New Books Network
Performing Arts
Performing Arts February 25, 2021

Maybe the People Would Be the Times

Luc Sante

Hosted by Andy Boyd
Maybe the People Would Be the Times (Verse Chorus Press, 2020) could be described as a memoir in essay form. Collecting pieces from the past two decades, this book covers Luc Sante's …

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American West February 24, 2021

Cinematic Settlers

The Settler Colonial World in Film

Janne Lahti and Rebecca Weaver-Hightower

Hosted by Stephen Hausmann
The medium of cinema emerged during the height of Victorian-era European empires, and as a result, settler colonial imperialism has thematically suffused film for well over a century. In Cinematic …
African American Studies February 23, 2021

Liner Notes for the Revolution

The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound

Daphne A. Brooks

Hosted by Amanda Joyce Hall
Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound (Harvard University Press, 2021) by Dr. Daphne Brooks is a lyrical masterpiece that takes readers on an exhilarating …
Jewish Studies February 23, 2021

How Yiddish Changed America and How America Changed Yiddish

Ilan Stavans and Josh Lambert

Hosted by Zalman Newfield
Is it possible to conceive of the American diet without bagels? Or Star Trek without Mr. Spock? Are the creatures in Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are based on …
Performing Arts February 15, 2021

Another Day's Begun

Thornton Wilder’s Our Town in the 21st Century

Howard Sherman

Hosted by Andy Boyd
Howard Sherman's Another Day's Begun: Thornton Wilder's Our Town in the 21st Century (Bloomsbury, 2021) provides a fascinating tour of contemporary productions of Wilder's great play.  Why does this play from …
Japanese Studies February 5, 2021

The Films of Kore-eda Hirokazu

An Elemental Cinema

Linda C. Ehrlich

Hosted by Takeshi Morisato
The Films of Kore-eda Hirokazu: An Elemental Cinema (Palgrave MacMillan, 2019) draws readers into the first 13 feature films and 5 of the documentaries of award-winning Japanese film director Kore-eda Hirokazu …
Performing Arts February 5, 2021

Fictional Blues

Narrative Self-Invention from Bessie Smith to Jack White

Kimberly Mack

Hosted by Andy Boyd
The familiar story of Delta blues musician Robert Johnson, who sold his soul to the devil at a Mississippi crossroads in exchange for guitar virtuosity, and the violent stereotypes evoked …
Performing Arts February 5, 2021

Afro-Fabulations

The Queer Drama of Black Life

Tavia Nyong'o

Hosted by Andy Boyd
Tavia Nyong’o's Afro-Fabulations: The Queer Drama of Black Life (NYU Press, 2018), examines a broad range of artists and disciplines, from Adrian Piper to Kara Walker to the meaning of …
Celebration Studies February 4, 2021

Festive Devils of the Americas

Milla Cozart Riggio, Angela Marino, and Paolo Vignolo

Hosted by Emily Ruth Allen
The devil is a defiant, nefarious figure, the emblem of evil, and harbinger of the damned. However, the festive devil—the devil that dances—turns the most hideous acts into playful transgressions …
Critical Theory January 29, 2021

Access All Areas

The Diversity Manifesto for TV and Beyond

Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder

Hosted by Dave O'Brien
How can we create a more equal media industry? In Access All Areas: The Diversity Manifesto for TV and Beyond, Marcus Ryder and Sir Lenny Henry, both founder members of …
Performing Arts January 29, 2021

¡Presente!

The Politics of Presence

Diana Taylor

Hosted by Andy Boyd
Diana Taylor's ¡Presente! The Politics of Presence (Duke University Press, 2020) examines what it means to be presente in the context of protest, theatre, and everyday life. Taylor pays particular …
Music January 26, 2021

Musical Solidarities

Political Action and Music in Late Twentieth-Century Poland

Andrea Bohlman

Hosted by Kristen Turner
Musical Solidarities: Political Action and Music in Late Twentieth-Century Poland (Oxford University Press, 2020) by Andrea Bohlman is a study of the music of dissent and protest during the Solidarity …
Anthropology January 25, 2021

Liquor Store Theatre

Maya Stovall

Hosted by Reighan Gillam
For six years, anthropologist and artist Maya Stovall enacted a series of dance performances outside of liquor stores in the McDougall-Hunt neighborhood on Detroit’s east side. Stovall conceptualized these performances …
Literary Studies January 22, 2021

Archive Feelings

A Theory of Greek Tragedy

Mario Telò

Hosted by Britton Edelen
On this episode, I interview Mario Telò, professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley, about his new book, Archive Feelings: A Theory of Greek Tragedy …
Performing Arts January 20, 2021

This Is Not My Memoir

André Gregory and Todd London

Hosted by Andy Boyd
André Gregory's not-memoir This Is Not My Memoir (FSG, 2020) is a fascinating trip through theatre history as seen through the eyes of one of its greatest directors. The André we …
LGBTQ+ Studies January 18, 2021

Live At Jackson Station

Music, Community, and Tragedy in a Southern Blues Bar

Daniel M. Harrison

Hosted by Morris Ardoin
The smoke was thick, the music was loud, and the beer was flowing. In the fast-and-loose 1980s, Jackson Station Rhythm & Blues Club in Hodges, South Carolina, was a festive …
East Asian Studies January 14, 2021

Staging Personhood

Costuming in Early Qing Drama

Guojun Wang

Hosted by Sarah Bramao-Ramos
Much is known about the Qing sartorial regulations and how the Qing conquerors forced Han Chinese males to adopt Manchu hairstyle and clothing. But what happened on the stage? What …
Asian Review of Books January 14, 2021

Three Asian Divas

Women, Art and Culture In Shiraz, Delhi and Yangzhou

David Chaffetz

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
The “diva” is a common trope when we talk about culture. We normally think of the diva as a Western construction: the opera singer, the Broadway actress, the movie star …
Performing Arts January 13, 2021

Life at Hamilton

Sometimes You Throw Away Your Shot, Only to Find Your Story

Mike Anthony

Hosted by Alexandra Salkin
When Mike Anthony moved to New York City to become an actor, he’d imagined being under the bright lights of Broadway, living a life full of fame and fortune. Instead …
Performing Arts January 12, 2021

Sailor Song

The Shanties and Ballads of the High Seas

Gerry Smyth

Hosted by Andy Boyd
Sailor Song: The Shanties and Ballads of the High Seas (University of Washington Press, 2020) by performer and scholar Gerry Smyth includes lyrics and commentary for dozens of sea shanties, as well …