New Books Network Podcast

Peoples & Things January 30, 2023

The History of Teletherapy

A Conversation with Hannah Zeavin

Hannah Zeavin

Hosted by Lee Vinsel

Hannah Zeavin, lecturer in the department of History and member of the executive committees of both the Center for New Media and the Center for Science, Technology, Medicine, and Society …

General History January 30, 2023

Epidemic Orientalism

Race, Capital, and the Governance of Infectious Disease

Alexandre I. R. White

Hosted by Nathan Moore

For many residents of Western nations, COVID-19 was the first time they experienced the effects of an uncontrolled epidemic. This is in part due to a series of little-known regulations …

Medicine January 27, 2023

Habit Forming

Drug Addiction in America, 1776-1914

Elizabeth Kelly Gray

Hosted by Rachel Pagones

Habitual drug use in the United States is at least as old as the nation itself. Elizabeth Kelly Gray's book Habit Forming: Drug Addiction in America, 1776-1914 (Oxford UP, 2023) traces the …

Economics January 24, 2023

Power and Prediction

The Disruptive Economics of Artificial Intelligence

Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb

Hosted by Peter Lorentzen

Disruption resulting from the proliferation of AI is coming. The authors of the bestselling Prediction Machines describe what you can do to prepare. Banking and finance, pharmaceuticals, automotive, medical technology …

Anthropology January 24, 2023

Undocumented Motherhood

Conversations on Love, Trauma, and Border Crossing

Elizabeth Farfán-Santos

Hosted by Reighan Gillam

Claudia Garcia crossed the border because her toddler, Natalia, could not hear. Leaving behind everything she knew in Mexico, Claudia recounts the terror of migrating alone with her toddler and …

Peoples & Things January 22, 2023

Deafness “Cures” in History

A Conversation with Jaipreet Virdi

Jaipreet Virdi

Hosted by Lee Vinsel

Jaipreet Virdi talks about her book Hearing Happiness: Deafness Cures in History with Peoples & Things host Lee Vinsel. The book details the long history of attempts to “fix” deaf people …

Economics January 21, 2023

Risky Business

Why Insurance Markets Fail and What to Do About It

Liran Einav, Amy Finkelstein, and Ray Fisman

Hosted by John Emrich

Why is dental insurance so crummy? Why is pet insurance so expensive? Why does your auto insurer ask for your credit score? The answer to these questions lies in understanding …

Medicine January 10, 2023

The First Resort

The History of Social Psychiatry in the United States

Matthew Smith

Hosted by Claire Clark

Social psychiatry was a mid-twentieth-century approach to mental health that stressed the prevention of mental illness rather than its treatment. Its proponents developed environmental explanations of mental health, arguing that …

Irish Studies January 10, 2023

Ordinary Lives, Death, and Social Class

Dublin City Coroner's Court, 1876-1902

Ciara Breathnach

Hosted by Roberto Mazza

Ciara Breathnach's book Ordinary Lives, Death, and Social Class: Dublin City Coroner's Court, 1876-1902 (Oxford UP, 2022) focuses on the evolution of the Dublin City Coroner's Court and on Dr Louis …

Animal Studies January 3, 2023

Voracious Science and Vulnerable Animals

A Primate Scientist's Ethical Journey

John P. Gluck

Hosted by Callie Smith

The National Institute of Health recently announced its plan to retire the fifty remaining chimpanzees held in national research facilities and place them in sanctuaries. This significant decision comes after …

African American Studies January 1, 2023

Proving Pregnancy

Gender, Law, and Medical Knowledge in Nineteenth-Century America

Felicity M. Turner

Hosted by Katrina Anderson

Examining infanticide cases in the United States from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth centuries, Felicity M. Turner's Proving Pregnancy: Gender, Law, and Medical Knowledge in Nineteenth-Century America (UNC …

Why We Argue December 29, 2022

Seeing Truth in Picturing the Pandemic

A Conversation about Sight, Archives, and Shaping Memory with Sarah Willen

Hosted by Alexis Boylan

Professor Sarah Willen talks about her part in creating the Pandemic Journaling Project and how that has morphed into a series of visual exhibitions that emphasis how we all can …

Medicine December 28, 2022

On Learning to Heal

or, What Medicine Doesn't Know

Ed Cohen

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

At thirteen, Ed Cohen was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease—a chronic, incurable condition that nearly killed him in his early twenties. At his diagnosis, his doctors told him that the best …

Buddhist Studies December 26, 2022

Buddhist Medicine in Tibet

A Discussion with Bill McGrath

Bill McGrath

Hosted by Pierce Salguero

In this episode, I sit down with my friend Bill McGrath, a historian of Tibetan Buddhism and medicine. He's one of the most knowledgeable people in the world on this …

Darts & Letters December 26, 2022

"Medical Assistance in Dying" (MAID)

A Discussion of the Ethics of Dying in Canada

Trudo Lemmens and Derryk Smith

Hosted by Gordon Katic

Is medical assistance in dying, or MAID letting the government off the hook from providing what they should be providing? Should we respect people's choices on harm reduction grounds, even …

Neuroscience December 23, 2022

Brain Energy

A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Mental Health--and Improving Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, OCD, PTSD, and More

Christopher M. Palmer

Hosted by Sine Yaganoglu

Christopher M. Palmer's book Brain Energy: A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Mental Health (Benbella Books, 2022) will forever change the way we understand and treat mental health. If you or someone …

High Theory December 23, 2022

Neurasthenia

Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu

In this episode of High Theory, Kim talks with Saronik about neurasthenia. A disease that no longer exists, neurasthenia was a nineteenth century American epidemic of energy depletion. Thinking about …

Medicine December 17, 2022

Borrowing Life

How Scientists, Surgeons, and a War Hero Made the First Successful Organ Transplant a Reality

Shelley Fraser Mickle

Hosted by Victoria Phillips

Performed at Boston's Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in 1954, the first successful kidney transplant was the culmination of years of grit, compassion, and the pursuit of excellence by a remarkable …

History of Science December 12, 2022

Covid-19

A History

Jacalyn Duffin

Hosted by Corinne Doria

For two years the COVID-19 pandemic has upended the world. The physician and medical historian Jacalyn Duffin presents a global history of the virus, with a focus on Canada. In Covid-19 …

Psychology December 12, 2022

The Psychoanalyst's Aversion to Proof

Austin Ratner

Hosted by Karyne Messina

A clear and engaging call-to-arms to Freudians everywhere and a fresh diagnosis of the major problem confronting psychoanalysis today, Austin Ratner's book The Psychoanalyst's Aversion to Proof (Ipbooks, 2018) presents exciting new …