New Books Network

Princeton UP Ideas Podcast December 15, 2021

"Bambi" isn't about what you think it's about

Jack Zipes explains what it's really about

Jack Zipes

Hosted by Marshall Poe

Most of us think we know the story of Bambi—but do we? The Original Bambi: The Story of a Life in the Forest (Princeton UP, 2022) is an all-new, illustrated …

African American Studies December 13, 2021

Black Food

Stories, Art, and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora

Bryant Terry

Hosted by N'Kosi Oates

James Beard and NAACP Image Award-winning chef and educator, Bryant Terry calls Black Food a “communal shrine to the shared culinary histories of the African diaspora.” Black Food: Stories, Art …

Film December 9, 2021

Hollywood Shutdown

Production, Distribution, and Exhibition in the Time of COVID

Kate Fortmueller

Hosted by Joel Tscherne

By March 2020, the spread of COVID-19 had reached pandemic proportions, forcing widespread shutdowns across industries, including Hollywood. Studios, networks, production companies, and the thousands of workers who make film …

Popular Culture January 18, 2022

Punk! Las Américas Edition

Olga Rodríguez-Ulloa, Rodrigo Quijano, and Shane Greene

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

In PUNK! Las Americas Editions (Intellect Books, 2021), editors Olga Rodrguez-Ulloa, Rodrigo Quijano, and Shane Greene have compiled a collection of academic essays and punk paraphernalia (including interviews, zines, poetry, and visual segments) …

Political Science January 17, 2022

Batman Saves the Congo

How Celebrities Disrupt the Politics of Development

Alexandra Cosima Budabin and Lisa Ann Richey

Hosted by Lamis Abdelaaty

Are celebrities “disruptors” who revitalize the development field, or are they just charismatic ambassadors for big business? In Batman Saves the Congo: How Celebrities Disrupt the Politics of Development (University …

Popular Culture January 7, 2022

Dressed for Freedom

The Fashionable Politics of American Feminism

Einav Rabinovitch-Fox

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

In Dressed for Freedom: The Fashionable Politics of American Feminism (University of Illinois Press, 2021), Einav Rabinovitch-Fox examines how clothes empowered women, and particularly women barred from positions of influence due …

Music January 6, 2022

Lying in the Middle

Musical Theater and Belief at the Heart of America

Jake Johnson

Hosted by Kristen Turner

Jake Johnson, author of Lying in the Middle: Musical Theater and Belief at the Heart of America (University of Illinois Press, 2021) takes as his subject the artifice of musicals—no …

Popular Culture December 24, 2021

The Sisters Are Alright, 2nd Edition

Changing the Broken Narrative of Black Women in America

Tamara Winfrey Harris

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

In the second edition of her book, The Sisters Are Alright: Changing the Broken Narrative of Black Women in America (Berrett-Koehler, 2021), Tamara Winfrey Harris interviews over 100 diverse Black women …

Food December 17, 2021

The Immigrant Kitchen

Food, Ethnicity, and Diaspora

Vivian Nun Halloran

Hosted by Amir Sayadabdi

In The Immigrant Kitchen: Food, Ethnicity, and Diaspora (Ohio State UP, 2016), Vivian Nun Halloran examines food memoirs by immigrants and their descendants and reveals how their treatment of food …

Japanese Studies December 16, 2021

Anime

A Critical Introduction

Rayna Denison

Hosted by Amanda Kennell

Rayna Denison’s Anime: A Critical Introduction (Bloomsbury, 2015) uses genre as a window into the evolving global phenomenon of Japanese animation. Denison’s wide-ranging analysis tackles the anime themselves – including classics such …

Sports December 8, 2021

The Kaepernick Effect

Taking a Knee, Changing the World

Dave Zirin

Hosted by Paul Knepper

In 2016, amid an epidemic of police shootings of African Americans, the celebrated NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick began a series of quiet protests on the field, refusing to stand during …

Japanese Studies December 8, 2021

Japan on American TV

Screaming Samurai Join Anime Clubs in the Land of the Lost

Alisa Freedman

Hosted by Jingyi Li

Alisa Freedman's book Japan on American TV: Screaming Samurai Join Anime Clubs in the Land of the Lost (Association for Asian Studies, 2021) explores political, economic, and cultural issues underlying depictions …

Drugs, Addiction and Recovery December 7, 2021

Smashing the Liquor Machine

A Global History of Prohibition

Mark Lawrence Schrad

Hosted by Claire Clark

Smashing the Liquor Machine: A Global History of Prohibition (Oxford UP, 2021) is a unique retelling of the history of temperance and prohibition. Rather than focusing on white, rural, conservative …

Jewish Studies December 7, 2021

It Could Lead to Dancing

Mixed-Sex Dancing and Jewish Modernity

Sonia Gollance

Hosted by Amber Nickell

Dances and balls appear throughout world literature as venues for young people to meet, flirt, and form relationships, as any reader of Pride and Prejudice, War and Peace, or Romeo …

Film December 6, 2021

The Stuff of Spectatorship

Material Cultures of Film and Television

Caetlin Benson-Allott

Hosted by Annie Berke

“Made of light and later sound, the film experience cannot be touched, but that does not mean it is immaterial.” So writes Dr. Caetlin Benson-Allott in her third academic monograph …

Food November 30, 2021

Mustard

A Global History

Demet Güzey

Hosted by Amir Sayadabdi

Whether grainy or smooth, spicy or sweet, Dijon, American, or English, mustard accompanies our food and flavors our life around the globe. It has been a source of pleasure, health …

Popular Culture November 26, 2021

Chick TV

Antiheroines and Time Unbound

Yael Levy

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

Yael Levy examines the underexplored antiheroine of early twenty-first century television in Chick-TV: Antiheroines and Time Unbound (Syracuse UP, 2022). Levy advances antiheroines to the forefront of television criticism, revealing the varied and subtle …

American West November 17, 2021

The Archaeology of Burning Man

The Rise and Fall of Black Rock City

Carolyn L. White

Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

How do you do archaeological research on a place that exists for only one week per year, in the middle of the Nevada desert, and is based on the ethos …

Japanese Studies November 11, 2021

Tokyo Boogie-Woogie

Japan's Pop Era and Its Discontents

Hiromu Nagahara

Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

Tokyo Boogie-Woogie: Japan's Pop Era and its Discontents (Harvard University Press, 2017) by Hiromu Nagahara is the first English-language history of the origins and impact of the Japanese pop music industry. The …

Popular Culture November 5, 2021

Raver Girl

Coming of Age in the 90s

Samantha Durbin

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

A ’90s time capsule buried inside a coming-of-age memoir set against the neon backdrop of the San Francisco Bay Area's rave scene, Raver Girl (She Writes Press, 2021) chronicles Samantha’s double life …