New Books Network

African American Studies August 8, 2022

Riding Jane Crow

African American Women on the American Railroad

Miriam Thaggert

Hosted by Deidre Tyler

Miriam Thaggert illuminates the stories of African American women as passengers and as workers on the nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century railroad. As Jim Crow laws became more prevalent and forced Black …

Critical Theory August 8, 2022

The Cruel Optimism of Racial Justice

Nasar Meer

Hosted by Dave O'Brien

Why are societies still not offering racial equality? In The Cruel Optimism of Racial Justice (Policy Press, 2022), Nasar Meer, a professor of Race, Identity and Citizenship in the School of …

Writ Large August 8, 2022

On "Black Elk Speaks"

A Discussion with Philip Deloria

Philip Deloria

Hosted by Zachary Davis

In many ways, Black Elk and John Neihardt lived very different lives. Black Elk was an Oglala Lakota holy man. Neihartd was a European-American literary critic. Black Elk performed for …

Film August 8, 2022

Hollywood Sports Movies and the American Dream

Grant Wiedenfeld

Hosted by Annie Berke

Through the heart of Hollywood cinema runs a surprising current of progressive politics. Sports movies, a genre that has flourished since the mid-seventies, evoke the American dream and represent the …

Darts & Letters August 8, 2022

January 6th and the Myth of the Mob

The Pervasive Power of Crowd Theory

Hosted by Gordon Katic

This week, we’re showcasing some of our favourite past episodes of Darts and Letters themed around “Activism & Academia”. Today’s episode originally aired a little earlier this summer. In the …

American Studies August 5, 2022

Living the Dream

The Contested History of Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Daniel T. Fleming

Hosted by James West

Living the Dream: The Contested History of Martin Luther King Jr. Day (UNC Press, 2022) tells the history behind the establishment of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the battle …

Literary Studies August 5, 2022

Spoon River America

Edgar Lee Masters and the Myth of the American Small Town

Jason Stacy

Hosted by Daniel Moran

A literary and cultural milestone, Spoon River Anthology captured an idea of the rural Midwest that became a bedrock myth of life in small-town America. Jason Stacy places the book …

Writ Large August 5, 2022

On Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass"

A Discussion with Elisa New

Elisa New

Hosted by Zachary Davis

“These United States are themselves the greatest poem.” When Walt Whitman wrote this line, he was an unknown Brooklyn newspaper man. But his work would transform American poetry and offer …

Darts & Letters August 5, 2022

American Chernobyl, Part 2

The Most Poisonous Place in the USA

Hosted by Gordon Katic

Hanford is the most-polluted place in America. In our last episode, you heard about the nuclear plant's largely-forgotten history--how it poisoned the people living downwind. On our season finale: a …

Biography August 4, 2022

The Enigma of Clarence Thomas

Corey Robin

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Most people can tell you two things about Clarence Thomas: Anita Hill accused him of sexual harassment, and he almost never speaks from the bench. Here are some things they …

Recall This Book August 4, 2022

Dana Stevens on Buster Keaton (JP EF)

Dana Stevens

Hosted by Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz

Dana Stevens joins Elizabeth and John to discuss Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema and the Invention of the Twentieth Century. Her fantastic new book serves as occasion …

In Conversation: An OUP Podcast August 4, 2022

Nimitz at War

Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay

Craig L. Symonds

Hosted by Mark Klobas

Only days after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt tapped Chester W. Nimitz to assume command of the Pacific Fleet. Nimitz was not the most senior candidate …

Anthropology August 4, 2022

Academic Outsider

Stories of Exclusion and Hope

Victoria Reyes

Hosted by Reighan Gillam

In Academic Outsider: Stories of Exclusion and Hope (Stanford University Press, 2022), sociologist Victoria Reyes combines her personal experiences with research findings to examine how academia creates conditional citizenship for its …

Darts & Letters August 4, 2022

America's Chernobyl, Part 1

Living in a Poison Town

Hosted by Gordon Katic

In this episode of Cited: What it means to live in a place where your home can give you cancer. Richland, Washington is a company town that sprang up almost …

Latin American Studies August 3, 2022

The New Pan-Americanism and the Structuring of Inter-American Relations

Juan Pablo Scarfi and David M. K. Sheinin

Hosted by Steven Rodriguez

In The New Pan-Americanism and the Structuring of Inter-American Relations (Routledge, 2022), David Sheinin and Juan Pablo Scarfi bring together articles that reconsider many aspects of U.S.-Latin American history. Pan-Americanism …

General History August 3, 2022

Left in the Center

The Liberal Party of New York and the Rise and Fall of American Social Democracy

Daniel Soyer

Hosted by Robert Snyder

The history of small political parties and the history of the American left are closely intertwined, especially in the book Left in the Center: The Liberal Party of New York …

Politics & Polemics August 3, 2022

Goliath

The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy

Matt Stoller

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

In Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy (Simon & Schuster, 2019), Matt Stoller explains how authoritarianism and populism have returned to American politics for the first time …

Education August 3, 2022

Other People's Colleges

The Origins of American Higher Education Reform

Ethan W. Ris

Hosted by Joao Souto-Maior

For well over one hundred years, people have been attempting to make American colleges and universities more efficient and more accountable. Indeed, Ethan Ris argues in Other People's Colleges: The …

Popular Culture August 3, 2022

Teenage Dreams

Girlhood Sexualities in the U.S. Culture Wars

Charlie Jeffries

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

Utilizing a breadth of archival sources from activists, artists, and policymakers, Charlie Jeffries' Teenage Dreams: Girlhood Sexualities in the U.S. Culture Wars (Rutgers UP, 2022) examines the race- and class-inflected battles over …

Literary Studies August 3, 2022

Interwar Itineraries

Authenticity in Anglophone and French Travel Writing

Emily O. Wittman

Hosted by Nathan Moore

How people traveled, and how people wrote about travel, changed in the interwar years. Novel technologies eased travel conditions, breeding new iterations of the colonizing gaze. The sense that another …