New Books Network Podcast

Literary Studies February 3, 2023

Alchemy and Exemplary Poetry in Middle English Literature

Curtis Runstedler

Hosted by Nathan Moore

Curtis Runstedler's book Alchemy and Exemplary Poetry in Middle English Literature (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023) explores the different functions and metaphorical concepts of alchemy in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Middle English poetry and …

Jewish Studies February 1, 2023

Jews and the Qur'an

Meir M. Bar-Asher

Hosted by Drora Arussy

In this panoramic and multifaceted book, Meir Bar-Asher examines how Jews and Judaism are depicted in the Qur'an and later Islamic literature, providing needed context to those passages critical of …

Peoples & Things January 31, 2023

War, Plague, and Confession in Fourteenth-Century Provence

A Discussion with Nicole Archambeau

Nicole Archambeau

Hosted by Lee Vinsel

Nicole Archambeau, associate professor of history at Colorado State University, talks about her book, Souls under Siege: Stories of War, Plague, and Confession in Fourteenth-Century Provence (Cornell University Press), with …

Jewish Studies January 27, 2023

Rewriting Maimonides

Early Commentaries on the Guide of the Perplexed

Igor H. De Souza

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Maimonideanism, the intellectual culture inspired by Maimonides’ writings, has received much recent attention. Yet a central aspect of Maimonideanism has been overlooked: the formal reception of the Guide of the …

Indian Religions January 26, 2023

Opening Kailasanatha

The Temple in Kanchipuram Revealed in Time and Space

Padma Kaimal

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

In Opening Kailasanatha: The Temple in Kanchipuram Revealed in Time and Space (U Washington Press, 2020), Padma Kaimal deciphers the intentions of the monument’s makers, reaching back across centuries to …

Medieval History January 22, 2023

Byzantine Religious Law in Medieval Italy

James Morton

Hosted by Diki Sherpa

Southern Italy was conquered by the Norman Hauteville dynasty in the late eleventh century after over five hundred years of continuous Byzantine rule. At a stroke, the region's Greek Christian …

Medieval History January 21, 2023

Marriage Litigation in the Western Church, 1215-1517

Wolfgang P. Müller

Hosted by Jana Byars

Wolfgang Muller, Marriage Litigation in the Western Church, 1215-1517 (Cambridge University Press, 2021). From the establishment of a coherent doctrine on sacramental marriage to the eve of the Reformation, late medieval …

Princeton UP Ideas Podcast January 17, 2023

The Wife of Bath

A Biography

Marion Turner

Hosted by Mark Klobas

Ever since her triumphant debut in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath, arguably the first ordinary and recognisably real woman in English literature, has obsessed readers--from Shakespeare to James …

Scholarly Communication January 14, 2023

Digital Codicology

Medieval Books and Modern Labor

Bridget Whearty

Hosted by Jen Hoyer

Medieval manuscripts are our shared inheritance, and today they are more accessible than ever—thanks to digital copies online. Yet for all that widespread digitization has fundamentally transformed how we connect …

Jewish Studies January 12, 2023

The Religious Poetry of El'azar Ben Ya'aqov Ha-Bavli (Baghdad, 13th C.)

Wout J. van Bekkum

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Wout J. van Bekkum's The Religious Poetry of El'azar Ben Ya'aqov Ha-Bavli (Baghdad, 13th C.) (Brill, 2022) is a comprehensive edition of Hebrew hymns composed by Eleazar the Babylonian, a prolific …

Nomads, Past and Present January 8, 2023

Roma in the Medieval Islamic World

An interview with Kristina Richardson

Kristina Richardson

Hosted by Maggie Freeman

Medieval Arabic sources are full of references to the Banu Sasan (Sons of Sasan) and the Ghuraba' (Strangers), an enigmatic but captivating group who begged, told fortunes, trained animals, and …

Jewish Studies January 4, 2023

Seekers of the Face

Secrets of the Idra Rabba (the Great Assembly) of the Zohar

Melila Hellner-Eshed

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Seekers of the Face: Secrets of the Idra Rabba (the Great Assembly) of the Zohar (Stanford UP. 2021) opens the profound treasure house at the heart of Judaism's most important …

Jewish Studies December 27, 2022

Jews, Food, and Spain

The Oldest Medieval Spanish Cookbook and the Sephardic Culinary Heritage

Hélène Jawhara Piñer

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

In Jews, Food, and Spain: The Oldest Medieval Spanish Cookbook and the Sephardic Culinary Heritage (Academic Studies Press, 2022), Hélène Jawhara Piñer presents readers with the dishes, ingredients, techniques, and …

Medieval History December 24, 2022

Poisoned Wells

Accusations, Persecution, and Minorities in Medieval Europe, 1321-1422

Tzafrir Barzilay

Hosted by Zalman Newfield

In Poisoned Wells: Accusations, Persecution, and Minorities in Medieval Europe, 1321-1422 (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022), Tzafrir Barzilay explores the origins of the charges of well poisoning leveled at European …

Buddhist Studies December 23, 2022

Practicescapes and the Buddhists of Baoshan

Wendi L. Adamek

Hosted by Jessica Zu

How should one dwell in endtime? In this SPIDER-spun web of a book, Wendi Adamek guides readers to the visual and textual traces left by Buddhist nuns, monks, and devotees …

Irish Studies December 13, 2022

The Road to Kells

Prehistoric Archaeology of the M3, Navan to Kells and N52, Kells Bypass Road Project

Fintan Walsh

Hosted by Danica Ramsey-Brimberg

In this latest publication in the TII Heritage series, the long prehistory of Kells and its hinterland is shown to be written on the landscape in foundation trenches and boundary …

Medieval History December 12, 2022

Kabbalah and Sex Magic

A Mythical-Ritual Genealogy

Marla Segol

Hosted by Jana Byars

In Kabbalah and Sex Magic: A Mythical-Ritual Genealogy (Penn State University Press, 2021) a provocative book, Marla Segol explores the development of the kabbalistic cosmology underlying Western sex magic. Drawing extensively on Jewish …

Medieval History December 10, 2022

Identities and Ideologies in the Medieval East Roman World

Yannis Stouraitis

Hosted by Evan Zarkadas

Identities and Ideologies in the Medieval East Roman World (Edinburgh UP, 2022) examines ideas, beliefs and practices of identification in the medieval East Roman world Approaches ideology and identity in the Byzantine …

Music December 7, 2022

Devotional Refrains in Medieval Latin Song

Mary Channen Caldwell

Hosted by David Kunsman

Mary Channen Caldwell in her new book Devotional Refrains in Medieval Latin Song (Cambridge University Press 2022) opens up new avenues for investigation by centering the refrain as an area of focus …

Writ Large December 6, 2022

On "1001 Nights"

A Discussion with Paulo Lemos Horta

Paulo Lemos Horta

Hosted by Zachary Davis

Humans love stories. And no collection of stories is more beloved worldwide than the Middle Eastern folk tales known as One Thousand and One Nights. The original collection only contained …