New Books Network
Islamic Studies
Islamic Studies January 24, 2022

Islamicate Cosmopolitan Spirit

Bruce B. Lawrence

Hosted by SherAli Tareen
In his new book cum manifesto, Islamicate Cosmopolitan Spirit (Wiley-Blackwell, 2021), legendary scholar of Islam Bruce Lawrence outlines his politico-conceptual manifesto for the study and place of Islam in the …

Islamic Studies

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Interviews with scholars of Islam about their new books.

Art January 5, 2022

Tree of Pearls

The Extraordinary Architectural Patronage of the 13th-Century Egyptian Slave-Queen Shajar Al-Durr

D. Fairchild Ruggles

Hosted by Tanja Tolar
Shajar al-Durr--known as "Tree of Pearls"--began her remarkable career as a child slave, given as property to Sultan Salih of Egypt. She became his concubine, was manumitted, became his wife …
African American Studies January 5, 2022

Metaphysical Africa

Truth and Blackness in the Ansaru Allah Community

Michael Muhammad Knight

Hosted by Adam Bobeck
The Ansaru Allah Community, also known as the Nubian Islamic Hebrews (AAC/NIH) and later the Nuwaubians, is a deeply significant and controversial African American Muslim movement. Founded in Brooklyn in …
Islamic Studies December 24, 2021

Intersectionality in the Muslim South Asian-American Middle Class

Lifestyle Consumption Beyond Halal and Hijab

Farha Bano Ternikar

Hosted by Shehnaz Haqqani
In Intersectionality in the Muslim South Asian-American Middle Class: Lifestyle Consumption beyond Halal and Hijab (Lexington Books, 2021), wherein Ternikar theorizes the everyday consumption of South Asian Muslim American women …
Art December 21, 2021

From Granada to Berlin

The Alhambra Cupola

Anna McSweeney

Hosted by Tanja Tolar
Part of the series CAHIM Connecting Art Histories in the Museum, Anna McSweeney's book From Granada to Berlin: The Alhambra Cupola (Kettler Verlag, 2020) is the story of an extraordinary survivor …
Islamic Studies December 17, 2021

Leaving Iberia

Islamic Law and Christian Conquest in North West Africa

Jocelyn Hendrickson

Hosted by SherAli Tareen
In her landmark new book Leaving Iberia: Islamic Law and Christian Conquest in North West Africa (Harvard UP, 2021), Jocelyn Hendrickson launches a searingly brilliant legal history centered on the …
Islamic Studies December 15, 2021

The Prophet's Heir

The Life of Ali ibn Abi Talib

Hassan Abbas

Hosted by Adam Bobeck
Ali ibn Abi Talib is arguably the single most important spiritual and intellectual authority in Islam after prophet Mohammad. Through his teachings and leadership as fourth caliph, Ali nourished Islam …
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 …
Middle Eastern Studies December 9, 2021

Contesting the Iranian Revolution

The Green Uprisings

Pouya Alimagham

Hosted by Reuben Silverman
Most observers of Iran viewed the Green Uprisings of 2009 as a 'failed revolution', with many Iranians and those in neighboring Arab countries agreeing. In Contesting the Iranian Revolution: The …
Sociology November 24, 2021

Agents of God

Boundaries and Authority in Muslim and Christian Schools

Jeffrey Guhin

Hosted by Nafeesa Andrabi
Jeff Guhin joins us today to talk about his book Agents of God: Boundaries and Authority in Muslim and Christian Schools (Oxford University Press, 2020). Jeff, an Assistant Professor of …
General History November 23, 2021

The Rise of the Civilizational State

Christopher Coker

Hosted by Stephen Satkiewicz
In recent years the resurgence of great power competition has gripped the headlines, with new emerging powers (such as Russia and China) seeking to challenge the American and Western hegemony …
Food November 22, 2021

Feeding Iran

Shi`i Families and the Making of the Islamic Republic

Rose Wellman

Hosted by Amir Sayadabdi
Since Iran's 1979 Revolution, the imperative to create and protect the inner purity of family and nation in the face of outside spiritual corruption has been a driving force in …
Islamic Studies November 19, 2021

Mosques of Colonial South Asia

A Social and Legal History of Muslim Worship

Sana Haroon

Hosted by SherAli Tareen
In her multilayered and thoroughly researched new book The Mosques of Colonial South Asia: A Social and Legal History of Muslim Worship (I. B. Tauris, 2021), Sana Haroon examines the interaction …
Israel Studies November 15, 2021

A City in Fragments

Urban Texts in Modern Jerusalem

Yair Wallach

Hosted by Avery Weinman
In the mid-nineteenth century, Jerusalem was rich with urban texts inscribed in marble, gold, and cloth, investing holy sites with divine meaning. Ottoman modernization and British colonial rule transformed the …
Islamic Studies November 5, 2021

Minarets on the Horizon

Muslim Pioneers in Canada

Murray Hogben

Hosted by Shobhana Xavier
Minarets on the Horizon: Muslim Pioneers in Canada (Mawenzi House 2021) by Murray Hogben is an incredible archive of some of the early Muslim settlers in Canada. The book is …
Middle Eastern Studies November 5, 2021

The Ka'ba Orientations

Readings in Islam's Ancient House

Simon O'Meara

Hosted by Miguel Monteiro
The Kaʿba is the famous cuboid structure at the center of the Great Mosque in Mecca. In his book The Kaʿba Orientations: Readings in Islam's Ancient House (Edinburgh University Press …
Middle Eastern Studies November 5, 2021

Revealed Sciences

The Natural Sciences in Islam in Seventeenth-Century Morocco

Justin K. Stearns

Hosted by Christopher Rose
Islam's contributions to the natural sciences has long been recognized within the Euro-American academy, however, such studies tend to include one of a number of narrative tropes, either emphasizing the …
Middle Eastern Studies November 2, 2021

God’s Property

Islam, Charity, and the Modern State

Nada Moumtaz

Hosted by Julian Weideman
Nada Moumtaz’s God’s Property: Islam, Charity, and the Modern State (University of California Press, 2021) is an ethnography anchored in deep study of the Muslim scholarly tradition, the urban landscape, and …
General History October 25, 2021

Muslims and the Making of Modern Europe

Emily Greble

Hosted by Vladislav Lilic
Dr. Emily Greble, Associate Professor of History at Vanderbilt University, is the author of Muslims and the Making of Modern Europe (Oxford University Press, 2021). Focusing on the Muslim inhabitants of …
Islamic Studies October 22, 2021

The Beauty of the Houri

Heavenly Virgins and Feminine Ideals

Nerina Rustomji

Hosted by SherAli Tareen
In her scintillating new book, The Beauty of the Houri: Heavenly Virgins, Feminine Ideals (Oxford UP, 2021), Nerina Rustomji presents a fascinating and multilayered intellectual and cultural history of the category …