New Books Network Podcast

Genocide Studies September 21, 2023

Przemysłowa Concentration Camp

The Camp, the Children, the Trials

Katarzyna Person and Johannes-Dieter Steinert

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

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Katarzyna Person and Johannes-Dieter Steinert's book Przemysłowa Concentration Camp: The Camp, the Children, the Trials (Palgrave MacMillan, 2023) explores one of the most notorious aspects of the German system of oppression …

Middle Eastern Studies September 17, 2023

A Sephardi Turkish Patriot

Gad Franco in the Turmoil of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic

Anthony Gad Bigio

Hosted by Reuben Silverman

In A Sephardi Turkish Patriot: Gad Franco in the Turmoil of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic (Hamilton Books, 2023), Anthony Gad Bigio explores the life of Gad Franco (1881–1954), a prominent Sephardi journalist …

Biblical Studies September 16, 2023

A Theology of Justice in Exodus

Nathan Bills

Hosted by Michael Morales

What does the LORD's deliverance of Israel out of Egypt to worship and serve him have to do with justice? Quite a lot, it turns out. Join us as we …

Jewish Studies September 15, 2023

Before Hashem You Shall Be Purified

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik on the Days of Awe

Arnold Lustiger

Hosted by Matthew Miller

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Between the late 1950s through 1980, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt"l ("the Rav") annually delivered a two- to four-hour lecture (derashah) in Yiddish between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur to …

Jewish Studies September 15, 2023

Under a Bloodred Sky

Avigdor Hameiri’s War Stories and Poetry

Avigdor Hameiri

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

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Under a Bloodred Sky: Avigdor Hameiri’s War Stories and Poetry (Academic Studies Press, 2023) represents an anthology of Avigdor Hameiri’s ten most compelling war stories and poetry. His war stories …

Jewish Studies September 14, 2023

Reimagining Repentance

Experiencing the High Holidays Through the Lens of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Matisyahu Shulman

Hosted by Matthew Miller

Matisyahu Shulman's Reimagining Repentance: Experiencing the High Holidays Through the Lens of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (Kodesh, 2023) is unique in its attempt to bridge Torah content on the High …

Asian Review of Books September 14, 2023

Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther

Achaemenid Court Culture in the Hebrew Bible

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

The Book of Esther, one of the historical books in the Torah and the Old Testament, is known as a story of community, discrimination, and human ingenuity. It’s core to …

Jewish Studies September 13, 2023

The Sultan's Communists

Moroccan Jews and the Politics of Belonging

Alma Rachel Heckman

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

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The Sultan's Communists: Moroccan Jews and the Politics of Belonging (Stanford UP, 2020) uncovers the history of Jewish radical involvement in Morocco's national liberation project and examines how Moroccan Jews …

Jewish Studies September 13, 2023

Who Gets In

An Immigration Story

Norman Ravvin

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

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In 1930, a young Jewish man, Yehuda Yosef Eisenstein, arrived in Canada from Poland to escape persecution and the rise of Nazism in the hopes of starting a new life …

General History September 8, 2023

The English GI

World War II Graphic Memoir of a Yorkshire Schoolboy's Adventures in the United States and Europe

Jonathan Sandler

Hosted by Michael Vann

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Jonathan Sandler’s The English GI: World War II Graphic Memoir of a Yorkshire Schoolboy’s Adventures in the United States and Europe, is an adaptation of his grandfather’s 1994 war memoir …

Genocide Studies September 7, 2023

Framing the Holocaust

Photographs of a Mass Shooting in Latvia, 1941

Valerie Hébert

Hosted by Hallel Yadin

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Framing the Holocaust: Photographs of a Mass Shooting in Latvia, 1941 (University of Wisconsin Press, 2023), edited by Valerie Hébert, compiles essays on the meaning of twelve photographs of a terrible …

Jewish Studies September 6, 2023

Ilse Koch on Trial

Making the “Bitch of Buchenwald”

Tomaz Jardim

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

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On September 1, 1967, one of the Third Reich's most infamous figures hanged herself in her cell after nearly twenty-four years in prison. Known as the "Bitch of Buchenwald," Ilse …

Jewish Studies September 5, 2023

The Twin Children of the Holocaust

Stolen Childhood and the Will to Survive. Photographs from the Twins’ 40th Anniversary Reunion at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Nancy L. Segal

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

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The Twin Children of the Holocaust: Stolen Childhood and the Will to Survive (Academic Studies Press, 2023) is an annotated collection of original, informative, and moving photographs of the twins …

Jewish Studies September 4, 2023

Escape to Gwrych Castle

A Jewish Refugee Story

Andrew Hesketh

Hosted by Nathan Abrams

In 1939, a number of German Jewish refugee children, brought over on the Kindertransport, found themselves in Abergele, North Wales. Their temporary new home? Gwrych Castle, where a Hachshara was …

Jewish Studies September 2, 2023

Gente Como Uno

Class, Belonging, and Transnationalism in Jewish Life in Lima

Romina Yalonetzky

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

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In Gente Como Uno: Class, Belonging, and Transnationalism in Jewish Life in Lima (Academic Studies Press, 2021), Dr. Romina Yalonetzky introduces readers to a physical microcosm of the intersection between Peruvian and …

Jewish Studies September 2, 2023

Jewish Women in Comics

Bodies and Borders

Heike Bauer, Andrea Greenbaum, and Sarah Lightman

Hosted by Nathan Abrams

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In Jewish Women in Comics: Bodies and Borders (Syracuse UP, 2022), contributors draw upon a rich treasure trove of Jewish women’s comics to explore the representation of Jewish women’s bodies …

Jewish Studies August 30, 2023

The Secret of the Torah

A Translation of Abraham Ibn Ezra's Sefer Yesod Mora

H. Norman Strickman, trans.

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

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Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra is one of the most important Jewish personalities of all time. Aside from being a Bible commentator of great consequence, his works in Jewish philosophy - …

Jewish Studies August 29, 2023

Resisters

How Ordinary Jews Fought Persecution in Hitler's Germany

Wolf Gruner

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

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Today I talked to Wolf Gruner about his new book Resisters: How Ordinary Jews Fought Persecution in Hitler's Germany (Yale UP, 2023). Drawing on twelve years of research in dozens of archives …

America and Beyond with Paul Starobin August 29, 2023

On “Henry Kissinger and His World”

A Discussion with Barry Gewen

Barry Gewen

Hosted by Paul Starobin

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In my talk with Barry Gewen on his 2020 book, The Inevitability of Tragedy: Henry Kissinger and His World (W. W. Norton, 2020), we explore the disparate influences that shaped Kissinger …

Jewish Studies August 29, 2023

Child Survivors of the Holocaust in Greece

Memory, Testimony and Subjectivity

Pothiti Hantzaroula

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

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Today I talked to Pothiti Hantzaroula about her book Child Survivors of the Holocaust in Greece: Memory, Testimony and Subjectivity (Routledge, 2020). Age, generation, and geographic context all influenced postwar Jewish identities, according …