Skip to content
Public Seminar
Public Seminar
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Sections
    • The Arts
    • Economy
    • Education
    • Habitats
    • History
    • Migration
    • Philosophy
    • Politics
    • Race
    • Sex & Gender
    • Science & Technology
  • Podcasts
    • Unsettled
    • The Ostriches
    • Multi-Verse
    • Past Present
    • Exiles on 12th Street
    • Why Now?
    • Unproductive Labor
  • About
    • About
    • Submissions
    • Our Team
    • Donate
    • Issues Archive
  • Symposia
    • The Anti-Immigrant Election
    • The Mysteries of Taylor Swift
    • Rats: A Cautionary Tail
    • Teaching While Black
    • Authority and Freedom: A Defense of the Arts
    • Constitutional Politics
    • Symposium on Love
    • The Left and the Crisis of Democracy

Past Present

Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Cynthia Greenlee, Neil J. Young, and Nicole Hemmer, editors.

Created in 2015 by historians Natalia Mehlman Petrzela. Neil J. Young and Nicole Hemmer, Past Present is a weekly conversational podcast that turns hindsight into foresight. Going beyond Twitter hot takes and cable news sound bites, we think that every headline has a history – and every listener is a historian.

Past Present

Neil J. Young’s Coming Out Republican: A History of the Gay Right

Episode 406

April 4, 2024 • by Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Neil J. Young
In Episode 406 of Past Present, Natalia, Niki, and Neil discuss—and celebrate!—Neil’s new book, Coming Out Republican: A History of the Gay Right....

Read More
Neil J. Young’s <em>Coming Out Republican: A History of the Gay Right</em>
Past Present

Controversies over Christmas “Classics”

Episode 405

December 19, 2023 • by Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Neil J. Young
In Episode 405, Niki, Natalia, and Neil discuss controversies over Christmas “classics.”...

Read More
Controversies over Christmas “Classics”
Past Present

George Santos

Episode 404

December 12, 2023 • by Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Neil J. Young
In this episode, Neil, Niki, and Natalia discuss the strange career of now ex-Republican Congressman George Santos. ...

Read More
George Santos
Past Present

Nikki Haley

Episode 403

December 5, 2023 • by Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Neil J. Young
In this episode of Past Present, Natalia, Neil, and Niki discuss Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley. ...

Read More
Nikki Haley
Economy

Home Ownership and the History of Mortgages

Episode 402

November 28, 2023 • by Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Neil J. Young
In this episode of Past Present, Niki, Natalia, and Neil discuss Americans’ attachment to the thirty-year mortgage...

Read More
Home Ownership and the History of Mortgages
Past Present

The History of Drive-Thru Dining

Episode 401

November 21, 2023 • by Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Neil J. Young
In Episode 401 of Past Present, Neil, Niki, and Natalia discuss the history of drive-thru dining. ...

Read More
The History of Drive-Thru Dining
Past Present

The History of U.S. Divorce Laws

Episode 400: Natalia, Neil, and Niki discuss the history of divorce law in the United States

November 14, 2023 • by Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Neil J. Young
In Episode 400, Natalia, Neil, and Niki discuss the history of divorce law in the United States....

Read More
The History of U.S. Divorce Laws
Past Present

Speaker Mike Johnson and Republican Chaos

Episode 399: Speaker of the House Mike Johnson

November 7, 2023 • by Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Neil J. Young
In Episode 399, Niki, Natalia, and Neil discuss the drama around the election of the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson....

Read More
Speaker Mike Johnson and Republican Chaos
Past Present

The History of Restaurant Reservations

Episode 398

October 31, 2023 • by Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Neil J. Young
In Episode 398, Neil, Niki, and Natalia discuss the history of restaurant reservations....

Read More
The History of Restaurant Reservations
Past Present

The Beyoncé and Taylor Swift Tours

Episode 397

October 24, 2023 • by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young
In this episode, Natalia, Neil, and Niki discuss the history of musical megatours and the concert movies they inspired....

Read More
The Beyoncé and Taylor Swift Tours
Past Present

The History of Historic Preservation

Episode 396

October 17, 2023 • by Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Neil J. Young
In Episode 396 of Past Present, Niki, Natalia, and Neil discuss the history of historic preservation. ...

Read More
The History of Historic Preservation
Past Present

TED Talks and the History of Public Speaking

Episode 395

October 10, 2023 • by Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Neil J. Young
In Episode 395, Neil, Niki, and Natalia discuss the rise—and fall?—of the TED Talk....

Read More
TED Talks and the History of Public Speaking
Subscribe

Join our global intellectual commons

Free to subscribe. No spam. Delivered by Substack.

Most Popular
1
Driven Mad by a Marxist Daughter
March 25, 2024 by Justin Joque
Driven Mad by a Marxist Daughter
2
Writing With One Eye Squinting at Doom
March 31, 2026 by Nancy Lemann and Coleson Smith
Writing With One Eye Squinting at Doom
3
Publishing and Publics
April 1, 2026 by Natalie Adler, Hira Ahmed, Natasha Lennard, Edward Ongweso Jr, Matt Peterson, Nick Pinto and Colin Vanderburg
Publishing and Publics
4
Socrates and His Teaching
April 30, 2018 by Isaac Bashevis Singer
Socrates and His Teaching
5
Ghosting: How Technology Is Changing Our Hope for Connection
March 26, 2026 by Mariana Giacobbe Goldberg and Dominic Pettman
Ghosting: How Technology Is Changing Our Hope for Connection
The Latest
The Left
Publishing and Publics
April 1, 2026 by Natalie Adler, Hira Ahmed, Natasha Lennard, Edward Ongweso Jr, Matt Peterson, Nick Pinto and Colin Vanderburg
Publishing and Publics
Literature
The Garden of Wrath
March 31, 2026 by Nancy Lemann
The Garden of Wrath
Literature
Writing With One Eye Squinting at Doom
March 31, 2026 by Nancy Lemann and Coleson Smith
Writing With One Eye Squinting at Doom
Kinships
Resurgent Dreams of the Capitalist Family’s Positive Supersession
March 30, 2026 by Sophie Lewis
Resurgent Dreams of the Capitalist Family’s Positive Supersession
Unsettled
Immigration Detention
March 27, 2026 by T. Alexander Aleinikoff and Hiroshi Motomura
Immigration Detention

The New School

Public Seminar is a journal of ideas and debate published by the Public Seminar Publishing Initiative at The New School. Our free, nonprofit publication is made possible by the support of The New School and the generosity of our readers.

Newsletter

Free to subscribe. No spam.
Delivered by Substack.

Connect With Us

Instagram
Bluesky
Facebook
Twitter

Copyright © 2014–2026 The Editorial Board of Public Seminar, All Rights Reserved.