Nostalgia Trap

David Parsons
  • 4.7 (197)
  • HISTORY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY
Nostalgia Trap

Conversations about history, politics, and pop culture.

  1. 3 DAYS AGO

    News Trap 2.19.25 - Into the Thresher

    There are currently too many news stories to fit into the "ominous portents of a dark future" file, so I've chosen a few of the most flagrant examples of Trump/Musk savagery to share, along with some reflections on how to fight for our minds and for each other as the world heads down the toilet. Check out our Patreon for more: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

    34 min

  2. TRAILER

    Ep 406 - Work or Die, Part One (PREVIEW)

    I got my first job when I was 15 years old, working at a Pumpkin Patch on a local farm, and it’s been all downhill from there. I’m partly joking, but the working world has never been a place of maximum success and happiness for me, and in this episode I try to come to terms with my own job history as a way of exploring the pressures that consume many of us: bosses, bills, weird co-workers, and the dark feeling that American life is often a big depressing rip-off. I’ve got stories to tell from a lifetime of s****y jobs, from manning the bakery case at Marie Callender’s as a teenager to dealing with obnoxious D-list celebrities as a production assistant in Hollywood. As a wise man once said, “work sucks, I know.” Here’s a few slices of how I found that out. Subscribe to hear the whole episode and access our whole library of bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/posts/122293336?pr=true&forSale=true

    6 min

  3. FEB 9

    Ep 405 - All I Can Say w/ Justin Rogers-Cooper

    The haunting documentary All I Can Say, which chronicles a few vibrant years in the life of Shannon Hoon, the lead singer of 90s grunge rock band Blind Melon, is a slice of deep 90s nostalgia shot on camcorder by Hoon himself before he died of a drug overdose in October 1995. In this conversation, Justin Rogers-Cooper joins me to reflect on Hoon’s complicated legacy, the strange power of his intimate pre-Internet video diary, and the larger galaxy of 90s grunge martyrs.  Check out Justin’s chapter all about Blind Melon “Shannon Forever: Blind Melon’s Bee Girl and Countercultural Afterlives”  And enjoy the entire series of essays here: Happy Nostalgia: Making Connections with the Music of the ‘90s Our episode on 90s music with Happy Nostalgia series editor David Humphries: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-401-love-means-research-w-david-humphries/id862194930?i=1000682583975 Our episode on Elvis with Justin, a personal favorite: https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-349-i-w-78198738?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link Please support the show! Subscribe to our Patreon for access to all Nostalgia Trap bonus content: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

    1h 14m

  4. TRAILER

    Ep 404 - Adventures in Adjuncting (PREVIEW)

    I started teaching college history courses in 2005 when I was a graduate student at the City University of New York. Looking back at those early years, I can hardly believe how little I knew about how to teach college courses. As I mark my 20th year of teaching, I thought I would reflect on everything I’ve learned from two decades of serving as an adjunct professor at a wide range of institutions, from working class community colleges to elite private schools and everything in between. I’ve changed a lot in these years, and so has the wider political economy and culture of American higher education. In this episode you’ll hear my takes on the rise of tech in education, dealing with woke culture (the good and the bad), the slow humiliation of professorial hierarchies, belligerently anti-communist business students, and lots more. I also share some stories of true communion with students and colleagues, moments that make the whole journey, despite its many challenges, incredibly rewarding. To hear the whole episode and access our whole library of bonus content, subscribe to Nostalgia Trap here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-404-in-121213711

    6 min

  5. JAN 29

    Ep 403 - Only in Dreams

    David Lynch died earlier this month, and like many others I’ve been reflecting on his legacy, not only in the wider culture but in my own personal trajectory and identity. In this episode, I focus on the latter. Rather than trying to analyze the larger meaning of Lynch’s filmography, I wanted to sort out how his work intervened on my life, in particular considering how ideas of dark magic, synchronicity, and dreams in his films connect with my own weird experience of American reality. So I share some strange stories here, along with stray thoughts on how David Lynch, more than any other artist, somehow captured the uncanny feeling that some dark undercurrent pulsed beneath the surface of American life.   Some reading recs I mention in the episode: Greil Marcus, The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice David Foster Wallace, “David Lynch Keeps His Head” Laura Dern, “You Wove L.A. Into Our Dreams” Subscribe to our Patreon page for bonus content, including full episodes, videos, and our News Trap updates: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

    1h 15m

  6. TRAILER

    News Trap 1.24.25 Broligarchy's Endgame w/ Justin Rogers-Cooper

    The politics of rebuilding Los Angeles after the fires, tech maneuvering for Trump juice, social media outrage missing the mark, Elon's Nazi salute masking something darker, a new Gilded Age comes into view, what's at risk with global capital behaving like a caged animal. This is a short clip from a full episode, which you can hear by subscribing to our Patreon. Subscibers get access to all of our bonus content, including full episodes, videos, book recs, and News Trap updates: https://www.patreon.com/posts/120711896?pr=true&forSale=true

    3 min

  7. JAN 22

    News Trap 1.22.25 - What's Next? w/ Ross Barkan

    Ross Barkan is a political writer and novelist whose Substack is one of our favorite places for thoughtful takes on the current political and cultural landscape. He joins me this week to survey the landscape with Trump taking office again, as we consider the tech world’s shifting allegiances and cultural power, the exhaustion with #resistance outrage and performative politics, the online popularity of Luigi Mangione, the Elon Musk “Nazi” salute, and much more. Ross also tells us about his latest novel, Glass Century, and reflects on why he thinks novel-writing (and reading) are such an integral part of being human. Subscribe to our Patreon and get access to all our bonus episodes and News Trap updates: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

    1h 3m

  8. JAN 18

    Ep 402 - The Bookshop w/ Evan Friss

    This week I’m joined by Evan Friss, author of the current New York Times bestseller The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore, which traces the development of bookshops as integral, often paradoxical, spaces within the landscape of American consumer culture. What is a bookshop? And what makes it different from literally any other place you can visit? In this conversation, Evan shares some highlights from the book, as we discuss places like New York City’s The Strand, the pioneering gay rights bookshop Oscar Wilde, the proliferation of sidewalk booksellers (and the moral outrage they provoked), the unlikely redemption of Barnes & Noble as the hero of independent bookshops, and of course the rise of the villainous Amazon. As Evan explains, the bookshop isn’t dead, and its evolving fate in the 21st century provides a dynamic glimpse at how literacy and political economy intersect in the past, present, and future. Subscribe to our Patreon to support our show and access our whole library of bonus episodes: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap

    1h 7m
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4.7
out of 5
197 Ratings

About

Conversations about history, politics, and pop culture.

Information

  • Creator
    David Parsons
  • Years Active
    2014 - 2025
  • Episodes
    488
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    Nostalgia Trap

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