New Books Network Podcast

European Politics September 29, 2023

Russia's War Against Ukraine

Gwendolyn Sasse

Hosted by Tim Jones

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Nineteen months since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the books are coming thick and fast. Fortunately, each tells a different and compelling story. Like other recent books, Gwendolyn Sasse’s …

European Politics September 28, 2023

Warmonger

Vladimir Putin's Imperial Wars

Alex J. Bellamy

Hosted by Tim Jones

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"War was always central to Putin's project," writes Alex J. Bellamy in Warmonger: Vladimir Putin's Imperial Wars (Agenda, 2023). Not just the second Chechen war that made him but the …

Anthropology September 26, 2023

In Quest of a Shared Planet

Negotiating Climate from the Global South

Naveeda Khan

Hosted by Alize Arıcan

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Based on the author’s eight years of fieldwork with the United Nations-led Conference of Parties (COP), In Quest of a Shared Planet: Negotiating Climate from the Global South (Fordham UP …

General History September 25, 2023

Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning

Nigel Biggar

Hosted by Charles Coutinho

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In the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet empire in 1989, many believed that we had arrived at the 'End of History' - that the global dominance of liberal …

Sociology September 24, 2023

The Golden Passport

Global Mobility for Millionaires

Kristin Surak

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Our lives are in countless ways defined by our citizenship. The country we belong to affects our rights, our travel possibilities, and ultimately our chances in life. Obtaining a new …

World Affairs September 24, 2023

Defectors

How the Illicit Flight of Soviet Citizens Built the Borders of the Cold War World

Erik R. Scott

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Defectors fleeing the Soviet Union seized the world's attention during the Cold War. Their stories were told in sensational news coverage and dramatized in spy novels and films. In contrast …

The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones September 24, 2023

The Future of Ukraine

A Discussion with Christopher Miller

Christopher Miller

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has already changed the world. Why did it happen? Who is winning? How will it end? Christopher Miller is the author of The War Came to …

Gender Studies September 23, 2023

The Other #MeToos

Iqra Shagufta Cheema

Hosted by Diana Dukhanova

From Asia to Africa to the Middle East, #MeToo has inspired local movements and hashtag trends like #AnaKaman and transnational collective hashtags like #MosqueMeToo. Yet, most Western scholarly and popular …

Asian Review of Books September 21, 2023

China Incorporated

The Politics of a World Where China is Number One

Kerry Brown

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

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How do we talk about China? It’s a question every analyst, academic, policymaker, and reporter probably needs to ask themselves. Is China, as some of the hawks claim, an existential …

General History September 18, 2023

Age of Emergency

Living with Violence at the End of the British Empire

Erik Linstrum

Hosted by Ran Zwigenberg

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When uprisings against colonial rule broke out across the world after 1945, Britain responded with overwhelming and brutal force. Although this period has conventionally been dubbed "postwar," it was punctuated …

International Horizons September 18, 2023

Global Inequality

Are We Really Measuring What We Should Be Measuring?

Jayati Gosh

Hosted by International Horizons

In this episode of International Horizons, RBI director John Torpey interviewed Jayati Ghosh, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, about different debates surrounding inequality. Ghosh criticizes …

Military History September 17, 2023

Unknown Conflicts of the Second World War

Forgotten Fronts

Chris Murray

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Chris Murray's book Unknown Conflicts of the Second World War: Forgotten Fronts (Routledge, 2019) is a collection of chapters dealing with various overlooked aspects of the Second World War. The aim is to …

Environmental Studies September 17, 2023

Unbottled

The Fight Against Plastic Water and for Water Justice

Daniel Jaffee

Hosted by Joshua Mullenite

In just four decades, bottled water has transformed from a luxury niche item into a ubiquitous consumer product, representing a $300 billion market dominated by global corporations. It sits at …

Sports September 17, 2023

Shifting Currents

A World History of Swimming

Karen Eva Carr

Hosted by Keith Rathbone

Today we are joined by Dr. Karen Carr, Associate Professor Emerita in the Department of History at Portland State University and the author of Shifting Currents: A World History of …

Indian Ocean World September 16, 2023

A Book of Waves

Stefan Helmreich

Hosted by Ahmed Almaazmi

In A Book of Waves (Duke UP, 2023), Stefan Helmreich examines ocean waves as forms of media that carry ecological, geopolitical, and climatological news about our planet. Drawing on ethnographic …

People, Power, Politics September 15, 2023

Coups and the Threat of “Feel Good” Militarism in Africa

A Discussion with Rita Abrahamsen

Rita Abrahamsen

Hosted by Nic Cheeseman

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Why are we seeing a rise in coups in Africa and growing debate about the possible benefits of military rule? What are the roots of “feel good” militarism and how …

America and Beyond with Paul Starobin September 13, 2023

The Shadow War between America and Russia

A Discussion with George S. Beebe

George S. Beebe

Hosted by Paul Starobin

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Western analysts and media often assess the prospect that Moscow might use nuclear weapons as the war in Ukraine grinds on, possibly to a flailing Russia’s disadvantage. George Beebe, though …

Middle Eastern Studies September 12, 2023

Inventing the Middle East

Britain and the Persian Gulf in the Age of Global Imperialism

Guillemette Crouzet

Hosted by Morteza Hajizadeh

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The “Middle East” has long been an indispensable and ubiquitous term in discussing world affairs, yet its history remains curiously underexplored. Few question the origin of the term or the …

Japanese Studies September 11, 2023

Globalizing the Soybean

Fat, Feed, and Sometimes Food, c. 1900–1950

Ines Prodöhl

Hosted by Nathan Hopson

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Ines Prodöhl’s Globalizing the Soybean: Fat, Feed, and Sometimes Food, c. 1900-1950 (Routledge, 2023) is a history of how, why, and where the soybean became a critical ingredient in industry …

African American Studies September 11, 2023

Slave Empire

How Slavery Built Modern Britain

Padraic X. Scanlan

Hosted by Katrina Anderson

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The British empire, in sentimental myth, was more free, more just and more fair than its rivals. But this claim that the British empire was 'free' and that, for all …