Stephanie Bastek

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

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

The Jazz of Physics

Read an excerpt from Stephon Alexander’s book about the music of the universe

By Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday May 3, 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

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 Mechanical Horse

Read an excerpt from Margaret Guroff’s new history of the bicycle in America

By Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday April 5, 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

Almost Home

Read an excerpt from Githa Hariharan’s new collection of travel essays

By Stephanie Bastek | Wednesday March 23, 2016

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

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

The Snow Maiden

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday January 2, 2026

The Midwife of Black Nationalism

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday December 12, 2025

Ground Truths

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday November 21, 2025

The Dangerous Dead

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday October 31, 2025

● NEWSLETTER

Please enter a valid email address
That address is already in use
The security code entered was incorrect
Thanks for signing up