Quillette Podcast
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.
Episodes
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 pi
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.’
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.'
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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.
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Girls in an Online World
Iona Italia talks to writer Freya India about her book 'Girls: Gen Z and the Commodification of Everything.'
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Has the Gay Rights Revolution Gone Too Far for the Gay Community’s Own Good?
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with University College London law professor Ronan McCrea about his new book, The End of the Gay Rights Revolution: How Hubris and Overreach Threaten Gay Freedom.
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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.
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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.
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Catching a Serial Killer
Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to Maureen Callaghan about her book American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century.
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Why We Need to Talk About Transgender School Shooters
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with journalist Adam Zivo about the 10 February school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia—a mass murder perpetrated by a trans-identified male gunman who was initially identified by police and journalists as a woman.
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Guests of the Nation
Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to writer Lionel Shriver about her new novel, A Better Life, which tackles the theme of immigration.
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British Columbia’s Radical Political Landscape
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with B.C. politician Dallas Brodie about why her province continues to promote dubious social-justice policies and myths—including the false claim that 215 dead Indigenous children were discovered four years ago in ‘unmarked graves.’
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The Demise of Private Life
Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to Tiffany Jenkins about her fascinating and provocative new history, 'Strangers and Intimates: The Rise and Fall of Private Life.'
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Understanding Journalistic Groupthink
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay talks to Graham Majin about the recent scandal at the BBC, and the need for reporters to prevent the ‘poison of narrative’ from corrupting their craft
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Fighting for Freedom in Iran
Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to Iranian writer and journalist Roya Hakakian about the protests in Iran and why and how they might succeed.
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How to Think Like a Human
Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to psychologist David Weitzner about the differences between human cognition and artificial intelligence.
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Christmas in Byzantium
Quillette’s Jonathan Kay speaks with History of Byzantium podcast host Robin Pierson about the Christian traditions and imperial culture that took root in the eastern half of the Roman Empire .
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Sri Lankan by Birth, Tamil by Heritage, Canadian by Choice
Prisoner #1056 author Roy Ratnavel discusses his journey from a prison cell in war-torn Sri Lanka to the heights of Canada’s financial industry—and the (sometimes politically incorrect) lessons about race, immigration, and multiculturalism he’s learned along the way.
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The Genius of Jane Austen
Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to Jane Austen scholar John Mullan to commemorate the 250th anniversary of her birth.
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Marriage and Divorce in America
Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to sociologist Nicholas Wolfinger about trends in marriage, divorce, and maternity in the US from the 1950s to the present day.
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A Gay Author’s Escape from Cults, Drugs, Queer Radicalism, and ‘Scrupulosity’
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with writer Ben Appel about his new memoir, Cis White Gay: The Making of a Gender Heretic
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Jesse Brown’s Rude Awakening
In an interview with Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay, Canadaland publisher Jesse Brown discusses how an anti-Israel faction within his own subscriber base tried to cancel him after he began speaking out about the rise of antisemitism.
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Ancient Christianities: The First 500 Years
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with biblical scholar Paula Fredriksen, whose new book describes the theological diversity that existed among Christian communities before Nicene Christianity was adopted as Rome’s state religion in the fourth century.
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Finding Humor in Dark Places
Quillette podcast host speaks with Healing Roar founder and comedian Matthew Pettit, who candidly tells audiences about the severe childhood abuse that once propelled him into a life of sexual confusion, meth addiction, crime, and incarceration.
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A Crisis of Tolerance
Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to Harry Saul Markham about the increasingly acute threat of Islamism in the UK and the normalisation of virulent antisemitism among British Muslims.
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Is There a Politically Motivated ‘War on Science’? (And If So, Who’s Waging It?)
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with theoretical physicist and cosmologist Lawrence Krauss about his latest book project, in which renowned scholars speak out about threats to open inquiry and the scientific process.
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Machetes in Melbourne
Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to criminal justice researcher Andrew Bushnell about the many causes of the recent surge in crime in Melbourne.
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From Cult Child to Chess Wunderkind
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Danny Rensch about his astounding journey from the ‘Church of Immortal Consciousness’ to the role of Chief Chess Officer at Chess.com
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Desexing the Language of Motherhood
Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to Dr Karleen Gribble, who works in the field of maternal and infant health, on the impacts of desexed language on women’s healthcare and wellbeing.
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Managing the Growing Gender-Critical Counterrevolution
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay talks with Canadian Genspect director Mia Hughes about the emerging ‘gender glasnost’—and the best way to continue rolling back the excesses of trans activism.
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The End of Woke
Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to author Andrew Doyle about his new book, The End of Woke: How the Culture War Went Too Far and What to Expect from the Counter-Revolution.
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When New Netherland Became New York
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Russell Shorto, whose new book chronicles the extraordinary events in 1664 that delivered Manhattan from the Dutch to the British.
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Should Feminists Work with the Right?
Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to philosopher Holly Lawford-Smith about her new book, Feminism Beyond Left and Right.
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RFK Jr.’s Unprecedented Attack on Life-saving Vaccines
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Stanford University infectious diseases expert Jake Scott about the perils of rolling back immunization treatments for COVID, RSV, and Measles.
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The Modular Mind
Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to evolutionary psychologist Rob Kurzban about his book Why Everyone (Else) Is a Hypocrite: Evolution and the Modular Mind.
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A Jewish Girl in Revolutionary Iran
Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to Roya Hakakian about her extraordinary memoir, Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran.
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What Does It Take to Develop a ‘Scrabble-Shaped Brain’?
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay talks to linguist, mathematician, and tournament organizer John Chew about the world of ultra-elite Scrabble word-masters.
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Parsi: A Fiercely Contested Identity
Iona Italia talks to novelist and historian Nev March about how a series of landmark court cases in the 19th and 20th centuries upended both the Indian legal system and the Parsi community.
