New Books Network

Japanese Studies May 4, 2022

A Bowl for a Coin

A Commodity History of Japanese Tea

William Wayne Farris

Hosted by Jingyi Li

A Bowl for a Coin: A Commodity History of Japanese Tea (U Hawaii Press, 2019) is the first book in any language to describe and analyze the history of all Japanese …

Environmental Studies May 3, 2022

The Long Land War

The Global Struggle for Occupancy Rights

Jo Guldi

Hosted by Brian Hamilton

Jo Guldi tells the story of a global struggle to bring food, water, and shelter to all. Land is shown to be a central motor of politics in the twentieth …

Food May 2, 2022

Experimental Dining

Performance, Experience and Ideology in Contemporary Creative Restaurants

Paul Geary

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Dr. Paul Geary’s Experimental Dining: Performance, Experience and Ideology in Contemporary Creative Restaurants (Intellect, 2022) examines the work of four of the world’s leading creative restaurants: Noma, elBulli, The Fat …

Public Policy April 22, 2022

The Fundamental Institution

Poverty, Social Welfare, and Agriculture in American Poor Farms

Megan Birk

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

By the early 1900s, the poor farm had become a ubiquitous part of America's social welfare system. Megan Birk's history of this foundational but forgotten institution focuses on the connection …

Food April 15, 2022

Feeding Fascism

The Politics of Women's Food Work

Diana Garvin

Hosted by Nathan Hopson

Diana Garvin’s Feeding Fascism: The Politics of Women's Food Work (U Toronto Press, 2022) is an expansive and multifaceted look at women’s food work in Fascist Italy. From less-explored archives …

General History April 15, 2022

Black Earth, White Bread

A Technopolitical History of Russian Agriculture and Food

Susanne A. Wengle

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In Black Earth, White Bread: A Technopolitical History of Russian Agriculture and Food (University of Wisconsin Press, 2022), Dr. Susanne A. Wengle shows how agrotechnology served—and undermined—Soviet and Russian political …

Eastern European Studies April 6, 2022

Rebellious Cooks and Recipe Writing in Communist Bulgaria

Albena Shkodrova

Hosted by Roland Clark

How did people exist and resist in their daily lives under Soviet control in the Cold War period? Rebellious Cooks and Recipe Writing in Communist Bulgaria (Bloomsbury, 2021) shows how …

Animal Studies March 23, 2022

The Meat Paradox

Eating, Empathy, and the Future of Meat

Rob Percival

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Our future diet will be shaped by diverse forces. It will be shaped by novel technologies, by geopolitical tensions, and the evolution of cultural preferences, by shocks to the status …

Anthropology March 16, 2022

Herring and People of the North Pacific

Sustaining a Keystone Species

Thomas F. Thornton and Madonna L. Moss

Hosted by Adam Bobeck

Herring are vital to the productivity and health of marine systems, and socio-ecologically Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) is one of the most important fish species in the Northern Hemisphere. Human …

Food March 9, 2022

Hungry for Revolution

The Politics of Food and the Making of Modern Chile

Joshua Frens-String

Hosted by Nathan Hopson

In Hungry for Revolution: The Politics of Food and the Making of Modern Chile (University of California Press, 2021), Joshua Frens-String explores the modern history and political economy of food in …

Environmental Studies March 7, 2022

A World Without Soil

The Past, Present, and Precarious Future of the Earth Beneath Our Feet

Jo Handelsman

Hosted by Eyad Houssami

A World without Soil: The Past, Present, and Precarious Future of the Earth Beneath Our Feet (Yale University Press, 2021) by celebrated biologist Jo Handelsman lays bare the complex connections among climate …

Food February 22, 2022

A Mass Conspiracy to Feed People

Food Not Bombs and the World-Class Waste of Global Cities

David Boarder Giles

Hosted by Amir Sayadabdi

In A Mass Conspiracy to Feed People: Food Not Bombs and the World-Class Waste of Global Cities (Duke UP, 2021), David Boarder Giles explores the ways in which capitalism simultaneously …

Food February 22, 2022

Food in Memory and Imagination

Space, Place and Taste

Beth M. Forrest and Greg de St Maurice

Hosted by Amir Sayadabdi

How do we engage with food through memory and imagination? Food in Memory and Imagination: Space, Place and, Taste (Bloomsbury, 2022) spans time and space to illustrate how, through food, people have …

Political Science February 7, 2022

Feeding the Hungry

Advocacy and Blame in the Global Fight Against Hunger

Michelle Jurkovich

Hosted by Lamis Abdelaaty

Food insecurity poses one of the most pressing development and human security challenges in the world. Feeding the Hungry: Advocacy and Blame in the Global Fight Against Hunger (Cornell UP …

Science January 19, 2022

Lives of Weeds

Opportunism, Resistance, Folly

John Cardina

Hosted by Galina Limorenko

Lives of Weeds: Opportunism, Resistance, Folly (Cornell UP, 2021) explores the tangled history of weeds and their relationship to humans. Through eight interwoven stories, John Cardina offers a fresh perspective …

Food January 17, 2022

Power Hungry

Women of the Black Panther Party and Freedom Summer and Their Fight to Feed a Movement

Suzanne Cope

Hosted by Carrie Helms Tippen

Today I talked to Suzanne Cope about her new book Power Hungry: Women of the Black Panther Party and Freedom Summer and Their Fight to Feed a Movement (Lawrence Hill Books, 2021)In …

Japanese Studies January 17, 2022

Cultivating Femininity

Women and Tea Culture in Edo and Meiji Japan

Rebecca Corbett

Hosted by Takeshi Morisato

The overwhelming majority of tea practitioners in contemporary Japan are women, but there has been little discussion on their historical role in tea culture (chanoyu). In Cultivating Femininity: Women and …

Food December 31, 2021

A Recipe for Gentrification

Food, Power, and Resistance in the City

Alison Hope Alkon, Yuki Kato, and Joshua Sbicca

Hosted by Aubrey Thamann

A Recipe for Gentrification: Food, Power, and Resistance in the City (NYU Press, 2020), edited by Alison Hope Alkon, Yuki Kato, and Joshua Sbicca, is a collection of essays examining how …

Food December 24, 2021

Tomato

A Global History

Clarissa Hyman

Hosted by Amir Sayadabdi

In the history of food, the tomato is a relative newcomer but it would now be impossible to imagine the food cultures of many nations without them. The journey taken …

Anthropology December 21, 2021

Famished

Eating Disorders and Failed Care in America

Rebecca J. Lester

Hosted by Galina Limorenko

When Rebecca Lester was eleven years old--and again when she was eighteen--she almost died from anorexia nervosa. Now both a tenured professor in anthropology and a licensed social worker, she …