New Books Network Podcast

Anthropology February 2, 2023

Computing Taste

Algorithms and the Makers of Music Recommendation

Nick Seaver

Hosted by Mathew Gagné

The people who make music recommender systems have lofty goals: they want to broaden listeners’ horizons and help obscure musicians find audiences, taking advantage of the enormous catalogs offered by …

Ukrainian Studies January 28, 2023

Wild Music

Sound and Sovereignty in Ukraine

Maria Sonevytsky

Hosted by John Vsetecka

In Wild Music: Sound and Sovereignty in Ukraine (Wesleyan UP, 2019), Maria Sonevytsky tracks vernacular Ukrainian discourses of “wildness” as they manifested in popular music during a volatile decade of …

Animal Studies January 26, 2023

If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal

What Animal Intelligence Reveals About Human Stupidity

Justin Gregg

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

What if human intelligence is actually more of a liability than a gift? After all, the animal kingdom, in all its diversity, gets by just fine without it. At first …

Popular Culture January 24, 2023

Finding Jackie

The Second Act of America's First Lady

Oline Eaton

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

In her new book, Finding Jackie: A Life Reinvented (Diversion Books, 2023), scholar and writer Oline Eaton examines the story of an era's biggest "star of life," Jaqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, as …

Women's History January 24, 2023

"Fame Is Not Just for the Fellas"

Female Renown and the Childhood of Famous Americans Series

Gregory M. Pfitzer

Hosted by Rebecca Turkington

In “Fame is Not Just for the Fellas”: Female Renown and the Childhood of Famous Americans Series (University of Massachusetts Press, 2022), Gregory Pfitzer examines the editorial and production choices …

American Studies January 22, 2023

Bob Dylan's New York

A Historic Guide

Dick Weissman

Hosted by Robert Snyder

New York has long been a city where people go to reinvent themselves. And since the dawn of the twentieth century, New York City’s Greenwich Village has been at …

Biography January 20, 2023

Tough Guy

The Life of Norman Mailer

Richard Bradford

Hosted by Daniel Moran

Twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize, firstly in 1969 for The Armies of the Night and again in 1980 for The Executioner's Song, Norman Mailer's life comes as close as …

Film January 20, 2023

After Midnight

Watchmen After Watchmen

Drew Morton

Hosted by Joel Tscherne

Alan Moore’s and Dave Gibbons’s Watchmen fundamentally altered the perception of American comic books and remains one of the medium’s greatest hits. Launched in 1986—“the year that changed comics” for …

Popular Culture January 18, 2023

Fish, Milk, Tamarind

A Book of Egyptian Arabic Food Expressions

Dalal Abo El Seoud

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

In Fish, Milk, Tamarind: A Book of Egyptian Arabic Food Expressions (American University in Cairo Press, 2022), Dalal Abo El Seoud presents 100 commonly used Egyptian food expressions. Can you guess what Egyptians mean …

Music January 18, 2023

Rock & Roll in Kennedy's America

A Cultural History of the Early 1960s

Richard Aquila

Hosted by Bradley Morgan

In the early 1960s, the nation was on track to fulfill its destiny in what was being called the American Century. Baby boomers and rock & roll shared the country's …

Game Studies January 14, 2023

Video Games, Violence, and the Ethics of Fantasy

Killing Time

Christopher Bartel

Hosted by Rudolf Thomas Inderst

Is it ever morally wrong to enjoy fantasizing about immoral things? Many video games allow players to commit numerous violent and immoral acts. But should players worry about the morality …

Game Studies January 13, 2023

Free Play

Digital Gaming and the Longing for Effectiveness

Harald Koberg

Hosted by Rudolf Thomas Inderst

What needs are satisfied in digital gaming? And what does the shift of these need satisfactions into the digital space say about the social realities in which they are embedded …

Ministry of Ideas January 13, 2023

Child's Play

The Seriousness of Children's Literature

Christina Phillips Mattson, Casper ter Kuile, and MG Prezioso

Hosted by Zachary Davis

We shouldn’t be dismissive of the popularity of children’s literature among adults, as it is often in these works of fiction that powerful themes such as death, love, and virtue …

Film January 13, 2023

Fan Phenomena: Disney

Sabrina Mittermeier

Hosted by Pete Kunze

Sabrina Mittermeier's edited volume Fan Phenomena: Disney (Intellect Books, 2023) analyzes the fandom of Disney brands across a variety of media including film, television, novels, stage productions, and theme parks. It …

Nomads, Past and Present January 12, 2023

The Sámi in "Frozen" (Part 2)

An interview with Niina Niskanen

Niina Niskanen

Hosted by Maggie Freeman

The traditional folklore and animistic beliefs of the Sámi, the Indigenous nomadic peoples of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Russia, are under-studied and their cultural significance rarely acknowledged, even in …

Russian and Eurasian Studies January 11, 2023

Cigarettes and Soviets

Smoking in the USSR

Tricia Starks

Hosted by Daniel Peris

Seeing cigarette smoking as a cultural phenomenon of Western modernity is perhaps easier when the test case is outside the US where the narrative is dominated by Big Bad Tobacco and …

Nomads, Past and Present January 11, 2023

The Sámi in "Frozen" (Part 1)

An interview with Aili Keskitalo

Aili Keskitalo

Hosted by Maggie Freeman

Despite the box-office and critical success of Walt Disney Animation Studios' 2013 film Frozen, it also drew criticism and backlash for how it incorporated elements of the culture and heritage …

Nomads, Past and Present January 10, 2023

The Fremen in "Dune"

An interview with Kara Kennedy

Kara Kennedy

Hosted by Maggie Freeman

Despite being set in the distant future on a remote desert planet, the story of resource extraction, power, politics, ecology, and religion told in Frank Herbert's sci-fi series Dune bears …

Nomads, Past and Present January 9, 2023

Romani Representation in Pop Culture

An interview with Vicente Rodriguez Fernandez

Vicente Rodriguez Fernandez

Hosted by Maggie Freeman

Roma figures have been an essential part of European folklore, myths, and literary traditions for centuries, with writers from Cervantes to Shakespeare to Victor Hugo drawing on the stereotype of …

Japanese Studies January 7, 2023

Administering Affect

Pop-Culture Japan and the Politics of Anxiety

Daniel White

Hosted by Nathan Hopson

In Administering Affect: Pop-Culture Japan and the Politics of Anxiety (Stanford UP, 2022), Daniel White draws on extensive fieldwork in government ministries and government-adjacent organizations to explore Japan’s current “politics …