New Books Network
National Security
Islamic Studies December 3, 2021

Suspect Communities

Anti-Muslim Racism and the Domestic War on Terror

Nicole Nguyen

Hosted by Kristian Petersen
Suspect Communities: Anti-Muslim Racism and the Domestic War on Terror (University of Minnesota Press, 2019) is a powerful reassessment of the U.S. government’s “countering violent extremism” (CVE) program that has …

National Security

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Interviews with scholars of national security about their new books.

Medicine December 8, 2021

Risk

A User's Guide

Stanley McChrystal and Anna Butrico

Hosted by Colin Miller
Today's guest is former US Army general, Stanley McChrystal. A retired four-star general with 34 years of service, Stanley was the commander of all US and coalition forces in Afghanistan …
Geography December 2, 2021

Transecting Securityscapes

Dispatches from Cambodia, Iraq, and Mozambique

Till F. Paasche and James Derrick Sidaway

Hosted by Catriona Gold
In this interview, I speak with Till F. Paasche and James D. Sidaway about their new book, Transecting Securityscapes: Dispatches from Cambodia, Iraq, and Mozambique (University of Georgia Press, 2021) …
Science Fiction November 26, 2021

2034

A Novel of the Next World War

Elliot Ackerman and James Stavridis

Hosted by Rob Wolf
The next world war is 13 years away—that is, if you live in the world envisioned by Elliot Ackerman and James Stavridis, 2034: A Novel of the Next World War (Penguin, 2021) …
General History November 22, 2021

State Surveillance, Political Policing and Counter-Terrorism in Britain, 1880-1914

Vlad Solomon

Hosted by Mark Klobas
In 1850 Charles Dickens wrote that Great Britain had “no political police,” adding that “the most rabid demagogue” could speak out “without the terror of an organised spy system.” In …
National Security November 22, 2021

Cyber Threats and Nuclear Weapons

Herbert Lin

Hosted by John Sakellariadis
What does America’s growing dependence on modern information technology systems mean for the management of its nuclear weapons? In his new book, Cyber Threats and Nuclear Weapons (Stanford University Press …
Science November 10, 2021

What's the Worst That Could Happen?

Existential Risk and Extreme Politics

Andrew Leigh

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Did you know that you're more likely to die from a catastrophe than in a car crash? The odds that a typical US resident will die from a catastrophic event—for …
General History November 10, 2021

Humane

How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War

Samuel Moyn

Hosted by Dexter Fergie
Geographic and temporal limits have typically contained modern wars—rulers can ask their populace to risk lives and treasure only for so long before losing legitimacy. But modern wars have also …
Science October 19, 2021

Unmanning

How Humans, Machines and Media Perform Drone Warfare

Katherine Chandler

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Katherine Chandler's Unmanning: How Humans, Machines and Media Perform Drone Warfare (Rutgers UP, 2020) studies the conditions that create unmanned platforms in the United States through a genealogy of experimental, pilotless …
Interpretive Political and Social Science October 14, 2021

Interpreting International Politics

Cecelia Lynch

Hosted by Nick Cheesman
Interpreting International Politics (Routledge, 2014) is a short and lively account of how international relations was founded and developed as an interpretivist discipline, and why it matters that it was …
Drugs, Addiction and Recovery October 8, 2021

Mexican Drug Violence

Hybrid Warfare, Predatory Capitalism and the Logic of Cruelty

Teun Voeten

Hosted by Geert Slabbekoorn
With an estimated 250,000 people killed in 15 years, the Mexican drug war is the most violent conflict in the Western world. It shows no sign of abating. In Mexican …
National Security September 29, 2021

Political Violence and the Authoritarian State in Peru

Silencing Civil Society

Jo-Marie Burt

Hosted by John Sakellariadis
These days, anyone paying close attention to Peru is awash in déjà vu: the ghosts of Peru’s once-brutal war with the Maoist insurgent group Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) have resurfaced …
Politics & Polemics September 22, 2021

Western Jihadism

A Thirty Year History

Jytte Klausen

Hosted by Kirk Meighoo
Western Jihadism: A Thirty Year History (Oxford University Press, 2021) tells the story of how Al Qaeda grew in the West.In forensic and compelling detail, Jytte Klausen traces how Islamist revolutionaries …
General History September 10, 2021

The Cosmopolites

The Coming of the Global Citizen

Atossa Araxia Abrahamian

Hosted by Dexter Fergie
What does citizenship—an institution that has historically linked identity to place—mean in an age of globalization? This is the question that Atossa Araxia Abrahamian investigates in her planet-sprawling book The …
General History August 30, 2021

Making the Forever War

Marilyn Young on the Culture and Politics of American Militarism

Mark Philip Bradley and Mary L. Dudziak

Hosted by Catriona Gold
Making the Forever War: Marilyn Young on the Culture and Politics of American Militarism (University of Massachusetts Press, 2021) is a timely collection of articles and essays by Marilyn B Young, edited by Mark P. Bradley …
General History August 30, 2021

Organizing the 20th-Century World

International Organizations and the Emergence of International Public Administration, 1920-1960s

Karen Gram-Skjoldager, Haakon Andreas Ikonomou, and Torsten Kahlert

Hosted by Dexter Fergie
The history of international organizations has been an exciting area of research in recent years, with such landmark studies as Stephen Wertheim’s Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of US Global …
National Security August 27, 2021

Nonstate Warfare

The Military Methods of Guerillas, Warlords, and Militias

Stephen Biddle

Hosted by John Sakellariadis
From the Taliban to Hezbollah, armed nonstate actors and civil warfare have dominated the US national security debate for much of the last 20 years. Yet, most analysis shares a …
National Security August 27, 2021

Your Sons Are at Your Service

Tunisia's Missionaries of Jihad

Aaron Y. Zelin

Hosted by Beth Windisch
Tunisia became one of the largest sources of foreign fighters for the Islamic State—even though the country stands out as a democratic bright spot of the Arab uprisings and despite …
Economics August 25, 2021

The Economics of Violence

How Behavioral Science Can Transform our View of Crime, Insurgency, and Terrorism

Gary Shiffman

Hosted by Sidney Michelini
Dr. Gary Shiffman’s book The Economics of Violence: How Behavioral Science Can Transform our View of Crime, Insurgency, and Terrorism (Cambridge UP, 2020) serves as a fantastic introduction to anyone interested …
Political Science August 23, 2021

Crossing

How We Label and React to People on the Move

Rebecca Hamlin

Hosted by Susan Liebell
When we talk about people crossing borders, policy makers, advocates, journalists, and academics often distinguish between “refugees” and “migrants.” Is this a useful legal fiction? Shorthand for an important distinction …