Natalia Mehlman Petrzela is a historian of contemporary American politics and culture. She holds a B.A. from Columbia and a Ph.D. from Stanford and is the author of Classroom Wars: Language, Sex, and the Making of Modern Political Culture and Fit Nation: The Gains and Pains of America’s Exercise Obsession. Natalia is also Associate Professor … Read more
Shelly McKenzie, an independent scholar, holds a Ph.D. from George Washington University, where she has taught writing and American studies. In this interview, we discuss her book Getting Physical: The Rise of Fitness Culture in America and the development of American fitness culture from the Cold War to the present. Enter the giveaway … Read more
Danielle Friedman is an award-winning journalist and author of the critically acclaimed cultural history of women’s fitness Let’s Get Physical: How Women Discovered Exercise and Reshaped the World (Putnam 2022). Her feature writing has appeared in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Cut, Vogue, Health, and other … Read more
Daniel Kunitz is the author of Lift: Fitness Culture from Naked Greeks and Acrobats to Jazzercise and Ninja Warriors. He has written for numerous publications and is the editor-in-chief of Sculpture magazine. In this interview, we discuss Lift and the cultural history of fitness. Enter the giveaway below to win a copy of … Read more
Butch Phelps is the founder of the Stretch ‘n’ Release Technique and The Muscle Repair Shop. He coaches clients to regain the freedom of movement they once had and age more pain-free. He is a Licensed Massage Therapist and holds a bachelor’s degree in aging sciences. His studies have allowed … Read more
Jeremy DeSilva is a paleoanthropologist at Dartmouth College and the author of First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human. He is a part of the research team that discovered and described two ancient members of the human family tree– Australopithecus sediba and Homo naledi. He has studied wild chimpanzees in Uganda and … Read more
Dr. Ian Mortimer is the author of twelve history books, two volumes of historical documents, four novels, three other books, and numerous articles on the history of England between the tenth and twentieth centuries. In total, his books have sold more than a million copies and been translated into fifteen … Read more
Adharanand Finn is an active runner, an editor at the Guardian, a freelance journalist and the author of Running with the Kenyans, The Way of the Runner and The Rise of the Ultra Runners. In this interview, we discuss what he learned from the running culture in Japan and Kenya … Read more
Howard Means is the author or co-author of ten books, including a history of swimming titled Splash!: 10,000 Years of Swimming and 67 Shots: Kent State and the End of American Innocence. The latter book is being developed as a limited series by HBO. Prior to turning full-time to book-length works, … Read more
Dr. Wallace “J” Nichols is a renowned marine biologist, wild water advocate, bestselling author and fun-loving dad. He holds a B.A. degree from DePauw University in Biology and Spanish, an M.E.M. degree in Natural Resource Economics and Policy from Duke University, and a Ph.D. degree in Wildlife Ecology and Evolutionary … Read more