New Books Network Podcast

Buddhist Studies November 29, 2023

Chinese Cosmopolitanism

The History and Philosophy of an Idea

Shuchen Xiang

Hosted by Jessica Zu

A provocative defense of a forgotten Chinese approach to identity and difference. Historically, the Western encounter with difference has been catastrophic: the extermination and displacement of aboriginal populations, the transatlantic …

German Studies November 29, 2023

Memory Wars

New German Historical Consciousness

Jürgen Zimmerer

Hosted by Miriam Schulz

Erinnerungskämpfe: Neues deutsches Geschichtsbewusstsein (Ditzingen: Reclam, 2023) is a new, provocative volume on German memory cultures and politics edited by Jürgen Zimmerer. What can be loosely translated as Memory Wars: New German Historical …

British Studies November 29, 2023

Shakespeare’s House

A Window onto his Life and Legacy

Richard Schoch

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In the wide realm of Shakespeare worship, the house in Stratford-upon-Avon where William Shakespeare was born in 1564 – known colloquially as the 'Birthplace' – remains the chief shrine. It's …

World Affairs November 29, 2023

The Project-State and Its Rivals

A New History of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries

Charles S. Maier

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

We thought we knew the story of the twentieth century. For many in the West, after the two world conflicts and the long cold war, the verdict was clear: democratic …

General History November 28, 2023

What the Greeks Did for Us

Tony Spawforth

Hosted by Morteza Hajizadeh

Listen:

Our contemporary world is inescapably Greek. Whether in a word like “pandemic,” a Freudian state of mind like the “Oedipus complex,” or a replica of the Parthenon in a Chinese …

East Asian Studies November 28, 2023

The Perils of Interpreting

The Extraordinary Lives of Two Translators Between Qing China and the British Empire

Henrietta Harrison

Hosted by Sarah Bramao-Ramos

The Perils of Interpreting: The Extraordinary Lives of Two Translators Between Qing China and the British Empire (Princeton UP, 2021) is a fascinating history of China's relations with the West--told through …

American Studies November 28, 2023

Winds of Hope, Storms of Discord

The United States since 1945

Salim Yaqub

Hosted by Deidre Tyler

Listen:

Salim Yaqub's Winds of Hope, Storms of Discord: The United States since 1945 (Cambridge UP, 2022) explores how Americans from all walks of life – political leaders, businesspeople, public intellectuals …

General History November 28, 2023

The Pirates’ Code

Laws and Life Aboard Ship

Rebecca Simon

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Listen:

In The Pirate's Code: Laws and Life Aboard Ship (Reaktion, 2023), Dr. Rebecca Simon presents a rollicking account of pirates’ codes, the strict rules essential for survival at sea. Pirates …

Japanese Studies November 27, 2023

Nuclear Minds

Cold War Psychological Science and the Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Ran Zwigenberg

Hosted by Nathan Hopson

Ran Zwigenberg’s Nuclear Minds: Cold War Psychological Science and the Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (U Chicago Press, 2023) explores early efforts by the American military, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social scientists …

General History November 27, 2023

British Cyprus and the Long Great War, 1914-1925

Empire, Loyalties and Democratic Deficit

Andrekos Varnava

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Most of the Cypriot population, especially the lower classes, remained loyal to the British cause during the Great War and the island contributed significantly to the First World War, with …

Military History November 27, 2023

The War for England's Shores

S-Boats and the Fight Against British Coastal Convoys

G. H. Bennett

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

The War for England's Shores: S-Boats and the Fight Against British Coastal Convoys (US Naval Institute Press, 2023) by Dr. G. H. Bennett examines the Kriegsmarine's S-Boat offensive along the …

General History November 27, 2023

The Globemakers

The Curious Story of an Ancient Craft

Peter Bellerby

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Peter Bellerby is the founder of Bellerby & Co. Globemakers, the world's only truly bespoke makers of globes. His team of skilled craftspeople make exquisite terrestrial, celestial and planetary globes …

Jewish Studies November 26, 2023

The Fourth of August Regime and Greek Jewry, 1936-1941

Katerina Lagos

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Delving into a traditionally underexplored period, this book focuses on the treatment of Greek Jews under the dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas in the years leading up to the Second World …

Military History November 26, 2023

IS-2

Development, Design & Production of Stalin's Warhammer

Peter Samsonov

Hosted by Boris Karpa

The IS-2 is the quintessential Soviet heavy tank from World War 2. Heavily armored and boasting a fearsome 122mm gun, this tank matched the German panzers on the Eastern front …

Sports November 26, 2023

Suds Series

Baseball, Beer Wars, and the Summer of '82

J. Daniel

Hosted by Rob Heaton

On this episode, J. Daniel takes readers back more than forty years, telling a story that is part baseball history, part urban history, and part U.S. cultural history, with a …

Medieval History November 26, 2023

Radegund

The Trials and Triumphs of a Merovingian Queen

E. T. Dailey

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

A princess born to the Thuringian royal house. A captive in war, forced to marry the Frankish king who killed her family. A queen, who renounced her position, received consecration …

General History November 25, 2023

A Brief History of History

Jeremy Black

Hosted by Charles Coutinho

In A Brief History of History (Indiana UP, 2023), acclaimed historian Jeremy Black seeks to reinvigorate and redefine our ideas about history. The stories we tell about the past are …

Military History November 25, 2023

American Visions

The United States, 1800-1860

Edward L. Ayers

Hosted by AJ Woodhams

American Visions: The United States, 1800-1860 (Norton, 2023) is a revealing history of the formative period when voices of dissent and innovation defied power and created visions of America still resonant …

Indian Ocean World November 25, 2023

Africanism

Blacks in the Medieval Arab Imaginary

Nader Kadhem

Hosted by Ahmed Almaazmi

Anti-blackness has until recently been a taboo topic within Arab society. This began to change when Nader Kadhem, a prominent Arab and Muslim thinker from Bahrain, published the first in-depth …

Literary Studies November 25, 2023

The Feeling of Letting Die

Necroeconomics and Victorian Fiction

Jennifer Maclure

Hosted by Kendall Dinniene

In The Feeling of Letting Die: Necroeconomics and Victorian Fiction (Ohio State UP, 2023), Jennifer MacLure explores how Victorian novels depict the feelings that both fuel and are produced by …