New Books Network Podcast

Business, Management, and Marketing September 28, 2022

After Steve

How Apple Became a Trillion-Dollar Company and Lost Its Soul

Tripp Mickle

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Steve Jobs called Jony Ive his "spiritual partner at Apple." The London-born genius was the second-most powerful person at Apple and the creative force who most embodies Jobs's spirit, the man who designed the products adopted by hundreds of millions the world over: the iPod, iPad, MacBook Air, the iMac G3, and the iPhone. In the wake of his close collaborator's death, the chief designer wrestled with grief and initially …

Anthropology September 27, 2022

Franz Boas

The Emergence of the Anthropologist

Rosemary Lévy Zumwalt

Hosted by Alex Golub

Franz Boas is remembered today as one of the most important figures in the history of anthropology. In the United States, he is widely created with creating the modern field …

Critical Theory September 26, 2022

The Quantified Scholar

How Research Evaluations Transformed the British Social Sciences

Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra

Hosted by Dave O'Brien

How do metrics and quantification shape social science? In The Quantified Scholar: How Research Evaluations Transformed the British Social Sciences (Columbia UP, 2022), Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra, an Associate Professor in …

Russian and Eurasian Studies September 23, 2022

Knowledge and the Ends of Empire

Kazak Intermediaries and Russian Rule on the Steppe, 1731-1917

Ian W. Campbell

Hosted by Maggie Freeman

In Knowledge and the Ends of Empire: Kazak Intermediaries and Russian Rule on the Steppe, 1731-1917 (Cornell University Press, 2017), Ian W. Campbell investigates the connections between knowledge production and …

Critical Theory September 22, 2022

Against Decolonization

Taking African Agency Seriously

Olúfemi Táíwò

Hosted by Pierre d'Alancaisez

Decolonisation has lost its way. Originally a struggle to escape the West’s direct political and economic control, it has become a catch-all idea, often for performing ‘morality’ or ‘authenticity’. In …

The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones September 20, 2022

The Future of Nuclear Weapons

A Conversation with Fred Kaplan

Fred Kaplan

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones

For much of the Cold War the United States had thousands more nuclear weapons than it needed. And it took decades for American political leaders to realise no one had …

Sports September 19, 2022

From Football to Soccer

The Early History of the Beautiful Game in the United States

Brian D. Bunk

Hosted by Bennett Koerber

Across North America, native peoples and colonists alike played a variety of kicking games long before soccer's emergence in the late 1800s. Brian D. Bunk examines the development and social …

Geography September 16, 2022

Loving Orphaned Space

The Art and Science of Belonging to Earth

Mrill Ingram

Hosted by Stentor Danielson

How we relate to orphaned space matters. Voids, marginalia, empty spaces—from abandoned gas stations to polluted waterways—are created and maintained by politics, and often go unquestioned. In Loving Orphaned Space …

Music September 15, 2022

Earworm and Event

Music, Daydreams, and Other Imaginary Refrains

Eldritch Priest

Hosted by Nathan Smith

In Earworm and Event: Music, Daydreams, and Other Imaginary Refrains (Duke UP, 2022) Eldritch Priest questions the nature of the imagination in contemporary culture through the phenomenon of the earworm …

Psychoanalysis September 14, 2022

Psychoanalysis as a Subversive Phenomenon

Social Change, Virtue Ethics, and Analytic Theory

Amber M. Trotter

Hosted by Sebastian Thrul

“Perhaps psychoanalysis survives because it obstinately carries a torch of wild freedom and reverence for the unknowable in a world of rational epistemology and increasingly rigid sociopolitical control. Psychoanalysis does …

Critical Theory September 13, 2022

True Story

What Reality TV Says About Us

Danielle J. Lindemann

Hosted by Dave O'Brien

Why is reality TV important? In True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us (FSG, 2022), Danielle J. Lindemann, an Associate Professor of Sociology at Lehigh University, uses a sociological …

Art September 12, 2022

Art After Liberalism

Nicholas Gamso

Hosted by Pierre d'Alancaisez

Art After Liberalism (Columbia UP, 2022) is an account of creative practice at a moment of converging political and social rifts – a moment that could be described as a …

Disability Studies September 9, 2022

The Life Worth Living

Disability, Pain, and Morality

Joel Michael Reynolds

Hosted by Autumn Wilke

The Life Worth Living: Disability, Pain, and Morality (U Minnesota Press, 2022) investigates the exclusion of and discrimination against disabled people across the history of Western moral philosophy. Building on …

Novel Dialogue September 8, 2022

“Sometimes I’m just a little disappointed in English”

Alejandro Zambra, Megan McDowell, and Kate Briggs Tackle Translation

Alejandro Zambra, Megan McDowell, and Kate Briggs

Hosted by Novel Dialogue

A novelist, a translator and a theorist of translation walk into a Zoom Room......Alejandro Zambra, Megan McDowell, and Kate Briggs provide the perfect start to Season 4 of Novel Dialogue …

World Affairs September 7, 2022

The Art of War in an Age of Peace

U. S. Grand Strategy and Resolute Restraint

Michael O'Hanlon

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In The Art of War in an Age of Peace: U.S. Grand Strategy and Resolute Restraint (Yale University Press, 2021) Dr. Michael O’Hanlon presents an informed modern plan for post-202 …

On Religion September 6, 2022

Stealing My Religion

Not Just Any Cultural Appropriation

Liz Bucar

Hosted by Gregory Soden

Liz Bucar is the Director of Sacred Writes, Professor of Religion, and Dean’s Leadership Fellow at Northeastern University. Bucar is an expert in comparative religious ethics who has published on topics …

Environmental Studies September 5, 2022

The Accidental Ecosystem

People and Wildlife in American Cities

Peter S. Alagona

Hosted by Brady McCartney

The Accidental Ecosystem: People and Wildlife in American Cities (U California Press, 2022) tells the story of how cities across the United States went from having little wildlife to filling, dramatically …

Music September 2, 2022

O Say Can You Hear?

A Cultural Biography of the Star-Spangled Banner

Mark Clague

Hosted by Kristen Turner

The national anthem of the United States is familiar around the world from Olympic medal ceremonies and American patriotic celebrations. Like anything that is over 200 years old, the meaning …

Politics & Polemics September 1, 2022

The Summer of Theory

History of a Rebellion, 1960-1990

Philipp Felsch

Hosted by Kirk Meighoo

'Theory' - a magical glow has emanated from this word since the sixties. Theory was more than just a succession of ideas: it was an article of faith, a claim …

Grinnell College: Authors and Artists August 31, 2022

The Violence Project

How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic

Jillian Peterson and James Densley

Hosted by Marshall Poe

Using data from the writers' groundbreaking research on mass shooters, including first-person accounts from the perpetrators themselves, The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic (Harry N. Abrams …