New Books Network
Popular Culture
East Asian Studies July 28, 2021

Cinema Off Screen

Moviegoing in Socialist China

Chenshu Zhou

Hosted by Victoria Lupascu
At a time when what it means to watch movies keeps changing, this book offers a case study that rethinks the institutional, ideological, and cultural role of film exhibition, demonstrating …

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Russian and Eurasian Studies July 27, 2021

CABBAGE AND CAVIAR

A History of Food in Russia

Alison K. Smith

Hosted by Steven Seegel
When people think of Russian food, they generally think either of the opulent luxury of the tsarist aristocracy or of post-Soviet elites, signified above all by caviar, or on the …
Secularism July 26, 2021

Dangerous Games

What the Moral Panic over Role-Playing Games Says about Play, Religion, and Imagined Worlds

Joseph P. Laycock

Hosted by Carrie Lynn Evans
The 1980s saw the peak of a moral panic over fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons. A coalition of moral entrepreneurs that included representatives from the Christian Right …
General History July 22, 2021

Slave Revolt on Screen

The Haitian Revolution in Film and Video Games

Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall

Hosted by Michael Vann
Michel-Rolph Trouillot wrote that “the silencing of the Haitian Revolution is only a chapter within a narrative of global domination. It is part of the history of the West and …
Film July 22, 2021

Cinema of Exploration

Essays on an Adventurous Film Practice

James Leo Cahill and Luca Caminati

Hosted by Joel Tscherne
Drawing together 18 contributions from leading international scholars, Cinema of Exploration: Essays on an Adventurous Film Practice (Routledge, 2021) conceptualizes the history and theory of cinema’s century-long relationship to modes of …
Food July 20, 2021

Hatched

Dispatches from the Backyard Chicken Movement

Gina G. Warren

Hosted by Carrie Helms Tippen
Guest Gina Warren discusses her newest book Hatched: Dispatches from the Backyard Chicken Movement, published May 2021 by University of Washington Press. Warren chronicles her experience in starting a backyard …
Cover Story July 20, 2021

Knitting and Politics in the Age of Trump

A Discussion with Carrie Battan

Carrie Battan

Hosted by Agata Popeda
Today we are talking to a New Yorker staff writer Carrie Battan about her piece from March of this year "How Politics Tested Ravelry and the Crafting Community" – about …
Latin American Studies July 20, 2021

The Invention of Latin American Music

A Transnational History

Pablo Palomino

Hosted by Patricio Simonetto
Pablo Palomino's The Invention of Latin American Music (Oxford UP, 2020) reconstructs the transnational history of the category of Latin American music during the first half of the twentieth century, from a longer …
Japanese Studies July 14, 2021

Oishii

The History of Sushi

Eric C. Rath

Hosted by Jingyi Li
Sushi and sashimi are by now a global sensation and have become perhaps the best known of Japanese foods—but they are also the most widely misunderstood. Oishii: The History of …
Sports July 12, 2021

Contested Fields

A Global History of Modern Football

Alan McDougall

Hosted by Keith Rathbone
Today we are joined by Alan McDougall, Professor of History at the University of Guelph, and the author of Contested Fields: A Global History of Modern Football (University of Toronto …
Popular Culture July 12, 2021

Punks in Peoria

Making a Scene in the American Heartland

Jonathan Wright and Dawson Barrett

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan
In Punks in Peoria: Making a Scene in the American Heartland (University of Illinois, 2021) Jonathan Wright and Dawson Barret explore do-it-yourself scene built by Peoria punks, performers, and scenesters in the …
Popular Culture July 9, 2021

Teen TV

Stefania Marghitu

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan
Stefania Marghitu's Teen TV (Routledge, 2021)explores the history of television's relationship to teens as a desired, but elusive audience, and the ways in which television has embraced youth subcultures, tracing …
Economic and Business History June 29, 2021

The Secret Life of Groceries

The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket

Benjamin Lorr

Hosted by Paula De La Cruz-Fernandez
This episode of the New Books in Economic and Business History is an interview with New York writer Benjamin Lorr. Benjamin Lorr is the author of Hell-Bent: Obsession, Pain, and …
Celebration Studies June 25, 2021

Rituality and Social (Dis)Order

The Historical Anthropology of Popular Carnival in Europe

Alessandro Testa

Hosted by Emily Ruth Allen
Rituality and Social (Dis)Order: The Historical Anthropology of Popular Carnival in Europe (Routledge, 2020) is the first comparative historical anthropology of popular European Carnival in the English language, with a focus on its …
Popular Culture June 25, 2021

Typical Girls

The Rhetoric of Womanhood in Comic Strips

Susan E. Kirtley

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan
In her new book Typical Girls: The Rhetoric of Womanhood in Comic Strips (Ohio State Press, 2021) Susan Kirtley examines female-created comics that were nationally syndicated starting in the late 1970s-2010. Kirtley uncovers …
Asian American Studies June 24, 2021

Mahjong

A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture

Annelise Heinz

Hosted by Ian Shin
Mahjong: many have played the game, but few are familiar with its rich and complex history. In Mahjong: A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture (Oxford University Press …
African American Studies June 23, 2021

Afro-Nostalgia

Feeling Good in Contemporary Black Culture

Badia Ahad-Legardy

Hosted by Reighan Gillam
Nostalgia has received increasing attention for its role in shaping contemporary social and political life in the United States. Dr. Badia Ahad-Legardy distinguishes Afro-Nostalgia as a framework to think about …
Sex, Sexuality, and Sex Work June 22, 2021

Bad Girls, Dirty Bodies

Sex, Performance and Safe Femininity

Gemma Commane

Hosted by Pierre d'Alancaisez
What makes a woman 'bad' is commonly linked to certain 'qualities' or behaviours seen as morally or socially corrosive, dirty and disgusting. Bad Girls, Dirty Bodies: Sex, Performance and Safe …
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 …