New Books Network

Medicine May 13, 2022

Difference and Disease

Medicine, Race, and the Eighteenth-Century British Empire

Suman Seth

Hosted by Rachel Pagones

Before the nineteenth century, travelers who left Britain for the Americas, West Africa, India and elsewhere encountered a medical conundrum: why did they fall ill when they arrived, and why …

Law May 11, 2022

The Hughes Court

From Progressivism to Pluralism, 1930 to 1941

Mark V. Tushnet

Hosted by William Domnarski

Mark V. Tushnet's book The Hughes Court: From Progressivism to Pluralism, 1930 to 1941 (Cambridge UP, 2022) describes the closing of one era in constitutional jurisprudence and the opening of another …

Jewish Studies May 6, 2022

International Jewish Humanitarianism in the Age of the Great War

Jaclyn Granick

Hosted by Amber Nickell

Today I talked to Jaclyn Granick about her book International Jewish Humanitarianism in the Age of the Great War (Cambridge UP, 2021). In 1914, seven million Jews across Eastern Europe and the …

Public Policy May 6, 2022

The Advantage of Disadvantage

Costly Protest and Political Representation for Marginalized Groups

LaGina Gause

Hosted by Ursula Hackett

Does protest influence political representation? If so, which groups are most likely to benefit from collective action? The Advantage of Disadvantage: Costly Protest and Political Representation for Marginalized Groups (Cambridge …

Literary Studies April 29, 2022

Underdevelopment and African Literature

Emerging Forms of Reading

Sarah Brouillette

Hosted by Gargi Binju

In Underdevelopment and African Literature (Cambridge University Press, 2020), Sarah Brouillette tackles the print culture and literature in English in South and East Africa. Starting from the period of the …

Law April 27, 2022

The Practice and Problems of Transnational Counter-terrorism

Fiona De Londras

Hosted by Jane Richards

The attacks of 9/11 changed the course of the global counter-terrorism order which has entrenched a system of global governance. This institutional creep is arguably eroding national borders, spheres of domestic …

Public Policy April 25, 2022

Movements and Parties

Critical Connections in American Political Development

Sidney G. Tarrow

Hosted by Ursula Hackett

How do social movements intersect with the agendas of mainstream political parties? When they are integrated with parties, are they coopted? Or are they more radically transformative? Examining major episodes …

Art April 20, 2022

The Invention of Norman Visual Culture

Art, Politics, and Dynastic Ambition

Lisa Reilly

Hosted by Tanja Tolar

In The Invention of Norman Visual Culture: Art, Politics, and Dynastic Ambition (Cambridge UP, 2020), Lisa Reilly establishes a new interpretive paradigm for the eleventh and twelfth-century art and architecture …

General History April 15, 2022

World War II in Southeast Asia

Economy and Society under Japanese Occupation

Gregg Huff

Hosted by Michael Vann

To say that World War II and Southeast Asia: Economy and Society under Japanese Occupation (Cambridge University Press, 2020) is an impressive achievement is a huge understatement. Based on years of …

Scholarly Communication April 13, 2022

The Science of Science

Dashun Wang and Albert-László Barabási

Hosted by Daniel Shea

Listen to this interview of Dashun Wang, Professor at the Kellogg School of Management and McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University, and also with Albert-László Barabási, Robert Gray Dodge …

Economics April 6, 2022

One Road to Riches?

How State Building and Democratization Affect Economic Development

Haakon Gjerløw and Carl Henrik Knutsen

Hosted by Sidney Michelini

Building effective state institutions before introducing democracy is widely presumed to improve different development outcomes. Conversely, proponents of this "stateness-first" argument anticipate that democratization before state building yields poor development …

Ancient History April 4, 2022

Julius Caesar and the Roman People

Robert Morstein-Marx

Hosted by Mark Klobas

Julius Caesar was no aspiring autocrat seeking to realize the imperial future but an unusually successful republican leader who was measured against the Republic's traditions and its greatest heroes of …

General History April 4, 2022

African Peacekeeping

Jonathan Fisher and Nina Wilén

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In African Peacekeeping (Cambridge University Press, 2022), Dr. Jonathan Fisher and Dr. Nina Wilén explore the story of Africa's contemporary history and politics through the lens of peacekeeping. This concise …

General History March 29, 2022

Before the West

The Rise and Fall of Eastern World Orders

Ayşe Zarakol

Hosted by Vladislav Lilic

Ayse Zarakol, Professor of International Relations at the University of Cambridge, is the author of Before the West: The Rise and Fall of Eastern World Orders (Cambridge University Press, 2022). Before the West …

Russian and Eurasian Studies March 25, 2022

Liberal Ideas in Tsarist Russia

From Catherine the Great to the Russian Revolution

Vanessa Rampton

Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

In the conclusion to Vanessa Rampton's new book on Russian liberalism, the author remarks that "the prospects for liberal development in countries such as Russia...seem as remote as ever." (185) …

African Studies March 24, 2022

Knowing Women

Same-sex Intimacy, Gender, and Identity in Postcolonial Ghana

Serena Owusua Dankwa

Hosted by Thomas Zuber

Knowing Women: Same-sex Intimacy, Gender, and Identity in Postcolonial Ghana (Cambridge UP, 2021) is a study of same-sex desire in West Africa, which explores the lives and friendships of working-class …

Human Rights March 18, 2022

The NGO Moment

The Globalisation of Compassion from Biafra to Live Aid

Kevin O'Sullivan

Hosted by Felix A. Jiménez Botta

In this episode, Kevin O’Sullivan talks about his book on aid-focused NGOs from Ireland, Britain, and Canada in the 1960s-80s, The NGO Moment: The Globalisation of Compassion from Biafra to Live …

Science, Technology, and Society March 8, 2022

Algorithms and Autonomy

The Ethics of Automated Decision Systems

Alan Rubel and Clinton Castro

Hosted by Austin Clyde

Many have experienced moments where algorithms have made us uncomfortable or suspicious. In Algorithms and Autonomy: The Ethics of Automated Decision Systems (Cambridge University Press, 2021), Rubel, Phan, and Castro outline the stories of …

Eastern European Studies March 4, 2022

Survivors

Warsaw under Nazi Occupation

Jadwiga Biskupska

Hosted by Piotr Kosicki

Survivors tells the harrowing story of life in Warsaw under Nazi occupation. As the epicenter of Polish resistance, Warsaw was subjected to violent persecution, the ghettoization of the city's Jewish …

Science, Technology, and Society March 3, 2022

Life After Privacy

Reclaiming Democracy in a Surveillance Society

Firmin Debrabander