New Books Network

Public Policy August 12, 2022

Single Payer Healthcare Reform

Grassroots Mobilization and the Turn Against Establishment Politics in the Medicare for All Movement

Lindy S. F. Hern

Hosted by Gregory Soden

In Single Payer Healthcare Reform: Grassroots Mobilization and the Turn Against Establishment Politics in the Medicare for All Movement (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), Lindy Hern provides a comprehensive history of the grassroots Movement …

Medicine August 9, 2022

Building Schools, Making Doctors

Architecture and the Modern American Physician

Katherine L. Carroll

Hosted by Rachel Pagones

In the late nineteenth century, medical educators intent on transforming American physicians into scientifically trained, elite professionals recognized the value of medical school design for their reform efforts. Between 189 …

Psychology August 4, 2022

The Mind and the Moon

My Brother's Story, the Science of Our Brains, and the Search for Our Psyches

Daniel Bergner

Hosted by Steve Beitler

Why is our understanding of the mind so limited? How do cells become consciousness? What are the limitations of a biological model of the mind and its disorders? In The …

Chinese Studies July 25, 2022

Chinese Village Life Today

Building Families in an Age of Transition

Gonçalo Santos

Hosted by Suvi Rautio

Today I had the pleasure of talking to Professor Gonçalo Santos (University of Coimbra), about his new book, Chinese Village Life Today: Building Families in an Age of Transition, which was published …

Medicine July 22, 2022

Tornado of Life

A Doctor's Journey through Constraints and Creativity in the ER

Jay Baruch

Hosted by Galina Limorenko

To be an emergency room doctor is to be a professional listener to stories. Each patient presents a story; finding the heart of that story is the doctor’s most critical …

Medicine July 20, 2022

Our Transgenic Future

Spider Goats, Genetic Modification, and the Will to Change Nature

Lisa Jean Moore

Hosted by Rachel Pagones

The process of manipulating the genetic material of one animal to include the DNA of another creates a new transgenic organism. Several animals, notably goats, mice, sheep, and cattle are …

Medicine July 15, 2022

Genomics

How Genome Sequencing Will Change Healthcare

Rachael Pells

Hosted by Galina Limorenko

Genome sequencing is one of the most exciting scientific breakthroughs of the past thirty years. But what precisely does it involve and how is it developing?In Genomics: How Genome Sequencing …

Medicine July 13, 2022

How to Sell a Poison

The Rise, Fall, and Toxic Return of DDT

Elena Conis

Hosted by Claire Clark

The story of DDT as you’ve never heard it before: a fresh look at the much-maligned chemical compound as a cautionary tale of how powerful corporations have stoked the flames …

American West July 11, 2022

Birthing the West

Mothers and Midwives in the Rockies and Plains

Jennifer J. Hill

Hosted by Troy Hallsell

Childbirth defines families, communities, and nations. In Birthing the West, Jennifer J. Hill fills the silences around historical reproduction with copious new evidence and an enticing narrative, describing a process …

Medicine July 8, 2022

Conquer Your Diabetes: Prevention, Control, Remission

Martin Abrahamson and Sanjiv Chopra

Hosted by Deidre Tyler

Managing diabetes often feels daunting and challenging. Conquer Your Diabetes comprehensively covers the best approaches to prevention, control and remission of this condition, and provides a roadmap for people with …

General History July 8, 2022

Vaccine: The Human Story

A Chat with Historian and Podcaster Annie Kelly

Annie Kelly

Hosted by Michael Vann

“Vaccine: The Human Story” is a podcast and video series that tells the story of the global fight against smallpox, from its earliest history as a folk demon, to the …

SSEAC Stories July 8, 2022

Reshaping the Politics of Science

Bioscience Governance in Indonesia

Sonja van Wichelen

Hosted by Natali Pearson

The last few years have brought to the fore the brilliant work of scientists as they worked to find a vaccine for Covid-19. But have you ever stopped to think …

Indian Religions July 7, 2022

Botanical Ecstasies

Psychoactive Plant Formulas in India and Beyond

Matthew Clark

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

In Botanical Ecstasies: Psychoactive Plant Formulas in India and Beyond, Dr Matthew Clark proposes that soma/hoama is instead an ayahuasca-like plant complex made from many different species. He discusses a …

Anthropology July 4, 2022

Commodities of Care

The Business of HIV Testing in China

Elsa L. Fan

Hosted by Adam Bobeck

Commodities of Care: The Business of HIV Testing in China (U Minnesota Press, 2021) examines the unanticipated effects of global health interventions, ideas, and practices as they unfold in communities …

Princeton UP Ideas Podcast July 1, 2022

The Secret Body

How the New Science of the Human Body Is Changing the Way We Live

Daniel M. Davis

Hosted by Mark Klobas

Imagine knowing years in advance whether you are likely to get cancer or having a personalized understanding of your individual genes, organs, and cells. Imagine being able to monitor your …

Latin American Studies July 1, 2022

Bedlam in the New World

A Mexican Madhouse in the Age of Enlightenment

Christina Ramos

Hosted by Lisette Varon Carvajal

In Bedlam in the New World: A Mexican Madhouse in the Age of Enlightenment (UNC Press, 2022), Christina Ramos tells us the story of Mexico city’s oldest public institution for …

History of Science June 29, 2022

Women Healers

Gender, Authority, and Medicine in Early Philadelphia

Susan H. Brandt

Hosted by Corinne Doria

In her eighteenth-century medical recipe manuscript, the Philadelphia healer Elizabeth Coates Paschall asserted her ingenuity and authority with the bold strokes of her pen. Paschall developed an extensive healing practice …

Medicine June 29, 2022

Partial Stories

Maternal Death from Six Angles

Claire L. Wendland

Hosted by Rachel Pagones

A close look at stories of maternal death in Malawi that considers their implications in the broader arena of medical knowledge. By the early twenty-first century, about one woman in …

Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel June 27, 2022

Culturally Competent Health Care, Equality in Health Care

The Case of Muslims and Jews in the UK

Ben Kasstan

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

The health care sector frequently emphasizes “Cultural competence”, an elastic concept that stretches from the simplest recognition of diversity of patient populations, to include policy implications of patients’ overall worldviews …

Political Science June 23, 2022

Just Health

Treating Structural Racism to Heal America

Dayna Bowen Matthew

Hosted by Lilly Goren

In the United States, systemic racism is embedded in policies and practices, thereby structuring American society to perpetuate inequality and all of the symptoms and results of that inequality. Racial …