New Books Network

LGBTQ+ Studies November 30, 2020

Confessions of a Gay Priest

A Memoir of Sex, Love, Abuse, and Scandal in the Catholic Seminary

Tom Rastrelli

Tom Rastrelli is a survivor of clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse who then became a priest in the early days of the Catholic Church’s ongoing scandals. Confessions of a Gay Priest: A …

Sociology November 27, 2020

In Essential Dads: The Inequalities and Politics of Fathering (University of California Press, 2020), sociologist Jennifer Randles shares the stories of more than 60 marginalized men as they sought to …

Eastern European Studies November 27, 2020

The Women of the Arrow Cross Party

Invisible Hungarian Perpetrators in the Second World War

Andrea Pető

Hosted by Steven Seegel

Andrea Pető's book The Women of the Arrow Cross Party: Invisible Hungarian Perpetrators in the Second World War (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020) analyses the actions, background, connections and the eventual trials of …

Islamic Studies November 27, 2020

Muslim Women's Rights

Contesting Liberal-Secular Sensibilities in Canada

Tabassum Fahim Ruby

Hosted by Shobhana Xavier

Muslim Women’s Rights: Contesting Liberal-Secular Sensibilities in Canada (Routledge 2019) By Tabassum Fahim Ruby follows the legal debates and public discussions that surrounded the proposed shari‘ah tribunals in Canada from …

LGBTQ+ Studies November 27, 2020

Stand by Me

The Forgotten History of Gay Liberation

Jim Downs

Hosted by Morris Ardoin

Despite the tremendous gains of the LGBT movement in recent years, the history of gay life in this country remains poorly understood. According to conventional wisdom, gay liberation started with …

Popular Culture November 25, 2020

Batman and the Joker

Contested Sexuality in Popular Culture

Chris Richardson

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

In Batman and The Joker: Contested Sexuality in Popular Culture (Routledge, 2020), Chris Richardson presents a cultural analysis of the ways gender, identity, and sexuality are negotiated in the rivalry …

Gender Studies November 25, 2020

Embodied Reckonings

“Comfort Women,” Performance, and Transpacific Redress

Elizabeth Son

Hosted by Ann Choi

In a bustling city-center of Seoul, women in yellow vests protesting over the “final” resettlement between the Japanese and Korean governments every Wednesday is an iconic sight, testifying to the …

Sociology November 23, 2020

The Mating Game

How Gender Still Shapes How We Date

Ellen Lamont

Hosted by Michael Johnston

Ellen Lamont's new book The Mating Game: How Gender Still Shapes How We Date (University of California Press, 2020) offers an in-depth analysis of how gender shapes dating practices. Despite enormous changes in …

Food November 19, 2020

Diners, Dudes, and Diets

How Gender and Power Collide in Food Media and Culture

Emily J. H. Contois

Hosted by Carrie Tippen

In Diners, Dudes, and Diets: How Gender and Power Collide in Food Media and Culture (UNC Press, 2020), Emily Contois argues that the figure of The Dude was invented (or …

Anthropology November 18, 2020

Manufacturing Celebrity

Latino Paparazzi and Women Reporters in Hollywood

Vanessa Diaz

Hosted by Reighan Gillam

While Hollywood’s images present a veneer of fantasy for some, the work to create such images is far from escapism. In Manufacturing Celebrity: Latino Paparazzi and Women Reporters in Hollywood …

Australian and New Zealand Studies November 17, 2020

Distant Sisters

Australasian Women and the International Struggle for the Vote, 1880-1914

James Keating

Hosted by Bede Haines

In the 1890s Australian and New Zealand women became the first in the world to win the vote. Buoyed by their victories, they promised to lead a global struggle for …

History November 17, 2020

Forgotten Healers

Women and the Pursuit of Health in Late Renaissance Italy

Sharon T. Strocchia

Hosted by Jana Byars

On this episode of New Books in History, Jana Byars talks with Sharon Strocchia, Professor of History at Emory University. She is the author of Death and Ritual in Renaissance …

LGBTQ+ Studies November 17, 2020

Gay Faulkner

Uncovering a Homosexual Presence in Yoknapatawpha and Beyond

Phillip Gordon

Hosted by Morris Ardoin

The life and works of William Faulkner have generated numerous biographical studies exploring how Faulkner understood southern history, race, his relationship to art, and his place in the canons of …

Psychology November 16, 2020

Gender and Our Brains

How New Neuroscience Explodes the Myths of the Male and Female Minds

Gina Rippon

Hosted by Eugenio Duarte

There is a long history of brain research that seems to legitimize widely held beliefs about the men versus women. According to my guest, much of that research is founded …

Biography November 16, 2020

Isabel “Lefty” Alvarez

The Improbable Life of a Cuban American Baseball Star

Kat D. Williams

Hosted by Mark Klobas

For many of its participants, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) offered them an opportunity to change their lives, yet few were as transformed as that of Isabel “Lefty” …

Performing Arts November 16, 2020

One Dyke’s Theater

Selected Plays 1975-2014

Terry Baum

Hosted by Andy Boyd

Terry Baum’s book One Dyke’s Theater: Selected Plays 1975-2014 (Exit Press, 2019) collects plays and solo scripts from throughout the career of a “slightly world-renowned lesbian playwright.” The plays range …

Asian Review of Books November 12, 2020

Stranger in the Shogun's City

A Japanese Woman and Her World

Amy Stanley

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

“To mother, from Tsuneno (confidential). I’m writing with spring greetings. I went to Kanda Minagawa-chō in Edo—quite unexpectedly—and I ended up in so much trouble!” This letter, hidden in an …

Eastern European Studies November 10, 2020

Ambiguous Transitions

Gender, the State, and Everyday Life in Socialist and Postsocialist Romania

Jill Massino

Hosted by Marina Kadriu

In this episode, we meet Dr. Jill Massino, an associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina Charlotte who is fascinated with researching everyday life under dictatorships. We …

Medicine November 10, 2020

Feeling Medicine

How the Pelvic Exam Shapes Medical Training

Kelly Underman

Hosted by Claire Clark

The pelvic exam is considered a fundamental procedure for medical students to learn; it is also often the one of the first times where medical students are required to touch …

Law November 10, 2020

Queering Law and Order

LGBTQ Communities and the Criminal Justice System

Kevin Leo Nadal

Hosted by Nick Pozek

Throughout US history, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people have been pathologized, victimized, and criminalized. Reports of lynching, burning, or murdering of LGBTQ people have been documented for …