New Books Network Podcast

Ministry of Ideas December 8, 2023

Jamestown and the Myth of the Sovereign Family

Genealogies of Modernity Episode 4

Hosted by Zachary Davis

What is the “traditional American family?” Popular images from the colonial and pioneer past suggest an isolated and self-sufficient nuclear family as the center of American identity and the source …

Political Science December 8, 2023

Support the Troops

Military Obligation, Gender, and the Making of Political Community

Katharine M. Millar

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In the past, it was assumed that men, as good citizens, would serve in the armed forces in wartime. In the present, however, liberal democratic states increasingly rely on small …

Caribbean Studies December 8, 2023

An American Icon in Puerto Rico

Barbie, Girlhood, and Colonialism at Play

Emily R. Aguiló-Pérez

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Since her debut in 1959, Barbie has transcended boundaries and transformed into a global symbol of femininity, capturing the imaginations of girls all around the world. An American Icon in …

Food December 8, 2023

Chinese Menu

The History, Myths, and Legends Behind Your Favorite Foods

Grace Lin

Hosted by Laura Goldberg

Newbery and Caldecott honoree and New York Times bestselling author Grace Lin joins New Books Network to talk about her new, groundbreaking, lushly illustrated, book that explores the whimsical myths …

High Theory December 7, 2023

Self Help

A Discussion with Angela Hume

Angela Hume

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu

In this episode of High Theory, Angela Hume tells us about Self Help, not the neoliberal strategy of self-actualization through consumer choices, but the radical political movement of gynecological self-help …

Political Science December 7, 2023

Violent Exceptions

Children's Human Rights and Humanitarian Rhetorics

Wendy S. Hesford

Hosted by Lamis Abdelaaty

Violent Exceptions: Children's Human Rights and Humanitarian Rhetorics (Ohio State UP, 2021) turns to the humanitarian figure of the child-in-peril in twenty-first-century political discourse to better understand how this figure …

Ministry of Ideas December 7, 2023

What Is Genealogy?

Genealogies of Modernity Episode 3

Hosted by Zachary Davis

Genealogy, in Charles Darwin’s terms, is the study of “descent with modification.” Taken as an analogy for the study of history, genealogy can guard against the potential dangers of claiming …

Medicine December 5, 2023

William James, MD

Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician

Emma K. Sutton

Hosted by Claire Clark

Emma K. Sutton's William James, MD: Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician (U Chicago Press, 2023) is the first book to map William James's preoccupation with medical ideas, concerns, and values across the …

Science, Technology, and Society December 4, 2023

The Unintended

Photography, Property, and the Aesthetics of Racial Capitalism

Monica Huerta

Hosted by Nathan Moore

The end of the nineteenth century saw massive developments and innovations in photography at a time when the forces of Western modernity—industrialization, racialization, and capitalism—were quickly reshaping the world. The …

The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones December 4, 2023

The Future of the State

A Discussion with Graeme Garrard

Graeme Garrard

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones

The Reagan-Thatcher neoliberal era started the retreat of the state. Privatisation and deregulation meant power was handed over to corporations and markets. Now that neoliberalism has run its course, will …

Journalism December 4, 2023

How the News Feels

The Empathic Power of Literary Journalists

Jonathan D. Fitzgerald

Hosted by James Kates

In How the News Feels: The Empathic Power of Literary Journalists (University of Massachusetts Press, 2023), Jonathan D. Fitzgerald examines a mode of journalistic storytelling dating back nearly two centuries. Literary journalism …

Music December 4, 2023

Gentleman of Jazz

A Life in Music

Ramsey Lewis and Aaron Cohen

Hosted by Bradley Morgan

This immersive new autobiography provides insight into the early life and illustrious career of the late great Ramsey Lewis, one of the most popular jazz pianists of all time. Beginning …

Asian American Studies December 3, 2023

Adoption Fantasies

The Fetishization of Asian Adoptees from Girlhood to Womanhood

Kimberly D. McKee

Hosted by Julia Lee

In Adoption Fantasies: The Fetishization of Asian Adoptees from Girlhood to Womanhood (Ohio State UP, 2023), Kimberly D. McKee explores the ways adopted Asian women and girls are situated at …

African Studies December 3, 2023

Bottled

How Coca-Cola Became African

Sara Byala

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Travel to virtually any African country and you are likely to find a Coca-Cola, often a cold one at that. Bottled asks how this carbonated drink became ubiquitous across the …

African American Studies December 3, 2023

Merze Tate

The Global Odyssey of a Black Woman Scholar

Barbara D. Savage

Hosted by Omari Averette-Phillips

Born in rural Michigan during the Jim Crow era, the bold and irrepressible Merze Tate (1905–1996) refused to limit her intellectual ambitions, despite living in what she called a “sex …

Environmental Studies December 3, 2023

Evolution of a Movement

Four Decades of California Environmental Justice Activism

Tracy E. Perkins

Hosted by Avery Weinman

Despite living and working in California, one of the county's most environmentally progressive states, environmental justice activists have spent decades fighting for clean air to breathe, clean water to drink …

General History December 3, 2023

Days of Opportunity

The United States and Afghanistan Before the Soviet Invasion

Robert B. Rakove

Hosted by Zeb Larson

Long before the 1979 Soviet invasion, the United States was closely concerned with Afghanistan. For much of the twentieth century, American diplomats, policy makers, businesspeople, and experts took part in …

Urban Studies December 2, 2023

Well-Intentioned Whiteness

Green Urban Development and Black Resistance in Kansas City

Chhaya Kolavalli

Hosted by Deidre Tyler

Chhaya Kolavalli's book Well-Intentioned Whiteness: Green Urban Development and Black Resistance in Kansas City (U Georgia Press, 2023) documents how whiteness can take up space in U.S. cities and policies through …

Film December 2, 2023

Maverick Movies

New Line Cinema and the Transformation of American Film

Daniel Herbert

Hosted by Pete Kunze

Daniel Herbert's book Maverick Movies: New Line Cinema and the Transformation of American Film (U California Press, 2023) tells the improbable story of New Line Cinema, a company that cut a …

American Studies December 1, 2023

Hidden in Plain Sight

Concealing Enslavement in American Visual Culture

Rachel Stephens

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Listen:

In the decades leading up to the Civil War, abolitionists crafted a variety of visual messages about the plight of enslaved people, portraying the violence, familial separation, and dehumanisation that …