Stephanie Bastek

Stephanie Bastek is the senior editor of the Scholar and the producer/host of the Smarty Pants podcast.

Michael Douglas Explains It All

Jessa Crispin on what the actor’s roles tell us about the crisis of masculinity

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday July 11, 2025

Once in a Lifetime

Jonathan Gould on how Talking Heads transformed rock music

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday June 27, 2025

Family Values

Augustine Sedgewick on the history of paternity and patriarchy

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday June 13, 2025

Lingua Obscura

Laura Spinney on the spread of Proto-Indo-European

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday May 23, 2025

The Shipping News

Ian Kumekawa tells the story of the global economy in one barge

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday May 9, 2025

Coming Home

Craig Thompson digs up memories of farm labor and the history of ginseng

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday April 25, 2025

Muscle Memory

Michael Joseph Gross on the importance of strength, past and present

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday April 11, 2025

The Most Famous Unknown Artist

David Sheff puts Yoko Ono in the spotlight

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday March 28, 2025

The Root Cause

Padraic X. Scanlan tells the real history of the Irish Potato Famine

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday March 14, 2025

Something New in the West

Kurt Beals on translating All Quiet on the Western Front

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday February 28, 2025

The Geek Squad

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday June 12, 2026

For Better or for Wurst

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday May 15, 2026

Safe From Sin

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday April 17, 2026

Hue and Cry

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday April 3, 2026

Shotgun Ornithology

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday March 20, 2026

Eulogy for a Yenta

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday March 6, 2026

The Carnifex of Cachtice

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday February 20, 2026

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