New Books Network
American Studies
Architecture January 28, 2022

The Architecture of Madness

Insane Asylums in the United States

Carla Yanni

Hosted by Bryan Toepfer
Elaborately conceived, grandly constructed insane asylums—ranging in appearance from classical temples to Gothic castles—were once a common sight looming on the outskirts of American towns and cities. Many of these …

American Studies

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Interviews with scholars of America about their new books.

Japanese Studies January 28, 2022

Yayoi Kusama

Inventing the Singular

Midori Yamamura

Hosted by Amanda Kennell
Midori Yamamura’s Yayoi Kusama: Inventing the Singular (MIT Press, 2015) is an in-depth examination of the famed artist’s early years in Japan and the United States. Based on extensive research …
Scholarly Communication January 27, 2022

Language Bias

The Last Back Door of Discrimination in America?

Rosina Lippi-Green

Hosted by Avi Staiman
Hear Dr. Rosina Lippi-Green talk about some of her shocking findings on language discrimination and bias on campus. Lippi-Green and Avi discuss her book English with an Accent: Language, Ideology …
Children's Literature January 27, 2022

A True Wonder

The Comic Book Hero Who Changed Everything

Kirsten W. Larson

Hosted by Mel Rosenberg
Kirsten Williams Lawson used to work with rocket scientists at NASA. Now she writes books for curious kids. Kirsten is the author of the picture book released several months back …
Law January 26, 2022

Justice on the Brink

The Death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Rise of Amy Coney Barrett, and Twelve Months That Transformed the Supreme Court

Linda Greenhouse

Hosted by William Domnarski
At the end of the Supreme Court's 2019-20 term, the center was holding. The predictions that the court would move irrevocably to the far right hadn't come to pass, as …
African American Studies January 21, 2022

Black Gathering

Art, Ecology, Ungiven Life

Sarah Jane Cervenak

Hosted by Brittney Edmonds
In Black Gathering: Art, Ecology, Ungiven Life (Duke UP, 2021), Dr. Sarah Jane Cervenak engages with Black artists and writers who create alternative spaces for Black people to gather free from …
Women's History January 21, 2022

Maria W. Stewart and the Roots of Black Political Thought

Kristin Waters

Hosted by Jane Scimeca
Kristin Waters' book Maria W. Stewart and the Roots of Black Political Thought (U Mississippi Press, 2021) tells a crucial, almost-forgotten story of African Americans of early nineteenth-century America. In 1833 …
Political Science January 20, 2022

Toxic Masculinity

Mapping the Monstrous in Our Heroes

Esther De Dauw and Daniel J. Connell

Hosted by Lilly Goren
Scholars Esther De Dauw and Daniel J. Connell have assembled an array of chapters that explore the idea of masculinity in the realm of contemporary heroes and superheroes. Toxic Masculinity: Mapping …
American Studies January 19, 2022

Radical Empathy

Finding a Path to Bridging Racial Divides

Givens, Terri

Hosted by Jill Massino
Structural racism has impacted the lives of African Americans in the United States since before the country’s founding. Although the country has made some progress towards a more equal society …
Food January 17, 2022

Power Hungry

Women of the Black Panther Party and Freedom Summer and Their Fight to Feed a Movement

Suzanne Cope

Hosted by Carrie Helms Tippen
Today I talked to Suzanne Cope about her new book Power Hungry: Women of the Black Panther Party and Freedom Summer and Their Fight to Feed a Movement (Lawrence Hill Books, 2021)In …
Children's Literature January 13, 2022

Making Their Voices Heard

The Inspiring Friendship of Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe

Vivian Kirkfield

Hosted by Mel Rosenberg
Today I talked to Vivian Kirkfield about her book Making Their Voices Heard: The Inspiring Friendship of Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe (Little Bee Books, 2020). Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe. On …
LGBTQ+ Studies January 12, 2022

The Life and Comics of Howard Cruse

Taking Risks in the Service of Truth

Andrew J. Kunka

Hosted by Morris Ardoin
In this episode of QUEER VOICES OF THE SOUTH, I talk with ANDREW J. KUNKA, who is a professor of English and division chair at the University of South Carolina …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast January 6, 2022

The January 6th Capitol Insurrection One Year On

A Discussion of the Far Right with Cynthia Miller-Idriss

Cynthia Miller-Idriss

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Hate crimes. Misinformation and conspiracy theories. Foiled white-supremacist plots. The signs of growing far-right extremism are all around us, and communities across America and around the globe are struggling to …
African American Studies January 5, 2022

Metaphysical Africa

Truth and Blackness in the Ansaru Allah Community

Michael Muhammad Knight

Hosted by Adam Bobeck
The Ansaru Allah Community, also known as the Nubian Islamic Hebrews (AAC/NIH) and later the Nuwaubians, is a deeply significant and controversial African American Muslim movement. Founded in Brooklyn in …
Music January 5, 2022

Chapel of Love

The Story of New Orleans Girl Group the Dixie Cups

Rosa Hawkins and Steve Bergsman

Hosted by Emily Ruth Allen
In 1963, sisters Barbara Ann and Rosa Hawkins and their cousin Joan Marie Johnson traveled from the segregated South to New York City under the auspices of their manager, former …
General History January 4, 2022

The Transcendentalists and Their World

Robert A. Gross

Hosted by Ryan Tripp
In The Transcendentalists and Their World (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021), Robert A. Gross offers a fresh view of the thinkers whose outsize impact on philosophy and literature would spread from tiny Concord …
Grinnell College: Authors and Artists January 3, 2022

Spectacle of Grief

Public Funerals and Memory in the Civil War Era

Sarah J. Purcell

Hosted by Marshall Poe
Spectacle of Grief: Public Funerals and Memory in the Civil War Era (UNC Press, 2022) examines how the public funerals of major figures from the Civil War era shaped public memories …
Food December 31, 2021

A Recipe for Gentrification

Food, Power, and Resistance in the City

Alison Hope Alkon, Yuki Kato, and Joshua Sbicca

Hosted by Aubrey Thamann
A Recipe for Gentrification: Food, Power, and Resistance in the City (NYU Press, 2020), edited by Alison Hope Alkon, Yuki Kato, and Joshua Sbicca, is a collection of essays examining how …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel December 29, 2021

American Schism

How the Two Enlightenments Hold the Secret to Healing our Nation

Seth David Radwell

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Why are Americans so angry? American Schism: How the Two Enlightenments Hold the Secret to Healing our Nation (Greenleaf, 2021) explores history to find the answer to a divided America …
Education December 27, 2021

Schools Under Siege

The Impact of Immigration Enforcement on Educational Equity

Patricia Gándara and Jongyeon Ee

Hosted by Pengfei Zhao
Much has been reported and discussed about the hotly debated issue of immigration enforcement, yet a question is still to be explored: What is the impact of the immigration enforcement …