New Books Network Podcast

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 …

Geography September 22, 2023

Beyond Straw Men

Plastic Pollution and Networked Cultures of Care

Phaedra C. Pezzullo

Hosted by Stentor Danielson

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Addressing plastics can feel overwhelming. Guilt, shame, anger, hurt, fear, dismissiveness, and despair abound. Beyond Straw Men: Plastic Pollution and Networked Cultures of Care (U California Press, 2023) moves beyond …

Literary Studies September 21, 2023

Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again

The Original Novellas by Shigeru Kayama

Shigeru Kayama

Hosted by Daniel Moran

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Godzilla emerged from the sea to devastate Tokyo in the now-classic 1954 film, produced by Tōhō Studios and directed by Ishirō Honda, creating a global sensation and launching one of …

Southeast Asian Studies September 21, 2023

Recycling Infrastructures in Cambodia

Circularity, Waste, and Urban Life in Phnom Penh

Kathrin Eitel

Hosted by Michele Ford

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Kathrin Eitel's book Recycling Infrastructures in Cambodia: Circularity, Waste, and Urban Life in Phnom Penh (Routledge, 2022) examines the recycling infrastructure in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It considers the circular flows of …

Caribbean Studies September 17, 2023

Negotiating Relief and Freedom

Responses to Disaster in the British Caribbean, 1812-1907

Oscar Webber

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Negotiating Relief and Freedom: Responses to Disaster in the British Caribbean, 1812-1907 (Manchester University Press, 2023) by Dr. Oscar Webber is an investigation of short- and long-term responses to disaster …

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 …

Indian Ocean World September 16, 2023

A Book of Waves

Stefan Helmreich

Hosted by Ahmed Almaazmi

In A Book of Waves (Duke UP, 2023), Stefan Helmreich examines ocean waves as forms of media that carry ecological, geopolitical, and climatological news about our planet. Drawing on ethnographic …

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 …

Geography September 10, 2023

Fighting to Breathe

Race, Toxicity, and the Rise of Youth Activism in Baltimore

Nicole Fabricant

Hosted by Stentor Danielson

Industrial toxic emissions on the South Baltimore Peninsula are among the highest in the nation. Because of the concentration of factories and other chemical industries in their neighborhoods, residents face …

Russian and Eurasian Studies September 9, 2023

Red Leviathan

The Secret History of Soviet Whaling

Ryan Tucker Jones

Hosted by Erika Monahan

The Soviet Union killed over six hundred thousand whales in the twentieth century, many of them illegally and secretly. That catch helped bring many whale species to near extinction by …

Geography September 9, 2023

The Paradox of Svalbard

Climate Change and Globalisation in the Arctic

Zdenka Sokolickova

Hosted by Stentor Danielson

The town of Longyearbyen in the high Arctic is the world's northernmost settlement. Here, climate change is happening fast. It is clearly seen and sensed by the locals; with higher …

Anthropology September 8, 2023

A Vital Frontier

Water Insurgencies in Europe

Andrea Muehlebach

Hosted by Armanc Yildiz

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In A Vital Frontier: Water Insurgencies in Europe (Duke University Press, 2023)) Andrea Muehlebach examines the work of activists across Europe as they organize to preserve water as a commons and …

Environmental Studies September 2, 2023

Night on Earth

A History of International Humanitarianism in the Near East, 1918–1930

Davide Rodogno

Hosted by Eyad Houssami

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Night on Earth: A History of International Humanitarianism in the Near East, 1918–1930 (Cambridge UP, 2021) is a broad-ranging account of international humanitarian programs in Central and Eastern Europe, the …

Environmental Studies September 2, 2023

Not Too Late

Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility

Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua

Hosted by Tricycle Magazine

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These days, with catastrophe after catastrophe, it can be easy to turn to despair and to believe that there is nothing we can do. But writer Rebecca Solnit is determined …

Literary Studies August 24, 2023

Noah's Arkive

Jeffrey J. Cohen and Julian Yates

Hosted by John Yargo

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At a moment when the world has tipped over into irreversible violence and corruption, a divinity contacts a righteous man. The man is directed to build a giant ship and …

Critical Theory August 23, 2023

How to Live at the End of the World

Theory, Art, and Politics for the Anthropocene

Travis Holloway

Hosted by Morteza Hajizadeh

The end of the Holocene era is marked not just by melting glaciers or epic droughts, but by the near universal disappearance of shared social enterprise: the ruling class builds …

Environmental Studies August 22, 2023

Tree Thieves

Crime and Survival in North America's Woods

Lyndsie Bourgon

Hosted by Brian Hamilton

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In Tree Thieves: Crime and Survival in North America's Woods (Little, Brown Spark, 2022), Lyndsie Bourgon takes us deep into the underbelly of the illegal timber market. As she traces three timber …

Environmental Studies August 21, 2023

Race and the Greening of Atlanta

Inequality, Democracy, and Environmental Politics in an Ascendant Metropolis

Christopher C. Sellers

Hosted by Brian Hamilton

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Race and the Greening of Atlanta: Inequality, Democracy, and Environmental Politics in an Ascendant Metropolis (U Georgia Press, 2023) turns an environmental lens on Atlanta’s ascent to thriving capital of the …

Folklore August 21, 2023

Wait Five Minutes

Weatherlore in the Twenty-First Century

Shelley Ingram and Willow G. Mullins

Hosted by Deidre Tyler

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The weather governs our lives. It fills gaps in conversations, determines our dress, and influences our architecture. No matter how much our lives may have moved indoors, no matter how …

Environmental Studies August 20, 2023

Routledge Handbook of Rewilding

Sally Hawkins, Ian Convery, Steve Carver, and Rene Beyers

Hosted by Isobel Akerman

Routledge Handbook of Rewilding (Routledge, 2022) provides a comprehensive overview of the history, theory and current practices of ‘rewilding’. Rewilding offers a transformational paradigm shift in conservation thinking, and as …