New Books Network
Archaeology
Archaeology May 4, 2021

Why Those Who Shovel Are Silent

A History of Local Archaeological Knowledge and Labor

Allison Mickel

Hosted by Samuel Pfister
Since the beginnings of organized archaeology in the Middle East in the 19th century, western archaeologists have typically employed large “gangs” or “teams” of locals to perform the manual labor …

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African Studies March 26, 2021

The Brutish Museums

The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution

Dan Hicks

Hosted by Susan Thomson
Dan Hicks, Curator and Professor of Contemporary Archaeology, Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford University has written a terrific book. The Brutish Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution (Pluto …
Archaeology March 19, 2021

Wonderful Things

A History of Egyptology

Jason Thompson

Hosted by Samuel Pfister
When asked what he saw after reverently peering into the freshly opened tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, Egyptologist Howard Carter could only find the words the say “Wonderful Things.” These words …
History February 26, 2021

Ruling Culture

Art Police, Tomb Robbers, and the Rise of Cultural Power in Italy

Fiona Greenland

Hosted by Jana Byars
Today we are joined by Fiona Greenland, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia, to talk about her new book, Ruling Culture: Art Police, Tomb Raiders, and the …
History February 11, 2021

Inca Apocalypse

The Spanish Conquest and the Transformation of the Andean World

R. Alan Covey

Hosted by Mark Klobas
The arrival in 1532 of a small group of Spanish conquistadores at the Andean town of Cajamarca launched one of the most dramatic – and often misunderstood – events in …
Biblical Studies December 21, 2020

Studying the New Testament Through Inscriptions

An Introduction

C. Burnett

Hosted by Jonathan Wright
Studying the New Testament Through Inscriptions (Hendrickson Publishers, 2020)through Inscriptions is an intuitive introduction to inscriptions from the Greco-Roman world. Inscriptions can help contextualize certain events associated with the New …
History November 13, 2020

Ireland in the Virginian Sea

Colonialism in the British Atlantic

Audrey J. Horning

Hosted by Jonathan Megerian
In Ireland in the Virginian Sea: Colonialism in the British Atlantic (University of North Carolina Press, 2017), Audrey Horning revisits the fraught connections between Ireland and colonial Virginia. Both modern …
Southeast Asian Studies October 22, 2020

Lost Temples of the Jungle

A History of Mrauk-U with Dr. Bob Hudson

Thushara Dibley

Hosted by Thushara Dibley
Deep in the jungles of Myanmar lie the remains of an ancient kingdom, the 15th-century royal city of Mrauk-U. Located in the Bay of Bengal and separated from the rest …
African Studies September 25, 2020

The Golden Rhinoceros

Histories of the African Middle Ages

François-Xavier Fauvelle

Hosted by Elisa Prosperetti
What are the African Middle Ages? A place, certainly, and a time period, evidently. But also a “documentary regime,” argues François-Xavier Fauvelle. How do we reconstruct these centuries of the …
European Studies July 3, 2020

Collision of Worlds

A Deep History of the Fall of Aztec Mexico and the Forging of New Spain

David M. Carballo

Hosted by Pamela Fuentes
Mexico of five centuries ago was witness to one of the most momentous encounters between human societies, when a group of Spaniards led by Hernando Cortés joined forces with tens …
Food June 4, 2020

Collecting Food, Collecting People

Subsistence and Society in Central Africa

Kathryn M. De Luna

Hosted by Paul Bjerk
In Collecting Food, Collecting People: Subsistence and Society in Central Africa (Yale University Press, 2016), Kathryn M. De Luna documents the evolving meanings borne in the collection of wild foods …
Archaeology March 27, 2020

An Optimist’s Guide to the Historical Sciences

Adrian Currie

Hosted by Lukas Rieppel
The “historical sciences”—geology, paleontology, and archaeology—have made extraordinary progress in advancing our understanding of the deep past. How has this been possible, given that the evidence they have to work …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel March 25, 2020

The Crusader World

Adrian J. Boas

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
The Crusader World (Routledge, 2015), edited by Adrian J. Boas, is a multidisciplinary survey of the current state of research in the field of crusader studies, an area of study …
British Studies November 29, 2019

The Life of Margaret Alice Murray

A Woman’s Work in Archaeology

Kathleen Sheppard

Hosted by Michael F. Robinson
After Napoleon occupied Egypt, Europeans became obsessed with the ancient cultures of the Nile. In Britain, the center of Egyptology research was University College London (UCL). At the heart of …
European Studies September 12, 2019

Eurydice and the Birth of Macedonian Power

Elizabeth D. Carney

Hosted by Mark Klobas
As the wife of a Macedonian king and the mother of three sons who would succeed him, Eurydice played an important role in Macedonia at an important moment in the …
Anthropology July 19, 2019

Almost Human

The Astonishing Tale of Homo naledi and the Discovery That Changed Our Human Story

Lee Berger and John D. Hawks

Hosted by Michael F. Robinson
John D. Hawks talks about new developments in paleoanthropology – the discovery of a new hominid species Homo Naledi in South Africa, the Neanderthal ancestry of many human populations, and …
Southeast Asian Studies July 4, 2019

Engendering the Buddhist State

Territory, Sovereignty and Sexual Difference in the Inventions of Angkor

Ashley Thompson

Hosted by Patrick Jory
Thanks to the international tourism industry most people are familiar with the spectacular ruins of Angkor, the great Cambodian empire that lasted from about the 9th to the early 15th …
Anthropology June 14, 2019

Adventures in Archaeology

The Wreck of the Orca II and Other Explorations

PJ Capelotti

Hosted by Michael F. Robinson
Anthropologist PJ Capelotti discusses the role of exploration archaeology in understanding the Pacific voyage of Kon-Tiki, the Arctic airship expeditions of Walter Wellman, and the fate of Orca II, a …
British Studies May 24, 2019

Hadrian's Wall

Adrian Goldsworthy

Hosted by Albert Zambone
Stretching across the north of England, from coast to coast, are the 73-mile long remnants of a fortification built by the Roman Army during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian …
East Asian Studies May 20, 2019

Maritime Ryukyu, 1050–1650

Gregory Smits

Hosted by Victoria Lupascu
Conventional portrayals of early Ryukyu are based on official histories written between 1650 and 1750. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Gregory Smits makes extensive use of scholarship in archaeology and anthropology …