New Books Network

Sports August 16, 2022

Gridiron Capital

How American Football Became a Samoan Game

Lisa Uperesa

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Since the 1970s, a “Polynesian Pipeline” has brought football players from American Sāmoa to Hawaii and the mainland United States to play at the collegiate and professional levels. In Gridiron …

General History August 16, 2022

Road to Nowhere

What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation

Paris Marx

Hosted by Michael Vann

In Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation (Verso, 2022), Paris Marx identifies two convergent forces in the 20th century: the growth of the climate …

Darts & Letters August 16, 2022

Nothing Spreads Like Greed

The Pandemic Profiteers Who Made the Crisis Worse

Hosted by Gordon Katic

Has the pandemic taught us anything? As we look forward and imagine what the future might look like, we like to think ‘next time will be different.’ But, if we …

Animal Studies August 16, 2022

The Subjugation of Canadian Wildlife

Failures of Principle and Policy

Max Foran

Hosted by Kyle Johannsen

Hardly a day goes by without news of the extinction or endangerment of yet another animal species, followed by urgent but largely unheeded calls for action. An eloquent denunciation of …

Writ Large August 16, 2022

On W. E. B. DuBois' "The Souls of Black Folk"

A Discussion with James Campbell

James Campbell

Hosted by Zachary Davis

Nearly 40 years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, American writer, sociologist and civil rights activist W. E. B. DuBois shed light on Black life in America and what it …

Political Science August 15, 2022

Hijacking the Agenda

Economic Power and Political Influence

Christopher Witko, Jana Morgan, Nathan J. Kelly, and Peter K. Enns

Hosted by Susan Liebell

How do competing interests shape public policy? Why are the economic interests and priorities of lower-, working-, and middle-class Americans often neglected while the interests and priorities of wealthier Americans …

Sports August 15, 2022

Celebrate Winter

An Olympian's Stories of a Life in Nordic Skiing

John Morton

Hosted by Robert Sherwood

Celebrate Winter: An Olympian's Stories of a Life in Nordic Skiing (Morton Trails, 2020) by John Morton is a wonderful look back at experiences and lessons learned from over 5 …

Darts & Letters August 15, 2022

Don’t Look Left

A Discussion with David Sirota, writer of "Don't Look Up"

David Sirota

Hosted by Gordon Katic

Why does the democratic establishment always avoid turning left, even when it might mean a political win? Gordon asks David Sirota. Sirota is behind the smash-hit Netflix movie Don’t Look …

Writ Large August 15, 2022

On Frederick Douglass

A Discussion with John Stauffer

John Stauffer

Hosted by Zachary Davis

When Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in 1818, it was illegal for him to learn the alphabet. Slave masters feared the power of a literate slave, so Douglass vowed …

LGBTQ+ Studies August 15, 2022

Viral Cultures

Activist Archiving in the Age of AIDS

Marika Cifor

Hosted by Sohini Chatterjee

Serving as a vital supplement to the existing scholarship on AIDS activism of the 1980s and 1990s, Viral Cultures: Activist Archiving in the Age of AIDS (U Minnesota Press, 2022) …

Music August 12, 2022

Music and Mystique in Muscle Shoals

Christopher M. Reali

Hosted by Emily Ruth Allen

The forceful music that rolled out of Muscle Shoals in the 1960s and 1970s shaped hits by everyone from Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin to the Rolling Stones and Paul …

Film August 12, 2022

History by HBO

Televising the American Past

Rebecca Weeks

Hosted by Joel Tscherne

The television industry is changing, and with it, the small screen's potential to engage in debate and present valuable representations of American history. Founded in 1972, HBO has been at …

Public Policy August 12, 2022

Single Payer Healthcare Reform

Grassroots Mobilization and the Turn Against Establishment Politics in the Medicare for All Movement

Lindy S. F. Hern

Hosted by Gregory Soden

In Single Payer Healthcare Reform: Grassroots Mobilization and the Turn Against Establishment Politics in the Medicare for All Movement (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), Lindy Hern provides a comprehensive history of the grassroots Movement …

General History August 12, 2022

A Brief History of the Atlantic

Jeremy Black

Hosted by Charles Coutinho

The Atlantic has borne witness to major historic events that have drastically shaped humanity with each crossing of its path. In A Brief History of the Atlantic (Robinson, 2022), Jeremy …

Military History August 12, 2022

The Lion of Round Top

The Life and Military Service of Brigadier General Strong Vincent in the American Civil War

Hans G. Myers

Hosted by Boris Karpa

Hans G. Myers' book The Lion of Round Top: The Life and Military Service of Brigadier General Strong Vincent in the American Civil War (Casemate, 2022) presents the story of the true …

Gender Studies August 11, 2022

Millennial Feminism at Work

Bridging Theory and Practice

Jane Juffer

Hosted by Iqra Shagufta Cheema

In Millennial Feminism at Work: Bridging Theory and Practice (Cornell UP, 2021), volume editor Jane Juffer brings together recently graduated students from across the US to reflect on the relevance of …

Political Science August 11, 2022

Stars and Shadows

The Politics of Interracial Friendship from Jefferson to Obama

Saladin Ambar

Hosted by Lilly Goren

Slavery and its lingering remnants remain a plague on the United States, continuing to foster animosity between races that hinders the understanding and connection conducive to dismantling the remains of …

On Religion August 11, 2022

On Mormon Fundamentalism

A Discussion with Cristina Rosetti

Cristina Rosetti

Hosted by Gregory Soden

Cristina Rosetti completed her Ph.D. in religious studies at the University of California Riverside. She writes about Mormon fundamentalism. …

African American Studies August 11, 2022

Or, on Being the Other Woman

Simone White

Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

In or, on being the other woman (Duke UP, 2022), Simone White considers the dynamics of contemporary black feminist life. Throughout this book-length poem, White writes through a hybrid of …

On Religion August 11, 2022

Islamophobia

What Christians Should Know (and Do) about Anti-Muslim Discrimination

Jordan Denari Duffner

Hosted by Gregory Soden

Jordan Denari Duffner is an author and scholar of Muslim-Christian relations, interreligious dialogue, and Islamophobia. Jordan is currently pursuing a PhD in Theological and Religious Studies at Georgetown University. A …