New Books Network

Critical Theory July 29, 2021

Eating in Theory

Annemarie Mol

Hosted by Kai Wortmann

As we taste, chew, swallow, digest, and excrete, our foods transform us, while our eating, in its turn, affects the wider earthly environment. In Eating in Theory (Duke UP, 2021), Annemarie Mol takes inspiration from these transformative entanglements to rethink what it is to be human. Drawing on fieldwork at food conferences, research labs, health care facilities, restaurants, and her own kitchen table, Mol reassesses the work of authors such …

South Asian Studies July 28, 2021

The Origins of the British Empire in Asia, 1600–1750

David Veevers

Hosted by Samee Siddiqui

This is an important, revisionist account of the origins of the British Empire in Asia in the early modern period. In The Origins of the British Empire in Asia, 1600-1750 (Cambridge University …

Russian and Eurasian Studies July 27, 2021

CABBAGE AND CAVIAR

A History of Food in Russia

Alison K. Smith

Hosted by Steven Seegel

When people think of Russian food, they generally think either of the opulent luxury of the tsarist aristocracy or of post-Soviet elites, signified above all by caviar, or on the …

National Security July 26, 2021

Pastels and Pedophiles

Inside the Mind of QAnon

Mia Bloom and Sophia Moskalenko

Hosted by Beth Windisch

Two experts of extremist radicalization take us down the QAnon rabbit hole, exposing how the conspiracy theory ensnared countless Americans, and show us a way back to sanity. In January …

General History July 23, 2021

Devil's Historians

How Modern Extremists Abuse the Medieval Past

Amy Kaufman and Paul Sturtevant

Hosted by Zalman Newfield

In The Devil's Historians: How Modern Extremists Abuse the Medieval Past (University of Toronto Press, 2020), Amy S. Kaufman and Paul B. Sturtevant examine the many ways in which the …

Medicine July 22, 2021

Epidemic Illusions

On the Coloniality of Global Public Health

Eugene T. Richardson

Hosted by Catriona Gold

In Epidemic Illusions: On the Coloniality of Global Public Health (MIT Press, 2020), physician-anthropologist Eugene T. Richardson explores how public health practices—from epidemiological modeling to outbreak containment—help perpetuate global inequities. This book questions …

African American Studies July 21, 2021

The Black Civil War Soldier

A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship

Deborah Willis

Hosted by N'Kosi Oates

Photography emerged in the 1840s in the United States, and it became a visual medium that documents the harsh realities of enslavement. Similarly, the photography culture grew during the Civil …

Intellectual History July 20, 2021

The Work of Politics

Making a Democratic Welfare State

Steven Klein

Hosted by Tejas Parasher

The Work of Politics: Making a Democratic Welfare State (Cambridge University Press 2020) advances a new understanding of how democratic social movements work with welfare institutions to challenge structures of …

Political Science July 19, 2021

Democracy Declined

The Failed Politics of Consumer Financial Protection

Mallory E. SoRelle

Hosted by Susan Liebell

Americans rely on credit to provide for their food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and other daily necessities and the 2008 financial crisis demonstrated how they relied on private financial institutions that …

Science July 16, 2021

Forces of Nature

The Women who Changed Science

Anna Reser and Leila McNeill

Hosted by Galina Limorenko

From the ancient world to the present women have been critical to the progress of science, yet their importance is overlooked, their stories lost, distorted, or actively suppressed. Forces of …

Russian and Eurasian Studies July 15, 2021

The Tsar's Happy Occasion

Ritual and Dynasty in the Weddings of Russia's Rulers, 1495-1745

Russell E. Martin

Hosted by C. P. Lesley

The dominant impression of Russia in the news media and politics, even today, is that it is and always has been an autocratic power controlled by a single despotic ruler …

Japanese Studies July 14, 2021

Oishii

The History of Sushi

Eric C. Rath

Hosted by Jingyi Li

Sushi and sashimi are by now a global sensation and have become perhaps the best known of Japanese foods—but they are also the most widely misunderstood. Oishii: The History of …

Ideas Roadshow Podcast July 13, 2021

The Power of Principles

Physics Revealed

Nima Arkani-Hamed

Hosted by Howard Burton

The Power of Principles: Physics Revealed is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Nima Arkani-Hamed, faculty member at the renowned Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton …

Art July 12, 2021

A History of Art History

Christopher Wood

Hosted by Allison Leigh

In this wide-ranging and authoritative book, the first of its kind in English, Christopher Wood tracks the evolution of the historical study of art from the late middle ages through …

Science, Technology, and Society July 9, 2021

Your Computer Is on Fire

Thomas D. Mullaney, Benjamin Peters, Mar Hicks, and Kavita Philip

Hosted by Matthew Jordan

This book sounds an alarm: after decades of being lulled into complacency by narratives of technological utopianism and neutrality, people are waking up to the large-scale consequences of Silicon Valley–led …

Political Science July 8, 2021

The Virtues of Vulnerability

Humility, Autonomy, and Citizen-Subjectivity

Sara Rushing

Hosted by Lilly Goren

Political Theorist Sara Rushing’s new book, The Virtues of Vulnerability: Humility, Autonomy, and Citizen-Subjectivity (Oxford UP, 2020), examines the very real experiences that individuals have in the context of healthcare, especially …

Intellectual History July 7, 2021

Seeing Like an Activist

Civil Disobedience and the Civil Rights Movement

Erin R. Pineda