NBN Book of the Day

NBN Book of the Day

episodes

One book selected daily from those published on the New Books Network.

Mitra Sharafi, "Fear of the False: Forensic Science and the Law of Crime in Colonial South Asia" (Cornell UP, 2026)

July 25, 2026

Fear of the False

Mitra Sharafi
Hosted by Saumya Dadoo

Fear of the False: Forensic Science and the Law of Crime in Colonial South Asia (Cornell University Press, 2026) uncovers colonial South Asia's critic…

Lily Kelting, "Against Heritage: The Reinvention of Traditional Foods" (UNC Press, 2026)

July 24, 2026

Against Heritage

Lily Kelting
Hosted by Kelly Spivey

The rise of “heritage” foods—that is, the reinvention of traditional foods—has enjoyed a high profile thanks to the oft-praised efforts of chefs such …

Julia R. Azari, "Backlash Presidents: From Transformative to Reactionary Leaders in American History" (Princeton UP, 2025)

July 23, 2026

Backlash Presidents

Julia R. Azari
Hosted by Lilly Goren

Julia Azari, Professor of Political Science at Marquette University, has a new, award-winning[*] book centering on the connection between race and th…

Nick Yablon, "From the Skyscraper to the Wildflower: C. G. Hine's 1905 Photographic Survey of Broadway" (Columbia UP, 2026)

July 22, 2026

From the Skyscraper to the Wildflower

Nick Yablon
Hosted by Robert Snyder

In 1905, when Broadway was already the most famous thoroughfare in New York City, a recreational photographer from Newark, New Jersey named Charles Gi…

R. Joseph Parrott, "Dream the Size of Freedom: How African Liberation Mobilized New Left Internationalism" (U of Pennsylvania Press, 2025)

July 21, 2026

Dream the Size of Freedom

R. Joseph Parrott
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Dream the Size of Freedom: How African Liberation Mobilized New Left Internationalism (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2025) by Dr. R. Joseph Parrot…

Ian J. McNiven, "Sentient Seas: Archaeologies of Seascapes and Maritime Rituals" (UP Florida, 2026)

July 20, 2026

Sentient Seas

Ian J. McNiven
Hosted by Natali Pearson

Sentient Seas: Archaeologies of Seascapes and Maritime Rituals (UP Florida, 2026), published by University Press of Florida (2026), offers a global pe…

Khiara Bridges, "Expecting Inequity: How the Maternal Health Crisis Affects Even the Wealthiest Black Americans" (MIT Press, 2026)

July 19, 2026

Expecting Inequity

Khiara Bridges
Hosted by Deidre Tyler

An unsettling exploration of the persistence of racism in reproductive healthcare in the US—and why even affluent Black women are imperiled by substan…

Hector Amaya, "The Economy of Anonymity: Power in the Age of Identification" (Stanford UP 2026)

July 18, 2026

The Economy of Anonymity

Hector Amaya
Hosted by Pete Kunze

We use avatars to play video games. We use pseudonyms on social media. We use VPNs to mask our identities and activities. In the digital realm, anonym…

Rory Cormac, "Fakers: A Top-Secret Tale of Phantoms and Forgeries on the Disinformation Front Line" (Oxford UP, 2026)

July 17, 2026

Fakers

Rory Cormac
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Fakers: A Top-Secret Tale of Phantoms and Forgeries on the Disinformation Front Line (Oxford UP, 2026) reveals the rise and fall of the mavericks runn…

Christopher M. Federico et al., "The Authoritarian Divide: Partisan Identity, Voting, and the Transformation of the American Electorate" (Oxford UP, 2026)

July 16, 2026

The Authoritarian Divide

Christopher Federico, Stanley Feldman, and Christopher Weber
Hosted by Lilly Goren

Political Scientists Christopher Federico, Stanley Feldman, and Christopher Weber have an important and fascinating new book from Oxford University Pr…

Soraya Murray, "Technothriller: Film and the American Imagination" (MIT Press, 2026)

July 14, 2026

Technothriller

Soraya Murray
Hosted by Ailin Zhou

Technothriller: Film and the American Imagination (MIT Press, 2026) is the first dedicated examination of popular movies classified as “thrillers” tha…

Rod Phillips, "Cats: A History" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2026)

July 13, 2026

Cats

Rod Phillips
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

For more than 10,000 years, cats have prowled at the edges of human life. But, starting only a few decades ago, hundreds of millions of them bec…

Cécile Bishop, "Forms of Blackness: Race and Visibility in the French-Speaking World" (Duke UP, 2026)

July 11, 2026

Forms of Blackness

Cécile Bishop
Hosted by Amisah Bakuri

What does Blackness look like? In Forms of Blackness: Race and Visibility in the French-Speaking World (Duke University Press, 2026), Cécile Bishop …

Diana Cucuz, "Winning Women’s Hearts and Minds: Selling Cold War Culture in the US and the USSR" (U Toronto Press, 2023)

July 11, 2026

Winning Women’s Hearts and Minds

Diana Cucuz
Hosted by Alisa Kuzmina

In this episode, Alisa interviews Dr. Diana Cucuz about her book, Winning Women’s Hearts and Minds: Selling Cold War Culture in the US and the USSR (U…

Ali Fard, "Grounding the Cloud: Urbanism in the Shadow of Data" (U Minnesota Press, 2026)

July 10, 2026

Grounding the Cloud

Ali Fard
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Since the 1990s, technologists have promoted a vision of the “cloud” as a shapeless and intangible entity. Grounding the Cloud: Urbanism in the Shadow…

Stephen Robertson, "Harlem in Disorder: A Spatial History of How Racial Violence Changed in 1935" (Stanford UP, 2024)

July 6, 2026

Harlem in Disorder

Stephen Robertson
Hosted by Kishauna Soljour

The violence that spread across Harlem on the night of March 19, 1935 was the first large-scale racial disorder in the United States in more than a d…

Hayagreeva Rao and Henrich R Greve, "Ctrl+Alt+Doubt: Decoding the Language of Online Conspiracy Talk" (Oxford UP, 2026)

July 5, 2026

Ctrl+Alt+Doubt

Hayagreeva Rao and Henrich R Greve
Hosted by Alfred Marcus

Ctrl+Alt+Doubt: Decoding the Language of Online Conspiracy Talk (Oxford UP, 2026) offers a new way to understand why conspiracy theories grow and pers…

Carrie LeVan, "Neighborhoods Matter: How Place and People Affect Political Participation" (NYU Press, 2026)

July 4, 2026

Neighborhoods Matter

Carrie LeVan
Hosted by Deidre Tyler

Participation in official governmental institutions and activities has declined dramatically. Americans are less inclined to express trust in, or coop…

A.D. Carson, "Owning My Masters (Mastered): The Rhetorics of Rhymes & Revolutions" (U Michigan Press, 2026)

July 2, 2026

Owning My Masters (Mastered)

A.D. Carson
Hosted by Kishauna Soljour

Owning My Masters (Mastered) is a digital archive of original rap music and spoken word poetry containing two volumes of music, an annotated timeline,…

Kate Bayliss, "Privatising Humanity: How Our Essential Human Needs Became Financial Assets" (Manchester UP, 2026)

July 1, 2026

Privatising Humanity

Kate Bayliss

Privatising Humanity: How Our Essential Human Needs Became Financial Assets (Manchester UP, 2026) is the latest book from Dr Kate Bayliss, a Senior Re…