On the one hand, calling something “medieval” carries with it negative connotations of outdated times. But lately there has almost been a nostalgia for life in the Middle Ages.

This hour, we look at what life was really like in that time period and why we remember it the way we do.

Plus, a look at the medieval origin of environmental anxiety and student debt.

GUESTS:

• Jenny Adams: Associate professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Courtney Barajas: Author of Old English Ecotheology: The Exeter Book
• Martha Bayless: Director of folklore and public culture at the University of Oregon; her books include Sin and Filth in Medieval Culture: The Devil in the Latrine and A Cultural History of Comedy in the Middle Ages

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Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired May 23, 2022.

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