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How LGB Became Estranged from T
Gay activist-turned-journalist Adam Zivo explains how radicalized forms of trans and queer advocacy became a liability to the once-united LGBT movement.
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War and the End of Empire
Iona Italia talks to historian and film-maker Phil Craig about the latest in his series of books about World War II: 1945: A Reckoning: War, Empire and the Struggle for a New World.
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When Entertainment Reporting Gets Political
Quillette podcast host interviews veteran entertainment journalist Ben Mulroney—whose career has taken him to the Oscars red carpet and Kelly Ripa’s studio—about how ideological fads have damaged his industry.
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The First Journalists
The philosopher Stephen Harrop interviews Quillette’s Managing Editor Iona Italia about her book Anxious Employment on the journalism of Enlightenment London.
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Social Work Without Stereotypes
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay talks to Heterodox Academy scholar Nafees Alam about the need to challenge political orthodoxies in the field of social work.
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Science vs Māori Knowledge
Iona Italia talks to Professor Kendall Clements of the University of Auckland about attempts to conflate traditional Maori knowledge with science, which, he argues, debases both.
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The Wars Before the War
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay interviews Jonathan Spyer, director of research at the Middle East Forum, about how Israel laid the groundwork for its war with Iran by confronting threats in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen.
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The Catastrophe Hour
Writer Meghan Daum talks to Iona Italia about her new essay collection, The Catastrophe Hour.
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Enforced Ideological Conformity Among British Artists
Dancer and choreographer Rosie Kay talks to Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay about the three radioactive political topics that can derail an artist’s career.
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The Problem With ‘Harvard Derangement Syndrome’
Harvard professor Steven Pinker tells Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay why Donald Trump’s campaign against his university’s ‘woke’ policies goes too far.
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Is the University Of Austin Betraying Its Free-Speech Principles?
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Ellie Avishai—who recently lost her affiliated position at UATX after she pushed back against the school’s strident anti-DEI messaging.
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The Green Delusion
Iona Italia talks to engineer Paul Brown about the hidden costs of renewables and the skewed incentives that are driving some countries towards unsustainable energy policies.
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Lessons from the Luddites on Adapting to AI
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Washington Post columnist and TED Talker Megan McArdle about the short-term pain—and long-term gain—heralded by the AI revolution.
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Free Speech in Australia
Iona Italia talks to Alan Davidson about censorship, self-censorship, the Online Safety Act and other threats to free speech in Australia.
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Canada’s Strange Election Season
In advance of Monday’s nation-wide vote, Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay discusses Justin Trudeau’s resignation, Pierre Poilievre’s bad luck, the rise of Mark Carney, and the effects of Donald Trump’s aggressive protectionism on Canadian politics.
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Making the Case for ‘Free-Range Parenting’
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with author and TED Talker Lenore Skenazy, whose campaign to give children more opportunities for independent play and learning once earned her the title of ‘America’s Worst Mother.’
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The Trouble with Tariffs
Iona Italia talks to John H. Cochrane aka "The Grumpy Economist" about the motivations, effects and implications of Donald Trump's economic policies.
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How Accurate Is 'Adolescence'?
Iona Italia talks to William Costello, an evolutionary psychologist whose work focuses on incels, about what the Netflix series 'Adolescence' gets right and wrong about this group.
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The Scourge of the ‘Woke Right’
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with author and satirist Andrew Doyle about the worrying rise of illiberal ideologies and cultish political tendencies among conservatives.
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Anti-Zionism, Past and Present
Quillette’s Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to scholar Izabella Tabarovsky about the Soviet roots of contemporary anti-Zionism and antisemitism.
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On Book Banning
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with book author Ira Wells about the censorship demands emanating from both sides of the political spectrum.
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Christianity and the American Polity
Iona Italia talks to Brookings Institution senior fellow Jonathan Rauch about his latest book, Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy.
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Australia’s Antisemitism Crisis
Quillette editor-in-chief Claire Lehmann speaks with Bangladeshi-born Australian psychiatrist and journalist Tanveer Ahmed about the rise of Jew-hatred in their country.
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The Great Divergence
Iona Italia talks to evolutionary psychologist David C. Geary about why he believes evolved differences between the sexes have been growing more salient in western societies.
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The Canadian Episode: Trump’s Tariffs and Trudeau’s Travails
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with The Line editor Jen Gerson about how U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats have affected Canada’s already fractured political landscape.
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‘The Politics of the Academy Have Been Defeated’
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Yale English professor-turned-essayist William Deresiewicz, who argues that Americans—many Democrats included—are fed up with campus-style progressive radicalism.
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'The Power of Nuclear'
Quillette podcast host Iona Italia speaks with Dutch writer Marco Visscher, author of The Power of Nuclear: The Rise, Fall and Return of Our Mightiest Energy Source.
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The Tragedy of California’s Wildfires
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with University of Southern California scholar William Deverell about the enormous fires that have destroyed large swathes of the Los Angeles area.
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Reading and Writing Science
Iona Italia talks to eminent evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins about science, literature, and genetics.
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Did Oliver Cromwell Really Kill Christmas?
In a special yuletide episode, Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with David Crowther about seventeenth-century puritan attitudes toward yuletide debauchery—and about his acclaimed History of England podcast.
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'A Theory of Everyone'
Iona Italia talks to cultural evolutionary theorist Michael Muthukrishna, author of A Theory of Everyone, about the human dual inheritance—part inherited, part taught—and about how energy availability underpins everything.
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In Defence of Julia the Elder
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Joan Smith, whose new book critically examines the 2,000-year-old propaganda campaign against imperial Rome’s leading women.
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