New Books Network
Ideas Roadshow Podcast July 30, 2021

The Science of Siren Songs

Stradivari Unveiled

Joseph Curtin

Hosted by Howard Burton
The Science of Siren Songs: Stradivari Unveiled is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and master violinmaker and acoustician Joseph Curtin, recipient of a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship …

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Intellectual History July 30, 2021

Of Thee I Sing

The Contested History of American Patriotism

Ben Railton

Hosted by Hettie V. Williams
Ben Railton's book Of Thee I Sing: The Contested History of American Patriotism (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021) is a cogently written history of the idea of American patriotism. Railton argues that there …
The Common Magazine July 30, 2021

The Good Donkey

Talia Lakshmi Kolluri

Hosted by Emily Everett
Talia Lakshmi Kolluri speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her story “The Good Donkey,” which appears in The Common’s spring issue. In this conversation, Kolluri talks about writing fiction …
General History July 30, 2021

France

A Short History

Jeremy Black

Hosted by Charles Coutinho
A short and entertaining narrative of France from prehistory to the present, recounting the great events and personalities that helped create France’s cultural and political influence today. Country and destination …
General History July 30, 2021

Writing Kit Carson

Fallen Heroes in a Changing West

Susan Lee Johnson

Hosted by Jennifer Davis Cline
Jennifer Holland (Associate Professor, University of Oklahoma) speaks with Susan Johnson (Harry Reid Endowed Chair, History of the Intermountain West, University of Las Vegas-Nevada) about Johnson’s recent book, Writing Kit Carson …
General History July 30, 2021

The United States Army and the Making of America

From Confederation to Empire, 1775-1903

Robert Wooster

Hosted by Douglas Bell
The story of how the American military—and more particularly the regular army—has played a vital role in the late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century United States that extended beyond the battlefield is …
Nordic Asia Podcast July 30, 2021

Teaching Cross-Cultural Communication

Understanding Asia in Pandemic Times

Annelise Ly

Hosted by Duncan McCargo
Teaching cross-cultural communication is challenging at the best of times, but how can Nordic students learn to engage with Asian cultures when they are forced to study entirely online? Award-winning …
Mathematics July 30, 2021

What Is a Complex System?

James Ladyman and K. Wiesner

Hosted by Cory Brunson
While i find it pretty easy to recognize when i'm reading articles in complexity science, i've never been satisfied by definitions of complexity and related concepts. I'm not alone! Researchers' …
General History July 30, 2021

The Persistence of Party

Ideas of Harmonious Discord in Eighteenth-Century Britain

Max Skjönsberg

Hosted by Ryan Tripp
Political parties are taken for granted today, but how was the idea of party viewed in the eighteenth century, when core components of modern, representative politics were trialled? From Bolingbroke …
Performing Arts July 30, 2021

The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic

Jessica Hopper

Hosted by Andy Boyd
Throughout her career, spanning more than two decades, Jessica Hopper, a revered and pioneering music critic, has examined women recording and producing music, in all genres, through an intersectional feminist …
Islamic Studies July 30, 2021

The Emperor Who Never Was

Dara Shukoh in Mughal India

Supriya Gandhi

Hosted by SherAli Tareen
In her magnificent and lyrical new book, The Emperor Who Never Was: Dara Shukoh in Mughal India (Harvard UP, 2020), Supriya Gandhi reorients and adds unprecedented depth to our understanding of …
Indian Ocean World July 30, 2021

What Is Religious Authority?

Cultivating Islamic Communities in Indonesia

Ismail Fajrie Alatas

Hosted by Kelvin Ng
What Is Religious Authority?: Cultivating Islamic Communities in Indonesia (Princeton UP, 2021) by Ismail Fajrie Alatas draws on groundbreaking anthropological insights to provide a new understanding of Islamic religious authority, showing …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …