Mary Mahoney is a historian who takes pop culture seriously
Mary Mahoney is a historian and podcaster who explores pop culture, memory, and the stories we tell about the things we love. Her work connects the past to the present—using television, celebrity culture, media, and nostalgia to make sense of how history shows up in everyday life.
She writes, produces podcasts, and consults on pop culture as public history, asking why certain stories endure, how meaning gets made, and what our attachments reveal about who we are.
Featured Work & Media
Mary’s nonfiction writing and podcasts have been featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times, NPR’s All Things Considered, The Paris Review, Book Riot, and Podcast Review, among other outlets.
Her work blends historical research with cultural analysis, treating pop culture as something worth taking seriously.
Landline
A podcast and newsletter for people who like pop culture with context. Like a group chat with footnotes.
Podcasts
Mary is the creator and host of Landline, a podcast where pop culture gets some context. Each episode feels like a private phone call, connecting today’s media moments—TV, music, celebrity, internet culture—to longer historical patterns and ideas.
From 2019–2024, she co-hosted Dolls of Our Lives, a podcast exploring the American Girl brand and its cultural legacy. In 2024, she released Dolls of Our Lives: Why We Can’t Quit American Girl, a book-length project combining history, travelogue, and memoir to examine the brand’s origins and lasting impact.
→ Listen to Landline
Writing & Newsletter
Mary publishes Landline, a weekly newsletter about pop culture and history. The newsletter blends reported essays, cultural criticism, and personal reflection, connecting the media we consume to the pasts that shaped it.
If you like nostalgia with footnotes, or history that actually explains the present, this is for you.
→ Subscribe to the Landline Newsletter
Consulting & Collaboration
Mary consults with media organizations, museums, nonprofits, and cultural institutions on storytelling, digital strategy, and public-facing historical work. Her approach centers clarity, audience, and narrative—helping organizations communicate complex ideas in ways that resonate.
→ Learn More About Consulting
Speaking
Mary regularly gives public talks, guest lectures, and moderated conversations for universities, libraries, museums, festivals, book clubs, and cultural organizations. Her talks combine historical research, pop culture analysis, and storytelling, and are designed to be engaging, accessible, and discussion-forward.
Speaking topics include:
- The history and cultural legacy of American Girl
- Bibliotherapy and the history of books as medicine
- Pop culture as public history
- Podcasting as a tool for historical storytelling
- Nostalgia, fandom, and the politics of memory in American culture
Talks can be tailored for academic, public, or general audiences.
→ Learn more about Mary’s speaking engagements
→ Contact Mary for a speaking engagement
About This Site
This site is for readers, listeners, collaborators, and anyone interested in pop culture, history, media criticism, and public scholarship.
You can find Mary on Instagram at @mimimahoney or on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney.