New Books Network
German Studies
Sociology July 29, 2021

How Green Became Good

Urbanized Nature and the Making of Cities and Citizens

Hillary Angelo

Hosted by Richard Ocejo
As projects like Manhattan's High Line, Chicago's 606, China's eco-cities, and Ethiopia's tree-planting efforts show, cities around the world are devoting serious resources to urban greening. Formerly neglected urban spaces and …

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General History July 21, 2021

Sheer Misery

Soldiers in Battle in WWII

Mary Louise Roberts

Hosted by Douglas Bell
Marching across occupied France in 1944, American GI Leroy Stewart had neither death nor glory on his mind: he was worried about his underwear. "I ran into a new problem …
European Studies July 21, 2021

Ordoliberalism and European Economic Policy

Between Realpolitik and Economic Utopia

Malte Dold and Tim Krieger

Hosted by Tim Jones
Once described as a “German oddity”†, Ordoliberalism was one of a number of new liberalisms that emerged from the political maelstrom of the interwar period. But, unlike the other neoliberal …
Christian Studies July 19, 2021

The Flesh of the Word

The Extra Calvinisticum from Zwingli to Early Orthodoxy

K. J. Drake

Hosted by Zachary McCulley
The extra Calvinisticum, that the eternal Son maintains his existence beyond the flesh during his earthly ministry and perpetually, divided the Lutheran and Reformed traditions during the Reformation. K. J …
Cover Story July 13, 2021

What Can Wittgenstein Teach Us About Raising Our Kids?

A Discussion with Ryan Ruby

Ryan Ruby

Hosted by Agata Popeda
Ryan Ruby is a writer and translator from Los Angeles, California. His fiction and criticism have appeared in The New York Review of Books, The Paris Review Daily, Conjunctions, n+1 …
General History July 9, 2021

The Western Front: A History of the Great War, 1914-1918

Nick Lloyd

Hosted by Douglas Bell
The Western Front evokes images of mud-spattered men in waterlogged trenches, shielded from artillery blasts and machine-gun fire by a few feet of dirt. This iconic setting was the most …
German Studies July 8, 2021

Germany's Urban Frontiers

Nature and History on the Edge of the Nineteenth-Century City

Kristin Poling

Hosted by Steven Seegel
In an era of transatlantic migration, Germans were fascinated by the myth of the frontier. Yet, for many, they were most likely to encounter frontier landscapes of new settlement and …
Music July 7, 2021

An Unnatural Attitude

Phenomenology in Weimar Musical Thought

Benjamin Steege

Hosted by Eamonn Bell
“What are we thinking about when we think about music in non-naturalistic terms?” asks Benjamin Steege—Associate Professor of Music Theory, Columbia University—in his new book An Unnatural Attitude: Phenomenology in Weimar …
General 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 …
General 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 …
Genocide Studies June 10, 2021

Drunk on Genocide

Alcohol and Mass Murder in Nazi Germany

Edward B. Westermann

Hosted by Kelly McFall
The title of Edward Westermann's new book, Drunk on Genocide: Alcohol and Mass Murder in Nazi Germany (Cornell University Press, published in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2021) …
General History June 4, 2021

Porcelain

A History from the Heart of Europe

Suzanne L. Marchand

Hosted by John Raimo
Suzanne L. Marchand's new book Porcelain: A History from the Heart of Europe (Princeton University Press, 2020) balances several histories at once through the story of a single commodity. Porcelain …
Christian Studies June 4, 2021

Luther, Conflict, and Christendom

Reformation Europe and Christianity in the West

Christopher Ocker

Hosted by Zachary McCulley
Martin Luther - monk, priest, intellectual, or revolutionary - has been a controversial figure since the sixteenth century. Most studies of Luther stress his personality, his ideas, and his ambitions …
General History May 31, 2021

The Age of Fitness

How the Body Came to Symbolize Success and Achievement

Jurgen Martschukat

Hosted by Jana Byars
Today on New Books in History, Juergen Martschukat, professor of North American History at Universitat Erfurt, talks about his new book, The Age of Fitness: How the Body Became a Sign …
Genocide Studies May 28, 2021

Warsaw Ghetto Police

The Jewish Order Service During the Nazi Occupation

Katarzyna Person

Hosted by Steven Seegel
In Warsaw Ghetto Police: The Jewish Order Service during the Nazi Occupation (Cornell University Press/US Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2021) , Katarzyna Person shines a spotlight on the lawyers, engineers, young yeshiva graduates …
Christian Studies May 26, 2021

Karl Barth

A Life in Conflict

Christiane Tietz

Hosted by Zachary McCulley
From the beginning of his career, Swiss theologian Karl Barth (1886-1968) was often in conflict with the spirit of his times. While during the First World War German poets and …
German Studies May 21, 2021

The Human Rights Dictatorship

Socialism, Global Solidarity and Revolution in East Germany

Ned Richardson-Little

Hosted by Jill Massino
In The Human Rights Dictatorship: Socialism, Global Solidarity and Revolution in East Germany (Cambridge UP, 2020), Ned Richardson-Little exposes the forgotten history of human rights in the German Democratic Republic, placing the …
Military History May 19, 2021

Dragonslayer

The Legend of Erich Ludendorff in the Weimar Republic and Third Reich

Jay Lockenour

Hosted by Scott Lipkowitz
Erich Ludendorff is a contentious figure in military history. Focused, energetic, and hailing from humble origins, Ludendorff rose through the ranks of the largely aristocratic late-nineteenth century German officer corps …
Critical Theory May 5, 2021

Nietzsche, the Aristocratic Rebel

Intellectual Biography and Critical Balance-Sheet

Domenico Losurdo

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
The 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche stands among the canon’s most-cited figures, with aphorisms dotting texts on a variety of topics, and his name evokes strong responses from almost …
Genocide Studies April 30, 2021

Dance on the Razor's Edge

Crime and Punishment in the Nazi Ghettos

Svenja Bethke

Hosted by Steven Seegel
The ghettos established by the Nazis in German-occupied Eastern Europe during the Second World War have mainly been seen as lawless spaces marked by brutality, tyranny, and the systematic murder …