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Quillette Podcast

Quillette

Long-form conversations with scientists, writers, historians, and public intellectuals on the ideas shaping — and dividing — the Western world.

Mostly hosted by Jonathan Kay — Canadian journalist, author, and Quillette editor whose books include Among the Truthers, a landmark investigation into conspiracy culture. Kay brings a rare combination of intellectual range, genuine curiosity, and willingness to push back, whether the subject is evolutionary biology, cancel culture, geopolitics, or the philosophy of free speech.

Non-dogmatic, evidence-driven, and unafraid of controversy.

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  • 21 episodes
  • Avg 42 min
  • English
Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.
  • September 15 · 36 min

    The Price of Affirmative Action in Canadian Academia

    Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Eric Kaufmann about his new Macdonald-Laurier Institute report, ⁠The Equity-Excellence Trade-Off: A Study of EDI in the Canada Research Chairs Program⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • August 29 · 38 min

    Covering the Culture Wars

    Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Benjamin Ryan about his journalistic adventures reporting on AIDS, monkeypox, gender activism, and the Jason Arday saga. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • August 4 · 38 min

    Politicising the Humanities: Sociology as Case Study

    Jonathan Kay speaks with University of Hawaii professor Ashley Rubin, co-author of the recently published Special Commission Report on the State of Scholarship in the Humanities and the Humanistic Social Sciences. 00:00 Introduction: the Vanderbilt report 02:30 Do professional associations speak for the field? 05:35 What gets on the conference programme—and what doesn't 06:10 Why everyone picks on sociologists 08:05 The variables you're not allowed to test 11:15 "Prisoner resistance": how a concept got out of hand 14:00 A Marxist editor and the fear of seeming conservative 17:25 What the report does and doesn't claim 18:50 The Yale trust report and grade inflation 22:40 Activists, ringleaders and the silent majority 25:50 Inside the ASA boycott 28:45 Should sociology split into parties? 31:50 Durkheim on why disciplines need shared rules 34:30 Authoritarianism from your own side Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • July 26 · 1 hr 2 min

    The ‘Sex Recession’ is Real

    Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay talks to Debra Soh, author of Sextinction: The Decline of Sex and the Future of Intimacy, about neuroscience, hypergamy, elephant seals, politicised sex research, the perils of polyamory, and the sex-repellent scourge of ’phubbing.’ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • July 7 · 50 min

    First Nations Chief, Podcast Pundit, Indigenous Gadfly

    Jonathan Kay speaks with Aaron Pete, leader of the Chawathil First Nation in British Columbia, about his community’s socioeconomic challenges, intra-Indigenous politics, the legacy of residential schools, and progressive taboos surrounding of “unmarked graves.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • June 22 · 55 min

    The Great Canadian Unmarked-Graves Social Panic (2021-2026)

    Mia Hughes and Stella O'Malley of the Beyond Gender podcast interview Quillette's Jonathan Kay about the progressive ideological manias spawned during the Justin Trudeau years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • June 10 · 58 min

    Why the Enlightenment Matters

    Iona Italia talks to lawyer and historian Adam Wakeling about the enduring importance of Enlightenment values and how to defend them today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • June 1 · 34 min

    The Case Against State-Sanctioned Euthanasia

    Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Kathleen Stock about her new book, Do Not Go Gentle—in which she argues that governments should be denied any institutional role in facilitating the death of their citizens. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • May 21 · 46 min

    An Ivy League University Looks Inward

    Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Yale Law School professor Sarath Sanga, co-author of a surprisingly candid new ⁠report⁠ explaining why the American public is losing trust in the country’s colleges and universities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • May 8 · 44 min

    The Last Straight Woman

    Senior Writer and Podcast Producer Iona Italia talks to writer Phoebe Maltz Bovy about her latest book: 'The Last Straight Woman: On Desiring Men.' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • May 2 · 32 min

    Is Fighting Antisemitism a Waste of Time?

    Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, who encourages Jews to focus on bolstering their community instead of lecturing right-wing bigots and progressive political extremists who can’t be reasoned with. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • April 23 · 49 min

    Girls in an Online World

    Iona Italia talks to writer Freya India about her book 'Girls: Gen Z and the Commodification of Everything.' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • April 20 · 35 min

    Documenting a Decade of Academic Meltdowns

    Podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with filmmaker Ric Esther Bienstock about her new CBC/BBC documentary, Speechless—which explores the rise of censorship and mobbings on campus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • April 9 · 50 min

    The Search for Truth

    Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to author Michael Shermer about his new book, Truth: What It Is, How to Find It, and Why It Still Matters.

  • April 5 · 33 min

    The Historical Case for Israel

    In a new book, U.S. District Court Judge Roy Altman traces Jews’ indigenous presence in the holy land over the last 3,231 years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • March 27 · 45 min

    The Ayatollahs' Assassins

    Iona Italia talks to Roya Hakakian about her book ‘Assassins of the Turquoise Palace’ and the past and present crimes of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • March 20 · 45 min

    When Everyone Knows Every Knows...

    Iona Italia talks to cognitive psychologist and linguist Steven Pinker about his new book on Common Knowledge and the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Everyday Life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • March 12 · 37 min

    The Extraordinary Exploits of Agent Zo

    Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to historian Clare Mulley about her biography of Polish war heroine Elżbieta Zawacka, aka Agent Zo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • March 6 · 34 min

    Will Post-Islamist Iran Get a Royal Restoration?

    Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Iranian-Canadian human-rights activist Kaveh Shahrooz about whether Reza Pahlavi, the eldest son of the last Shah of Iran, might rise to power as a new Prince of Persia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Showing 1–20 of 21 episodes