Stephanie Bastek

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

The Dangerous Dead

John Blair on the enduring epidemics of the undead

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday October 31, 2025

For the Love of Foraging

Gabrielle Cerberville on living and eating with the seasons

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday October 17, 2025

From Sofia to Chicago

Izidora Angel on growing up in 1980s communist Bulgaria

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday October 3, 2025

Why the Bronx Burned

Bench Ansfield on a 20th-century triangle trade

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday September 12, 2025

What Lies Beneath the Levee Camp Holler

Eric McHenry investigates a century-old crime preserved in music

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday August 29, 2025

The Art of Doing Politics

Sarah Stein Lubrano on prioritizing relationships over rationality

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday August 15, 2025

The Linguistics of Brain Rot

Adam Aleksic on how social media is transforming our words

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday July 25, 2025

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

Red: The History of a Color

By Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday February 14, 2017

Portraits of a Movement

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday January 27, 2017

Scurvy: The Disease of Discovery

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday December 16, 2016

Sounds Like a Revolution

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday December 16, 2016

Krazy

By Stephanie Bastek | Thursday December 8, 2016

The Aftermath

By Stephanie Bastek | Tuesday November 22, 2016

23/7

By Stephanie Bastek | Thursday November 3, 2016

High Art and Low Chairs

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday October 21, 2016

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