New Books Network
Intellectual History
Critical Theory January 26, 2021

Migrants in the Profane

Critical Theory and the Question of Secularization

Peter E. Gordon

Hosted by Ryan Tripp
A beautifully written exploration of religion's role in a secular, modern politics, by an accomplished scholar of critical theory, Migrants in the Profane: Critical Theory and the Question of Secularization (Yale University …

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Jewish Studies January 26, 2021

Time and Difference in Rabbinic Judaism

Sarit Kattan Gribetz

Hosted by Rachel Adelman
The rabbinic corpus begins with a question–“when?”—and is brimming with discussions about time and the relationship between people, God, and the hour. Time and Difference in Rabbinic Judaism (Princeton UP, 2020) explores …
Islamic Studies January 22, 2021

The Golden Calf Between Bible and Qur'an

Scripture, Polemic, and Exegesis from Late Antiquity to Islam

Michael E. Pregill

Hosted by Shehnaz Haqqani
In his exciting and thorough book, The Golden Calf between Bible and Qur'an: Scripture, Polemic, and Exegesis from Late Antiquity to Islam (Oxford, 2020), Michael Pregill explores the biblical and …
Science, Technology, and Society January 22, 2021

Catastrophic Thinking

Extinction and the Value of Diversity from Darwin to the Anthropocene

David Sepkoski

Hosted by Lukas Rieppel
We live in an age in which we are repeatedly reminded—by scientists, by the media, by popular culture—of the looming threat of mass extinction. We’re told that human activity is …
Literary Studies January 22, 2021

Archive Feelings

A Theory of Greek Tragedy

Mario Telò

Hosted by Britton Edelen
On this episode, I interview Mario Telò, professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley, about his new book, Archive Feelings: A Theory of Greek Tragedy …
Biography January 22, 2021

Poet of Revolution

The Making of John Milton

Nicholas McDowell

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Decades before he wrote his epic work Paradise Lost, John Milton was an active republican and polemicist. How Milton came to espouse such radical views is just one of the …
Central Asian Studies January 21, 2021

Polymaths of Islam

Power and Networks of Knowledge in Central Asia

James Pickett

Hosted by Nicholas Seay
James Pickett's new book, Polymaths of Islam: Power and Networks of Knowledge in Central Asia (Cornell University Press, 2020) analyzes the social and intellectual power of religious leaders who created a …
Eastern European Studies January 20, 2021

Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities

Race Science and the Making of Polishness on the Fringes of the German Empire, 1840-1920

Lenny A. Ureña Valerio

Hosted by Steven Seegel
In Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities: Race Science and the Making of Polishness on the Fringes of the German Empire, 1840-1920 (Ohio University Press, 2019), Lenny Ureña Valerio offers a transnational approach to …
American Studies January 19, 2021

As a City on a Hill

The Story of America's Most Famous Lay Sermon

Daniel T. Rodgers

Hosted by Ryan Shelton
Since the presidency of Ronald Reagan, John Winthrop's famous phrase, "We shall be as a city upon a hill," has become political creed and rallying cry for American exceptionalism. But for …
Intellectual History January 19, 2021

Forms, Formats and the Circulation of Knowledge

British Printscape’s Innovations, 1688-1832

Louisiane Ferlier and Benedicte Miyamoto

Hosted by Alexandra Ortolja-Baird
Forms, Formats and the Circulation of Knowledge: British Printscape’s Innovations, 1688-1832 (Brill, 2020) explores the printscape – the mental mapping of knowledge in all its printed shapes – to chart the …
Medicine January 19, 2021

Science Under Fire

Challenges to Scientific Authority in Modern America

Andrew Jewett

Hosted by Claire Clark
Americans today are often skeptical of scientific authority. Many conservatives dismiss climate change and Darwinism as liberal fictions, arguing that "tenured radicals" have coopted the sciences and other disciplines. Some …
History January 18, 2021

Stargazing in the Atomic Age

Anne Goldman

Hosted by Grant Kleiser
During World War II, with apocalypse imminent, a group of well-known Jewish artists and scientists sidestepped despair by challenging themselves to solve some of the most difficult questions posed by …
Intellectual History January 18, 2021

Hubert Harrison

The Struggle for Equality, 1918–1927

Jeffrey B. Perry

Hosted by Hettie V. Williams
Hubert Harrison: The Struggle for Equality, 1918-1927 (Columbia University 2020) by Jeffrey B. Perry, independent scholar and archivist, is an extensive intellectual history of the life and work of Black …
Critical Theory January 15, 2021

A Critical Legal Examination of Liberalism and Liberal Rights

Matthew McManus

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
The tradition of political liberalism has a long and complicated history, filled with twists, turns, critiques and responses that have filled books, essays and lectures for several centuries now. Questions …
History January 13, 2021

Albert Camus

A Very Short Introduction

Oliver Gloag

Hosted by Michael Vann
Albert Camus, one of the most famous French philosophers and novelists, has a diverse fan base. British alternative rockers The Cure sang about The Stranger in their first big hit …
African Studies January 13, 2021

The Idea of Development in Africa

A History

Corrie Decker and Elisabeth McMahon

Hosted by Elisa Prosperetti
The Idea of Development in Africa: A History (Cambridge UP, 2020) challenges prevailing international development discourses about the continent, by tracing the history of ideas, practices, and 'problems' of development used …
Critical Theory January 13, 2021

Critique of Rights

Christoph Menke

Hosted by Dominik Finkelde
Christoph Menke, who is professor of philosophy at the Goethe University in Frankfurt Germany and considered the most important representative of the third generation of the "Frankfurt School of Critical …
Third World Nationalism January 12, 2021

Indonesian Notebook

A Sourcebook on Richard Wright and the Bandung Conference

Brian Russell Roberts and Keith Foulcher

Hosted by Kirk Meighoo
This is a Special Series on Third World Nationalism. In the wake of a rise in nationalism around the world, and its general condemnation by liberals and the left, in …
Art January 12, 2021

Knowledge Beside Itself

Contemporary Art's Epistemic Politics

Tom Holert

Hosted by Pierre d'Alancaisez
What is the role and function of contemporary art in economic and political systems that increasingly manage data and affect? Knowledge Beside Itself: Contemporary Art's Epistemic Politics (Sternberg Press, 2020) delves into …
Biblical Studies January 11, 2021

Exploring the Composition of the Pentateuch

Roy E. Gane

Hosted by Michael Morales
For many years, the historical-critical quest for a reconstruction of the origin(s) and development of the Pentateuch or Hexateuch has been dominated by the documentary hypothesis, the heuristic power of …