Princeton Alumni Weekly Podcasts

Princeton history professor Sean Wilentz has co-produced a new eight-CD box set of material by singer, songwriter, and Nobel laureate Bob Dylan. It’s called The Bootleg Series Number 18: Through the Open Window, 1956 to 1963, and it contains 165 tracks, many of them never heard before. It also contains 125 pages of liner notes written by Wilentz, who is a scholar of Bob Dylan and his music. Unusual for a history professor, Sean can also boast not one but two Grammy nominations, one of which was Dylan-related. Find the transcript for this podcast at paw.princeton.edu/pawcasts.

On this episode of the PAWcast, Maggie Hoffman ’04 discusses her path to building a podcast and an online presence around that age-old question, which some of us love and some of us hate: What’s for dinner? Previously, Maggie was managing editor of Serious Eats and digital director of the recipe website Epicurious, and she published two books of cocktail recipes. Now, she’s applying what she learned at her own venture, titled The Dinner Plan. Patrons of her podcast and Substack get recipes, cookbook recommendations, and other tips. Like how to recover from kitchen burnout. She agreed to come on the PAWcast to discuss her journey and help us all figure out what to put on the table tonight. Read a transcript of this episode at paw.princeton.edu.

On this episode of the Princeton Alumni Weekly’s book club podcast, Suleika Jaouad ’10 discusses ”“Between Two Kingdoms,” her memoir of fighting a rare and aggressive form of leukemia and, afterward, finding a way to rebuild her life and her very sense of self. She also discusses her follow-up, “The Book of Alchemy,” and explains the role journaling has played in her life and her writing. She writes that while working on “Between Two Kingdoms,” she made this discovery: “If you’re in conversation with the self, you can be in conversation with the world.” (Find the transcript at paw.princeton.edu/pawcasts)

PAW Memorials editor Nicholas DeVito sat down with Rob Mancuso ’73 and Mike Mims ’71 to discuss Hendrix “Drix” Neimann ’73. Drix was active in Business Today at Princeton and co-founded New Jersey Monthly Magazine.

On this episode of the PAW Book Club podcast, career journalist Todd Purdum ’82 answers book club members’ questions about his new biography, “Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television.” As Todd’s exhaustive research shows, the Cuban-born star of “I Love Lucy” contributed far more than his widely loved charm and comedic talent to the early television industry — many techniques and practices he pioneered are still used today. Yet his own life was a mixture of struggle and success. In his book, Todd puts it like this, “As with most people, and certainly so many high-achieving people, his strengths were bound up with his weaknesses. It was the youthful trauma of losing everything that made him willing to risk anything. The upside of his profligacy was his generosity. The flip side of his restlessness was his creativity. The corollary of his addictions was his drive. He was a genuine original, and for better and worse, he knew it.”

PAW Memorials editor Nicholas DeVito sat down with Lanny Springs ’67 to discuss his brother William Springs III ’64. Dick played football at Princeton and was a cattle rancher.

Charmaine Lee ’14’s music might be unlike anything you’ve ever heard before. Lee grew up in a musical family and studied jazz at Princeton along with sociology. She also sang with one of Princeton’s a cappella groups, and the experience inspired her to carve out an innovative niche as a vocalist in the world of auditory art. Right now, she’s on a tour of 60 shows through all 50 states, and she has a new album out, titled “Tulpa.” Lee agreed to come on the PAWcast and discuss how and why she creates her art — and share some of it as well.

This is the Princeton Alumni Weekly’s PAWcast, where we talk with Princetonians about what’s happening on campus and beyond. At the end of July, a pretty big story appeared on The Daily Princetonian’s website, one that took Raphaela Gold ’26 about a year and a half to report. It was a deep dive into mental health care on Princeton’s campus, and in particular into what happens to students who experience the most severe crises, the kind that might require hospitalization or a leave of absence. On the PAWcast she discussed how she reported the story — and what she found.

On this episode of the PAW Book Club podcast, we talk with Lauren Ling Brown ’12 about Society of Lies, her bestselling novel set almost entirely on Princeton’s campus. It follows the stories of two sisters, one of whom is murdered during Reunions Weekend. The story is entirely fictional, but much within it — including the eating club and secret society conjured by Lauren — sometimes look a lot like the real Princeton. Our book club members wanted to know: How much of this book was based on imagination and how much on more?

How is the news media covering the MAGA movement? Four journalists and a Princeton historian during the Princeton Alumni Weekly’s 2025 Reunions panel delved into questions about reporting on Trump voters, whether the press should use the word “lie,” today’s fragmented media landscape, and how even the most explosive investigations don’t spur change the way they used to. Said Kathy Kiely ’77, of the Missouri School of Journalism: “The press is doing its job, but Congress, there’s no sign of vertebrate life up there. If Congress and the other institutions in our democracy aren’t responding to those stories, then it is like the tree falling in the forest.” For this episode of the PAWcast, we’re pleased to share a recording of the session. Find the transcript at paw.princeton.edu/pawcasts.