New Books Network
French Studies
Islamic Studies April 30, 2021

Esoteric Islam in Modern French Thought

Massignon, Corbin, Jambet

Ziad Elmarsafy

Hosted by Shobhana Xavier
In his new book Esoteric Islam in Modern French Thought: Massignon, Corbin, Jambet (Bloomsbury Academic Press, 2021) Ziad Elmarsafy maps the intellectual and personal genealogies of three French specialists of …

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History April 27, 2021

The Enlightenment

The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790

Ritchie Robertson

Hosted by Zachary McCulley
The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790 (Harper, 2021) is a magisterial history that recasts the Enlightenment as a period not solely consumed with rationale and reason, but rather as a pursuit …
African American Studies April 23, 2021

Economy Hall

The Hidden History of a Free Black Brotherhood

Fatima Shaik

Hosted by Adam McNeil
Fatima Shaik's book Economy Hall: The Hidden History of a Free Black Brotherhood (Historic New Orleans Collections, 2021) tells the story of the Sociâetâe d'Economie et d'Assistance Mutuelle, a New Orleans …
History March 31, 2021

Roundtable on Medieval Conspiracy Theories

Michael D. Bailey, Miri Rubin, and Sean Field

Hosted by Jana Byars
Join us today for a roundtable conversation with three leading medieval scholars about the phenomenon of conspiracy theories in history.  Michael D. Bailey, professor of history at Iowa State University …
World Affairs March 29, 2021

Trouble of the World

Slavery and Empire in the Age of Capital

Zach Sell

Hosted by Geoffrey Gordon
The middle decades of the 19th century witnessed the expansion of slavery and white settlement and dispossession of Indigenous lands west of the Mississippi River, the abolition of slavery in …
History March 29, 2021

The Time of Enlightenment

Constructing the Future in France, 1750 to Year One

William Max Nelson

Hosted by Ryan Tripp
A new idea of the future emerged in eighteenth-century France. With the development of modern biological, economic, and social engineering, the future transformed from being predetermined and beyond significant human …
French Studies March 29, 2021

Capitals of Punk

DC, Paris, and Circulation in the Urban Underground

Tyler Sonnichsen

Hosted by Roxanne Panchasi
This one's personal. Tyler Sonnichsen's Capitals of Punk: DC, Paris, and Circulation in the Urban Underground (Palgrave, 2019) was an amazing book for me to read and speak with its …
Caribbean Studies March 26, 2021

Haiti's Paper War

Post-Independence Writing, Civil War, and the Making of the Republic, 1804-1954

Chelsea Stieber

Hosted by Alejandra Bronfman
Picking up where most historians conclude, Chelsea Stieber explores the critical internal challenge to Haiti’s post-independence sovereignty: a civil war between monarchy and republic. What transpired was a war of …
History March 25, 2021

The Politics of Wine in Early Modern France

Religion and Popular Culture in Burgundy, 1477-1630

Mack P. Holt

Hosted by Jana Byars
Todays’ guest is Mack P. Holt, Professor Emeritus of History at George Mason University in Virginia, talking about his recent book, The Politics of Wine in Early Modern France: Religion …
History March 24, 2021

The Scent of Empire

Chanel No. 5 and Red Moscow

Karl Schlögel

Hosted by Jana Byars
Today New Books in History features Karl Schlogel, Professor Emeritus at the Europa Universitat Viadrina, Frankfort to talk about his new book, The Scent of Empires: Chanel no. 5 and …
French Studies March 17, 2021

Lethal Provocation

The Constantine Murders and the Politics of French Algeria

Joshua Cole

Hosted by Roxanne Panchasi
Joshua Cole's Lethal Provocation: The Constantine Murders and the Politics of French Algeria (Cornell University Press, 2019) appeals to a few of the different readers in my head: the one who admires …
European Studies March 16, 2021

The Last Neoliberal

Macron and the Origins of France's Political Crisis

Stefano Palombarini and Bruno Amable

Hosted by Tim Jones
Emmanuel Macron “has shown a genuine ability to strategize politically, determinedly and clear-sightedly [in] occupying the space of the bourgeois bloc. This is a space that France’s political crisis has …
History March 3, 2021

King of the World

The Life of Louis XIV

Philip Mansel

Hosted by Ian Drake
Philip Mansel, a trustee of the Society for Court Studies and President of the Research Center of the Chateau de Versailles, has written a one-volume biography of the life and …
Middle Eastern Studies March 3, 2021

Islam, réforme et colonisation

une histoire de l'ibadisme en Algérie (1882-1962)

Augustin Jomier

Hosted by Julian Weideman
Islam, réforme et colonisation: une histoire de l'ibadisme en Algérie (1882-1962) by Augustin Jomier is an important study of colonial North Africa, Islamic reform, and Ibadi Islam. Jomier, a professor …
Music February 8, 2021

Resonant Recoveries

French Music and Trauma Between the World Wars

Jillian C. Rogers

Hosted by Kristen Turner
Understanding how people cope with large-scale traumatic events has become more urgent as we continue to cope with the effects of the pandemic. In Resonant Recoveries: French Music and Trauma …
History February 2, 2021

Rogue Empires

Contracts and Conmen in Europe's Scramble for Africa

Steven Press

Hosted by Vladislav Lilic
Steven Press is an Assistant Professor of History at Stanford University. His marvelous first book, Rogue Empires: Contracts and Conmen in Europe’s Scramble for Africa (Harvard University Press, 2017), is …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast February 1, 2021

The Idea of Freedom and Race

A Discussion with Tyler Stovall

Tyler Stovall

Hosted by Marshall Poe
The era of the Enlightenment, which gave rise to our modern conceptions of freedom and democracy, was also the height of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. America, a nation founded on …
Celebration Studies January 19, 2021

City of a Million Dreams

A History of New Orleans at Year 300

Jason Berry

Hosted by Emily Ruth Allen
In City of a Million Dreams: A History of New Orleans at Year 300 (University of North Carolina Press, 2018), Jason Berry delivers a history of New Orleans at its tricentennial. Beyond …
History January 13, 2021

Albert Camus

A Very Short Introduction

Oliver Gloag

Hosted by Michael Vann
Albert Camus, one of the most famous French philosophers and novelists, has a diverse fan base. British alternative rockers The Cure sang about The Stranger in their first big hit …
French Studies December 29, 2020

Vénus Noire

Black Women and Colonial Fantasies in Nineteenth-Century France

Robin Mitchell

Hosted by Roxanne Panchasi
The preface to Robin Mitchell's new book, Vénus Noire: Black Women and Colonial Fantasies in Nineteenth-Century France (University of Georgia Press, 2020) moves me. In it, the author tells the story of her …