Writ Large

The Stories of the Books That Changed the World

Writ Large is a podcast about the books that changed the world. In each episode, host Zachary Davis interviews one of the world’s leading scholars about one book that shaped the world we live in—whether you’ve heard of it or not.

These conversations look beyond plot summaries to unpack a book’s context, creation, and initial impact, and reveal its lasting influence on the ideas of today. Guests include professors from universities such as Harvard, Stanford, and Dartmouth, who will talk about the most influential and often overlooked novels, poems, memoirs, philosophical treatises, conspiracies, manifestos, and more. Episodes will also explore the edges of what counts as a “text,” looking at how musicals, cookbooks, catalogues, and other written works have shaped our world.