New Books Network
American South
American West October 21, 2021

South to Freedom

Runaway Slaves to Mexico and the Road to the Civil War

Alice L Baumgartner

Hosted by Stephen Hausmann
For some enslaved Americans, the path to freedom led not north, but south, argues Dr. Alice Baumgardner, an assistant professor of history at the University of Southern California. In South to …

American South

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Interviews with scholars of the American South about their new books.

Music October 18, 2021

A Punkhouse in the Deep South

The Oral History Of 309

Aaron Cometbus and Scott Satterwhite

Hosted by Emily Ruth Allen
Told in personal interviews, A Punkhouse in the Deep South: The Oral History of 309 (University Press of Florida, 2021) is the collective story of a punk community in an unlikely …
LGBTQ+ Studies October 18, 2021

A Lesbian Belle Tells

OUTrageous Southern Stories of Family, Loss, and Love

Elizabeth McCain

Hosted by John Marszalek
Settle back for a wild ride through a Southern lesbian's life of soul-searching, rule-breaking, and truth-telling. This belle's kind of coming out was not what her traditional Mississippi family expected …
Folklore October 12, 2021

Alabama Quilts

Wilderness Through World War II, 1682-1950

M. E. J. Huff and Carole Ann King

Hosted by Stephanie Khattak
Stephanie Khattak speaks with Carole Ann King, who, along with Mary Elizabeth “Sunshine” Johnson Huff, wrote Alabama Quilts: Wilderness Through World War II, 1682-1950 (UP of Mississippi, 2020). Alabama Quilts …
African Studies October 11, 2021

Healing Knowledge in Atlantic Africa

Kalle Kananoja

Hosted by Esperanza Brizuela-Garcia
In Healing Knowledge in Atlantic Africa (Cambridge UP, 2021), Kalle Kananoja tells the story of how pre-colonial communities throughout the west coast of Africa employed a wide range of medical …
LGBTQ+ Studies October 4, 2021

Cruising for Conspirators

How a New Orleans DA Prosecuted the Kennedy Assassination As a Sex Crime

Alecia P. Long

Hosted by Morris Ardoin
New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison's decision to arrest Clay Shaw on March 1, 1967, set off a chain of events that culminated in the only prosecution undertaken in the …
African American Studies September 24, 2021

Surviving Southampton

African American Women and Resistance in Nat Turner's Community

Vanessa M. Holden

Hosted by Adam McNeil
The local community around the Nat Turner rebellion The 1831 Southampton Rebellion led by Nat Turner involved an entire community. Vanessa M. Holden rediscovers the women and children, free and …
Sociology September 16, 2021

Where Misfits Fit

Counterculture and Influence in the Ozarks

Thomas Michael Kersen

Hosted by Michael Johnston
All regions and places are unique in their own way, but the Ozarks have an enduring place in American culture. Studying the Ozarks offers the ability to explore American life …
General History September 14, 2021

Race Unequals

Overseer Contracts, White Masculinities, and the Formation of Managerial Identity in the Plantation Economy

Teri A. McMurtry-Chubb

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Teri A. McMurtry-Chubb is the author of Race Unequals: Overseer Contracts, White Masculinities, and the Formation of Managerial Identity in the Plantation Economy, published by Lexington Books in 2021. Race …
Food September 1, 2021

Two Hundred Years of Charleston Cooking

Lettie Gay

Hosted by Carrie Helms Tippen
Southern Food Historian Rebecca Sharpless discusses a new edition of Two Hundred Years of Charleston Cooking released in 2021 by University of South Carolina Press. Sharpless added a new critical …
African American Studies August 20, 2021

Rice

A Savor the South Cookbook

Michael Twitty

Hosted by N'Kosi Oates
Rice is a central ingredient to Southern foodways, and it is one of the most versatile grains served around the world. It could be prepared as a side dish, an …
General History August 18, 2021

Cuban Memory Wars

Retrospective Politics in Revolution and Exile

Michael J. Bustamante

Hosted by Rozzmery Palenzuela Vicente
I had the pleasure of interviewing my mentor, Dr. Michael J. Bustamante on his first monograph, Cuban Memory Wars: Retrospective Politics in Revolution and Exile which was published in March 2021 as part …
Music August 5, 2021

Rough Tactics

Black Performance in Political Spectacles, 1877-1932

Mark A. Johnson

Hosted by Emily Ruth Allen
During the nadir of race relations in the United States South from 1877 to 1932, African Americans faced segregation, disfranchisement, and lynching. Among many forms of resistance, African Americans used …
Cover Story August 3, 2021

Sarah Hepola on Drinking in a "Dry" Texas County

Sarah Hepola

Hosted by Agata Popeda
Welcome to Cover Story, a podcast by New Books Network devoted to long form journalism. Today, we are talking to Texas-based writer Sarah Hepola. Hepola is most known from her …
Political Science July 26, 2021

Congress and the First Civil Rights Era, 1861-1918

Jeffery A. Jenkins and Justin Peck

Hosted by Susan Liebell
Jeffrey Jenkins and Justin Peck’s new book Congress and the First Civil Rights Era, 1861-1918 (U Chicago Press, 2021) explores how Congressional Republicans enacted laws aimed at establishing an inclusive, multiracial …
American West July 21, 2021

West of Slavery

The Southern Dream of a Transcontinental Empire

Kevin Waite

Hosted by Stephen Hausmann
The geography of American slavery was continental, argues Dr. Kevin Waite, an assistant professor at Durham University, in West of Slavery: The Southern Dream of a Transcontinental Empire (UNC Press, 2021). Rather …
Journalism July 16, 2021

First to Fall

Elijah Lovejoy and the Fight for a Free Press in the Age of Slavery

Ken Ellingwood

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
In First to Fall: Elijah Lovejoy and the Fight for a Free Press in the Age of Slavery (Pegasus Books, 2021), Ken Ellingwood takes readers back to the first true test of the …
Political Science July 15, 2021

With Ballots and Bullets

Partisanship and Violence in the American Civil War

Nathan Kalmoe

Hosted by Lilly Goren
Political Scientist Nathan Kalmoe has written a fascinating historical and political exploration of the connections between violence and partisanship before, during, and after the American Civil War. This book brings …
Music July 13, 2021

Unbinding Gentility

Women Making Music in the Nineteenth-Century South

Candace Bailey

Hosted by Emily Ruth Allen
Southern women of all classes, races, and walks of life practiced music during and after the Civil War. Dr. Candace Bailey examines the history of southern women through the lens …
Sociology July 12, 2021

Black Resettlement and the American Civil War

Sebastian N. Page

Hosted by Deidre Tyler
Based on sweeping research in six languages, Sebastian N. Page's Black Resettlement and the American Civil War (Cambridge UP, 2021) offers the first comprehensive, comparative account of nineteenth-century America's greatest …