New Books Network
Drugs, Addiction and Recovery
Drugs, Addiction and Recovery January 13, 2021

Intoxicating Zion

A Social History of Hashish in Mandatory Palestine and Israel

Haggai Ram

Hosted by Lucas Richert
When European powers carved political borders across the Middle East following World War I, a curious event in the international drug trade occurred: Palestine became the most important hashish waystation …

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Chinese Studies January 8, 2021

Recovering Histories

Life and Labor after Heroin in Reform-Era China

Nicholas Bartlett

Hosted by Suvi Rautio
Heroin first reached Gejiu, a Chinese city in southern Yunnan known as Tin Capital, in the 1980s. Widespread use of the drug, which for a short period became “easier to …
History December 23, 2020

Thai Stick

Surfers, Scammers and the Untold Story of the Marijuana Trade

Peter Maguire and Mike Ritter

Hosted by Michael Vann
In the 1970s surfing and smoking pot went hand in hand. As surfers traveled the world in search of perfect waves in places like Bali, Indonesia, some of them encountered …
Medicine December 3, 2020

OD

Naloxone and the Politics of Overdose

Nancy D. Campbell

Hosted by Laura Stark
Reducing harm or shrinking the likelihood of accidental death are remarkably contentions projects—in areas from sex education, to pandemic management, to drug use. Nancy Campbell’s important new book, OD: Naloxone …
Drugs, Addiction and Recovery November 13, 2020

American Trip

Set, Setting, and the Psychedelic Experience in the Twentieth Century

Ido Hartogsohn

Hosted by Emily Dufton
Are psychedelics invaluable therapeutic medicines, or dangerously unpredictable drugs that precipitate psychosis? Tools for spiritual communion or cognitive enhancers that spark innovation? Activators for one’s private muse or part of …
History November 6, 2020

Cocaine and Surfing

A Sordid History of Surfing's Greatest Love Affair

Chas Smith

Hosted by Michael Vann
Surfers are the ultimate bad boys, living the counter-culture life of decadence and hedonism as they travel the world in search of the perfect wave, partying hard along the way …
Anthropology October 26, 2020

The Medicalization of Marijuana

Legitimacy, Stigma, and the Patient Experience

Michelle Newhart and William Dolphin

Hosted by Lucas Richert
Medical marijuana laws have spread across the U.S. to all but a handful of states. Yet, eighty years of social stigma and federal prohibition creates dilemmas for patients who participate …
American Studies October 23, 2020

Love in the Drug War

Selling Sex and Finding Jesus on the Mexico-US Border

Sara Luna

Hosted by Alize Arıcan
Sex, drugs, religion, and love are potent combinations in la zona, a regulated prostitution zone in the city of Reynosa, across the border from Hidalgo, Texas. During the years 200 …
Eastern European Studies October 6, 2020

Narkomania

Drugs, HIV, and Citizenship in Ukraine

Jennifer J. Carroll

Hosted by Steven Seegel
Against the backdrop of a post-Soviet state set aflame by geopolitical conflict and violent revolution, Narkomania: Drugs, HIV, and Citizenship in Ukraine (Cornell UP, 2019) considers whether substance use disorders …
Literature October 1, 2020

Seconds and Inches

Carly Israel

Hosted by Eric LeMay
Today I interview Carly Israel about her bold new memoir, Seconds and Inches (Jaded Ibis Press). In the opening sentence of her introduction, Israel writes, “My last name, Israel, means …
Drugs, Addiction and Recovery September 18, 2020

Chemically Imbalanced

Everyday Suffering, Medication, and Our Troubled Quest for Self-Mastery

Joseph E. Davis

Hosted by Claire Clark
Everyday suffering—those conditions or feelings brought on by trying circumstances that arise in everyone’s lives—is something that humans have grappled with for millennia. But the last decades have seen a …
Drugs, Addiction and Recovery August 11, 2020

Acid Revival

The Psychedelic Renaissance and the Quest for Medical Legitimacy

Danielle Giffort

Hosted by Lucas Richert
Psychedelic drugs are making a comeback. In the mid-twentieth century, scientists actively studied the potential of drugs like LSD and psilocybin for treating mental health problems. After a decades-long hiatus …
Anthropology August 3, 2020

RX Appalachia

Stories of Treatment and Survival in Rural Kentucky

Lesly-Marie Buer

Hosted by Claire Clark
Using the narratives of women who use(d) drugs, this account challenges popular understandings of Appalachia spread by such pundits as JD Vance by documenting how women, families, and communities cope …
Chinese Studies July 2, 2020

Know Your Remedies

Pharmacy and Culture in Early Modern China

He Bian

Hosted by Sarah Bramao-Ramos
He Bian’s new book Know Your Remedies: Pharmacy and Culture in Early Modern China (Princeton University Press, 2020) is a beautiful cultural history of pharmacy in early modern China. This …
Native American Studies June 10, 2020

In League Against King Alcohol

Native American Women and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, 1874–1933

Thomas John Lappas

Hosted by David Dry
Many Americans are familiar with the real, but repeatedly stereotyped problem of alcohol abuse in Indian country. Most know about the Prohibition Era and reformers who promoted passage of the …
Literature June 4, 2020

Attention

A Love Story

Casey Schwartz

Hosted by Lucas Richert
Combining expert storytelling with genuine self-scrutiny, Casey Schwartz details the decade she spend taking Adderall to help her pay attention (or so she thought) and then considers the role of …
Literature May 14, 2020

On Drugs

Chris Fleming

Hosted by Matthew Thompson
"After I’d finished my rapid-fire history of self-justification he paused and then said, deadpan and rural-Australian-slow: 'Right. Ok. So how is that all working out for you?'" On Drugs (Giramondo …
Philosophy May 11, 2020

Love Drugs

The Chemical Future of Relationships

Brian Earp and Julian Savulescu

Hosted by Carrie Figdor
Consider a couple with an infant (or two) whose lives have become so harried and difficult the marriage is falling apart. Would it be ethical for them to take oxytocin …
French Studies May 4, 2020

The Colonial Life of Pharmaceuticals

Medicines and Modernity in Vietnam

Laurence Monnais

Hosted by Lucas Richert
Situated at the crossroads between the history of colonialism, of modern Southeast Asia, and of medical pluralism, this history of medicine and health traces the life of pharmaceuticals in Vietnam …
Latin American Studies April 15, 2020

Marijuana Boom

The Rise and Fall of Colombia's First Drug Paradise

Lina Britto

Hosted by Lisette Varon Carvajal
In her recently published book Marijuana Boom: The Rise and Fall of Colombia's First Drug Paradise (University of California Press 2020), Lina Britto tells the forgotten story of the first …