NBN Book of the Day

NBN Book of the Day

episodes

One book selected daily from those published on the New Books Network.

Daniel S. Goldberg, "Tackle Football and Traumatic Brain Injuries: Law, Ethics, and Public Health" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2024)

November 25, 2024

Tackle Football and Traumatic Brain Injuries

Daniel S. Goldberg
Hosted by Susan Liebell

Football is the national game in the United States – and many families and friends bond over their love of the sport. While few people play profession…

Katherine C. Epstein, "Analog Superpowers: How Twentieth-Century Technology Theft Built the National Security State" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

November 24, 2024

Analog Superpowers

Katherine C. Epstein
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

At the beginning of the twentieth century, two British inventors, Arthur Pollen and Harold Isherwood, became fascinated by a major military question: …

Travis A. Weisse, "Health Freaks: America's Diet Champions and the Specter of Chronic Illness" (UNC Press, 2024)

November 23, 2024

Health Freaks

Travis A. Weisse
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In Health Freaks: America's Diet Champions and the Specter of Chronic Illness (University of North Carolina Press, 2024), Dr. Travis A. Weisse tells a…

Peter Singer, "Consider the Turkey" (Princeton UP, 2024)

November 21, 2024

Consider the Turkey

Peter Singer
Hosted by Kyle Johannsen

A turkey is the centerpiece of countless Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. Yet most of us know almost nothing about today’s specially bred, commerci…

Owen Ware, "Indian Philosophy and Yoga in Germany" (Routledge, 2023)

November 20, 2024

Indian Philosophy and Yoga in Germany

Owen Ware
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

Indian Philosophy and Yoga in Germany by Owen Ware (Routledge, 2024) takes the reader on a tour through the reception of Yoga philosophies in nineteen…

Benjamin Barson, "Brassroots Democracy: Maroon Ecologies and the Jazz Commons" (Wesleyan UP, 2024)

November 19, 2024

Brassroots Democracy

Benjamin Barson

Brassroots Democracy: Maroon Ecologies and the Jazz Commons (Wesleyan UP, 2024) recasts the birth of jazz, unearthing vibrant narratives of New Orlean…

Karen M. Dunak, "Our Jackie: Public Claims on a Private Life" (NYU Press, 2024)

November 17, 2024

Our Jackie

Karen M. Dunak
Hosted by Jane Scimeca

When Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis became First Lady of the United States over sixty years ago, she stepped into the public spotlight. Although Jackie is…

Erin Lee Mock, "Changed Men: Veterans in American Popular Culture after World War II" (U Virginia Press, 2024)

November 16, 2024

Changed Men

Erin Lee Mock
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Millions of GIs returned from overseas in 1945. A generation of men who had left their families and had learned to kill and to quickly dispatch sexual…

Lucian Staiano-Daniels, "The War People: A Social History of Common Soldiers during the Era of the Thirty Years War" (Cambridge UP, 2024)

November 15, 2024

The War People

Lucian Staiano-Daniels
Hosted by Jana Byars

In The War People: A Social History of Common Soldiers during the Era of the Thirty Years War (Cambridge UP, 2024), Lucian Staino-Daniels uses the tra…

Richard Schoch, "How Sondheim Can Change Your Life" (Atria Books, 2024)

November 14, 2024

How Sondheim Can Change Your Life

Richard Schoch
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

For fans of musical theatre, Stephen Sondheim is one of the true titans – the genius who brought us Sweeney Todd and West Side Story, Into the Woods, …

Sarah Cleary, "The Myth of Harm: Horror, Censorship and the Child" (Bloomsbury, 2022)

November 12, 2024

The Myth of Harm

Sarah Cleary
Hosted by Jazz Walker

The horror genre has endured a long and controversial success within popular culture. Fraught with accusations pertaining to its alleged ability to ha…

Anne Berg, "Empire of Rags and Bones: Waste and War in Nazi Germany" (Oxford UP, 2024)

November 11, 2024

Empire of Rags and Bones

Anne Berg
Hosted by Ran Zwigenberg

Paper, bottles, metal scrap, kitchen garbage, rubber, hair, fat, rags, and bones--the Nazi empire demanded its population obsessively collect anything…

Matti Eklund, "Alien Structure: Language and Reality" (Oxford UP, 2024)

November 10, 2024

Alien Structure

Matti Eklund
Hosted by Carrie Figdor

It is not uncommon to encounter people who think and talk about the world so differently from the way you do that it’s not really possible to put your…

Amín Pérez, "Bourdieu and Sayad Against Empire: Forging Sociology in Anticolonial Struggle" (Polity Press, 2023)

November 9, 2024

Bourdieu and Sayad Against Empire

Amín Pérez
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

How did the Algerian war of independence shape contemporary sociology? In Bourdieu and Sayad Against Empire: Forging Sociology in Anticolonial Struggl…

Why Can’t the US Compete with China in Infrastructure?

November 7, 2024

Why Can’t the US Compete with China in Infrastructure?

Lee Jones and Shahar Hameiri

In this episode, Dr. Shahar Hameiri and Dr. Lee Jones discuss the political economy and financing behind global infrastructure development, with a foc…

The Impeachment Power: A Conversation with Keith Whittington

November 6, 2024

The Impeachment Power

Keith E. Whittington
Hosted by Laura Laurent

In this week’s episode we step into conversation with Keith Whittington about his new book, The Impeachment Power: The Law, Politics, and Purpose of a…

Gareth Millward, "Sick Note: A History of the British Welfare State" (Oxford UP, 2022)

November 5, 2024

Sick Note

Gareth Millward
Hosted by Dion Georgiou

Sick Note: A History of the British Welfare State (Oxford UP, 2022) is a history of how the British state asked, 'who is really sick?' Tracing medical…

Anneli Jefferson, "Are Mental Disorders Brain Disorders?" (Routledge, 2024)

November 4, 2024

Are Mental Disorders Brain Disorders?

Anneli Jefferson
Hosted by Adrian Kind

The question of whether mental disorders are disorders of the brain has led to a long-running and controversial dispute within psychiatry, psychology …

Anne M. Whitesell, "Living Off the Government?: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Welfare" (NYU Press, 2024)

November 3, 2024

Living Off the Government?

Anne M. Whitesell
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

Who deserves public assistance from the government? This age-old question has been revived by policymakers, pundits, and activists following the massi…

Jonathan A. Allan, "Uncut: A Cultural Analysis of the Foreskin" (U Regina Press, 2024)

November 2, 2024

Uncut

Jonathan A. Allan
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

The “uncut” penis is viewed by some as attractive or erotic, and by others as ugly or undesirable. Secular parents of male infants worry about whether…