New Books Network
World Affairs
Sociology January 21, 2021

Digital Nomads

In Search of Freedom, Community, and Meaningful Work in the New Economy

Rachael A. Woldoff and Robert C. Litchfield

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
In the space of a few weeks this spring, organizations around the world learned that many traditional, in-person jobs could, in fact, be performed remotely. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, however …

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Military History January 18, 2021

Britain's War

A New World, 1942-1947

Daniel Todman

Hosted by Bob Wintermute
The second of Daniel Todman's two sweeping volumes on Great Britain and World War II, Britain's War: A New World, 1942-1947 (Oxford UP, 2020), begins with the event Winston Churchill called …
Systems and Cybernetics January 18, 2021

Network Origins of the Global Economy

East vs. West in a Complex Systems Perspective

Hilton L. Root

Hosted by Tom Scholte
Twenty-eight years after Francis Fukuyama declared the “end of history” and pronounced Western-style liberalism as the culmination of a Hegelian narrative of progress, pundits and academics of all stripes find …
Political Science January 11, 2021

Understanding and Explaining the Iranian Nuclear 'Crisis'

Theoretical Approaches

Halit M. E. Tagma and Paul E. Lenze Jr.

Hosted by Susan Liebell
How can multiple theoretical approaches yield a better understanding of international political politics? In Understanding and Explaining the Iranian Nuclear 'Crisis': Theoretical Approaches (Lexington Books, 2020), Dr. Halit M. E. Tagma …
Military History January 8, 2021

Adaptation Under Fire

How Militaries Change in Wartime

David Barno and Nora Bensahel

Hosted by Scott Lipkowitz
Few human enterprises are as complex, dynamic, and unpredictable as war. Armed conflict substitutes the relatively ordered reality of peace with the undeniably chaotic reality of combat. Militaries, by design …
Political Science January 7, 2021

International Relations and the Problem of Time

Andrew R. Hom

Hosted by Lilly Goren
Andrew Hom’s new book examines what he calls the “problem of time” in context of international relations and international relations theory. The subject of time is a growing field of …
History January 6, 2021

A History of the Second World War in 100 Maps

Jeremy Black

Hosted by Charles Coutinho
The First World War was marked by an exceptional expansion in the use and production of military cartography. But World War II took things even further, employing maps, charts, reconnaissance …
World Affairs January 6, 2021

The Conceit of Humanitarian Intervention

Rajan Menon

Hosted by Medha Prasanna
In The Conceit of Humanitarian Intervention (Oxford University Press, 2020), Rajan Menon shows that this belief, while noble, is naïve. He considers it ancient artifact belonging to the brief period …
History December 29, 2020

The Idealist

Wendell Willkie's Wartime Quest to Build One World

Samuel Zipp

Hosted by Steven Rodriguez
During the 1940s, many Americans began to rethink America’s place in the world, and they did so with the help of Wendell Willkie. Willkie, the 1940 Republican nominee for president …
Indian Ocean World December 28, 2020

World Literature for the Wretched of the Earth

Anticolonial Aesthetics, Postcolonial Politics

J. Daniel Elam

Hosted by Kelvin Ng
World Literature for the Wretched of the Earth: Anticolonial Aesthetics, Postcolonial Politics (Fordham University Press, 2020) recovers a genealogy of anticolonial thought that advocates collective inexpertise, unknowing, and unrecognizability. Early …
Third World Nationalism December 24, 2020

The Wilsonian Moment

Self-determination and the International Origins of Anticolonial Nationalism

Erez Manela

Hosted by Kirk Meighoo
This is a Special Series on Third World Nationalism. In the wake of a rise in nationalism around the world, and its general condemnation by liberals and the left, in addition …
Sports December 15, 2020

Soccer Diplomacy

International Relations and Football since 1914

Heather L. Dichter

Hosted by Keith Rathbone
Today we are joined by Heather Dichter, Associate Professor of Sports History and Sports Management at DeMontfort University and fellow at the international Centre for Sports History and Culture. She …
Genocide Studies December 15, 2020

Unstable Ground

Climate Change, Conflict, and Genocide

Alex Alvarez

Hosted by Jeff Bachman
Unstable Ground: Climate Change, Conflict, and Genocide (Rowman and Littlefield, 2017) looks at the human impact of climate change and its potential to provoke some of the most troubling crimes …
Politics & Polemics December 14, 2020

The Wake-Up Call

Why the Pandemic Has Exposed the Weakness of the West, and How to Fix It

John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge

Hosted by Kirk Meighoo
The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed that governments matter again, that competent leadership is the difference between living and dying. A few governments proved adept at handling the crisis while many …
World Affairs December 14, 2020

International Aid and Democracy Promotion

Liberalization at the Margins

Bann Seng Tan

Hosted by Medha Prasanna
In International Aid and Democracy Promotion: Liberalization at the Margins (Routledge, 2020), Political Scientist Bann Seng Tan investigates the link between foreign aid and the promotion of democracy, using theory, statistical …
History December 9, 2020

Asian Place, Filipino Nation

A Global Intellectual History of the Philippine Revolution, 1887–1912

Nicole CuUnjieng Aboitiz

Hosted by Michael Vann
The Philippine Revolution of 1896-1905, which began against Spain and continued against the United States, took place in the context of imperial subjugation and local resistance across Southeast Asia. Yet …
History December 9, 2020

The Fabric of Civilization

How Textiles Made the World

Virginia Postrel

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
In The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World (Basic Books, 2020), Virginia Postrel describes how humans coevolved with textiles. The story begins with our distant ancestors who used …
Latin American Studies December 9, 2020

The Last Good Neighbor

Mexico in the Global Sixties

Eric Zolov

Hosted by Steven Rodriguez
In The Last Good Neighbor: Mexico in the Global Sixties (Duke UP, 2020), Professor Eric Zolov retells the history of 1960s Mexico by focusing on the way that Mexican political leaders …
Indian Ocean World December 7, 2020

A World at Sea

Maritime Practices and Global History

Lauren Benton and Nathan Perl-Rosenthal

Hosted by Kelvin Ng
L. Benton and N. Perl-Rosenthal's A World at Sea: Maritime Practices and Global History (U Pennsylvania Press, 2020) consists of nine original essays that sharpen and expand our understanding of …
African American Studies December 4, 2020

Pauulu's Diaspora

Black Internationalism and Environmental Justice

Quito J. Swan

Hosted by Amanda Joyce Hall
Pauulu’s Diaspora: Black Internationalism and Environmental Justice (University Press of Florida, 2020) by Quito Swan is an enchanting, magisterial, broadly researched monograph that illuminates the social life of Black Power politics across …