New Books Network
Women's History
General History July 30, 2021

Writing Kit Carson

Fallen Heroes in a Changing West

Susan Lee Johnson

Hosted by Jennifer Davis Cline
Jennifer Holland (Associate Professor, University of Oklahoma) speaks with Susan Johnson (Harry Reid Endowed Chair, History of the Intermountain West, University of Las Vegas-Nevada) about Johnson’s recent book, Writing Kit Carson …

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Performing Arts July 30, 2021

The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic

Jessica Hopper

Hosted by Andy Boyd
Throughout her career, spanning more than two decades, Jessica Hopper, a revered and pioneering music critic, has examined women recording and producing music, in all genres, through an intersectional feminist …
Sociology July 27, 2021

Against White Feminism

Notes on Disruption

Rafia Zakaria

Hosted by Deidre Tyler
Elite white women have branded feminism, promising an apolitical individual empowerment along with sexual liberation and satisfaction, LGBTQ inclusion, and racial solidarity. As Rafia Zakaria expertly argues in Against White Feminism …
Archaeology July 27, 2021

Olga Tufnell’s 'Perfect Journey'

Letters and Photographs of an Archaeologist in the Levant and Mediterranean

John D.M. Green and Ros Henry

Hosted by Samuel Pfister
Olga Tufnell (1905–85) was a British archaeologist working in Egypt, Cyprus, and Palestine in the 1920s and 1930s, a period often described as a golden age of archaeological discovery. Tufnell …
Eastern European Studies July 26, 2021

Protected Children, Regulated Mothers

Gender and the "Gypsy Question" in State Care in Postwar Hungary, 1949–1956

Eszter Varsa

Hosted by Leslie Waters
Historian Eszter Varsa’s new book Protected Children, Regulated Mothers: Gender and the 'Gypsy Question' in State Care in Postwar Hungary, 1949–1956 (Central European UP, 2020) examines child protection in Stalinist …
Gender Studies July 23, 2021

Beauvoir in Time

Meryl Altman

Hosted by Lilian Calles Barger
Meryl Altman's new book Beauvoir in Time, published by Brill Rodopi Press (2020), situates Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex (1949) in its historical context and responds to criticism that …
Interpretive Political and Social Science July 23, 2021

Gendered Citizenship

Understanding Gendered Violence in Democratic India

Natasha Behl

Hosted by Nick Cheesman
Why do we find pervasive gender-based discrimination, exclusion and violence in India when the Indian constitution builds an inclusive democracy committed to gender equality? This is the puzzle that animates …
Chinese Studies July 21, 2021

Embodying Middle Class Gender Aspirations

Perspectives from China’s Privileged Young Women

Kailing Xie

Hosted by Suvi Rautio
Today I interviewed Kailing Xie on her recently published book, Embodying Middle Class Gender Aspirations: Perspectives from China's Privileged Young Women (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021). This book takes a feminist approach to …
Philosophy July 20, 2021

Buddhist Feminism

Transforming Anger against Patriarchy

Sokthan Yeng

Hosted by Malcolm Keating
How can Buddhism and feminism be brought together in a constructive way to challenge patriarchial structures? What could such a philosophy say about anger over injustice and oppression? In Buddhist …
Science July 16, 2021

Forces of Nature

The Women who Changed Science

Anna Reser and Leila McNeill

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
From the ancient world to the present women have been critical to the progress of science, yet their importance is overlooked, their stories lost, distorted, or actively suppressed. Forces of …
Gender Studies July 14, 2021

The Perfect Vagina

Cosmetic Surgery in the Twenty-First Century

Lindy McDougall

Hosted by Jana Byars
Today on New Books in Gender Studies Jana Byars talks with Lindy McDougall, of Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia about her new book, The Perfect Vagina: Cosmetic Surgery in the …
Music July 13, 2021

Unbinding Gentility

Women Making Music in the Nineteenth-Century South

Candace Bailey

Hosted by Emily Ruth Allen
Southern women of all classes, races, and walks of life practiced music during and after the Civil War. Dr. Candace Bailey examines the history of southern women through the lens …
Islamic Studies July 9, 2021

Faith in Freedom

Muslim Immigrant Women Experiences of Domestic Violence

Nafiseh Ghafournia

Hosted by Shehnaz Haqqani
In Faith in Freedom: Muslim Immigrant Women’s Experiences of Domestic Violence (Melbourne University Press, 2019), Nafiseh Ghafournia explores questions of domestic violence in the context of Muslim immigrant women in …
General History July 7, 2021

Schooling the System

A History of Black Women Teachers

Funké Aladejebi

Hosted by Pamela Fuentes
In post-World War II Canada, black women’s positions within the teaching profession served as sites of struggle and conflict as the nation worked to address the needs of its diversifying …
South Asian Studies July 6, 2021

Accidental Feminism

Gender Parity and Selective Mobility Among India’s Professional Elite

Swethaa S. Ballakrishnen

Hosted by Noopur Raval
In India, elite law firms offer a surprising oasis for women within a hostile, predominantly male industry. Less than 10 percent of the country's lawyers are female, but women in …
General History July 1, 2021

Queens of Jerusalem

The Women Who Dared to Rule

Katherine Pangonis

Hosted by Jennifer Eremeeva
Any study of the Crusades — the religious wars waged by Latin Catholics to recapture the Holy Land — is primarily an exploration of men and their military deeds, with …
Law July 1, 2021

Women, Intimate Partner Violence, and the Law

Heather Douglas

Hosted by Jane Richards
Every year, millions of women turn to law to help them escape intimate partner violence. The legal processes are complex and varied, often enmeshing women for many years. In Intimate Partner …
Sex, Sexuality, and Sex Work June 30, 2021

Common Prostitutes and Ordinary Citizens

Commercial Sex in London, 1885-1960

J. Laite

Hosted by Rachel Stuart
Between 1885 and 1960, laws and policies designed to repress prostitution dramatically shaped London's commercial sex industry. J. Laite's book Common Prostitutes and Ordinary Citizens: Commercial Sex in London, 1885-1960 (Palgrave …
Gender Studies June 30, 2021

Debating Women

Gender, Education, and Spaces for Argument, 1835-1945

Carly S. Woods

Hosted by Lee Pierce
Spanning a historical period that begins with women’s exclusion from university debates and continues through their participation in coeducational intercollegiate competitions, Debating Women: Gender, Education, and Spaces for Argument, 1835-1945 (Michigan …
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 …