New Books Network
Genocide Studies
Philosophy December 1, 2020

Unconscionable Crimes

How Norms Explain and Constrain Mass Atrocities

Paul C. Morrow

Hosted by Robert Talisse
The moral horrors of genocide and mass atrocity lead us to wonder how such things are even possible. A common and understandable reaction is to see events of this kind …

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Genocide Studies November 19, 2020

The Failures of Ethics

Confronting the Holocaust, Genocide, and Other Mass Atrocities

John K. Roth

Hosted by Jeff Bachman
In the Failures of Ethics: Confronting the Holocaust, Genocide and Other Mass Atrocities (Oxford University Press, 2018), John K. Roth concentrates on the multiple shortfalls and shortcomings of thought, decision …
Genocide Studies November 11, 2020

The Struggle for Understanding

Elie Wiesel's Literary Works

Victoria Nesfield and Philip Smith

Hosted by Yakir Englander
An in-depth look at Elie Wiesel’s writings, from his earliest works to his final novels. Elie Wiesel (1928–2016) was one of the most important literary voices to emerge from the …
German Studies November 2, 2020

Testimonies of Resistance

Representations of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Sonderkommando

Nicholas Chare and Dominic Williams

Hosted by Yakir Englander
The Sonderkommando--the "special squad" of enslaved Jewish laborers who were forced to work in the gas chambers and crematoria of Auschwitz-Birkenau--comprise one of the most fascinating and troubling topics within …
East Asian Studies October 22, 2020

Japanese War Crimes during World War II

Atrocity and the Psychology of Collective Violence

Frank Jacob

Hosted by Kelly McFall
When you mention Japanese War crimes in World War Two, you’ll often get different responses from different generations. The oldest among us will talk about the Bataan Death March. Younger …
European Studies October 16, 2020

All the Horrors of War

A Jewish Girl, a British Doctor, and the Liberation of Bergen-Belsen

Bernice Lerner

Hosted by Mark Klobas
One was a teenage Jewish girl, forcibly transported from her home in Hungary to a Nazi concentration camp. The other was a British doctor, whose experiences serving in two world …
European Studies October 8, 2020

The Holocaust

History and Memory

Jeremy Black

Hosted by Charles Coutinho
The event that is commonly labeled as the ‘Holocaust’, was one of the most horrific of the Twentieth Century. It is also one of the most popularly discussed events of …
African American Studies September 25, 2020

We Charge Genocide

The Crime of Government Against the Negro People

William L. Patterson

Hosted by Jeff Bachman
In 2017, We Charge Genocide: The Crime of Government Against the Negro People, the historic petition authored by William L. Patterson, was published in its third edition. It has been …
Anthropology September 18, 2020

On Inhumanity

Dehumanization and How to Resist It

David Livingstone Smith

Hosted by Yakir Englander
The Rwandan genocide, the Holocaust, the lynching of African Americans, the colonial slave trade: these are horrific episodes of mass violence spawned from racism and hatred. We like to think …
German Studies September 8, 2020

Resisting Persecution

Jews and Their Petitions during the Holocaust

T. P. Kaplan and W. Gruner (eds.)

Hosted by Kelly McFall
In 20 years of studying the Holocaust, it didn’t occur to me that German officials might, when petitioned by German Jews or by Germans advocating for German Jews, change their …
Eastern European Studies September 7, 2020

The Moral Witness

Trials and Testimony after Genocide

Carolyn J. Dean

Hosted by Natasha Margulis
The Moral Witness: Trials and Testimony after Genocide (Cornell University Press, 2019) is the first cultural history of the "witness to genocide" in the West. Carolyn J. Dean shows how …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel August 31, 2020

The Jews Should Keep Quiet

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, and the Holocaust

Rafael Medoff

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Like so many Americans, American Jews supported President Roosevelt. They adored him. They believed in him. They idolized him. Perhaps they shouldn’t have. Based on recently discovered documents, The Jews …
European Studies August 14, 2020

Hitler’s Jewish Refugees

Hope and Anxiety in Portugal

Marion Kaplan

Hosted by Robin Buller
Marion Kaplan's riveting book, Hitler’s Jewish Refugees: Hope and Anxiety in Portugal (Yale University Press) describes the dramatic experiences of Jewish refugees as they fled Hitler’s regime and then lived …
Genocide Studies August 10, 2020

On Inhumanity

Dehumanization and How to Resist It

David Livingstone Smith

Hosted by Carrie Figdor
The phenomenon of dehumanization is associated with such atrocities as the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and the Holocaust in World War II. In these and other cases, people are described …
European Studies August 7, 2020

The Journal of Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Richard Breitman

Hosted by Kelly McFall
The Journal of Holocaust and Genocide Studies is turning twenty-five. One of the first academic journals focused on the study of the Holocaust and Genocide Studies, it has been one …
American Studies July 16, 2020

Our History is the Future

Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance

Nick Estes

Hosted by Jeff Bachman
For the second time, Nick Estes has been gracious enough to participate in a New Books Network podcast to discuss his book Our History is the Future: Standing Rock versus …
German Studies July 9, 2020

The Anatomy of Murder

Ethical Transgressions and Anatomical Science during the Third Reich

Sabine Hildebrandt

Hosted by Hope Longe
Of the many medical specializations to transform themselves during the rise of National Socialism, anatomy has received relatively little attention from historians. While politics and racial laws drove many anatomists …
Russian and Eurasian Studies July 9, 2020

Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg

A New History of the International Military Tribunal after World War II

Francine Hirsch

Hosted by J. Stackhouse
How did an authoritarian regime help lay the cornerstones of human rights and international law? Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg: A New History of the International Military Tribunal after World War …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel July 6, 2020

The Good Assassin

How A Mossad Agent and a Band of Survivors Hunted Down The Butcher of Latvia

Stephan Talty

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
History that reads like a thriller; The Good Assassin: How A Mossad Agent and a Band of Survivors Hunted Down The Butcher of Latvia (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020) by Stephan …
Film July 2, 2020

Judging 'Privileged' Jews

Holocaust Ethics, Representation, and the 'Grey Zone'

Adam Brown

Hosted by Yakir Englander
The Nazis’ persecution of the Jews during the Holocaust included the creation of prisoner hierarchies that forced victims to cooperate with their persecutors. Many in the camps and ghettos came …