New Books Network
Public Policy
Ideas Roadshow Podcast October 21, 2021

Criminal Justice

An Examination

Julian Roberts

Hosted by Howard Burton
Criminal Justice: An Examination is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Julian Roberts, Professor of Criminology at the University of Oxford. Julian Roberts is an international …

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Interviews with scholars of public policy about their new books.

Critical Theory October 21, 2021

The Care Crisis

What Caused It and How Can We End It?

Emma Dowling

Hosted by Dave O'Brien
What is the future of care? In The Care Crisis: What Caused It and How Can We End It? (Verso, 2021),  Emma Dowling, an associate professor at the Institute for Sociology …
Public Policy October 21, 2021

The Labor Guide to Retirement Plans

For Union Organizers and Employees

James W. Russell

Hosted by Stephen Pimpare
James Russell’s The Labor Guide to Retirement Plans: For Union Organizers and Employees (Monthly Review Press, 2021) is a helpful how-to for workers navigating their retirement and pension options, from …
Drugs, Addiction and Recovery October 20, 2021

The Opioid Epidemic in the United States

Missed Opportunities and Policy Failures

Kant Patel and Mark E. Rushefsky

Hosted by Geert Slabbekoorn
The current opioid epidemic in the United States began in the mid-1990s with the introduction of a new drug, OxyContin, viewed as a safer and more effective opiate for chronic …
Politics & Polemics October 18, 2021

Outgrowing Capitalism

Rethinking Money to Reshape Society and Pursue Purpose

Marco Dondi

Hosted by Kirk Meighoo
In Outgrowing Capitalism: Rethinking Money to Reshape Society and Pursue Purpose (Fast Company Press, 2021), Marco Dondi sheds light on the fact that most people do not have the economic security to …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel October 18, 2021

Troubled Water

What's Wrong with What We Drink

Seth M. Siegel

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
There’s nothing more vital to survival than water. “Water water everywhere, and not a drop to drink!”, said the Ancient Mariner, in the poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Besides widespread …
Drugs, Addiction and Recovery October 13, 2021

Smokescreen

What the Marijuana Industry Doesn't Want You to Know

Kevin A. Sabet

Hosted by Emily Dufton
Called the “quarterback of the new anti-drug movement,” Kevin Sabet received his Ph.D. in social policy from the University of Oxford and has worked in drug policy for over two …
Medicine October 11, 2021

Sickening

Anti-Black Racism and Health Disparities in the United States

Anne Pollock

Hosted by Claire Clark
An event-by-event look at how institutionalized racism harms the health of African Americans in the twenty-first century A crucial component of anti-Black racism is the unconscionable disparity in health outcomes …
Human Rights October 8, 2021

Court of Injustice

Law Without Recognition in U.S. Immigration

J.C. Salyer

Hosted by Rine Vieth
J.C. Salyer’s Court of Injustice: Law Without Recognition in U.S. Immigration (Stanford UP, 2020) is an important look at the histories and processes of immigration law in the US. The book engages …
Public Policy October 6, 2021

The Limits of Party

Congress and Lawmaking in a Polarized Era

James M. Curry and Frances E. Lee

Hosted by Ursula Hackett
To many observers, Congress has become a deeply partisan institution where ideologically-distinct political parties do little more than engage in legislative trench warfare. A zero-sum, winner-take-all approach to congressional politics …
Economics October 6, 2021

Discovering Prices

Auction Design in Markets with Complex Constraints

Paul Milgrom

Hosted by Peter Lorentzen
Neoclassical economic theory shows that under the right conditions, prices alone can guide markets to efficient outcomes. But what if it it’s hard to find the right price? In many …
Mobilities and Methods October 5, 2021

Urbanism Without Guarantees

The Everyday Life of a Gentrifying West Side Neighborhood

Christian M. Anderson

Hosted by Alize Arıcan
Vigilante action. Renegades. Human intrigue and the future at stake in New York City. In Urbanism without Guarantees, Christian M. Anderson offers a new perspective on urban dynamics and urban …
Economics October 5, 2021

Who Gets What -- and Why

The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design

Alvin E. Roth

Hosted by Peter Lorentzen
In Who Gets What — and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design (Mariner Books, 2015), Nobel Memorial Prize Winner Alvin Roth explains his pioneering work in the …
Medicine September 30, 2021

The Contagion Next Time

Sandro Galea

Hosted by Claire Clark
How can we create a healthier world and prevent the crisis next time? In a few short months, COVID-19 devastated the world and, in particular, the United States. It infected …
Political Science September 30, 2021

Beyond Empathy and Inclusion

The Challenge of Listening in Democratic Deliberation

Mary F. Scudder

Hosted by Lilly Goren
Mary (Molly) Scudder, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Purdue University, has a new book that focuses on an incredibly timely issue: how do citizens with deep and conflicting differences …
Education September 29, 2021

Just Work for All

The American Dream in the 21st Century

Joshua Preiss

Hosted by Thomas Discenna
This is a book about the American Dream: how to understand this central principle of American public philosophy, the ways in which it is threatened by a number of winner-take-all …
Law September 28, 2021

Disability, Criminal Justice and Law

Reconsidering Court Diversion

Linda Steele

Hosted by Jane Richards
With a focus on the court diversion of disabled people, Disability, Criminal Justice and Law: Reconsidering Court Diversion (Routledge 2020) undertakes a theoretical and empirical examination of how law is complicit in debilitating …
Islamic Studies September 27, 2021

God's Property

Islam, Charity, and the Modern State

Nada Moumtaz

Hosted by SherAli Tareen
In her phenomenal new book God’s Property: Islam, Charity, and the Modern State (U California Press, 2021), Nada Moumtaz charts the historical continuities and disjunctures as well contemporary paradoxes shadowing the intellectual …
Education September 27, 2021

Breaking Barriers

How P-Tech Schools Create a Pathway from High School to College to Career

Stanley S. Litow and Tina Kelley

Hosted by Christina Bosch
What is the purpose of education? Folks outside the field are likely to think of a relatively clear or concrete answer—learning, citizenship, preparation for life, which for the vast majority …
Mobilities and Methods September 24, 2021

A City Is Not a Computer

Other Urban Intelligences

Shannon Mattern

Hosted by Alize Arıcan
Computational models of urbanism—smart cities that use data-driven planning and algorithmic administration—promise to deliver new urban efficiencies and conveniences. Yet these models limit our understanding of what we can know …