NBN Book of the Day

NBN Book of the Day

episodes

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

Kate Bayliss, "Privatising Humanity: How Our Essential Human Needs Became Financial Assets" (Manchester UP, 2026)

July 1, 2026

Privatising Humanity

Kate Bayliss

Privatising Humanity: How Our Essential Human Needs Became Financial Assets (Manchester UP, 2026) is the latest book from Dr Kate Bayliss, a Senior Re…

John Wills, "Doom Town, USA: The Nevada Test Site As Ground Zero of 1950s American Culture" (UP of Kansas, 2026)

June 30, 2026

Doom Town, USA

John Wills
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In March 1953 and May 1955, government officials—including the Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA), the US Department of Defense, and the Atom…

Christopher de Bellaigue, "The Golden Throne: The Curse of a King" (Bodley Head, 2025)

June 29, 2026

The Golden Throne

Christopher de Bellaigue
Hosted by Lucas Tse

What does a 16th century ruler reveal about the nature of power, past and present? Istanbul, 1538. The greatest of the Ottoman Sultans is at the pinn…

Ijeoma Uchegbu, "Chain Reaction: How Chemistry Shapes Us and Our World" (HarperCollins, 2026)

June 28, 2026

Chain Reaction

Ijeoma Uchegbu
Hosted by Gregory McNiff

By one of the world's leading chemists, an entertaining and revealing tour of the chemical bonds that shape our everyday lives and provide the infrast…

Fabio Lanza, "Urban Revolution: People's Communes in Beijing" (Cambridge UP, 2026)

June 27, 2026

Urban Revolution

Fabio Lanza
Hosted by Mark Baker

During the Great Leap Forward (1958-62), the collectivization of the Chinese countryside had catastrophic results, but how did this short-lived politi…

Gina M. Pérez, "Sanctuary People: Faith-Based Organizing in Latina/o Communities" (NYU Press, 2024)

June 26, 2026

Sanctuary People

Gina M. Pérez

In her latest book, Sanctuary People: Faith Based Organizing in Latina/o Communities (NYU Press, 2024), Dr. Gina Perez explores sanctuary practices in…

Marta Dominguez Diaz, "Tunisia's Andalusians: The Cultural Identity of a North African Minority" (Edinburgh UP, 2025)

June 25, 2026

Tunisia's Andalusians

Marta Dominguez Diaz
Hosted by Amanie Antar

Tunisia’s Andalusians: The Cultural Identity of a North African Minority (Edinburgh UP, 2025) tells the captivating story of those Andalusians, descen…

Ciruce A. Movahedi-Lankarani, "Accelerant: Energy Infrastructures and the Natural World in Making Modern Iran" (Stanford UP, 2026)

June 24, 2026

Accelerant

Ciruce A. Movahedi-Lankarani

Between the late 1940s and the end of the twentieth century, natural gas became Iran's bedrock energy source. Billed as a futuristic fuel for a future…

Robin Dembroff, "Real Men on Top: How Patriarchy Shapes Our Reality" (Oxford UP, 2026)

June 22, 2026

Real Men on Top

Robin Dembroff
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

In Real Men on Top: How Patriarchy Shapes Our Reality (Oxford University Press, 2026), Robin Dembroff shows us that we don't just live in a patriarcha…

Shelley Fisher Fishkin, "Jim: The Life and Afterlives of Huckleberry Finn’s Comrade" (Yale UP, 2025)

June 21, 2026

Jim

Shelley Fisher Fishkin

Mark Twain’s Jim, introduced in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), is a shrewd, self‑aware, and enormously admirable enslaved man, one of the firs…

Alex Boodrookas, "Comrades Estranged: Labor and Citizenship in the Twentieth-Century Persian Gulf" (Stanford UP, 2026)

June 20, 2026

Comrades Estranged

Alex Boodrookas
Hosted by Ahmed Almaazmi

In 1975, Kuwaiti workers orchestrated arguably the most powerful citizen-led movement for noncitizen rights in the history of the Persian Gulf. Their …

Blair LM Kelley, "Black Freedom: A Visual History of Juneteenth and Emancipation Days" (Black Dog & Leventhal, 2026)

June 19, 2026

Black Freedom

Blair LM Kelley
Hosted by Kishauna Soljour

Black Freedom: A Visual History of Juneteenth and Emancipation Days (Black Dog & Leventhal, 2026) is the first fully illustrated history of Juneteenth…

Charlotte Brooks, "The Moys of New York and Shanghai: One Family’s Extraordinary Journey Through War and Revolution" (U California Press, 2026)

June 18, 2026

The Moys of New York and Shanghai

Charlotte Brooks
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

The story of the Moy family—U.S.-born Chinese-American siblings who grow up in the first half of the 20th century—is one that spans the Pacific, cover…

Anna Harwell Celenza, "On the Record: Music that Changed America (Norton, 2026)

June 17, 2026

On the Record

Anna Harwell Celenza
Hosted by Kristen Turner

There is no shortage of books on music and politics, but Anna Harwell Celenza explores an interesting premise in her book On the Record: Music that Ch…

Elly Kent, "Artists and the People: Ideologies of Art in Indonesia" (NUS Press, 2022)

June 15, 2026

Artists and the People

Elly Kent
Hosted by Natali Pearson

Exploring the work of established and emerging artists in Indonesia’s vibrant art world, Artists and the People: Ideologies of Art in Indonesia (NUS P…

Pamela Walker Laird, "Self-Made: The Stories that Forged an American Myth" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

June 14, 2026

Self-Made

Pamela Walker Laird

"Self-Made" success is now an American badge of honor that rewards individualist ambitions while it hammers against community obligations. Yet, four c…

Curtis Dozier, "The White Pedestal: How White Nationalists Use Ancient Greece and Rome to Justify Hate" (Yale UP, 2026)

June 13, 2026

The White Pedestal

Curtis Dozier

Curtis Dozier's The White Pedestal: How White Nationalists Use Ancient Greece and Rome to Justify Hate (Yale University Press, 2026) explores how whit…

Richard Bennet and Alexander Noyes, "War at Arm's Length: How America Can Build Effective Partners Through Military Assistance" (Yale UP, 2026)

June 12, 2026

War at Arm's Length

Richard Bennet and Alexander Noyes

An in-depth examination of how the United States can build more effective partner militaries. Military assistance has a bad reputation. Large-scale a…

Sarah McNamara, "Ybor City: Crucible of the Latina South" (UNC Press, 2023)

June 11, 2026

Ybor City

Sarah McNamara

Decades before Miami became Havana USA, a wave of leftist, radical, working-class women and men from prerevolutionary Cuba crossed the Florida Straits…

Mardi Reardon-Smith, "Making Do: Conservation Ethics and Ecological Care in Australia" (Stanford UP, 2025)

June 10, 2026

Making Do

Mardi Reardon-Smith
Hosted by Amisah Bakuri

Modern environmentalism often frames conservation as moral, humans damage nature, and conservation protects it. But Mardi Reardon-Smith’s Making Do: C…