An excerpt from Srinath Raghavan’s new book about India in WWII
by Stephanie Bastek | Wednesday, June 08, 2016
America’s Snake
An excerpt from Ted Levin’s new book about the rise and fall of the rattlesnake
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, May 24, 2016
My Life with Wagner
An excerpt from Christian Thielemann’s book about a lifetime of conducting
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, May 17, 2016
The Edge of the Empire
Travel ancient Britannia in this excerpt from Bronwen Riley’s new book
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, May 10, 2016
67 Shots
Read an excerpt from Howard Means’s new history of the Kent State shootings
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Black Hole Blues
Read an excerpt from Janna Levin’s new book about the soundtrack of the universe
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, April 19, 2016
The Jazz of Physics
Read an excerpt from Stephon Alexander’s book about the music of the universe
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, May 03, 2016
A Field Philosopher’s Guide to Fracking
A brief excerpt from Adam Briggle’s new book about fighting Big Oil in Texas
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Hamburgers in Paradise
Read an excerpt from Louise O. Fresco’s new book about the story of food
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, December 08, 2015
Masters of Empire
Read an excerpt from Michael A. McDonnell’s new book about Great Lakes Indians
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Unruly Equality
Read an excerpt from Andrew Cornell’s new history of anarchism
by Stephanie Bastek | Thursday, January 07, 2016
Philip Sparrow Tells All
Read an excerpt from the lost essays of Samuel Steward
by Stephanie Bastek | Monday, January 11, 2016
Five Dollars and a Pork Chop Sandwich
Read an excerpt from Mary Frances Berry’s new book about vote buying
by Stephanie Bastek | Monday, February 01, 2016
The Profiteers
Read an excerpt from Sally Denton’s book about the world-building Bechtel Corporation
by Stephanie Bastek | Wednesday, March 09, 2016
Almost Home
Read an excerpt from Githa Hariharan’s new collection of travel essays
by Stephanie Bastek | Wednesday, March 23, 2016
The Rarest Bird in the World
Read an excerpt from Vernon R. L. Head’s new memoir about the search for the Nechisar Nightjar
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, March 29, 2016
The Mechanical Horse
Read an excerpt from Margaret Guroff’s new history of the bicycle in America
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, April 05, 2016
Nothing Ever Dies
Read an excerpt from Viet Thanh Nguyen’s new book about Vietnam and the memory of war
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, April 12, 2016
The Meaning of the Library
A brief excerpt from a new collection of essays, edited by Alice Crawford
by Stephanie Bastek | Thursday, August 06, 2015
The Firebrand and the First Lady
Read an excerpt from Patricia Bell-Scott’s book about Eleanor Roosevelt and Pauli Murray
by Stephanie Bastek | Monday, February 08, 2016
You Could Look It Up
Read an excerpt from Jack Lynch’s new ode to the encyclopedia
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, February 23, 2016
The White Road
Read an excerpt from Edmund de Waal’s new book about porcelain
by Stephanie Bastek | Wednesday, November 18, 2015
The Mushroom at the End of the World
An excerpt from Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing’s new book about life in ecological crisis
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Changing the Subject
An excerpt from Sven Birkerts’s latest book about art in the Internet age
by Stephanie Bastek | Wednesday, October 07, 2015
Database of Dreams
Read an excerpt from Rebecca Lemov’s new book about the prehistory of Big Data
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, November 24, 2015
The Invention of Nature
A brief excerpt from Andrea Wulf’s new book about Alexander von Humboldt
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Latest Readings
A brief excerpt from Clive James’s new collection of essays
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, September 01, 2015
Pedigree
A brief excerpt from Nobel prizewinner Patrick Modiano’s memoir
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Mindware
A brief excerpt from Richard E. Nisbett’s new book
by Stephanie Bastek | Thursday, August 20, 2015
Strangers Drowning
A brief excerpt from Larissa MacFarquhar’s new book about extreme virtue
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, September 29, 2015
One Child
Read an excerpt from Sarah Conley’s new book about the morality of having children in our imperiled world
by Stephanie Bastek | Monday, December 14, 2015
Getting Screwed
Read an excerpt from Alison Bass’s new book on sex workers and the law
by Stephanie Bastek | Monday, November 09, 2015
The Society of Genes
Read an excerpt from Itai Yanai and Martin Lercher’s new book on evolutionary biology
by Stephanie Bastek | Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Workshops of Empire
A brief excerpt from Eric Bennett’s new book about creative writing and the Cold War
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, October 13, 2015
South Toward Home
A brief excerpt from a new book by Margaret Eby
by Stephanie Bastek | Wednesday, September 09, 2015
A Strange Business
A brief excerpt from James Hamilton’s new history of art dealership
by Stephanie Bastek | Monday, September 14, 2015
The Wonder of Wuthering Heights
An interview with Alison Case, author of the novel “Nelly Dean”
by Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Doomed to Re-Tweet It
by Stephanie Bastek | Wednesday, March 04, 2015
The Phi Beta Kappa Awards Short List
Fifteen books are in the running for three $10,000 awards
by Stephanie Bastek | Wednesday, August 19, 2015
A Victorian Mystery No More
by Stephanie Bastek | Monday, September 07, 2015
Ahead of the Curve?
by Stephanie Bastek | Monday, June 08, 2015
Wat Wreck
by Stephanie Bastek | Wednesday, December 10, 2014
