New Books Network
Biography
Latin American Studies October 26, 2021

La Güera Rodrígue

The Life and Legends of a Mexican Independence Heroine

Silvia Marina Arrom

Hosted by Rachel Newman
In La Guera Rodriguez: The Life and Legends of a Mexican Independence Heroine (U California Press, 2021), Silvia Marina Arrom traces the legends of María Ignacia Rodríguez de Velasco y …

Biography

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Interviews with memoirists and biographers about their new books.

Catholic Studies October 25, 2021

America's Most Famous Catholic (According to Himself)

Stephen Colbert and American Religion in the Twenty-First Century

Stephanie N. Brehm

Hosted by Carlos Ruiz Martinez
For nine years, Stephen Colbert’s persona “Colbert”?—a Republican superhero and parody of conservative political pundits--informed audiences on current events, politics, social issues, and religion while lampooning conservative political policy, biblical …
Jewish Studies October 25, 2021

Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic Turn

Philosophy and Jewish Thought

Ethan Kleinberg

Hosted by Britton Edelen
In this episode, I interview Ethan Kleinberg, professor of history and letters at Wesleyan University, about his new book, Emmanuel Levinas’s Talmudic Turn: Philosophy and Jewish Thought, recently published by …
Historical Materialism October 25, 2021

Lukács

Praxis and the Absolute

Daniel Andrés López

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
The Hungarian Marxist philosopher George Lukács has long occupied a complicated place in the Marxist canon of thinkers, both his lived and theoretical practice subject to much critical commentary …
General History October 22, 2021

The Last Liberal Republican

An Insider's Perspective on Nixon's Surprising Social Policy

John Roy Price

Hosted by Daniel Peris
History is told, it is said, by the victors. And so it is in regard to Richard Nixon. We all know how his presidency ended. What too few of us recall …
Architecture October 22, 2021

Sandfuture

Justin Beal

Hosted by Bryan Toepfer
Sandfuture (MIT Press, 2021) is a book about the life of the architect Minoru Yamasaki (1912–1986), who remains on the margins of history despite the enormous influence of his work on American …
British Studies October 22, 2021

Shakespearean

On Life and Language in Times of Disruption

Robert McCrum

Hosted by Joseph Krulder
When inspiration struck Robert McCrum to write a book about the Bard, it came while watching one of the playwright’s plays in Central Park, New York. Here, McCrum realized that …
Philosophy October 20, 2021

The Politics of Black Joy

Zora Neale Hurston and Neo-Abolitionism

Lindsey Stewart

Hosted by Sarah Tyson
What can southern Black joy teach us about agency? What role does refusal have in liberation? What more might there be to root work than resistance? In The Politics of …
Japanese Studies October 19, 2021

Counting Dreams

The Life and Writings of the Loyalist Nun Nomura Bōtō

Roger K. Thomas

Hosted by Jingyi Li
Counting Dreams: The Life and Writings of the Loyalist Nun Nomura Bōtō (Cornell UP, 2021) tells the story of Nomura Bōtō, a Buddhist nun, writer, poet, and activist who joined the …
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 …
General History October 15, 2021

The Cinema of Rithy Panh

Everything Has a Soul

Leslie Barnes and Joseph Mai

Hosted by Michael Vann
In this episode I chatted with Leslie Barnes and Joseph Mai, two scholars of film, about their new anthology The Cinema of Rithy Panh: Everything Has a Soul out with …
Jewish Studies October 15, 2021

The Prince and the Emperors: The Life and Times of Rabbi Judah the Prince

Dov Zakheim

Hosted by Michael Morales
Rabbi Judah the Prince transformed the Mishnah into a text, and now Dov Zakheim, culling from a fascinating array of sources, has brought to life the story and historical times …
Ideas Roadshow Podcast October 15, 2021

Kant, Applied

Onora O’Neill

Hosted by Howard Burton
Kant, Applied is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Onora O’Neill, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and a crossbench member of the …
Russian and Eurasian Studies October 12, 2021

Navalny

Putin's Nemesis, Russia's Future?

Jan Matti Dollbaum, Morvan Lallouet and Ben Noble

Hosted by Daniel Peris
Everyone has heard of Alexei Navalny, the leader of Russia's opposition to Putin's rule. But what do we really know of him? Navalny: Putin's Nemesis, Russia's Future? (Oxford, 2021) provides the first detailed …
Film October 11, 2021

Reginald Rose and the Journey of 12 Angry Men

Phil Rosenzweig

Hosted by Joel Tscherne
Phil Rosenzweig's Reginald Rose and the Journey of 12 Angry Men (Fordham Press, 2021) is the first biography of a great television writer, and the story of his magnum opus …
Philosophy October 11, 2021

Artful Truths

The Philosophy of Memoir

Helena de Bres

Hosted by Carrie Figdor
What is a memoir? What makes a memoir both nonfictional and literary? What are the memoirist’s moral obligations to the people they write about besides themselves, and to their potential …
Film October 7, 2021

Phantom Lady

Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock

Christina Lane

Hosted by Annie Berke
A platinum beauty with an ugly secret; a tall, dark, and handsome husband with murder in his eyes; starkly lit interiors that may or may not include the silhouette of …
Environmental Studies October 5, 2021

Watershed

Attending to Body and Earth in Distress

Ranae Lenor Hanson

Hosted by Matthew Brown
Ranea Lenor Hanson's Watershed: Attending to Body and Earth in Distress (U Minnesota Press, 2021) weaves a narrative that captures life on the water, diverse classrooms, and the unique experiences from learning …
American West October 1, 2021

Mad at the World: A Life of John Steinbeck

William Souder

Hosted by Barbara Berglund Sokolov
The first full-length biography of America's most celebrated novelist of the Great Depression to appear in a quarter century, Mad at the World illuminates what has made the work of …
General History September 29, 2021

Amlicar Cabral

The Life of a Reluctant Nationalist

Antonio Tomas

Hosted by Zeb Larson
Amilcar Cabral was one of the most significant African nationalists of his generation. Born in the Cape Verde Islands, Cabral led the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and …