Jill Lepore on What to Read This Fourth of July
3 July - 52 minsThe United States is celebrating its 250th birthday this summer, giving Americans a chance to reflect on the nation’s past and imagine its future.
Who better to help us make sense of this moment than Jill Lepore? The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, longtime staff writer at The New Yorker and author of “We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution” joined the “Book Review” podcast to recommend some reading for the occasion. She also revisits the politics and drama of America’s previous birthdays, and discusses how a dystopian novel may be the most relevant read about the country right now.
After that, Elisabeth Egan, an editor at The Book Review, lays out some of the summer’s most an...
Series Episodes
This Author Says You Shouldn’t Be Intimidated by ‘The Odyssey’
explicitFirst, a primer from the author of “Circe,” Madeline Miller. Then, A.O. Scott on all the genres inside the 3,000-year-old poem.
43 mins
10 July Finished
Book Club: Let's Talk About 'Yesteryear,' by Caro Claire Burke
Burke’s best-selling novel, about a tradwife influencer with some surprises in store, is one of the buzziest books of 2026. On this episode, MJ Franklin discusses “Transcription” with fellow Book Review editors Jennifer Harlan and Joumana Khatib.
58 mins
27 June Finished
Art, Outrage and How the Culture Wars Began
Isaac Butler, an author and cultural historian, joined the “Book Review” podcast to discuss his new book, “The Perfect Moment: God, Sex, Art and the Birth of America’s Culture Wars.”
34 mins
19 June Finished
The Best Books of the 21st Century: Ryan Holiday on ‘The Road’
The best-selling author joined the “Book Review” podcast to discuss how his relationship to Cormac McCarthy’s novel changed after becoming a father.
36 mins
12 June Finished
A Summer Book Recommendation Bonanza
From doppelgängers to dark academia, the Book Review editors share some of their most-anticipated titles.
43 mins
5 June Finished
