New Books Network
Biography
Biography March 1, 2021

The Afterlife of Anne Boleyn

Representations of Anne Boleyn in Fiction and on the Screen

Stephanie Russo

Hosted by Mark Klobas
In the centuries since her execution in 1536, Anne Boleyn’s presence in Western culture has grown to extraordinary proportions. In The Afterlife of Anne Boleyn: Representations of Anne Boleyn in …

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Princeton UP Ideas Podcast March 1, 2021

The Life of Geoffrey Chaucer

A Discussion with Marion Turner

Marion Turner

Hosted by Marshall Poe
More than any other canonical English writer, Geoffrey Chaucer lived and worked at the centre of political life—yet his poems are anything but conventional. Edgy, complicated, and often dark, they …
Japanese Studies February 24, 2021

African Samurai

The True Story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan

Geoffrey Girard and Thomas Lockley

Hosted by Jingyi Li
The remarkable life of history's first foreign-born samurai and his astonishing journey from Northern Africa to the heights of Japanese society. When Yasuke arrived in Japan in the late 1500s …
Christian Studies February 24, 2021

God's Cold Warrior

The Life and Faith of John Foster Dulles

John D. Wilsey

Hosted by Zachary McCulley
When John Foster Dulles died in 1959, he was given the largest American state funeral since Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s in 1945. President Eisenhower called Dulles—his longtime secretary of state—“one of …
Christian Studies February 23, 2021

Yours, Till Heaven

The Untold Love Story of Charles and Susie Spurgeon

Ray Rhodes Jr.

Hosted by Zachary McCulley
Enter the remarkable untold love story of Charles and Susie Spurgeon.  Charles Spurgeon is esteemed for his writing, preaching, and passion for the Lord. But behind the great man was …
Film February 22, 2021

The Brothers Mankiewicz

Hope, Heartbreak, and Hollywood Classics

Sydney Stern

Hosted by Joel Tscherne
Herman J. (1897–1953) and Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1909–1993) wrote, produced, and directed over 150 pictures. With Orson Welles, Herman wrote the screenplay for Citizen Kane and shared the picture’s only …
American Studies February 19, 2021

Margaret Mead

A Twentieth-Century Faith

Elesha J. Coffman

Hosted by Lilian Calles Barger
Elesha J. Coffman's Margaret Mead: A Twentieth-Century Faith (Oxford UP, 2021) takes a careful look at Mead’s religious origins and influence. As a famous American anthropologist, Mead’s intellectual contributions to mid-century culture …
Biography February 16, 2021

Vera Rubin

A Life

Jacqueline Mitton and Simon Mitton

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Few astronomers in the 20th century did as much to expand our understanding of the universe as Vera Rubin. To tell her remarkable story in their biography Vera Rubin: A …
Christian Studies February 10, 2021

Adam Boreel (1602-1665)

A Collegiant's Attempt to Reform Christianity" (Brill, 2020)

Francesco Quatrini

Hosted by Crawford Gribben
The debate about the origins of Enlightenment haven’t paid as much attention as they should have done to the radical religious cultures of the Dutch Republic in the mid-17th century …
Japanese Studies February 5, 2021

The Films of Kore-eda Hirokazu

An Elemental Cinema

Linda C. Ehrlich

Hosted by Takeshi Morisato
The Films of Kore-eda Hirokazu: An Elemental Cinema (Palgrave MacMillan, 2019) draws readers into the first 13 feature films and 5 of the documentaries of award-winning Japanese film director Kore-eda Hirokazu …
History February 3, 2021

Mother of American Evangelicalism

The Life and Legacy of Henrietta Mears

Arlin C. Migliazzo

Hosted by Lane Davis
Arlin Migliazzo’s Mother of Modern Evangelicalism: The Life and Legacy of Henrietta Mears (Eerdmans, 2020) documents the life and ministry of one of the most influential teachers of twentieth-century American evangelicalism …
National Security February 3, 2021

Sam Nunn

Statesman of the Nuclear Age

Frank Leith Jones

Hosted by Arya Hariharan
In a 2012 opinion piece bemoaning the state of the US Senate, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank cited a “leading theory: There are no giants in the chamber today.” Among …
Asian Review of Books January 28, 2021

The Moth and the Mountain

A True Story of Love, War, and Everest

Ed Caesar

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
In 1933, Maurice Wilson — First World War hero, drifting veteran, and amateur aviator, lands in the aerodrome at Purnea in British India. His goal is to be the first …
Science January 25, 2021

The Doctor Who Fooled the World

Andrew Wakefield's War on Vaccines

Brian Deer

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
A reporter uncovers the secrets behind the scientific scam of the century. The news breaks first as a tale of fear and pity. Doctors at a London hospital claim a link …
Biography January 22, 2021

Poet of Revolution

The Making of John Milton

Nicholas McDowell

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Decades before he wrote his epic work Paradise Lost, John Milton was an active republican and polemicist. How Milton came to espouse such radical views is just one of the …
Dan Hill's EQ Spotlight January 21, 2021

The Saddest Words

William Faulkner's Civil War

Michael Gorra

Hosted by Dan Hill
Today I talked to Michael Gorra about his new book The Saddest Words: William Faulkner's Civil War (Liveright, 2020). This episode touches on two of William Faulkner’s novels in particular: The Sound and …
Performing Arts January 20, 2021

This Is Not My Memoir

André Gregory and Todd London

Hosted by Andy Boyd
André Gregory's not-memoir This Is Not My Memoir (FSG, 2020) is a fascinating trip through theatre history as seen through the eyes of one of its greatest directors. The André we …
Literature January 20, 2021

I'll Go

War, Religion, and Coming Home, From Cairo to Kansas City

Alexs Thompson

Hosted by Eric LeMay
Today I interview Alexs Thompson about his new memoir, I'll Go: War, Religion, and Coming Home, from Cairo to Kansas City (2020). Let me begin with a moment of honesty …
Latino Studies January 20, 2021

The Spiritual Evolution of Margarito Bautista

Mexican Mormon Evangelizer, Polygamist Dissident, and Utopian Founder, 1878-1961

Elisa Pulido

Hosted by David-James Gonzales
The Spiritual Evolution of Margarito Bautista: Mexican Mormon Evangelizer, Polygamist Dissident, and Utopian Founder, 1878-1961 (Oxford University Press, 2020) provides the first full-length biography of a celebrated Latino Mormon leader …
Princeton UP Ideas Podcast January 15, 2021

Who was Francisco Goya?

A Discussion with Janis Tomlinson

Janis Tomlinson

Hosted by Marshall Poe
The life of Francisco Goya (1746–1828) coincided with an age of transformation in Spanish history that brought upheavals in the country’s politics and at the court which Goya served, changes …