New Books Network
Political Science July 29, 2021

Phantoms of a Beleaguered Republic

The Deep State and the Unitary Executive

Stephen Skowronek, John A. Dearborn, and Desmond King

Hosted by Lilly Goren
Phantoms of a Beleaguered Republic: The Deep State and the Unitary Executive (Oxford UP, 2021) helps us think about the complexity of the American political system that has grown up over …

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Dan Hill's EQ Spotlight July 29, 2021

Choosing Courage

The Everyday Guide to Being Brave at Work

Jim Detert

Hosted by Dan Hill
Retaining Freedom After Speech Today I talked to Jim Detert about his book Choosing Courage: The Everyday Guide to Being Brave at Work (Harvard Business Review Press, 2021) Jim Detert is …
Asian Review of Books July 29, 2021

We Shall Be Masters

Russian Pivots to East Asia from Peter the Great to Putin

Chris Miller

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
Russia’s position between Europe and Asia has led to differing conceptions of “what Russia is” to its leaders. Russia’s vast holdings east of the Urals have often inspired those who …
Biography July 29, 2021

Philip Payton

The Father of Black Harlem

Kevin McGruder

Hosted by Dan Hill
Today I talked to Kevin McGruder about his new book Philip Payton: The Father of Black Harlem (Columbia UP, 2021) In a moment of hope, even faith, African-Americans inspired by Booker T …
Biblical Studies July 29, 2021

Jesus

The Incarnation of the Word

David C Mitchell

Hosted by Michael Morales
Did the prophets foretell a priestly Messiah? Who was the mysterious figure of Melchizedek? In his new book, Jesus: The Incarnation of the Word, David Mitchell uses exegetical acumen and his …
Ideas Roadshow Podcast July 29, 2021

The Value of Voice

Nick Couldry

Hosted by Howard Burton
The Value of Voice is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Nick Couldry, Professor of Media, Communications and Social Theory in the Department of Media and …
Australian and New Zealand Studies July 29, 2021

Creating God

The Birth and Growth of Major Religions

Robin Derricourt

Hosted by Bede Haines
What do we really know about how and where religions began, and how they spread?  Robin Derricourt considers the birth and growth of several major religions, using history and archaeology …
Sociology July 29, 2021

How Green Became Good

Urbanized Nature and the Making of Cities and Citizens

Hillary Angelo

Hosted by Richard Ocejo
As projects like Manhattan's High Line, Chicago's 606, China's eco-cities, and Ethiopia's tree-planting efforts show, cities around the world are devoting serious resources to urban greening. Formerly neglected urban spaces and …
Indian Religions July 29, 2021

The Viṣṇu Purāṇa

Ancient Annals of the God with Lotus Eyes

McComas Taylor

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Listen in as we speak with McComas Taylor (Associate Professor and Reader in Sanskrit, The Australian National University) about his brand-new translation of the Viṣṇu Purāṇa. This is the second …
Gender Studies July 29, 2021

Hijras, Lovers, Brothers

Surviving Sex and Poverty in Rural India

Vaibhav Saria

Hosted by Shraddha Chatterjee
Hijras, one of India’s third gendered or trans populations, have been an enduring presence in the South Asian imagination—in myth, in ritual, and in everyday life, often associated in stigmatized …
Economics July 29, 2021

Welfare for Autocrats

How Social Assistance in China Cares for Its Rulers

Jennifer Pan

Hosted by Peter Lorentzen
Development economists have been doing intensive research in recent years on conditional cash transfer programs as a tool to help get people out of poverty. Meanwhile in the US there …
Critical Theory July 29, 2021

Eating in Theory

Annemarie Mol

Hosted by Kai Wortmann
As we taste, chew, swallow, digest, and excrete, our foods transform us, while our eating, in its turn, affects the wider earthly environment. In Eating in Theory (Duke UP, 2021) …
World Christianity July 29, 2021

Protestants, Gender and the Arab Renaissance in Late Ottoman Syria

Deanna Ferree Womack

Hosted by Byung Ho Choi
The Ottoman Syrians - residents of modern Syria and Lebanon - formed the first Arabic-speaking Evangelical Church in the region. Deanna Ferree Womack's book Protestants, Gender and the Arab Renaissance in …
Academic Life July 29, 2021

Pandemic Perspectives from a Student Studying Abroad

An interview with Emma Halfin of Case Western Reserve University

Emma Halfin

Hosted by Christina Gessler
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts …
European Studies July 28, 2021

The Success and Failure of Right-Wing Populist Parties in the Benelux Countries

Léonie de Jonge

Hosted by Tim Jones
"The populist radical right is by far the best-studied party family within political science”. Extremism expert Cas Mudde may be right but, as Léonie de Jonge argues in The Success and Failure …
African Studies July 28, 2021

Kwame Anthony Appiah

Christopher J. Lee

Hosted by Esperanza Brizuela-Garcia
Kwame Anthony Appiah is among the most respected philosophers and thinkers of his generation. In Kwame Anthony Appiah (Routledge, 2021), Christopher Lee introduces the reader not only to the contributions …
Critical Theory July 28, 2021

There Is No Unhappy Revolution

The Communism of Destitution

Marcello Tarì

Hosted by Stephen Dozeman
The Marxist philosopher Theodor Adorno once quipped that much of his work was written without practical applications in mind, and that the constant demand for immediate practical relevance felt like …
South Asian Studies July 28, 2021

The Origins of the British Empire in Asia, 1600–1750

David Veevers

Hosted by Samee Siddiqui
This is an important, revisionist account of the origins of the British Empire in Asia in the early modern period. In The Origins of the British Empire in Asia, 1600-1750 (Cambridge University …
Ideas Roadshow Podcast July 28, 2021

The Two Cultures, Revisited

Stefan Collini

Hosted by Howard Burton
The ‘Two Cultures’ debate of the 1960s between C.P. Snow and F.R. Leavis is one of the most misunderstood intellectual disputes of the 20th century. Most people think that the …
Anthropology July 28, 2021

Boasians at War

Anthropology, Race, and World War II

Anthony Q. Hazard

Hosted by Alex Golub
The realities of race that continue to plague the United States have direct ties to the anthropology. Anthropologists often imagine their discipline as inherently anti-racist and historically connected to …