New Books Network
Critical Theory
Critical Theory May 6, 2021

Creative Control

The Ambivalence of Work in the Culture Industries

Michael L. Siciliano

Hosted by Dave O'Brien
How should we understand creative work? In Creative Control: The Ambivalence of Work in the Culture Industries (Columbia UP, 2021), Michael Siciliano, an assistant professor of sociology at Queen's University …

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Communications May 6, 2021

Silicon Values

The Future of Free Speech Under Surveillance Capitalism

Jillian C. York

Hosted by Marci Mazzarotto
What is the impact of surveillance capitalism on our right to free speech? The Internet once promised to be a place of extraordinary freedom beyond the control of money or …
Critical Theory May 5, 2021

Nietzsche, the Aristocratic Rebel

Intellectual Biography and Critical Balance-Sheet

Domenico Losurdo

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
The 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche stands among the canon’s most-cited figures, with aphorisms dotting texts on a variety of topics, and his name evokes strong responses from almost …
Critical Theory April 29, 2021

Working Aesthetics

Labour, Art and Capitalism

Danielle Child

Hosted by Pierre d'Alancaisez
Working Aesthetics: Labour, Art and Capitalism (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019) is the story of art and work under contemporary capitalism. Whilst labour used to be regarded as an unattractive subject for art, the …
Critical Theory April 27, 2021

The Generic Closet

Black Gayness and the Black-Cast Sitcom

Alfred L. Martin, Jr.

Hosted by Dave O'Brien
How do race and sexuality intersect in the American sitcom? In The Generic Closet: Black Gayness and the Black-Cast Sitcom (Indiana University Press, 2021),  Alfred L Martin, an assistant professor …
South Asian Studies April 26, 2021

Elementary Aspects of the Political

Histories from the Global South

Prathama Banerjee

Hosted by Saronik Bosu
Prathama Banerjee's book Elementary Aspects of the Political: Histories from the Global South (Duke UP, 2020) studies the rise of modern politics in India, between the mid-19th and the mid-20th centuries …
Economics April 26, 2021

Reinventing Liberalism

The Politics, Philosophy and Economics of Early Neoliberalism (1920-1947)

Ola Innset

Hosted by Tim Jones
This year, more than 40 books will be published in English with 'Neoliberal' or 'Neoliberalism' in the title. For many in the academy, these words have become interchangeable with “capitalist”, “laissez-faire” …
Geography April 21, 2021

Mapping Abundance for a Planetary Future

Kanaka Maoli and Critical Settler Cartography in Hawai'i

Candace Fujikane

Hosted by Stentor Danielson
In Mapping Abundance for a Planetary Future: Kanaka Maoli and Critical Settler Cartographies in Hawai'i (Duke University Press, 2021), Candace Fujikane draws upon Hawaiian stories about the land and water and their …
Literary Studies April 20, 2021

The World after the End of the World

A Spectro-Poetics

Kas Saghafi

Hosted by Britton Edelen
In this episode, I interview Kas Saghafi, associate professor of philosophy at the University of Memphis, about his book The World After the End of the World, published through SUNY …
Philosophy April 20, 2021

Curiosity and Power

The Politics of Inquiry

Perry Zurn

Hosted by Sarah Tyson
Is curiosity political? Does it have a philosophical lineage? In Curiosity and Power: The Politics of Inquiry (University of Minnesota Press, 2021), Perry Zurn shows, consequentially, yes. He further asks …
Critical Theory April 16, 2021

Redlining Culture

A Data History of Racial Inequality and Postwar Fiction

Richard Jean So

Hosted by Dave O'Brien
What is the story of race in American fiction? In Redlining Culture: A Data History of Racial Inequality and Postwar Fiction (Columbia University Press, 2020), Richard Jean So, an assistant professor of …
Literary Studies April 16, 2021

Contingent Figure

Chronic Pain and Queer Embodiment

Michael D. Snediker

Hosted by Britton Edelen
In this episode, I interview Michael Snediker, professor of English at the University of Houston, about his book, Contingent Figure: Chronic Pain and Queer Embodiment, recently published by University of …
Literary Studies April 15, 2021

Prosthesis

David Wills

Hosted by Britton Edelen
In this episode, I interview David Wills, professor of French Studies at Brown University, about his book, Prosthesis, recently republished for its 25th anniversary by University of Minnesota Press. A …
Education April 13, 2021

Bearing with Strangers

Arendt, Education and the Politics of Inclusion

Morten T Korsgaard

Hosted by Kai Wortmann
Bearing with Strangers: Arendt, Education and the Politics of Inclusion (Routledge, 2018) looks at inclusion in education in a new way. By introducing the notion of the instrumental fallacy, it shows …
Critical Theory April 12, 2021

Abolishing Freedom

A Plea for a Contemporary Use of Fatalism

Frank Ruda

Hosted by Dominik Finkelde
Frank Ruda's book Abolishing Freedom. A Plea for a Contemporary Use of Fatalism (University of Nebraska Press 2016) presents a compelling reading of authors diverse as Martin Luther, Descartes, Kant …
Education April 9, 2021

Forms of Education

Rethinking Educational Experience Against and Outside the Humanist Legacy

Emile Bojesen

Hosted by Kai Wortmann
Emile Bojesen's book Forms of Education: Rethinking Educational Experience Against and Outside the Humanist Legacy (Routledge, 2019) analyses the tenets of the humanist legacy in terms of its educational ethos, examining …
Art April 6, 2021

The Making of the American Creative Class

New York's Culture Workers and Twentieth-Century Consumer Capitalism

Shannan Clark

Hosted by Pierre d'Alancaisez
During the middle decades of the twentieth century, the production of America’s consumer culture was centralized in New York to an extent unparalleled in the history of the United States …
Critical Theory April 5, 2021

Warped

Gay Normality and Queer Anti-Capitalism

Peter Drucker

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
The last several decades have seen tremendous political and cultural strides forward for the LGBTQ+ community with both the legislative and cultural recognition helping many secure a more safe and …
LGBTQ+ Studies April 2, 2021

Poor Queer Studies

Confronting Elitism in the University

Matt Brim

Hosted by John Marszalek
In Poor Queer Studies: Confronting Elitism in the University (Duke UP, 2020), Matt Brim shifts queer studies away from its familiar sites of elite education toward poor and working-class people …
Critical Theory April 2, 2021

Imperial Encore

The Cultural Project of the Late British Empire

Caroline Ritter

Hosted by Dave O'Brien
What role did culture play in the British Empire? In Imperial Encore: The Cultural Project of the Late British Empire (University of California Press, 2021), Caroline Ritter, an Assistant Professor of …