New Books Network Podcast

Anthropology October 3, 2023

Indifference

On the Praxis of Interspecies Being

Naisargi N. Davé

Hosted by Shraddha Chatterjee

In Indifference: On the Praxis of Interspecies Being (Duke UP, 2023), Naisargi N. Davé examines the complex worlds of animalists and animalism in India. Through ethnographic fieldwork with animal healers, animal …

Critical Theory October 3, 2023

Why?

The Philosophy Behind the Question

Philippe Huneman

Hosted by Morteza Hajizadeh

Why did triceratops have horns? Why did World War I occur? Why does Romeo love Juliet? And, most importantly, why ask why? In Why?: The Philosophy Behind the Question (Stanford …

Public Policy October 1, 2023

When We Walk By

Forgotten Humanity, Broken Systems, and the Role We Can Each Play in Ending Homelessness in America

Kevin F. Adler and Donald W. Burnes

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

Think about the last time that you saw or interacted with an unhoused person. What did you do? What did you say? Did you offer money or a smile, or …

Critical Theory October 1, 2023

A Taste of Honey

Melanie Williams

Hosted by Dave O'Brien

What makes a film a classic? In A Taste of Honey (Bloomsbury, 2023), published as part of the BFI Film Classics series, Melanie Williams, a Professor of Film and Television Studies …

Higher Education September 29, 2023

The Abundant University

Remaking Higher Education for a Digital World

Michael D. Smith

Hosted by John Emrich

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For too long, our system of higher education has been defined by scarcity: scarcity in enrollment, scarcity in instruction, and scarcity in credentials. In addition to failing students professionally, this …

History of Science September 27, 2023

Pseudoscience

A Very Short Introduction

Michael D. Gordin

Hosted by Morteza Hajizadeh

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Everyone has heard of the term "pseudoscience," typically used to describe something that looks like science, but is somehow false, misleading, or unproven. Many would be able to agree on …

Environmental Studies September 25, 2023

Thoreau's Religion

Walden Woods, Social Justice, and the Politics of Asceticism

Alda Balthrop-Lewis

Hosted by Ilana Maymind

Balthrop-Lewis's Thoreau's Religion: Walden Woods, Social Justice, and the Politics of Asceticism (Cambridge UP, 2021) presents a ground-breaking interpretation of Henry David Thoreau's most famous book, Walden. Rather than treating …

Sociology September 21, 2023

Nice Is Not Enough

Inequality and the Limits of Kindness at American High

C. J. Pascoe

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

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Nice is not enough: Inequality and the Limits of Kindness at American High (University of California Press, 2023) by Dr. C. J. Pascoe is a provocative story of contemporary high …

Southeast Asian Studies September 21, 2023

Recycling Infrastructures in Cambodia

Circularity, Waste, and Urban Life in Phnom Penh

Kathrin Eitel

Hosted by Michele Ford

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Kathrin Eitel's book Recycling Infrastructures in Cambodia: Circularity, Waste, and Urban Life in Phnom Penh (Routledge, 2022) examines the recycling infrastructure in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It considers the circular flows of …

Asian American Studies September 19, 2023

Model Minority Masochism

Performing the Cultural Politics of Asian American Masculinity

Takeo Rivera

Hosted by Julia Lee

There are few grand narratives that loom over Asian Americans more than the “model minority.” While many Asian Americanist scholars and activists aim to disprove the model minority as “myth,” …

Urban Studies September 19, 2023

Before Gentrification

The Creation of DC's Racial Wealth Gap

Tanya Maria Golash-Boza

Hosted by Deidre Tyler

This book shows how a century of redlining, disinvestment, and the War on Drugs wreaked devastation on Black people and paved the way for gentrification in Washington, DC. In Before …

Literary Studies September 18, 2023

The Romantic Rhetoric of Accumulation

Lenora Hanson

Hosted by Morteza Hajizadeh

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Lenora Hanson's The Romantic Rhetoric of Accumulation (Stanford UP, 2022) provides an account of the long arc of dispossession from the British Romantic period to today. Lenora Hanson glimpses histories …

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 …

Library Science September 16, 2023

In Visible Archives

Queer and Feminist Visual Culture in the 1980s

Margaret Galvan

Hosted by Jen Hoyer

In In Visible Archives: Queer and Feminist Visual Culture in the 1980s (U Minnesota Press, 2023), Margaret Galvan explores a number of feminist and cultural touchstones—the feminist sex wars, the …

The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones September 16, 2023

The Future of Anarchism

A Discussion with Ruth Kinna

Ruth Kinna

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones

50 years ago, anarchism was written off by some as a set of outdated idealistic ideas that had no contemporary relevance. Then came protests at events such as World Trade …

Princeton UP Ideas Podcast September 15, 2023

To Build a Black Future

The Radical Politics of Joy, Pain, and Care

Christopher Paul Harris

Hosted by Mark Klobas

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When #BlackLivesMatter emerged in 2013, it animated the most consequential Black-led mobilization since the civil rights and Black power era. Today, the hashtag turned rallying cry is but one expression …

Critical Theory September 15, 2023

Imperial Island

An Alternative History of the British Empire

Charlotte Lydia Riley

Hosted by Dave O'Brien

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Can Britain escape from being a nation trapped in its past? In Imperial Island: A History of Empire in Modern Britain (Penguin, 2023), Charlotte Lydia Riley, an Associate Professor of History in …

Music September 14, 2023

Dreams in Double Time

On Race, Freedom, and Bebop

Jonathan Leal

Hosted by Nathan Smith

In Dreams in Double Time: On Race, Freedom, and Bebop (Duke UP, 2023), Jonathan Leal examines how the musical revolution of bebop opened up new futures for racialized and minoritized …

Critical Theory September 13, 2023

The Political Right and Equality

Turning Back the Tide of Egalitarian Modernity

Matthew McManus

Hosted by Morteza Hajizadeh

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McManus presents an intellectual history of the conservative and reactionary tradition, stretching from Aristotle and Filmer to Alexander Dugin and Patrick Deneen. Providing a comprehensive critical genealogy of the intellectual …

Critical Theory September 13, 2023

Seeing Others

How to Redefine Worth in a Divided World

Michèle Lamont

Hosted by Dave O'Brien

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How can we challenge and change inequalities? In Seeing Others: How Recognition Works— and How It Can Heal a Divided World (Atria, 2023), Michele Lamont, Professor of Sociology and African and African …