New Books Network

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

American West April 13, 2021

California Exposures

Envisioning Myth and History

Richard White

Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

This book began as a bet between a father and son: could Richard White, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University and renowned historian of the American West, tell a complete history of …

Art April 1, 2021

Visual Worlds

Looking, Images, Visual Disciplines

James Elkins and Erna Fiorentini

Hosted by Allison Leigh

In Visual Worlds: Looking, Images, Visual Disciplines (Oxford University Press, 2020), James Elkins and Erna Fiorentini provide a full introduction to the visual world across all the fields that theorize …

Sex, Sexuality, and Sex Work March 18, 2021

Whorotography

Camille Melissa

Hosted by Rachel Stuart

When Camille Melissa emigrated to the UK from Australia via Paris and entered the sex industry in 2005, she always knew that photography would play a crucial role as she …

Chinese Studies March 11, 2021

Utopian Ruins

A Memorial Museum of the Mao Era

Jie Li

Hosted by Suvi Rautio

In Utopian Ruins: A Memorial Museum of the Mao Era (Duke University Press, 2020) Jie Li traces the creation, preservation, and elision of memories about China's Mao era by envisioning a …

Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel March 1, 2021

Heirlooms

Memory and Cherished Objects

J. Jay Garfinkel

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

Everyone will lose someone they love at some point in their life; a spouse, a parent, or a child. Having to deal with the clothes or personal effects that remain …

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 …

Popular Culture February 23, 2021

Can't Nobody Do Me Like Jesus!

Photographs from the Sacred Steel Community

Robert L. Stone

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

Folklorist Robert L. Stone presents a rare collection of high-quality documentary photos of the sacred steel guitar musical tradition and the community that supports it. The introductory text and extended …

Italian Studies February 19, 2021

The Photoromance

A Feminist Reading of Popular Culture

Paola Bonifazio

Hosted by Nicoletta Marini-Maio

Paola Bonifazio’s The Photoromance. A Feminist Reading of Popular Culture (MIT Press, 2020) is the first feminist reading of photoromances that examines both its industry and its fandom, arguing for …

Russian and Eurasian Studies February 15, 2021

Journeys through the Russian Empire

The Photographic Legacy of Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky

William Craft Brumfield

Hosted by Jennifer Eremeeva

In his latest authoritative book, Journeys Through the Russian Empire: The Photographic Legacy of Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky (Duke University Press, 2020) Russian scholar, photographer, and chronicler of Russian architecture William …

Psychology December 30, 2020

In the Shadow of Freud's Couch

Portraits of Psychoanalysts in Their Offices

Mark Gerald

Hosted by Eugenio Duarte

Psychotherapy offices are typically thought of as existing in the background of treatment, but they are brought to the foreground in Mark Gerald’s new book In the Shadow of Freud’s Couch …