New Books Network

Environmental Studies May 24, 2022

Whole Earth

The Many Lives of Stewart Brand

John Markoff

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Stewart Brand has long been famous if you know who he is, but for many people outside the counterculture, early computing, or the environmental movement, he is perhaps best known …

British Studies April 19, 2022

The Culture of Male Beauty in Britain

From the First Photographs to David Beckham

Paul R. Deslandes

Hosted by Manamee Guha

Spanning the decades from the rise of photography to the age of the selfie, The Culture of Male Beauty in Britain: From the First Photographs to David Beckham (University of Chicago Press …

Art March 4, 2022

Killing for Show

Photography, War, and the Media in Vietnam and Iraq

Julian Stallabrass

Hosted by Pierre d'Alancaisez

In the autumn of 2014, the Royal Air Force released blurry video of a missile blowing up a pick-up truck that may have had a weapon attached to its flatbed …

African Studies February 28, 2022

Imaging Culture

Photography in Mali, West Africa

Candace M. Keller

Hosted by Sara Katz

Imaging Culture: Photography in Mali, West Africa (Indiana University Press, 2021) is a sociohistorical study of the meaning, function, and aesthetic significance of photography in Mali, West Africa, from the 1930s to the …

East Asian Studies February 2, 2022

Developing Mission

Photography, Filmmaking, and American Missionaries in Modern China

Joseph W. Ho

Hosted by Linshan Jiang

Joseph W. Ho’s book Developing Mission: Photography, Filmmaking, and American Missionaries in Modern China (Cornell University Press, 2021) offers a transnational cultural history of US and Chinese communities framed by …

Art January 24, 2022

A Sojourn in Paradise

Jack Robinson in 1950s New Orleans

Howard Philips Smith

Hosted by Isabel Machado

Jack Robinson made his name as a much-sought-after fashion and celebrity photographer during the 1960s and early 1970s, and his work is well documented in hundreds of pages of Vogue …

African Studies December 6, 2021

Filtering Histories

The Photographic Bureaucracy in Mozambique, 1960 to Recent Times

Drew A. Thompson

Hosted by Sara Katz

Photographers and their images were critical to the making of Mozambique, first as a colony of Portugal and then as independent nation at war with apartheid in South Africa. When …

Russian and Eurasian Studies November 23, 2021

Snapshots of the Soul

Photo-Poetic Encounters in Modern Russian Culture

Molly Thomasy Blasing

Hosted by Steven Seegel

Snapshots of the Soul: Photo-Poetic Encounters in Modern Russian Culture (Cornell UP, 2021) considers how photography has shaped Russian poetry from the early twentieth century to the present day. Drawing …

Anthropology October 20, 2021

Screen Shots

State Violence on Camera in Israel and Palestine

Rebecca L. Stein

Hosted by Mathew Gagné

In the last two decades, amid the global spread of smartphones, state killings of civilians have increasingly been captured on the cameras of both bystanders and police. Screen Shots: State …

Australian and New Zealand Studies October 13, 2021

A Queer Existence

The Lives of Young Gay Men in Aotearoa New Zealand

Mark Beehre

Hosted by Ed Amon

Today I talk to Mark Beehre about his new book, A Queer Existence, published by Massey University Press New Zealand 2021. A Queer Existence is a major documentary project that …

African American Studies July 21, 2021

The Black Civil War Soldier

A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship

Deborah Willis

Hosted by N'Kosi Oates

Photography emerged in the 1840s in the United States, and it became a visual medium that documents the harsh realities of enslavement. Similarly, the photography culture grew during the Civil …

Art July 20, 2021

The Decisive Network

Magnum Photos and the Postwar Image Market

Nadya Bair

Hosted by Duncan McCargo

The legendary Magnum photo agency has long been associated with heroic lone wolf male photographers such as Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson, roaming the world in search of the “decisive …

Science, Technology, and Society July 20, 2021

Seeing Silicon Valley

Life Inside a Fraying America

Mary Beth Meehan and Fred Turner

Hosted by Matthew Jordan

It’s hard to imagine a place more central to American mythology today than Silicon Valley. To outsiders, the region glitters with the promise of extraordinary wealth and innovation. But behind …

Sex, Sexuality, and Sex Work June 18, 2021

The People's Porn

A History of Handmade Pornography in America

Lisa Z. Sigel

Hosted by Zachary Lowell

The People's Porn: A History of Handmade Pornography in America (Reaktion Books, 2020) is a beautifully written and groundbreaking historical study of homemade, handmade and amateur pornographic artifacts. Covering everything …

Dan Hill's EQ Spotlight June 17, 2021

Face

A Visual Odyssey

Jessica Helfand

Hosted by Dan Hill

Today I talked to Jessica Helfand about her new book Face: A Visual Odyssey (MIT Press, 2019) Helfand is a designer, artist, and author. She’s taught at Yale University for more …

Nordic Asia Podcast June 11, 2021

Photography and Human Rights in Thailand

A Discussion with Karin Zackari

Karin Zackari

Hosted by Duncan McCargo

What do startling photographic images of state violence from events such as the 6 October 1976 massacre at Thammasat University tell us about the nature of human rights in Thailand …

Media June 2, 2021

Photographic Presidents

Making History from Daguerreotype to Digital

Cara A. Finnegan

Hosted by Lee Pierce

Defining the Chief Executive via flash powder and selfie sticks. In this episode, Dr. Lee M. Pierce (they & she) interviews Dr. Cara A. Finnegan about Photographic Presidents: Making History …

Science May 10, 2021

The Beauty of Chemistry

Art, Wonder, and Science

Philip Ball

Hosted by Galina Limorenko

Chemistry is not just about microscopic atoms doing inscrutable things; it is the process that makes flowers and galaxies. We rely on it for bread-baking, vegetable-growing, and producing the materials …

General History April 30, 2021

The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

A Photographic History

Karlos K. Hill

Hosted by Mark Klobas

On the evening of May 31, 1921, thousands of white Oklahomans assaulted the Greenwood District of the city of Tulsa. In what would come to be known as the Tulsa …

Media April 29, 2021

The African Lookbook

A Visual History of 100 Years of African Womanhood

Catherine E. McKinley

Hosted by Lee Pierce

What does it mean to tie your cloth to that of another person, as in the Ghanaian tradition, or to be in full dress? How is fashion photography in a …