NBN Book of the Day

NBN Book of the Day

episodes

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

J. P. Messina, "Private Censorship" (Oxford UP, 2024)

May 1, 2024

Private Censorship

J. P. Messina
Hosted by Robert Talisse

When we think of censorship, our minds might turn to state agencies exercising power to silence dissent. However, contemporary concerns about censors…

Markus Vinzent, "Resetting the Origins of Christianity: A New Theory of Sources and Beginnings" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

April 30, 2024

Resetting the Origins of Christianity

Markus Vinzent

How do we know what we know about the origins of the Christian religion? Neither its founder, nor the Apostles, nor Paul left any written accounts of …

Robert Gerwarth, "November 1918: The German Revolution" (Oxford UP, 2020)

April 29, 2024

November 1918

Robert Gerwarth
Hosted by Ryan Stackhouse

Was Weimar doomed from the outset? In November 1918: The German Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2020), Robert Gerwarth argues that this is the w…

David Pozen, "The Constitution of the War on Drugs" (Oxford UP, 2024)

April 28, 2024

The Constitution of the War on Drugs

David Pozen
Hosted by Emily Dufton

David Pozen is the Charles Keller Beekman Professor of Law at Columbia Law School and the author of the new book, The Constitution of the War on Drugs…

Leigh Gilmore, "The #MeToo Effect: What Happens When We Believe Women" (Columbia UP, 2023)

April 27, 2024

The #MeToo Effect

Leigh Gilmore
Hosted by Jane Scimeca

The #MeToo movement inspired millions to testify to the widespread experience of sexual violence. More broadly, it shifted the deeply ingrained respo…

Dana Gorzelany-Mostak, "Tracks on the Trail: Popular Music, Race, and the US Presidency" (U Michigan Press, 2023)

April 26, 2024

Tracks on the Trail

Dana Gorzelany-Mostak
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

From Bill Clinton playing his saxophone on The Arsenio Hall Show to Barack Obama referencing Jay-Z's song "Dirt Off Your Shoulder," politicians have u…

Alexander Statman, "A Global Enlightenment: Western Progress and Chinese Science" (U Chicago Press, 2023)

April 25, 2024

A Global Enlightenment

Alexander Statman

Alexander Statman's book A Global Enlightenment: Western Progress and Chinese Science (U Chicago Press, 2023) is a revisionist history of the idea of …

Anu Bradford, "Digital Empires: The Global Battle to Regulate Technology" (Oxford UP, 2023)

April 24, 2024

Digital Empires

Anu Bradford
Hosted by Jake Chanenson

The global battle among the three dominant digital powers―the United States, China, and the European Union―is intensifying. All three regimes are raci…

Michael J. Graetz, "The Power to Destroy: How the Antitax Movement Hijacked America" (Princeton UP, 2024)

April 23, 2024

The Power to Destroy

Michael J. Graetz
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

The anti-tax movement is "the most important overlooked social and political movement of the last half century", according to our guest Michael J. Gra…

John Tolan, "England's Jews: Finance, Violence, and the Crown in the Thirteenth Century" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2023)

April 22, 2024

England's Jews

John Tolan
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In 1290, Jews were expelled from England and subsequently largely expunged from English historical memory. Yet for two centuries they occupied importa…

Rogers M. Smith and Desmond King, "America’s New Racial Battle Lines: Protect Versus Repair" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

April 21, 2024

America’s New Racial Battle Lines

Rogers M. Smith and Desmond King
Hosted by Ursula Hackett

What is happening to the politics of race in America? In America’s New Racial Battle Lines: Protect Versus Repair (U Chicago Press, 2024), Rogers Sm…

Heather Parry, "Electric Dreams: Sex Robots and Failed Promises of Capitalism" (404 Ink, 2024)

April 20, 2024

Electric Dreams

Heather Parry
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In the future, we’ll all be having sex with robots… won’t we? Roboticists say they’re a distracting science fiction, yet endless books, films and art…

Guido Alfani, "As Gods Among Men: A History of the Rich in the West" (Princeton UP, 2023)

April 19, 2024

As Gods Among Men

Guido Alfani

This provocative and interesting book has received considerable attention. Roaring reviews and interviews include The Financial Times (UK), The Teleg…

Jonathan Chatwin, "The Southern Tour: Deng Xiaoping and the Fight for China's Future" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

April 18, 2024

The Southern Tour

Jonathan Chatwin
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Deng Xiaoping’s 1992 Southern Tour has become a milestone in Chinese economic history. Historians and commentators credit Deng’s visit to Guangzhou Pr…

Thor Rydin, "The Works and Times of Johan Huizinga (1872-1945): Writing History in the Age of Collapse" (Amsterdam UP, 2023)

April 17, 2024

The Works and Times of Johan Huizinga (1872-1945)

Thor Rydin
Hosted by Jana Byars

Thor Rydin joins to talk about his new book, The Works and Times of Johan Huizinga (1872- 1945): Writing History in the Age of Collapse (Amsterdam UP,…

Felipe Fernández-Armesto and Manuel Lucena Giraldo, "How the Spanish Empire Was Built: A 400 Year History" (Reaktion, 2024)

April 16, 2024

How the Spanish Empire Was Built

Felipe Fernández-Armesto and Manuel Lucena Giraldo
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Sixteenth-century Spain was small, poor, disunited and sparsely populated. Yet the Spaniards and their allies built the largest empire the world had e…

Rasmus Winther, "Our Genes: A Philosophical Perspective on Human Evolutionary Genomics" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

April 14, 2024

Our Genes

Rasmus Winther
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Situated at the intersection of natural science and philosophy, Our Genes: A Philosophical Perspective on Human Evolutionary Genomics (Cambridge Unive…

Maria Snegovaya, "When Left Moves Right: The Decline of the Left and the Rise of the Populist Right in Postcommunist Europe" (Oxford UP, 2024)

April 13, 2024

When Left Moves Right

Maria Snegovaya
Hosted by Jeff Adler

In her new book, When Left Moves Right: The Decline of the Left and the Rise of the Populist Right in Postcommunist Europe (Oxford University Press, 2…

David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts, "Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare From 1945 to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine" (Harper, 2023)

April 12, 2024

Conflict

David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts
Hosted by Samuel Canter

In this deep and incisive study, General David Petraeus, who commanded the US-led coalitions in both Iraq, during the Surge, and Afghanistan and forme…

Robert D. Kaplan, "The Loom of Time: Between Empire and Anarchy, from the Mediterranean to China" (Random House, 2023)

April 11, 2024

The Loom of Time

Robert D. Kaplan
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

The Middle East remains one of the world’s most complicated, thorny—and, uncharitably, unstable—parts of the world, as countless headlines make clear.…