New Books Network
American Studies
LGBTQ+ Studies June 25, 2021

The Lexington Six

Lesbian and Gay Resistance in 1970s America

Josephine Donovan

Hosted by John Marszalek
On September 23, 1970, a group of antiwar activists staged a robbery at a bank in Massachusetts, during which a police officer was killed. While the three men who participated …

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Mobilities and Methods June 25, 2021

The Current Economy

Electricity Markets and Techno-Economics

Canay Özden-Schilling

Hosted by Alize Arıcan
Electricity is a quirky commodity: more often than not, it cannot be stored, easily transported, or imported from overseas. Before lighting up our homes, it changes hands through specialized electricity …
Philosophy June 24, 2021

Colonial Debts

The Case of Puerto Rico

Rocío Zambrana

Hosted by Sarah Tyson
What can debt reveal to us about coloniality and its undoing? In Colonial Debts: The Case of Puerto Rico (Duke University Press, 2021), Rocío Zambrana theorizes the way debt has …
Political Science June 24, 2021

The President Who Would Not Be King

Executive Power under the Constitution

Michael W. McConnell

Hosted by Lilly Goren
Michael McConnell, the Richard and Frances Mallery Professor and director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford University Law School and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, has written an …
History June 24, 2021

The Road Less Traveled

The Secret Battle to End the Great War, 1916-1917

Philip Zelikow

Hosted by Charles Coutinho
During a pivotal few months in the middle of the First World War all sides-Germany, Britain, and America-believed the war could be concluded. Peace at the end of 1916 would …
Asian American Studies June 24, 2021

Mahjong

A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture

Annelise Heinz

Hosted by Ian Shin
Mahjong: many have played the game, but few are familiar with its rich and complex history. In Mahjong: A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture (Oxford University Press …
Music June 24, 2021

George Frederick Bristow

Katherine K. Preston

Hosted by Kristen Turner
George Frederick Bristow, born in 1825, was a significant musical figure in the United States from the 1850s until his death in 1898. Now, almost one hundred years after his …
Biography June 24, 2021

Unsung Hero of Gettysburg

The Story of Union General David McMurtrie Gregg

Edward G. Longacre

Hosted by Dan Hill
Today I talked to Edward G. Longacre about his new book Unsung Hero of Gettysburg: The Story of Union General David McMurtrie Gregg (University of Nebraska Press, 2021). On the 3rd …
Politics June 23, 2021

Usual Cruelty

The Complicity of Lawyers in the Criminal Injustice System

Alec Karakatsanis

Hosted by Lee Pierce
From an award-winning civil rights lawyer, a profound challenge to our society's normalization of the caging of human beings, and the role of the legal profession in perpetuating it Alec …
African American Studies June 23, 2021

Afro-Nostalgia

Feeling Good in Contemporary Black Culture

Badia Ahad-Legardy

Hosted by Reighan Gillam
Nostalgia has received increasing attention for its role in shaping contemporary social and political life in the United States. Dr. Badia Ahad-Legardy distinguishes Afro-Nostalgia as a framework to think about …
History June 23, 2021

Stalin's War

A New History of World War II

Sean McMeekin

Hosted by Charles Coutinho
World War II endures in the popular imagination as a heroic struggle between good and evil, with villainous Hitler driving its events. But Hitler was not in power when the …
History June 23, 2021

Justifying Revolution

The Early American Clergy and Political Resistance

Gary Lee Steward

Hosted by Zachary McCulley
Gary Lee Steward's Justifying Revolution: The Early American Clergy and Political Resistance (Oxford University Press, 2021) explores the patriot clergymen's arguments for the legitimacy of political resistance to the British in …
Science, Technology, and Society June 23, 2021

Farm (and Other F Words)

The Rise and Fall of the Small Family Farm

Sarah K. Mock

Hosted by Christopher Gambino
In Farm (and Other F Words): The Rise and Fall of the Small Family Farm (New Degree Press, 2021), Sarah K. Mock seeks to answer “what exactly do we mean by a …
Journalism June 23, 2021

News for the Rich, White, and Blue

How Place and Power Distort American Journalism

Nikki Usher

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
The future of local news and the connection between local news and democracy are two of the hottest topics in philanthropy, education, and media these days. Nikki Usher addresses both …
History June 22, 2021

Inside Money

Brown Brothers Harriman and the American Way of Power

Zachary Karabell

Hosted by Mark Klobas
In 1800 a Belfast linen merchant named Alexander Brown emigrated with his wife and eldest son to Baltimore. Today his family’s name lives on in the investment firm Brown Brothers …
Cover Story June 22, 2021

No Choice: Why Is It So Hard to Get an Abortion in the South?

A Discussion with Journalist Becca Andrews

Becca Andrews

Hosted by Agata Popeda
Today we are talking with Becca Andrews, a journalist at Mother Jones, where she writes about reproductive rights and gender. The story we discuss is “When Choice is 221 Miles …
African American Studies June 22, 2021

Sailing to Freedom

Maritime Dimensions of the Underground Railroad

Timothy D. Walker

Hosted by N'Kosi Oates
More than 70 percent of the 103 pre-Emancipation slave narratives acknowledged using waterways as their method for escaping enslavement. However, much of the scholarship on the Underground Railroad has centered …
Scholarly Communication June 21, 2021

Get Real

49 Challenges Confronting Higher Education

William G. Tierney

Hosted by Daniel Shea
Listen to this interview of William Tierney, University Professor Emeritus and Founding Director of the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the University of Southern California. We talk about his …
Education June 18, 2021

Campus Carry

Confronting a Loaded Issue in Higher Education

Patricia Somers and Matt Valentine

Hosted by Thomas Discenna
In Campus Carry: Confronting a Loaded Issue in Higher Education (Harvard Education Press, 2020), editors Patricia Somers and Matt Valentine lead an examination of the unintended consequences of campus gun policy …
Sex, Sexuality, and Sex Work June 18, 2021

The People's Porn

A History of Handmade Pornography in America

Lisa Z. Sigel

Hosted by Zachary Lowell
The People's Porn: A History of Handmade Pornography in America (Reaktion Books, 2020) is a beautifully written and groundbreaking historical study of homemade, handmade and amateur pornographic artifacts. Covering everything …