New Books Network

American Studies January 19, 2022

Radical Empathy

Finding a Path to Bridging Racial Divides

Givens, Terri

Hosted by Jill Massino

Structural racism has impacted the lives of African Americans in the United States since before the country’s founding. Although the country has made some progress towards a more equal society …

Anthropology January 7, 2022

Between Gaia and Ground

Four Axioms of Existence and the Ancestral Catastrophe of Late Liberalism

Elizabeth A. Povinelli

Hosted by Adam Bobeck

In Between Gaia and Ground: Four Axioms of Existence and the Ancestral Catastrophe of Late Liberalism (Duke UP, 2021), Elizabeth A. Povinelli theorizes the climatic, environmental, viral, and social catastrophe …

Art January 6, 2022

The Play in the System

The Art of Parasitical Resistance

Anna Watkins Fisher

Hosted by Pierre d'Alancaisez

What does artistic resistance look like in the twenty-first century, when disruption and dissent have been co-opted and commodified in ways that reinforce dominant systems? In The Play in the …

Princeton UP Ideas Podcast January 6, 2022

The January 6th Capitol Insurrection One Year On

A Discussion of the Far Right with Cynthia Miller-Idriss

Cynthia Miller-Idriss

Hosted by Mark Klobas

Hate crimes. Misinformation and conspiracy theories. Foiled white-supremacist plots. The signs of growing far-right extremism are all around us, and communities across America and around the globe are struggling to …

Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel January 5, 2022

Gaza Conflict 2021

Jonathan Schanzer

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

Today I talked to Jonathan Schanzer about his new book Gaza Conflict 2021 (Foundation for Defense of Democracies, 2021). The May 2021 conflict between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas generated …

Russian and Eurasian Studies December 30, 2021

Putin's Attempt to Hide the Crimes of Stalinism

A Talk with Benjamin Nathans about the Suppression of "Memorial"

Benjamin Nathans

Hosted by Marshall Poe

For the past 30 years, a group of Russian scholars have dedicated themselves to uncovering the crimes of Stalinism. Their organization, Memorial, has in that time made great strides in …

Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel December 29, 2021

American Schism

How the Two Enlightenments Hold the Secret to Healing our Nation

Seth David Radwell

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

Why are Americans so angry? American Schism: How the Two Enlightenments Hold the Secret to Healing our Nation (Greenleaf, 2021) explores history to find the answer to a divided America …

Politics & Polemics December 22, 2021

Spain and Its Achilles' Heels

The Strong Foundations of a Country's Weaknesses

Koldo Casla

Hosted by Kirk Meighoo

In Spain and Its Achilles' Heels: The Strong Foundations of a Country's Weaknesses (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2021), Koldo Casla asks: Why was Franco exhumed from the Valley of the Fallen in late …

Politics & Polemics December 20, 2021

Intolerable

Writings from Michel Foucault and the Prisons Information Group (1970-1980)

Edited by Kevin Thompson and Perry Zurn

Hosted by Kirk Meighoo

Intolerable: Writings from Michel Foucault and the Prisons Information Group (1970-1980) (University of Minnesota Press, 2021), edited by Kevin Thompson and Perry Zurn, is a groundbreaking collection of writings by Michel Foucault …

Postscript December 17, 2021

Postscript

Abortion Extremism and Criminalization: Whatever Happened to Exceptions for Rape and Incest?

Michele Goodwin and Mary Ziegler

Hosted by Susan Liebell

This Postscript engages two of the country’s most celebrated legal scholars to discuss the criminalization of abortion and miscarriage, the elimination of exceptions for rape and incest, the political and …

Novel Dialogue December 16, 2021

The Novel of Revolutionary Ideas

Viet Thanh Nguyen and Colleen Lye

Hosted by Aarthi Vadde and John Plotz

Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning The Sympathizer and its sequel The Committed, joins esteemed scholar Colleen Lye of UC-Berkeley for a candid discussion about the Asian-American …

Political Science December 10, 2021

Sustaining Democracy

What We Owe to the Other Side

Robert B. Talisse

Hosted by Lilly Goren

Robert Talisse’s new book, Sustaining Democracy: What We Owe to the Other Side (Oxford UP, 2021) is, in a certain sense, a continuation of his work from his previous book, Overdoing Democracy …

Intellectual History January 14, 2022

Dangerous Minds

Nietzsche, Heidegger, and the Return of the Far Right

Ronald Beiner

Hosted by August Baker

Following the fall of the Berlin Wall and demise of the Soviet Union, prominent Western thinkers began to suggest that liberal democracy had triumphed decisively on the world stage. Having …

Philosophy January 10, 2022

Creolizing the Nation

Kris F. Sealey

Hosted by Sarah Tyson

Can the concept of the nation be a resource for liberatory political struggle? Are the dangers of nationalism simply too great? In Creolizing the Nation (Northwestern UP, 2020), Kris F …

Sociology December 20, 2021

Nice White Ladies

The Truth about White Supremacy, Our Role in It, and How We Can Help Dismantle It

Jessie Daniels

Hosted by Deidre Tyler

In a nation deeply divided by race, the "Karens" of the world are easy to villainize. But in Nice White Ladies: The Truth about White Supremacy, Our Role in It …

Dan Hill's EQ Spotlight December 16, 2021

The Hidden History of American Healthcare

Why Sickness Bankrupts You and Makes Others Insanely Rich

Thom Hartmann

Hosted by Dan Hill

Today I talked to Thom Hartmann about his new book The Hidden History of American Healthcare: Why Sickness Bankrupts You and Makes Others Insanely Rich (Berrett-Koehler, 2021). To hear Thom Hartmann tell …

African American Studies December 13, 2021

In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower

How Universities Are Plundering Our Cities

Davarian L Baldwin

Hosted by Amanda Joyce Hall

In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities are Plundering our Cities (Bold Type Books, 2021) by Dr. Davarian Baldwin examines the political economy of the American university over …

Biography December 9, 2021

There Is Nothing for You Here

Opportunity in an Age of Decline

Fiona Hill

Hosted by Marshall Poe

Today I talked to the remarkable Fiona Hill about her new memoir There Is Nothing for You Here: Opportunity in an Age of Decline (Mariner Books, 2021). We talked about the …

Public Policy December 6, 2021

The Privatization of Everything

How the Plunder of Public Goods Transformed America and How We Can Fight Back

Donald Cohen and Allen Mikaelian

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

As people reach for social justice and better lives, they create public goods--free education, public health, open parks, clean water, and many others--that must be kept out of the market …

Education December 2, 2021

Pain and Shock in America

Politics, Advocacy, and the Controversial Treatment of People with Disabilities

Jan Nisbet and Nancy Weiss

Hosted by Christina Bosch

Amid a string of fall 2021 news reports about past-due exonerations and (white) self-defense that document the limits of racial justice within the U.S. legal system, Pain and Shock in …