New Books Network Podcast

Public Policy October 1, 2023

When We Walk By

Forgotten Humanity, Broken Systems, and the Role We Can Each Play in Ending Homelessness in America

Kevin F. Adler and Donald W. Burnes

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

Think about the last time that you saw or interacted with an unhoused person. What did you do? What did you say? Did you offer money or a smile, or …

Law September 30, 2023

Supreme Hubris

How Overconfidence Is Destroying the Court--And How We Can Fix It

Aaron Tang

Hosted by William Domnarski

Today I talked to Aaron Tang about his new book Supreme Hubris: How Overconfidence Is Destroying the Court--And How We Can Fix It (Yale UP, 2023). The Supreme Court, once the most respected …

Higher Education September 29, 2023

The Abundant University

Remaking Higher Education for a Digital World

Michael D. Smith

Hosted by John Emrich

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For too long, our system of higher education has been defined by scarcity: scarcity in enrollment, scarcity in instruction, and scarcity in credentials. In addition to failing students professionally, this …

Political Science September 25, 2023

The People and Their Peace

Legal Culture and the Transformation of Inequality in the Post-revolutionary South

Laura F. Edwards

Hosted by Susan Liebell

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Do individuals have the right to “keep and bear” arms? Do “the people” have any collective rights to public safety? Now that the United States Supreme Court requires each side …

Law September 23, 2023

Justifying Violent Protest

Law and Morality in Democratic States

James Greenwood-Reeves

Hosted by Jane Richards

Was the use of violence on January 6th Capitol attacks legitimate? Is the use of violence morally justified by members of Extinction Rebellion or Just Stop Oil campaigners? Justifying Violent Protest …

Environmental Studies September 22, 2023

Clean Air and Good Jobs

U.S. Labor and the Struggle for Climate Justice

Todd E. Vachon

Hosted by Zalman Newfield

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The labor–climate movement in the U.S. laid the groundwork for the Green New Deal by building a base within labor for supporting climate protection as a vehicle for good jobs …

Education September 22, 2023

Off the Mark

How Grades, Ratings, and Rankings Undermine Learning (but Don't Have To)

Jack Schneider and Ethan L. Hutt

Hosted by Max Jacobs

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Amid widespread concern that our approach to testing and grading undermines education, two experts explain how schools can use assessment to support, rather than compromise, learning. Anyone who has ever …

Recall This Book September 21, 2023

January 6th and Asymmetrical Policing (JP, EF)

A Discussion with David Cunningham

David Cunningham

Hosted by Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz

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Recall This Book first heard from the sociologist of American racism David Cunningham in Episode 36 Policing and White Power. Less than a week after the horrors of January 6th …

Disability Studies September 20, 2023

Fixing the Poor

Eugenic Sterilization and Child Welfare in the Twentieth Century

Molly Ladd-Taylor

Hosted by Shu Wan

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Between 1907 and 1937, thirty-two states legalized the sterilization of more than 63,000 Americans. In Fixing the Poor: Eugenic Sterilization and Child Welfare in the Twentieth Century (Johns Hopkins UP, 2020) …

Disability Studies September 20, 2023

Not Good Enough for Canada

Canadian Public Discourse Around Issues of Inadmissibility for Potential Immigrants with Diseases And/Or Disabilities

Valentina Capurri

Hosted by Shu Wan

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Valentina Capurri's book Not Good Enough for Canada: Canadian Public Discourse Around Issues of Inadmissibility for Potential Immigrants with Diseases And/Or Disabilities (U Toronto Press, 2020) investigates the development of Canadian …

Intellectual History September 19, 2023

Moral Relativism and Pluralism

David B. Wong

Hosted by Jessica Zu

Today I talked to David B. Wong about his book Moral Relativism and Pluralism (Cambridge UP, 2023). The argument for metaethical relativism--the view that there is no single true or most …

Urban Studies September 19, 2023

Before Gentrification

The Creation of DC's Racial Wealth Gap

Tanya Maria Golash-Boza

Hosted by Deidre Tyler

This book shows how a century of redlining, disinvestment, and the War on Drugs wreaked devastation on Black people and paved the way for gentrification in Washington, DC. In Before …

Political Science September 18, 2023

We're Here Because You Were There

Immigration and the End of Empire

Ian Sanjay Patel

Hosted by Lamis Abdelaaty

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What are the origins of the hostile environment against immigrants in the UK? In We’re Here Because You Were There: Immigration and the End of Empire (Verso, 2021), Patel retells …

Postscript September 18, 2023

How Firearms Fuel Domestic Violence in the US

A Discussion with Shannon Frattoroli, Kelly Roskam, and April M. Zeoli

Shannon Frattoroli, Kelly Roskam, and April M. Zeoli

Hosted by Susan Liebell

In 2019, nearly two-thirds of domestic violence homicides in the United States were committed with a gun. On average, three women are killed by a current or former partner every …

Sex, Sexuality, and Sex Work September 18, 2023

Child Sex Abuse

Power, Profit, Perversion

Beverley Chalmers

Hosted by Jeannette Cockroft

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Children of all ages are abused in every country in the world, by members of every society, culture, religion, and socio-economic class. About 120 million children under twenty, or one …

Public Policy September 17, 2023

Your Money Or Your Life

Debt Collection in American Medicine

Luke Messac

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

A riveting exposé of medical debt collection in America -- and the profound financial and physical costs eroding patient trust in medicine For the crime of falling sick without wealth …

Environmental Studies September 17, 2023

Unbottled

The Fight Against Plastic Water and for Water Justice

Daniel Jaffee

Hosted by Joshua Mullenite

In just four decades, bottled water has transformed from a luxury niche item into a ubiquitous consumer product, representing a $300 billion market dominated by global corporations. It sits at …

Environmental Studies September 16, 2023

Disrupting D.C.

The Rise of Uber and the Fall of the City

Katie J. Wells, Kafui Attoh, and Declan Cullen

Hosted by Brian Hamilton

The first city to fight back against Uber, Washington, D.C., was also the first city where such resistance was defeated. It was here that the company created a playbook for …

Public Policy September 15, 2023

Poverty in the Pandemic

Policy Lessons from COVID-19

Zachary Parolin

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

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Zachary Parolin's book Poverty in the Pandemic: Policy Lessons from COVID-19 (Russell Sage Foundation, 2023) is interested in poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., as well as what the …

Political Science September 14, 2023

Election Day

How We Vote and What It Means for Democracy

Emilee Booth Chapman

Hosted by Lilly Goren

Emilee Booth Chapman, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Stanford University, has a new book that examines the idea of the vote, and what this experience means for citizens, for …